The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (56cm, Build Thread and Musings)
Isaak Oliansky
Photos here. Perhaps this will get a proper shoot someday and I'll update.
Sometimes there’s a bike…well, it’s the bike for its time and place. Shortly after my 2nd was born last summer, I saw this beauty on the Facebook Rivendell group just after it was posted. I messaged the seller with my phone number, and he called me later in the day stating that he’d had something like 50, 60 messages about the bike. Somehow I had made it to the top of the heap. The phone number is key folks.
Fast forward two impatient weeks, and this beauty arrived at my door immaculately boxed after a cross continental journey from humid NC to dry Southern Oregon. Although the albstache build was not gonna stick, I knew in minutes that this bike was the one. I gutted it, keeping only the shifters, and began anew.
I ended up selling my ‘89 Ritchey Ultra ‘xibike’ build (with noisy dt hugi hubs and fun swoopy bars), my perfect ‘79 Bruce Gordon road bike (ouch, I hate bending over), and my blue 58cm Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross. With a tidy pile of cash in hand (this purge inspired a further purge of everything that wasn’t bolted to a bike), I decided to simply splurge completely for the first go around, instead of doing the usual strange parts bin builds and then overspending on miscellany as I slowly upgraded them, my usual recipe.
No more of that! Tom Bombadillo has arrived! Boy, he has not disappointed. His new home turf is the Mt. Ashland watershed- steep decomposed granitic slopes with Magic Dirt blissfully mud-free all winter turning into a hot dry grind in the summer. He met my #1 bicycle requirement which is to not break traction in a grueling seated singletrack climb in a tiny gear. I wished to do a robust and portly build for old Tom, yet he still has a spryness that surprises me on every ride, while still feeling confident and planted.
I swap between 50mm Soma Cazaderos and 2.2” Continental Race Kings depending on the ride. I had some gold Paul skewers on there but they felt too flashy. Finally, the DaVinci cranks are stunning however they might get passed onto a different build in favor of the 170mm fc-6206 xt cranks that came off of my uncle’s cook bros with a microadaptor…to be determined. Otherwise, I ain’t changing a thing!
Frame/Fork- 56cm Waterford Bombadil
Headset- Black Chris King Sotto Voce 2Nut (nerds, note the brass spacer...could Tom Bombadil wield the one ring after all?!)
Stem- Discord Fingerling 5cm
Handlebars- Ritchey Corralitos 50cm
Bar ends- mismatched rubber Velox, light and dark green
Tape- Campandgoslow (in Great Horned Owl)
Brake Levers- TRP RRL
Seatpost- Nitto S83
Saddle- WTB Pure V
Brakes- Paul Touring, polished
Shifters- Kelly Take offs/Shimano Dura Ace 10s
Front Derailleur- Campagnolo Record 10s Double
Rear Derailleur- XTR Medium Cage
Cranks- DaVinci 110/58bcd (White Industries made I believe), 172.5mm, 38/20 rings
Pedals- Wolf Tooth Waveform (in Espresso)
Chain- SRAM or KMC 10s
Cassette- XT 10s 11-36
Cable Housing- Sim Works (in Clear Brown)
Doodads- Forager cable cherries, 6 of them
Rims- Velo Orange Voyageur 650b 36h
Hubs- Son 28/White Industries MI5
Spokes- Sapim Race, brass nipples
Tires- Soma Cazadero 50mm or Continental Race King 2.2in. Tubes.
Valve caps- MUSA from eBay
Rear Bag- Bags by Bird Goldback 11w Tall Black/Green Canvas
Stem Bag- Makeshifter Snackhole
Rear Rack- Nitto M1
Lights- Sinewave Beacon 2 front and B&M rear
Pump- Zefal
Bell- Spurcycle
-IO at the base of the Siskiyou Mountains
Addison Wilhite
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