My 650B MIT Atlantis...just a tiny bit perfecter

[Bill Lindsay]

I had small stable reduction earlier this month.  I sold two of my bikes, which kind of made room for one.  One of the bikes that was available but not taken was my MIT Atlantis.  Since it made the cut, I've taken another pass at it to make it even perfecter for it's application, as a commuter that could seamlessly be an S24O bike as well as a loaded touring bike.  It was close but there were a couple small imperfections.  

1.  With barcon shifters, it was sub optimal riding one handed:  I take a class at UC Berkeley.  On my school-days, I always stop for coffee on the way, so I'm riding one handed up a hill on all those days.  Barcons are not great for one handed riding for me

2.  With barcon shifters, housing gets in the way of my basket and net:  People who are committed to barcons know there are compromises if you are going to run a handlebar bag or a basket.  I love barcons, but I'm not monogamous to them

3.  Front rack limited me to a basket only

4.  Gears not low enough on the low end and unnecessarily high on the high end for the application

So my re-do removed my entire 2x10 drivetrain and all that went back into inventory.  I installed a new 2x9 drivetrain with friction Rivendell XO shifters on the stem.  The crankset is a 173mm Silver wide/low.  The rear derailer is a short cage XT rapid rise, which is perfect for stem shifters (let's see if you know why).  My lowest gear dropped from a 30x36 to a 24x34, and my top gear dropped from a 40x11 to a 38x11.  

The new front rack is a Nitto F-20 which takes detachable lowriders, so I've got far more configurable cargo carrying ability.   

So now my previously perfect Atlantis is even perfecter.  Here's the latest album:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/albums/72157713383950431

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Steve Palincsar]

On 3/6/20 11:23 AM, Bill Lindsay wrote:

2.  With barcon shifters, housing gets in the way of my basket and net:  People who are committed to barcons know there are compromises if you are going to run a handlebar bag or a basket.  I love barcons, but I'm not monogamous to them

Cable routing that does not interfere with a handlebar bag.  The only compromise here is more costly, higher quality cable housing + cables.

-- 
Steve Palincsar
Alexandria, Virginia 
USA

[Bill Lindsay]

Steve

You know as well as anyone that's not the only compromise.  None of the compromises are terribly painful, in my view.  Barcons are a totally legitimate shifting solution.  I'm running them on two bikes.  This bike is slightly better for me and for my application with stem shifters.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Eric G@rs]

I switched to a stem shifter mount a few months ago and love it. The main reason I changed was the bar ends getting whacked on the Caltrain, and I can’t see ever going back. Only downside is having to move the mount if I adjust the stem height. I see that your cable outlet (not sure that’s the term) is angled slightly forward rather than straight down. Any reason why I shouldn’t have it straight down?

[Bill Lindsay]

The IRD stem shifter perch offers a bunch of different starting points.  Pick the one you like.  I chose mine just so the shifter throw seems natural.  If I were to rotate mine forward so the outlet was straight down, then I'd have a harder time shifting the left shifter with my right hand, or the right shifter with my left hand.  One-hand shifting is important for me on a coffee-bike.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Hetchins52]

Looks great! I like the red, lugged, Nitto stem.

I’d feel handicapped trying to hold a coffee mug and ride a bike up a hill. No desire to add a handlebar mug holder, grab sack or reserve a corner of the basket?

David Lipsky

Berkeley

[Bill Lindsay]

The top priority is to drink coffee. Operating the bicycle is the second priority. I don’t need coffee storage. 😉I require that my coffee bike be easy to operate while I’m drinking coffee.

Bill Lindsay
El Cerrito Ca

[Michael Baquerizo]

is that campee rack the 700c or 26" one? I can't tell if the f20 is a specific size or just refers to the style. either way it seems to fit really well w 650b.

[Bill Lindsay]

My Campee front rack is the F20, which is the "Mountain Campee" which is nominally intended for 26" wheels.  My experience with both the 700c and 26" version is they are quite tall.  As you can see there's ample headroom clearance even though I've got 650B x 50mm tires.  

Bill in EC

[ted]

Bill, did your red lugged stem have nitto’s usual dull bright finish to begin with? Also who painted it?
Thnks
Ted

[Bill Lindsay]

My Nitto lugged stem was on the shelf at Rivendell raw and totally unpainted.  I went in to buy one because I was setting up a drop bar cockpit for my Bombadil.  Jay grabbed a normal finished one and the raw one, and said 'same price, we'll get it color matched to your Bombadil'.  I took the offer to paint it.  Jay sent it out and called me when it was done.  I assumed they could get a great match because they had chosen the orange powdercoat for my Bombadil.  The match was not even close.  It was way too yellow.  Jay said "yeah, I had it wet painted, because our powder coater has a minimum.  I took my best guess"  I didn't like it at all, and Jay said 'no problem, let me give it another shot'.  He had it painted again.  It was a lot closer, but a little too red.  I didn't have the heart to send it back again, so I kept it.  When I sold my Bombadil the buyer didn't want the stem, so now it's my statement piece.  

I have no clue who Riv had paint it.  Maybe D&D? 

Bill in EC  

[Ray Varella]

Bill,
Did anyone answer your query about why the rapid rise is perfect for stem shifters?

My guess is it so you can upshift or downshift front and rear simultaneously with one hand.

Ray

[Bill Lindsay]

I asserted a RapidRise rear der is especially perfect if you have stem shifters.  I asked if anyone knew why?

Ray guessed it had to do with easy one hand shifting.  

That was not my reason.  Actually I'd assert that a one hand double shift is slightly harder with a rapid rise RD, because most double shifts involve upshifting one and downshifting the other.  

My reason is that with a non-Rapid Rise RD, your lowest gear has the right shifter pulled all the way down.  When you are in a really low gear, you are likely climbing a steep hill.  It's pretty darn common to be standing when climbing a steep hill.  If it's really steep, your knees get really close to the stem shifters, and you are way more likely to knock the shifter forward and upshift 2 or 3 cogs, which is annoying.  

With a Rapid Rise RD, in your lowest gear both shifters are all the way forward, and pretty much unreachable by your knee, and entirely unshiftable with a knee strike.  If you are in something other than the lowest gear, a knee strike could cause a shift but it's always to a lower gear, which is a lot less annoying.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA