The Silver Tongue Show

My last post is now almost two years old and I have done absolutely nothing in the way of providing new content to my blog. This is a shame, I guess I can say that I was too busy riding my fantastic bike!

So as the title says, my Salsa Casseroll model 2009 is almost two years old and I’ve ridden it for over 8,000 km. I felt like giving a quick update on my impression of the bike.

It performed absolutely flawlessly, and this provides me with a great, comfortable ride. My idea for the build was to have a versatile bike that I could use for long distance cycling, randonneuring as well as for trips around town and to the Biergarten. The pedals with a platform on one side and clips on the other side are great for this, and this year I successfully completed a 200km and 300km brevets. I’ve already registered for a complete randonneuring series for next year.

I’ve changed very little on the bike so far:

• Changed the Supernova E3: I had bought the model with symmetrical beam and this was a mistake. This light is just way too bright and most of the light is directed upward, blinding oncoming traffic. I had cars high-beaming me almost every time I was riding out at night, and I regularly saw pedestrians shielding their eyes with their hands as I was riding past. I changed the light for a SON eDeluxe, this light is very good and unlike the Supernova E3 I could mount it on the fork crown even with cantilever brakes. (Now I see on Supernova’s website that they do offer a titanium plate to mount the E3 on the fork crown with cantilever brakes too, but that wasn’t available at the time I built my bike)
• Rear light: Got fried after a while when I was using with the Supernova E3. I bought the same rear light model again and have had no problem hooking it to the SON eDeluxe.
• Changed the Brooks Team Pro saddle: After the 200km brevet, I had a small saddle sore on the right side and I felt some kind of “lump” near my seat bone. It felt a bit as if the tendon there had been bruised. A doctor confirmed the tendon that connects the hamstring to the seat bone was being squeezed and bruised, which results in some calcification inside the tendon/muscle. It is nothing bad yet, but he said if I kept the same saddle and rode a lot this would become a problem in the future. I bought a Brooks Swift as a replacement and rode it on the 300km brevet. It was better but not yet ideal I think.
• Rear fender: Got broken when the bike was banged against something and I replaced it with the same model.

The original Schwalbe Marathon Racer tires are still on, but after 8,000 km they are not looking so good anymore. They could be ridden for another 1,000 km or so, but they are now riddled with large cuts from riding over broken glass. I’ve had 3 or 4 punctures during those 8,000 km, which is very good I think.

Lastly, the front fender is a tiny bit too short and I’ve noticed very early that the front tire was spraying water all over my shoes and bottom bracket. Problem is even after looking all over the internet I couldn’t find a mud flap that would do the job. The only model that I’ve seen that could have fitted was from Brooks, and I thought a leather mud flap was a bit overkill. So I decided to build my own, here’s how it looks now:

Mudflap

If I find some time, I will post a description of how I built and mounted this mud flap.

Anyway, really happy with the bike and looking forward to another few year of great riding!