Rock Lobster fitting

Two weeks ago, the whole family did a road trip to the Bay Area and one of the reasons was so that I could meet with Paul Sadoff in Santa Cruz to talk about my custom Rock Lobster cyclocross bike.  It was a good meeting.  First off, he was a good guy and easy to get along with. 

When I went into his shop, it was small but filled with stuff.  Lots of his personal bikes hanging off the rafters but it was great to see his shop.  Many of his equipment were designed by him.  To me that's good.  It means he knows what he's doing and if not, he would have updated it in his 20+ years of framebuilding.  With all his years of bikes, if it didn't work, he would have replaced it already.

What I found is that we have similar thoughts on bikes.  It should work well and just be used instead of hanging on a the wall.  Don't get me wrong, his bikes look great but not like the "artisans" who spend many more hours to make it look pretty.  To me, this bike is for racing and in the off season it will be riding on fire roads.  This bike will be loved but a racing bike gets used hard.

After getting the initial desires of the bike, he measured my current bike and me.  Apparently my legs are longer than the average person my height.  When he measured my arms, he said that he hasn't seen that measurement unless it was on a 5'1" woman.  Yeah, yeah, I know all about that from my rock climbing days and I've heard much harsher criticism from friends.

This bike will be a steel cross bike capable of up to 38c tires, have a crowned fork with straight tubing (I love that look), sterling silver headbadge (I love that too), pump peg, chain hanger, no fender eyelets and set up for linear brakes.  It will be his celeste green team color but with small decals.  Along with that I'm getting a Cane Creek 110 headset, Thomson X4 stem and Thomson seatpost from him.  This thing should be a beauty.

It was great getting verification from him on my gear selection.  Although his team is sponsored by Chris King, he runs Cane Creek 110 headset.  He feels they are the best headsets made.  Also on seatpost and stem, when I mentioned that I wanted Thomson, he points to his bike and tells me that he had an Easton seatpost but only lasted 1.5 years and now runs a Thomson.  Thomson's are light but super strong.  Even on stem setups he likes the 0 degree rise stems with 20mm spacers above and below, just as I was telling him my preference for the same.  Then we talked about hubs and I told him I just got some DT Swiss 240s on my mountain bike and he says that the hubset on the dream mountain bike he's building up.  I think he's going to be the perfect builder for me.

Going for a custom Rock Lobster

Not my bike but will look similar

I've been lucky that I can generally fit most bikes but having an inflexible back and short arms haven't been easy.  I end up with a lot of spacers under the stem and short stems.  I pulled the trigger and I'm on the waiting list for a custom Rock Lobster Cross Euro by Paul Sadoff.  Huge benefit will be to have a custom geometry so the bike will look balanced and right.  It will also have the builder's vast cyclocross experience to get me a racing steed.  It will be a steel frame and fork.  Although I could have gone with aluminum and carbon fork, I know that I want this bike to last and the two pounds in weight savings isn't going to be the difference with me winning or losing.

The things I want for this bike is a rear triangle to fit at least 35c tires, preferably 38c since this bike will be ridden on fire roads during the off season.  I want to have the front triangle to be higher so I don't have a bunch of spacers under the stem.  I'm guessing Paul will use a taller headtube, sloping geometry or both.  To make the bike look balanced, I want it designed around a 0 degree or -6 degree stem.  I also like the look of a steel fork with a flat or sloping crown since the unicrown fork (although lighter doesn't look as nice to me).  Now do I go with curved or straight bladed fork?  I like the look of straight forks but know that curved feels a bit nicer.  For the cranks, I want to be able to fit Campy Ultra Torque crankset because I have one laying around and the q factor is good for me.  I also want the standard (and not so standard) extras like two water bottle bosses, pump peg (a real one not the short stubby things) and chain hanger.  I think Paul does the cable routing with the rear brake and rear derailleur on the top tube while the front derailleur is on the downtube.  The only thing I want is the rear derailleur boss to be on the right since I route my cable around the headset so I don't rub the paint off.  For the look, I asked for no or minimal decals and sterling headbadge.  On the color, I'm hedging towards celeste green which is the Rock Lobster team color but for me, I've always loved the color from a Bianchi.  Now do I powdercoat or paint?

It seems I have quite a bit of criteria but I think it is not too specific.  Bottom line, I want Paul to design the bike that will fit me the best.  The wait is about four months but we're going to try to get up for a fitting in April so it could be a little longer.  I should be able to get it before cross season starts though.

Maybe next year

I wanted to do the Rapha Festive 500 challenge this year but with the new baby, it wasn't in the cards. For me, this is just the type of stuff that gets me going. I need a big challenge to give me motivation. I like big ideas and goals. After seeing the winners and their blogs, I also have incentive to take more pictures. Not for the prize really but just a great way to document the ride and things I do. I also like the idea from the second place winner to ride all her bikes. That is definitely a good goal for me.

By next year, the kids will be 4 1/2 and 1 so I might be able to do this. We'll see in a year.