kajukembo
09-27-2006, 12:37 PM
Friends,
By now, you’ve all seen pictures of my very red Zank. Phat was so inspired by it’s lugged steel beauty he started a separate thread. First off, I’m not good at describing how a bike feels, but I’ve been asked several times “how’s it ride?” So, here it goes.
The bike arrived on a week night and I was still waiting on a few small parts (brakes and such). The first thing I did was take it to Sellwood Cycle here in Portland to have a CK head set pressed in. The shop owners, Steve Landon and Eric Tonkin stopped what they were doing and gave it a thorough “look-see.” We inspected all the joints, threads and braze-ons and all agreed that it was very well constructed and needed no facing or other prep work. Over the next few days, parts arrived and I began to slowly build it up. I bolted on a few parts here and there and 4 days later I strung the cables. After that, I took a few days to glue the tires.
The first race was the approaching Sunday and I had yet to even take it up and down the street. Finally, on Friday, I cruised up to the park and made a few hard turns on it. I only rode it about 10 minutes total before the opening race. At the starting line, one of our Pals here on the board looked at it and said “maiden voyage?” I replied yes and said "I hope parts don’t come flying off." From the time the race started to when it ended, the only thought pertaining to the bike was the first time I threw it on my shoulder. It occurred to me how light it was, but that was it.
As I reflect back, what comes to mind is balance. When the bike loses traction both tires drift at the same time, which makes it very easy to correct. There’s no under-steer at all. I can’t stand a bike that under steers and until the Zank arrived, I preferred a bike with a bit of over-steer. The front end is very solid. It feels good to put your nose as close as you can to the front hub and push through bumpy corners. You can grab as much front brake as you wish with no resulting fork chatter. It has a short wheel base for a cross bike (a tad over 1m) and is very quick around tight corners. As many of you know, I have a Richard Sachs CX as well and I’ve been asked what if any differences there are. These two bikes are far more alike than they are different. If anything, the Zank might be slightly stouter in the front end and the Sachs may soak up the bumps a little better, but that’s about it. Before I obtained the Sachs, I was riding a Kona. The differences between the Sachs and the Kona are very pronounced. The differences between the Sachs and Zank are quite subtle.
By now, you’ve all seen pictures of my very red Zank. Phat was so inspired by it’s lugged steel beauty he started a separate thread. First off, I’m not good at describing how a bike feels, but I’ve been asked several times “how’s it ride?” So, here it goes.
The bike arrived on a week night and I was still waiting on a few small parts (brakes and such). The first thing I did was take it to Sellwood Cycle here in Portland to have a CK head set pressed in. The shop owners, Steve Landon and Eric Tonkin stopped what they were doing and gave it a thorough “look-see.” We inspected all the joints, threads and braze-ons and all agreed that it was very well constructed and needed no facing or other prep work. Over the next few days, parts arrived and I began to slowly build it up. I bolted on a few parts here and there and 4 days later I strung the cables. After that, I took a few days to glue the tires.
The first race was the approaching Sunday and I had yet to even take it up and down the street. Finally, on Friday, I cruised up to the park and made a few hard turns on it. I only rode it about 10 minutes total before the opening race. At the starting line, one of our Pals here on the board looked at it and said “maiden voyage?” I replied yes and said "I hope parts don’t come flying off." From the time the race started to when it ended, the only thought pertaining to the bike was the first time I threw it on my shoulder. It occurred to me how light it was, but that was it.
As I reflect back, what comes to mind is balance. When the bike loses traction both tires drift at the same time, which makes it very easy to correct. There’s no under-steer at all. I can’t stand a bike that under steers and until the Zank arrived, I preferred a bike with a bit of over-steer. The front end is very solid. It feels good to put your nose as close as you can to the front hub and push through bumpy corners. You can grab as much front brake as you wish with no resulting fork chatter. It has a short wheel base for a cross bike (a tad over 1m) and is very quick around tight corners. As many of you know, I have a Richard Sachs CX as well and I’ve been asked what if any differences there are. These two bikes are far more alike than they are different. If anything, the Zank might be slightly stouter in the front end and the Sachs may soak up the bumps a little better, but that’s about it. Before I obtained the Sachs, I was riding a Kona. The differences between the Sachs and the Kona are very pronounced. The differences between the Sachs and Zank are quite subtle.