Micro Bikes And Macro Gravel

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Recently I mentioned that this Islabikes Luath 24 was up for grabs because all seventeen (17) of my human children have outgrown it, and I’m both happy and wistful to report that it has officially been grabbed:

I am happy because because it will bring joy to another human child, as well as bring joy to me by freeing up a little more space. But I am wistful because I have fond memories of father-and-son cyclocrossing:

I’m sure my elder son would be embarrassed if I reposted photos of him racing cyclocross, so instead I’ll just embarrass myself:

Yes, I did a cyclocross race on a Jones (several, in fact), despite the fact the tires are just a few millimeters wider than the UCI’s 33mm maximum.

Thankfully nobody checked.

But hey, I have my memories, and I have my whiskey, so what more could I possibly need?

Meanwhile, March is growing less leonine and more lamblike, which means family bike rides around town:

Favorable conditions also afforded me the opportunity to do nearly identical back-to-back (well, separated by a day) mixed-terrain rides on the PRJCT GRVL bike:

And the Roadini:

As with the Farbman, I’d sort of benched the Roadini when the truly disgusting winter weather hit, leaving the dirty work to its more rough-and-tumble sibling:

Also like the Farbman, returning to the Roadini was a delight–for like the Farbman, it’s a bike I’ve done a fair amount of fussing with since first putting it together on New Year’s Eve, 2024:

[The Roadini on its maiden voyage.]

Yes, fundamentally it’s the same bike, but it took me a little while to figure out exactly what tires it wanted, and not until this past autumn did I realize that despite its curlicue lugs and genteel appearance it was asking me to lower its handlebar slightly and even give it a double crank. The result was that the bike lost weight without feeling jittery:

Though I’m not sure it’s actually possible to make a Rivendell feel jittery, unless you ride it with the front skewer open or something.

Either way, getting back on the Roadini after a couple months of not riding it (that’s a really long time not to ride what was probably my most-ridden bicycle in 2025) was like that feeling you get after a shower when it’s been way too long since your last shower.

Oh, here’s a non-drive side photo:

Drive-side photos are propaganda from Big Crabon, because those bikes have really ugly bottom bracket junctions which the crank serves to hide, but when it’s a lugged steel bike you’d rather look at the bottom bracket lug than the crank…especially when it’s this crank:

Though I confess I’m a Hollowtech II apologist and I secretly like the way it looks, even on a bike like this.

Hey, the bike has plenty of Silver on it already:

Yes, that’s another prototype, because I really am that important:

In any case, the Roadini was more than capable of following in the PRJCT GRVL bike’s footsteps:

Even on these large, partially-buried and intermittently-placed pieces of gravel:

Lower gearing and different tires would narrow the off-road gap between them even more, though I enjoy the Roadini because it’s a ROAD-ini, which is why I gradually moved away from the triple crank and the Garvel Kign tires in the first place.

As for the PRJCT GRVL bike, I do really enjoy riding it, though I think if I were putting together a full-on broccoli bike from scratch I’d take the parts from that bike and put them on an Appy Lucy or something:

And yes, obviously I don’t mean all the parts. I mean stuff like the drivetrain and the handlebar and stuff. You can’t use dick breaks on an Appy Lucy, you’ve got to use cantilevers, or else v-brakes, the most deadly of all the brakes:

Why would a v-brake lever be more dangerous than any other type of lever? You’ve got me. All I know is that this guy really sucks at riding bikes:

In 2017, Lynch purchased a “Trek Level I road bike” and on June 29, 2022, was riding it on a South Kingstown bike path when he applied his brakes to avoid hitting another bike’s back wheel. He lost his balance and fell on his right side. The suit alleged that while Lynch was falling, the left lever tore a 12-inch laceration in his left thigh.

Trek Bicycle, the lawsuit alleged, also should have known the lever design was faulty and could cause impalement during a fall and “failed to inspect and assess the safety of the V-brake for end users before installing it on the subject bike.” In addition to alleging negligent design, the lawsuit cited both defendants for failure to warn, and breach of warranty.

So basically he’s a typical bike path wheelsucker.

Then again, perhaps I should be more understanding, considering I may very well have cut my head open on a pair of vintage M-Frames almost exactly like these: