Caterham bikes?

[prabjohns]

I Just stumbled on this.

http://caterhambikes.com

They really are branching out.

[moosetestbestanden]

This has been up for a while. Kind of a yawner imo, but then again I'm not a 30 something.

I believe there will be some new Caterham content on Top Gear this coming week. I think they're driving the 160 and the 620, and they've flashed images of the (utterly dreadful) Aeroseven in their 2014 season promo teasers.

[mopho]

Maybe you'll like this bike better Moose

[Mondo]

Going to be racing in Moto2 as well

http://www.caterhammoto2.com/

[rzempel]

I believe there will be some new Caterham content on Top Gear this coming week. I think they're driving the 160 and the 620, and they've flashed images of the (utterly dreadful) Aeroseven in their 2014 season promo teasers.

Episode 4: Jeremy Clarkson celebrates the return of the handcrafted, coachbuilt car with a trip to Italy to drive the achingly beautiful and incredibly rare Alfa Romeo-based Touring Disco Volante. Richard Hammond attacks the dunes of Abu Dhabi in a remarkable new six-wheeled Mercedes called the G63 6x6, while James May makes a rare trip to the test track to try out the intriguingly minimalist Caterham 160 and its insanely fast sister, the 620R. Also in the show, comedian Jack Whitehall tries his hand as the star in the Reasonably Priced Car.

[moosetestbestanden]

Maybe you'll like this bike better Moose

Much. Except that it's plastic, er, CF. Ordinarily I want CF on everything (I even sprinkle it on food :-O) but for bicycles it's offers up a pretty harsh ride. When it's 2 wheeled and human powered make mine Ti please. I've been using the same Ti frameset for just under 20 years and many many (many) miles. Still rides like new. Get one.

And yeah, I'm looking forward to Moto 2 action this year. Moto 2 and Moto 3 offer up the most consistently close and exciting racing of all televised racing, 2 wheels or 4.

[Mondo]

I bought one of the first carbon bikes over 20 years ago... a Kestrel. Even did a little racing (local & firemen's Olympics). I really liked the bike but marriage/kids took too much time away from riding. It was pretty futuristic looking back in the day.

[escondidoron]

Episode 4: Jeremy Clarkson celebrates the return of the handcrafted, coachbuilt car with a trip to Italy to drive the achingly beautiful and incredibly rare Alfa Romeo-based Touring Disco Volante.

I guess that this refers to the latest incarnation of the Disco Volante, not the original, also built by Touring, from back in 1952, only 3 of which were produced. The new version is based on the Alfa 8C Competezione, a rare and expensive car in its own right with only something like 500 units built and a price, when new, around $200k. Touring is not producing new Disco Volantes. They are converting customer provided 8Cs into a Disco Volante. I've seen pictures, and at the requirement of providing a $200k (when new) 8C as a donor for the conversion, I certainly hope that the result is "achingly beautiful" when seen in the flesh.

[mopho]

Much. Except that it's plastic, er, CF. Ordinarily I want CF on everything (I even sprinkle it on food :-O) but for bicycles it's offers up a pretty harsh ride. When it's 2 wheeled and human powered make mine Ti please. I've been using the same Ti frameset for just under 20 years and many many (many) miles. Still rides like new. Get one.

You just haven't ridden a good carbon frame then. My new CF bike has such a smooth ride I thought it had suspension, yet it is stiff where it needs to be to put the power down. CF allows a lot more design flexibility and more precise tuning than metals. While I know quite a few people with 10+yo CF bikes that are still in use, after riding the same steel frame for 16 years I realized that I don't want to own the same bike for a life time. Getting new bikes is super exciting and easier than collecting cars
Titanium is good too


.

[moosetestbestanden]

You just haven't ridden a good carbon frame then. My new CF bike has such a smooth ride I thought it had suspension, yet it is stiff where it needs to be to put the power down. CF allows a lot more design flexibility and more precise tuning than metals. While I know quite a few people with 10+yo CF bikes that are still in use, after riding the same steel frame for 16 years I realized that I don't want to own the same bike for a life time. Getting new bikes is super exciting and easier than collecting cars
Titanium is good too


.

I'm the exact opposite. At the risk of sounding smug (it's just that I'm old), I've done all of that. I realized after a while that while it is nice (and necessary) to have more than one on hand (I'm down to 2), I could only ride one bicycle at a time. And that there was one particular bicycle that I preferred. My bee-you-ti-full Merlin Ti frame does everything as well as any other frame can possibly do, and it will always do so because it won't corrode and it won't fatigue (unlike steel sadly). It's been my very good friend for 20 years now. We've spent thousands of hours and well over 100,000 miles together. On those perfect SoCal days when a 5 hour ride was on the cards it was the one I always reached for. In its current configuration it's just over 16 pounds in a 63cm size. Oh Yeah. In terms of machine-man relationship only the Caterham compares. And I'm keeping that too. :-D

After 20 years of US Cycling district-level competitive cycling I can certifiably verify one thing. All of the bicycles (and shifting systems, and aero bits, and wheels and, and, and...) have always had one thing in common: the finished machine was always underpowered. :-D

[Clark]

A Caterham bike. What will they think of next? Ultralight aircraft? Mini Subs?

Chris, you mentioned riding a Merlin for the past century or so. Yet your bike is a featherweight at a little over 16 pounds. My career bike is a Scepter made by Holland Cycles in 1985. This Columbus SL frameset was originally a prototype that Bill Holland made to test some of his ideas for internal cabling, fastback seat stays and other fancy stuff. In its day with a Dura-Ace gruppo it was definitely state of the art for steel bikes; realizing that state of the art back in 1985 was still 20+ pounds! This frame and I have some top 15 finishes overall in the Mt. Baldy Hillclimb and some top 5 finishes in Devil's Punchbowl. I'm probably missing something by staying in this technology warp, but am interested in how you've managed to achieve the fly-weight on your Ti bike. I've considered updating my Dura-Ace gruppo to trim some accessory pounds, but the rear hub spacing isn't compatible with cassettes, it's fitted only for 6/7 speed hubs with freewheels. I'd assume the frame/fork weight on your Merlin is within a pound or so of my Scepter. Any ideas where I can trim some weight (that is without resorting to some radical diet to trim some body fat from my waist!)

Best wishes,

[Sean]

Chris's Merlin bike is the epitome of understated elegance. I knew it had to be light, but I had no idea it was that light!
Some of you guys seem to be pretty serious about this bike stuff, unlike me.

My bikes:
1980 Schwinn Cruiser - gotta be 40 lbs. easy
1989 Klein (Pinnacle?) mountain bike - still pretty light weight with no suspension and still all 1989 components on it
I tend to get something I think is well made, and just keep using it until it is just junk and can be used no more.


edit -- I am not really a fan of the Caterham bikes. Form follows function.

[mopho]

I knew it had to be light, but I had no idea it was that light!

That is actually not that light
My CF bike is just under 15lbs with off the shelf parts and a fairly heavy set of aero wheels. That may not seem like a big difference but in road bikes that is a lot. I reckon it roughly costs about a thousand dollars a pound to shed weight at this level.
There is a forum called weight weenies where people tweak their bikes beyond stock to get them lighter. There are quite a few with 10-13lbs bikes. Record is 6.5lbs. There are some 12lb steel and titanium bikes out there too. It's both fun and absurd to see the lengths they go to save weight.

That said 16.5lbs was amazing 20 years ago and still respectable today (though more common now). My 1995 DeRosa was 22lbs as new, I got it down to about 20.5lbs and probably get it to 19 if I wanted to throw money at it.

After 20 years of US Cycling district-level competitive cycling I can certifiably verify one thing. All of the bicycles (and shifting systems, and aero bits, and wheels and, and, and...) have always had one thing in common: the finished machine was always underpowered. :-D

LOL. True!

I will say I was a total "Steel is Real" guy and had no intentions of replacing my DeRosa until a friend showed up with a CF bike and let me try it. Got my first CF bike 2 years ago, a BMC, I was blown away and proceeded to put 16k miles on it. Just recently was offered a huge team/club discount from a sponsor (Giant) and picked up one of their top of the line bikes. I was skeptical that it could be any better and at most I was thinking it would be a lateral move from my BMC..... Boy was I wrong, I can't believe how much better this bike is in every way (most specifically comfort and stability). While there are many variables as to how fast you go, I took over a minute off my Mt Diablo climb PR and the descent too first time out with it.
Like you I tend to stick to a preference so I sold the BMC and only have different tools for different jobs (mountain bike, commuter, road bike). Well I kept the DeRosa so far, can't seem to part with it just yet, but it collects dust.


.

[Sean]

That is actually not that light

As that bike is 20 years old and pretty close to being taller than me, it seems pretty light.

[moosetestbestanden]

A Caterham bike. What will they think of next? Ultralight aircraft? Mini Subs?

Chris, you mentioned riding a Merlin for the past century or so. Yet your bike is a featherweight at a little over 16 pounds. My career bike is a Scepter made by Holland Cycles in 1985. This Columbus SL frameset was originally a prototype that Bill Holland made to test some of his ideas for internal cabling, fastback seat stays and other fancy stuff. In its day with a Dura-Ace gruppo it was definitely state of the art for steel bikes; realizing that state of the art back in 1985 was still 20+ pounds! This frame and I have some top 15 finishes overall in the Mt. Baldy Hillclimb and some top 5 finishes in Devil's Punchbowl. I'm probably missing something by staying in this technology warp, but am interested in how you've managed to achieve the fly-weight on your Ti bike. I've considered updating my Dura-Ace gruppo to trim some accessory pounds, but the rear hub spacing isn't compatible with cassettes, it's fitted only for 6/7 speed hubs with freewheels. I'd assume the frame/fork weight on your Merlin is within a pound or so of my Scepter. Any ideas where I can trim some weight (that is without resorting to some radical diet to trim some body fat from my waist!)

Best wishes,

Hi Clark! Good to hear from ya!

I always hated those 2 races. They were for climbers and even when I was racing-fit I was just too big to stay up w/ the little fellas (:-D). The top of the Baldy race was always a vomitorium as I remember it. And there there was the Death Valley to Mt. Whitney stage race. Oy.

As for your bike, what I have always done is to upgrade the parts that I could - drivetrain, forks (CF, of course), brakes and most of all wheels. I have some American Classic Magnesium wheels (as a certified old school guy, tubulars only for me, thank you very much) that weigh virtually nothing. There is of course a downside to all of this lightweight stuff - it's really no different than lightweight car parts in terms of durability. I considered wheels to be wear items, the kind of thing that had to be replaced as use increased. I'd use those on big rides or races only.

As you've already discovered, you'll have trouble finding components that work w/ an older frame because of dropout spacing, head tube diameter etc. IMO, best to leave the old classic alone. Wheels are your best bet, but be prepared for a wallet-ectomy. If you're going to get riding again, Mopho is right - new bikes are great. Even a mid-price range bicycle will provide a tremendous ride, and one can be had for the price of high end wheels :-O.

The 3rd and most recent time I was hit by a car, (thankfully on the commuter, a gorgeous Litespeed Ti "Blueridge" touring - rode that one on the Stelvio I did :-)), was probably it for me as far as cycling is concerned. Whilst in hospital and on the sofa for 45 days gobbling meds and watching Top Gear re-runs over and over I had sufficient time to perform a cost-benefit analysis of cycling (result: it's really really good for you, until you fall or get knocked down). I was wearing a don't-fucking-kill-me screaming yellow jersey and it didn't matter. They can't see you if they don't look. The police report stated exactly that: "she stated that she didn't look before turning onto the main roadway". Btw, speaking of wallet-ectomies, she was under-insured.

For the record, IMO the quality of components has very definitely greatly improved. Other things not so much. I find compact frames really ugly. Same goes for integrated headsets. Yeah, yeah, I know, they're lighter and work better etc. As is normal in a consumer society, function is frequently overwhelmed by fashion and hyperbole in order to generate sales. But most of the improvements aren't much more than proof of the concept of diminishing returns vs. increasing expense. The reality was that the bike was powered by me, and my VO2 max was the limiting factor. That's a physical ceiling that could not be moved up significantly, no matter how much training I did or how much fancy equipment I owned.

My approach w/ the Caterham is the same as the Merlin (they even have the same aesthetic - yikes?) in terms of upgrades. I'm upgrading the keeper instead of buying something new. While all these new cars have all kinds of cool tech associated w/ them the reality is that they are definitely NOT faster. By its essence, the Caterham has everything I need and nothing I don't (the usual case of upgradeitis notwithstanding of course). It would take a LOT of money to secure a car that can go faster - a whole lot. And that's way beyond my financial VO2 max.