Rock Lobster Plans

I'm posting this here so that I don't lose it but Paul sent me the actual design layout he used to build my Cross Euro bike in 2011. Since he nailed the geometry, I don't want to lose this valuable (to me) piece of info.  Besides if I ever get another cyclocross/road bike built by him, I would use the same geometry.

Seat tube (c-c): 482 mm
Seat tube (c-t): 529 mm
Effective top tube: 540 mm
Top tube (actual): 524mm
Top tube rise angle: 8 degrees
Head angle: 71 degrees
Seat angle: 75.5 degrees
Chainstay: 424 mm
Head tube: 129 mm
Bottom bracket drop: 71 mm
Rake: 41 mm
Dropout to crown race: 400 mm
Front center: 602 mm
Stack: 571 mm
Reach: 392 mm
Wheelbase: 1014 mm

Extras that Paul did for me: pump peg, chain hanger, sterling silver headbadge, drain hole (with plug) on bottom bracket and braze-on chain guide under bottom bracket.

Edit 9/12/2013.  If I did it again, frame would fit a standard crankset (I told Paul I would only use a compact crank so this was my fault), won't have chain hanger since I have rarely used it, have front fork drilled for caliper brakes so I can use as fender mount, front fender mount and have room for Stages power meter (this came out after I got the frame).

Road Bike

In the last year that I've owned the Rock Lobster, I have ridden my Colnago less and less since the RL fits me so well.  So much so, that I sold the Colnago two weeks ago and have a set of wheels specifically for the road.  All I have to do is take one minute to switch out both wheels and I'm ready to roll.  Of course, I got the HED Ardennes GP wheels to match the same width as the HED wheels I have on my clinchers and the HED tubular race wheels.  At one point I was thinking about getting a RL road bike that could fit wider tires and finally realized that I have that already!  The only difference between them would be caliper brakes instead of mini-v's.  Even that is so minor that it is not an issue.  So I just really love my Rock Lobster.

Salsa Spearfish 1

I've ridden this everyday since I brought it home

Salsa Spearfish 1

I finally made the jump to a full suspension mountain bike.  After years of a sore lower back after long rides, I went for it.  It's been a big jump going from a rigid, singlespeed 29er to a full suspension 29er.  Nancy was very cool and let me have my birthday present much, much earlier.  She even let me get it built up so that it has all the components that I want.  Actually she knew that it was better that I get everything right the first time instead of me trying to buy and sell parts to get the ultimate bike.  As it stands now, the only change I may make on the bike is a different handlebar to get the fit right (I was expecting this anyway).

The ride has been really fun.  Going down technical trails is no longer stressful and I'm holding the bars easier versus my normal death grip.  The difference is dramatic and the result is just being less tired from the jarring and concentrating.  Climbing is better than I thought.  I'm coming from a rigid SS so my perception is different.  When I'm sitting down and climbing with both front and rear shocks open, there is slight movement.  When I stand up, I bob up and down but if I lock out the front fork, it tones it down dramatically.  It has been real nice having the fork lockout on the handlebars.  I do find myself locking out the front fork and switching to propedal on the rear shock on long climbs since both switches are easy to reach. The shifting is incredibly swift and accurate and the all mountain crank is the best.  If I can't get up something in a 22x36 then I really should be walking.

The things that I have to get used to is the steering on tight switchbacks.  It is not as precise as my SS.  When climbing uphill, it doesn't want to steer as easily so I end up going wide.  Not always that great when it is really tight.  (Edit: I found out that the 'fish is 1.5" longer wheelbase than On One.  If I use more body english, then things are fine).  The other thing is that the Specialized Fast Trak isn't as grippy as the Maxxis Ardent 2.4.  Of course, we're talking about a 300g difference in weight too but then again, no washouts.

The biggest thing is my position and I feel too high.  The risers bars puts my body in a more upright position than I'm used to.  I think a flat bar would be good since I already have the stem slammed.  Not seeing a size small in person, I wasn't able to figure out how tall the headtube really was.  The other thing with the bars is that I may want more sweep on it.  I think the one I have is 9 degree sweep.  If it is 9 degrees, then a 17 degree sweep from Salsa instead?  Either way, the flat bar is the way to go.

Build:
Frame: 2012 Salsa Spearfish 1 (small)
Fork: 2013 Rock Shox Reba RLT Tapered, 100mm, Solo Air, 15QR
Rear shock: Fox Float RP2
Shifter: Sram X9 trigger, 2x10

Front derailleur: X7, 2x10, high clamp, dual pull

Rear derailleur: X0, Type 2, medium cage

Crank: X9, 170mm, 22/36/bash; BB30

Cassette: Sram PG-1070, 10 spd, 12-36

Headset: Cane Creek 40 series, tapered.  40 ZS top cover, 110 ZS 56 lower

Stem: Thomson X4, 0 deg, 80mm

Handlebar: Truvativ T40 RB Stylo, 9 deg, 30mm rise, 31.8mm clamp, 680mm

Brakes: Shimano XT brakes

Rotors: Shimano XT Ice tech 160mm, 6 bolt

Seatpost: Thomson Elite, 31.6mm x 367mm

Chain: Sram PC-1031, 10 speed

Wheelset: Stan's ZTR Arch EX wheelset, 15QR, 12x142

Tires: Specialized Fast Trak Control 2.2

Saddle: WTB Volt SLT

Grips: ODI Ruffian "Path"

Weight: 26.6 pounds

Handmade Bike Show

Boo is a bamboo bike and the owner is a pro racer.  He does cross and his bikes takes a beating but is very comfy.  I would love to test ride one.

Cielo cyclocross.  It even looks fast.  Only bummer is they don't do custom sizing.

Ira Ryan cyclocross.  He's another big time racer and sponsers a small cross team.  I love builders that have sponsered riders.  It's the best way to get feedback.

Dean was using an Exagrid which are titanium tubes that have cutouts and filled with carbon.  It makes the bike more rigid yet have the durability of ti.  The best of both worlds.  The singlespeed 29er in the background weighs 18 pounds.  Wow.

I took pictures of this Eriksen but not a full shot.  One of the best looking bikes at the show and it even had Dugast 45c tires.  Incredible welds and just all the touches.  

This year the North American Handmade Bike show was back in Northern California.  The last time was about 6 years ago in San Jose.  This time it was in Sacramento and we timed it with a visit to Grandma.  There were so many incredible looking bikes there.  After getting my Rock Lobster cross bike, I realized that custom is really the way to go.  Nothing like getting a bike designed for you.  Amazingly, custom bikes in some cases are still less than the higher end production bikes.  A good fitting bike trumps a lighter bike every time, in my opinion.

The new trend is for the large head tubes with inset headsets.  They are said to be stiffer but who knows?  If I was to get another bike (cyclocross or road), it would be another Rock Lobster.  Why go to anyone else when Paul nailed the geometry on my bike?  If I got a full suspension mountain bike, I would likely get a Waltworks or Curtlo since they both do custom full suspension 29ers.  If Paul did full suspension, I would have him do that too.

One of the cool things at the show was running into my climber friend Rob.  I don't remember going on a trip with him but we knew the same friends and he's a cool guy.  He's now working for Moots so the next time he's in So Cal we're going to ride in the Santa Monica mountains together.  While talking to him, there was another guy that looked familiar.  Turns out to be Steven who sold me my road bike when I started riding again and he's a climber that Linh knows.  He now owns a very nice bike studio in Santa Monica.  At a bike show and the people I run into are climbers.  Such a small world.

Bike Skills book

Just recently I bought this book because my bike skills are not at the level I want it to be.  After a season of cyclocross, it became even obvious that turns are my weak point.  I was lucky enough that my cardio is strong so I was able to compensate for it.  I know that won't work next year because I'm moving up a level and all those guys are strong.  Now that it is the offseason there is no better time to work on weaknesses.  Actually it is not a bad thing since I usually end up liking my weaknesses and they end up as a strength like slopers and scary topouts in climbing.  I was horrible at those but after working on them, it turns out I do well at them and now I like them. 

I'm only on chapter 4 and in the last 3 rides, my times have already improved.  The funny part is that my times on climbs have been faster and that's my strong point.  This should be interesting to see how I can put this all together.  At the end of last cross season I was in the bottom third of Men's B.  Maybe if I learn these skills I could be in the upper half at the start of the season.  That would be very cool.  Still seven months away.

Rock Lobster Cross Euro

Rock Lobster Cross Euro in off-season mode

Ready for a trail ride

Love the headbadge

My first (and only) win!

I've now raced a full cyclocross season and I have better thoughts about the bike.  I still love it especially the way it handles and fits me.  The weight weenie in me sometimes has me thinking that it could be lighter if I went with a carbon fork.  Each time I think that, I have a ride and realize how well the steel fork works.  It feels just right, the handling is not too fast and not too slow.  About the only thing is that I've hit my pedals on some off camber slopes.  It seems the low bottom bracket leads to that but it's not an issue.  I would rather have better handling for the turns than a very seldom pedal strike.  I think it's happened less than 5 times.  My goal for this bike was to be a race bike and fireroad bike in the off season and it has been great at both.  Actually this bike is used a lot more on dirt since my other bike is a single speed 29er and I've been a bit lazy lately.

If I did it again, I would only change one (possibly two) things.  It would be to allow for a larger inner chainring.  When I was getting fitted, I told him I was going to use a compact crank and the chainstay fits it perfectly.  When I got the Zank CX chainrings, the 36t didn't fit so I'm running the original Campy 34t with a Zank 44t.  It works great when I'm in gear but upshifting is a little slower since the shifting ramps and pins aren't lined up.  In the big picture, that is really nothing.  The other thing I may look into is disc brakes but the technology needs to catch up for integrated shifters before I would do something like that.  Now if I could get another cross bike, it would be a dedicated Rock Lobster race bike and as light as possible so that would be aluminum with carbon forks.  But for that to happen I need to be at least in the top 10% of Bs before I can even start to think of that.

In terms of components, that's been pretty awesome.  I use the Campy Ergo 10 speed shifters with Shimano rear derailleur and it makes a great 8 speed system.  It is lighter, cheaper and more durable than if I went 10 speed.  The shifting feels like it was designed to work together.  The only thing is the Campy rear shifter.  Sometimes it "locks" up and I can't downshift the thumb shifter until I move the upshift paddle a little.  Not sure if that will loosen up after a while.  I've read that it takes Campy shifters about 1000 miles and then shifts great.  I'm halfway there. I love the TRP CX9 mini v.  They are so powerful that after I got them, I had to relearn to stop with one finger only.  The first time I grabbed a handful of brakes like my old cantilever, I almost went over the bars.  The Thomson stem, seatpost, FSA handlebars, Fizik saddle, Time pedals and Campy cranks have been great.  I don't ever think about them and they work great.  The only thing I've changed were the wheels.  I had DT 240 hubs on Velocity Escape rims and I rolled my a tubular during a race.  It was my own glue job so I have no one to blame except myself but when the season was over, I bought HED C2 rims and had them rebuilt at Win's Wheels.  I also got a matching clincher set (HED Ardennes CL) so that the rim width is the same when my clincher set becomes my pit wheels during races.  I'm hoping the wider rims will give a larger gluing area for my tubulars.  Speaking of tubulars, I'm going to sell my Challenge Grifo and Fangos.  They work well but I found myself washing out on some turns.  I'm used to aggressive tires from mountain biking so I'm looking to get the Clement PDX tubulars.  I figure I lose more time slowing down on turns than the extra friction running aggressive tread on the straights.  If these tires allow me to turn faster it will be worth it.  I can't wait for next season to start...

My geometry here: http://mikeylovesbikes.blogspot.com/2012/09/rock-lobster-plans.html
Building it up: http://mikeylovesbikes.blogspot.com/2011/07/rock-lobster-cross-euro-mama-celeste.html
Fitting by Paul: http://mikeylovesbikes.blogspot.com/2011/04/rock-lobster-fitting.html