New Look for an Old Bike. ... It Goes To 12!

Voyage Voyage is back in action!

In 2012, via Tim Smith/GS Astuto, I got and built up Voyage Voyage, my titanium travel bike. It has served me well over the past decade. I have used it on most of my long rides since, including LEL (2014), SR600 Fuji (2015), PBP (2015, 2019), 3CR (2018), and the Tour de Tasmanie (2019), to name a few. The S and S couplers make it a travel bike. 

In 2019, I added SRAM eTap wireless shifting groupset for Tasmania, which is ideal for quick disassembly/reassembly ... but that first generation eTap rear derailleur failed so I reverted to mechanical shifting for PBP.  The replacement rear derailleur that my SRAM retailer sent to me has worked fine for the past 3 years, on the Sky Blue Parlee, and it seems that SRAM quickly resolved the quality issues that plagued those early eTap systems. Indeed, they quickly switched to eTap AXS, a successor groupset design that features a 12-speed rear cassette with a 10-tooth smallest cog. This allows smaller front chainrings and seems to work well.

Late last year, having not gotten a new road bike since 2015, but while enjoying the new Pelso and, frankly, shocked at the prices now being charged for higher-end bikes ... I decided the best approach to have a travel bike I could enjoy for the NEXT decade would be to upgrade the components on Voyage Voyage. For the makeover, I ordered a SRAM Force AXS eTap upgrade kit that I could use with my current rim brakes and frame, bars, seatpost/seat, fork, and other components. I needed to get an AXS crankset separately and could only find the Rival version in stock, so got that, a bit heavier and less expensive than Force (or Red!), and with a built-in power meter. I also got a DT Swiss 240 rear hub with a SRAM XDR freehub so I could build a rear wheel that would work with a SRAM AXS 12-speed cassette. And I got a beautiful new SP Dynamo SV-9 hub, DT Swiss RR411 rims (asymmetric rear, symmetric front) and Sapim CX Ray spokes to build up wheels for the makeover, and built wheel Nos. 27 and 28.

But as I started to remove the current components from Voyage Voyage's frame ... I found a crack low on the seat tube where the clamp secured the front derailleur. I think at one point the derailleur was slipping, so I tightened the clamp. I OVER-tightened the clamp. (Note to self ... next time apply some kind of anti-slip compound). Yes, even a titanium frame does not last forever, even if it is more resilient than aluminum , and not subject to the kind of hidden internal damage that can occur with carbon. 

Oh no!

But I hated to say goodbye to this frame. The S and S couplers remain a great way to travel with a bike (and, in contrast to Tim's incredibly generous pricing back in 2012 for this "proof of concept" frame with couplers), they would typically add ~$1000 to the cost of a new frameset. Worse yet, I had just purchased new components for the rebuild. I checked with Tim, and he said he would check with the factory that is welding his new RAMAX frames -- representing a decade of evolution since Voyage Voyage.  They said they were willing to try to fix the crack. 

When they got the frame and checked it (x-rayed it?), they found another tiny crack further up the seat tube. The down tube, head tube, and top tube are all straight gauge Ti on Voyage Voyage -- essential because of the couplers don't work with super-thin tube walls. Only the seat tube is double-butted and so quite thin in the middle ... and that is where the crack occurred. 

The constructors cut out the middle 50% of the seat tube, welded in a replacement, and sanded/ground (?) down the welds so that it again looks like one seamless titanium tube. I cannot tell exactly where the old tube ends and the new begins. I hope that, with this repair, I will get at least another few years of long, even epic rides out of this frame.

Repaired frame, with reflective tape replaced on chain/seat stays

Not obvious where the old tube ends and new one begins

Anyway, I got the frame back from Tim last Thursday, built it up on Friday, and rode it on Saturday and Sunday. 

Built up with that classic titanium look.

Dipell Bar Tape

SRAM AXS eTap Force -- It Goes To 12!

How do I like it? Well, the SRAM eTap AXS shifting is a dream. So far flawless and effortless -- and noticeably better shifting under load than the older Shimano Di2 that I am using now on the RAMAX. The AXS gear range -- 46-33 on the front and 10-36 on the rear, with its 33-36 granny gear about 15% lighter than my previous 34-32 low gear -- means I can spin up even the inside of the steepest corners on the climb to Yamabushi Pass in Saitama, while the high gear of 46-10 (4.6:1) is even a wee bit bigger than my previous 50-11 (4.54:1). And I look forward to training with a power meter/cadence sensor).

The new wheels are just fine. The RR411 rims have a noticeably superior braking surface. The SV-9 dynamo hub adds no noticeable drag while generating plenty of current for my light and still the lightest weight dynamo hub I have seen, and the DT Swiss 240 rear hub has a reassuringly fast but not annoying ratchet sound. The wheels seem to soak up bumps -- not overly stiff -- and I will be interested in how durable they prove, as the RR411 is a very light weight aluminum rim.

I paired the wheels with some Vittoria Open Pave "open tubular" tires that I bought online on clearance last year, 700x25 rear and 700x27 front (Open Pave used to be my favorites 8-10 years ago, except they were expensive enough and wore quickly enough that I could not justify using them on an everyday basis. Now they seem deeply discounted, as they are "old" technology for Vittoria, but still wonderful). Yes, this kind of handmade tire should age at least 6-8 months after manufacture to achieve maximum suppleness and strength, and these definitely have. I suspect they have been sitting in inventory at least a few years ... but they ride beautifully.

I put on some lovely Dipell leather bar tape. I eventually may replace the Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork. It is a great fork, but one that is getting quite long in the tooth, having been on another frame before Voyage Voyage.

I will eventually do a comparison between Voyage Voyage and the RAMAX. Both are titanium frames designed for a wide range of types of riding. But the RAMAX frame represents a decade of further evolution of both technology and design. The RAMAX frame incorporates what Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly describes as the "All-Road Bike Revolution", in addition to the innovations made possible by hydroformed titanium tubing. But in its current set up, Voyage Voyage remains a joy to ride. Stay tuned.

Three bottle cages -- (a) 1 liter water bottle, (b) rinko bag, and (c) tools and spares.