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.

New Bike Day -- RAMAX, a Very Modern and Beautiful Titanium Frameset

Obligatory new bike photo.

Nearing Takasaki, along the Usui River

On Wednesday, March 9, I went to GS Astuto in Matsuida, Annaka City, Gunma. The plan was that I would ride my Renovo there from Takasaki and Tim Smith, with a bit of help from me, would take the Ultegra Di2 disk brake groupset off of the Renovo and install it on a new frameset, a titanium RAMAX (Randonneuring Adventure MAXimum), that I would ride home. 

The RAMAX frameset is Tim's design and incorporates everything he has learned from more than a decade of designing the Astuto titanium frames and accommodating the latest updates in components and styles of riding. He told me that his idea was to "future-proof" the design so it is versatile and works with the latest components and any coming down the pike in the next few years.

My last new frameset purchase (aside from the Pelso recumbent) was in 2015. Things have changed a lot in seven years. Back then, there was almost no "gravel bike" or "all road bike" category. Clearance for wide tires on a road bike, even an endurance road bike, meant 700x28mm or maybe 700x30mm tires, not 650Bx50mm. Disk brakes were on the way in, but still in a distinct minority. Axles were mostly QR (quick release), not the beefier 12mm thru-axle. Rear wheel spacing was a standard 130mm. Electronic shifting was still a limited, high-end option. Large diameter press-fit bottom brackets had started to proliferate, bringing with them problems of poor fit that had yet to find a solution.

Tim unwraps the frame

GS Astuto headbadge

Lovely curves, fender attachment

Beautiful welds. 

I love my current titanium frameset, the Ti Travel Bike with S and S couplers. In fact, I am planning a major component makeover for the bike's second decade. But I got that frame from Tim/GS Astuto in 2012, an early vintage. The Ti Travel Bike is designed for rim brakes, a mechanical (but not Di2) groupset, it has a standard BSA threaded bottom bracket shell, and can fit only 25mm or 26mm wide tires in the rear, not 28mm or wider. The RAMAX is made from the same raw material, but a different beast.

Titanium has long been considered a highly attractive material for bicycle frame tubing. Larger riders, especially, praise the "lively ride feel" of titanium frames -- which can be quite similar to the feel of the best steel frames. It is far lighter than steel for the same tensile strength, and far stronger and much more resistant to metal fatigue than aluminum alloy. Titanium is highly resistant to corrosion -- another advantage over steel frames -- such that the frames do not need to be painted.  And titanium can get banged up a bit without generating that gnawing feeling in the pit of the stomach one gets on a carbon frame that has taken impacts. The combination of resistances to metal fatigue and corrosion make titanium the best candidate for a "lifetime frame".

But titanium tubing has undergone a revolution in the past decade. Titanium historically was a difficult (and expensive) metal to form into tubes of various shapes. So a typical titanium bike in 2012 (e.g. the Ti Travel Bike) had round tubing for its four main tubes -- head tube, top tube, down tube, and seat tube. Round tubing may not offer as good ride qualities, or power transfer/stiffness, as other shapes. This practical limitation was removed with the invention and gradual expansion since 2012 of "hydroforming" techniques that allow fabricators to make tubes of various shapes more easily and economically. The RAMAX takes advantage of this with an ovalized down tube and seat tube that attach (are welded) to the bottom bracket shell in shapes that offer far greater lateral stiffness. This offers a feeling of stiff power transfer I have only before felt on a carbon-frame bike. The RAMAX top tube has a nearly flat top side -- aesthetically very pleasing and also offers increased lateral stiffness. 

Headset cups are set in now.

The RAMAX seat and chain stays offer clearance for up to at least 650Bx48mm tires (perhaps 50mm?). The head tube is a larger diameter and will accommodate different diameter fork crowns depending on the headset used. The all-carbon fork also offers lots of clearance for tires, looks lovely and while noticeably beefier than that on, say, my old Canyon Ultimate CF, is far less heavy and more graceful than some of the early disk brake CX carbon forks.  The BB shell is T47 -- the logical answer that gives the "best of both worlds" -- the larger diameter of those troublesome press-fit designs, the stability and easy installation/removal of a threaded BB, and adaptability to many different crankset standards.  The frame is designed for thru axles, which are now widely favored over QR skewers for off-road applications such as gravel and are safer and work better with disk brakes as well. (Most disk brake road bikes now come with thru axles -- some hubs have end caps that can be replaced to accommodate either QR or thru axle ... but not all, and certainly not older hubs.)

I made a new friend -- Latte.

My wheelset on the Renovo (Velocity Aileron rims) is a disk brake set with hubs designed for QR skewers (not adaptable to thru axle), ... so Tim lent me a similar set of Ailerons with thru axle hubs. He is building me another set, as soon as I can get a dynamo hub with thru axle for the front wheel. ...  I will use the Renovo wheelset as a backup for the Pelso (which is QR drop outs/disk brake).

The RAMAX has a "direct mount" for its rear derailleur. This is a Shimano design that works with their newest derailleurs. It offers a very solid and secure connection and should avoid the typical derailleur mis-alignment issue from a minor bump of the derailleur somewhere along the way, in transit by rinko bag perhaps. (SRAM does not use "direct mount" but apparently has its own similar "universal derailleur hanger" design in the works). The direct mount cannot be used with an older "classic" derailleur. In building up the bike, this was the one place where my ca. 2014 Ultegra Di2 groupset would not work on the bike. Instead, I swapped my Ultegra Di2 rear derailleur for a GRX direct mount version Tim had on one of the Astuto bikes. He tells me he has use for the Ultegra derailleur on a bike that has a "classic" derailleur hanger. After a firmware upgrade, the GRX/Ultegra Di2 combination worked (and works) perfectly.

The disk brakes ... well, Shimano hydraulic disk brakes are very nice.  They are a bit heavier than rim brakes, and not as easy to fix if there is a problem at roadside on a cold, wet night, ... but they work beautifully and, set up properly, can work without adjustment for a long, long time. They are far better in the rain than the typical rim brake set up. They also solve the problem of a heavy rider melting rims on a carbon clincher with rim brakes. And with a hookless set of disk brake-specific carbon rims, the weight differential disappears.

How does it ride? Well, my first impression is that it will be an extremely capable, balanced, and comfortable bicycle! It feels light and quick, even with the 700x36mm somewhat knobby gravel grinder tires. The BB is 1~2 cms higher off the ground than on a road bike -- not just the fatter tires, but also a bit of CX/gravel design? The seat, bars, etc. are all similarly higher. As mentioned above, the bike feels very responsive and alive. And it also feels ultra-solid and reliable in corners (this could be the wide Aileron rims and Challenge tires ... but it is the whole system). I suspect that, with time, this solid feeling will add to my confidence and I may find myself going downhill a bit faster, laying off the brakes a bit more, than in recent years. 

I will get the bike dialed-in over time. I will eventually have a front hub with an SP Dynamo for 24x7 lighting. And I will have lots and lots of opportunities to ride it in coming months and years. I'm looking forward to it!