A friend of mine came by to drop off their road bike.
It's originally the one I used to ride.
Currently it doesn't have a bottle cage installed, but
adding a third hole to the down tube and
lowering the position with a single bottle cage
is something I do frequently on my personal frames.
The fork is from the original Tarmac.
A hybrid bike with carbon on the upper half and E5 aluminum on the lower half—
you'll find it if you search "specialized tarmac 2004".
When the Tarmac transitioned to a full carbon frame,
that's when Tarmac SL began.
Back thenperhaps during a transitional period of planned obsolescence
hybrid frames of aluminum and carbon that couldn't simply be called "carbon back"
were quite popular.
With Cannondale's SIX13 (Six Thirteen),
the top tube and down tube were carbon,
while the rest was aluminum.
The name comes from carbon (atomic number 6, element symbol C) and
aluminum (atomic number 13, element symbol Al).
So the full carbon frame SuperSix
means either "super amazing carbon" or "super light carbon".
The frame in the image above is a Tni Deda Chiai SC61.10A tube
(hereafter SC61) carbon back.
With aluminum frames, as long as the tube source is reliable,
there's reassurance that you won't have major miscalculations regarding weight or stiffness.
This is a carbon back (carbon seatstays), but
for instance, if it were a full aluminum SC61 frame,
aside from how the sloping affects the size of the front triangle,
frankly speaking, regardless of what brand the frame is,
the stiffness feel should be virtually identical.
There are plenty of manufacturer-made SC61 frames if you search for them,
for example, De Rosa's Merak
(different from the same-named carbon frame that came later).
The weld seams are cleanly finished, and while unrelated to performance, the paint is also beautiful.
Gios's Aerolight (different from the same-named carbon frame that came later)
is also an SC61 carbon back.
At retail price it was around ¥100,000, so as an off-the-shelf SC61
it's quite inexpensive.
However, the welds between aluminum tubes are rough,
so there's no visual appeal to admire.
The Tni in the image above doesn't have cleanly finished weld seams either, but
it's probably better than the Aerolight.
My own competition frame is also an Akamatu SC61 full aluminum
ordered as a horizontal top tube.
The welds are finished smoothly,
but more importantly, the fact that there's absolutely no need to suspect any misalignment
is an extremely important factor for me.
Lots of scratches on this thing. You should take better care of your bike.
The SC61's top tube has an egg-shaped cross-section,
and according to the manufacturer's specifications, the pointed side should be
oriented upward when building the frame.
That's the case with all three I mentioned earlier—Merak, Aerolight, and Akamatu.
But on this frame, for some reason,
the top tube is intentionally reversed.
Honestly, I can't feel how this affects the frame's stiffness or anything like that,
but it's definitely true that when dismounting from the saddle at red lights,
the sensation of it digging into your crotch is milder.
My friend said he'd been lending this to his brother,
but neither of them are smokers, yet
the frame surface was covered in something like nicotine residue,
and when I touched it, it was sticky. When I asked why later,
he said he always parked it under the vent duct from the Chinese restaurant next door.
The components are mostly 7700-series Dura-Ace.
They show the typical rust and wear patterns you get from long-term storage.I'm gonna give them a beating.
I cleaned them as much as possible, but the scratches won't come out.
The sprocket isn't Dura-Ace, but the chain was.
Don't go rusting a road bike chain.
I have a CN-7701 instead of a CN-7700 that's been used for only a few hundred kilometers,
so I installed that.
Since it's used, technically I'm not charging for parts.
Though I suppose I'm charging for labor in a sense.
I cleaned the wheels too and glued on inexpensive tubular tires with rim cement.
It's rim cement because that's what was originally used.
When these wheels were built, tubular tape as we know it hadn't come onto the market yet.
The hubs are 7700 32H front and rear,
the front wheel is black Campagnolo all straight-pull, single cross,
and the rear wheel is 4-0 laced with radial spokes on the non-drive side.
Both of these are lacing patterns we don't currently use on Nomu Lab wheels.
Whether these were originally mine or I used my friend as a test subject,
I honestly don't remember anymore.
This relates to the previous article as well—
about the anodizing markings on GP4 rims.
↑It says 650V. I don't know which is older between 650V and 650W markings,
and I see them both about equally often.
↑It says 650HV. I've never seen this marking on any other rim.
What the heck is this?
On this Tni road bike, the stem, handlebar, and seatpost were all unified as ITM Millennium.
I'm a fan of 3T and ITM from the era when handlebars had 25.8mm clamps,
and I've stockpiled roughly a lifetime supply of spare stems and handlebars for my own use.
The Millennium stem on this bike was 90mm—
not a size I use, so that's fine.
The handlebar was Anatomica (anatomic shape) with 420mm outer-to-outer width,
which also isn't my width.
The seatpost was 27.2mm diameter, but
I have the box for it yet the part itself is missing,
so I was wondering where I'd lost it.
I suspect that when handing it off to my friend, I didn't specifically set it aside,
but rather just left whatever seatpost was already in the frame
and forgot to take it back when I handed the bike over.
So then,
I swapped it out with a cheap current Deda model and
stole (borrowed) it back.
The Millennium stem in the image is 100mm,
and the Millennium bar is a Strada (classic round road shape)
with 400mm outer-to-outer width.
The ITM seatpost from that era was made by Selcof (an Italian maker).
In return, Selcof's stems and handlebars were made by ITM.
The Selcof box in the image has two yaguras (saddle clamp towers) side by side,
and with the saddle mounted on the rear yagura you get a large range of backward adjustment—
this is the 68X or 68XN model.
The Millennium seatpost is probably closer to what Selcof called the 66XN.
66X is the model name, and N stands for Nero (black in Italian), indicating the color variant.
It's originally the one I used to ride.
Currently it doesn't have a bottle cage installed, but
adding a third hole to the down tube and
lowering the position with a single bottle cage
is something I do frequently on my personal frames.
The fork is from the original Tarmac.
A hybrid bike with carbon on the upper half and E5 aluminum on the lower half—
you'll find it if you search "specialized tarmac 2004".
When the Tarmac transitioned to a full carbon frame,
that's when Tarmac SL began.
Back then
hybrid frames of aluminum and carbon that couldn't simply be called "carbon back"
were quite popular.
With Cannondale's SIX13 (Six Thirteen),
the top tube and down tube were carbon,
while the rest was aluminum.
The name comes from carbon (atomic number 6, element symbol C) and
aluminum (atomic number 13, element symbol Al).
So the full carbon frame SuperSix
means either "super amazing carbon" or "super light carbon".
The frame in the image above is a Tni Deda Chiai SC61.10A tube
(hereafter SC61) carbon back.
With aluminum frames, as long as the tube source is reliable,
there's reassurance that you won't have major miscalculations regarding weight or stiffness.
This is a carbon back (carbon seatstays), but
for instance, if it were a full aluminum SC61 frame,
aside from how the sloping affects the size of the front triangle,
frankly speaking, regardless of what brand the frame is,
the stiffness feel should be virtually identical.
There are plenty of manufacturer-made SC61 frames if you search for them,
for example, De Rosa's Merak
(different from the same-named carbon frame that came later).
The weld seams are cleanly finished, and while unrelated to performance, the paint is also beautiful.
Gios's Aerolight (different from the same-named carbon frame that came later)
is also an SC61 carbon back.
At retail price it was around ¥100,000, so as an off-the-shelf SC61
it's quite inexpensive.
However, the welds between aluminum tubes are rough,
so there's no visual appeal to admire.
The Tni in the image above doesn't have cleanly finished weld seams either, but
it's probably better than the Aerolight.
My own competition frame is also an Akamatu SC61 full aluminum
ordered as a horizontal top tube.
The welds are finished smoothly,
but more importantly, the fact that there's absolutely no need to suspect any misalignment
is an extremely important factor for me.
Lots of scratches on this thing. You should take better care of your bike.
The SC61's top tube has an egg-shaped cross-section,
and according to the manufacturer's specifications, the pointed side should be
oriented upward when building the frame.
That's the case with all three I mentioned earlier—Merak, Aerolight, and Akamatu.
But on this frame, for some reason,
the top tube is intentionally reversed.
Honestly, I can't feel how this affects the frame's stiffness or anything like that,
but it's definitely true that when dismounting from the saddle at red lights,
the sensation of it digging into your crotch is milder.
My friend said he'd been lending this to his brother,
but neither of them are smokers, yet
the frame surface was covered in something like nicotine residue,
and when I touched it, it was sticky. When I asked why later,
he said he always parked it under the vent duct from the Chinese restaurant next door.
The components are mostly 7700-series Dura-Ace.
They show the typical rust and wear patterns you get from long-term storage.
I cleaned them as much as possible, but the scratches won't come out.
The sprocket isn't Dura-Ace, but the chain was.
Don't go rusting a road bike chain.
I have a CN-7701 instead of a CN-7700 that's been used for only a few hundred kilometers,
so I installed that.
Since it's used, technically I'm not charging for parts.
Though I suppose I'm charging for labor in a sense.
I cleaned the wheels too and glued on inexpensive tubular tires with rim cement.
It's rim cement because that's what was originally used.
When these wheels were built, tubular tape as we know it hadn't come onto the market yet.
The hubs are 7700 32H front and rear,
the front wheel is black Campagnolo all straight-pull, single cross,
and the rear wheel is 4-0 laced with radial spokes on the non-drive side.
Both of these are lacing patterns we don't currently use on Nomu Lab wheels.
Whether these were originally mine or I used my friend as a test subject,
I honestly don't remember anymore.
This relates to the previous article as well—
about the anodizing markings on GP4 rims.
↑It says 650V. I don't know which is older between 650V and 650W markings,
and I see them both about equally often.
↑It says 650HV. I've never seen this marking on any other rim.
What the heck is this?
On this Tni road bike, the stem, handlebar, and seatpost were all unified as ITM Millennium.
I'm a fan of 3T and ITM from the era when handlebars had 25.8mm clamps,
and I've stockpiled roughly a lifetime supply of spare stems and handlebars for my own use.
The Millennium stem on this bike was 90mm—
not a size I use, so that's fine.
The handlebar was Anatomica (anatomic shape) with 420mm outer-to-outer width,
which also isn't my width.
The seatpost was 27.2mm diameter, but
I have the box for it yet the part itself is missing,
so I was wondering where I'd lost it.
I suspect that when handing it off to my friend, I didn't specifically set it aside,
but rather just left whatever seatpost was already in the frame
and forgot to take it back when I handed the bike over.
So then,
I swapped it out with a cheap current Deda model and
stole (borrowed) it back.
The Millennium stem in the image is 100mm,
and the Millennium bar is a Strada (classic round road shape)
with 400mm outer-to-outer width.
The ITM seatpost from that era was made by Selcof (an Italian maker).
In return, Selcof's stems and handlebars were made by ITM.
The Selcof box in the image has two yaguras (saddle clamp towers) side by side,
and with the saddle mounted on the rear yagura you get a large range of backward adjustment—
this is the 68X or 68XN model.
The Millennium seatpost is probably closer to what Selcof called the 66XN.
66X is the model name, and N stands for Nero (black in Italian), indicating the color variant.