Il Pompino
What! Another bike with only one gear? Why? well I wanted a winter bike. I was fed up with riding the Bianchi in bad weather. It just doesn't like it, like anything made in Italy it doesnt cope well in bad weather. On-One also make a road single speed frame called the Il Pompino (look it up). Its also designed for off road use as a Cyclo-Cross frame I just wanted a bike I could use to commute in the winter but would also cope with my longer route with no probs (unlike a mountain bike).
Like the Inbred I wanted to build it from scratch, including the wheels again. Read on. I was a bit more lazy with the photo blog this time but there is enough there for you to get the idea.
The Build
The first few photos just show the frame from a few different angles while I was still buying all the seperate parts.
The frame is set up with bosses for either V-Brakes or cantilvers.I went for V-Brakes. In my opinion I think Cantilevers
are ugly and right pain in the arse to set up.
Like the Inbred I went for the tried and trusted technology for the bottome bracket i.e. the good ol' square taper
variety.
On-One do a very nice track crankset for like �60, it comes in eithe black or this mirror chrome finish
which looks so sweet. The set I got sent had a couple of blemishes (scratches and chips), I think had been fitted to
a dislpay bike or something. Anyway, I contacted Brant at On-One and he sent out a couple of chain tugs as compensation.
On-One (are you deteecting a pattern here?) also do a a really great value track hub. This is the flip-flop variety
in that it has threads on both sides of the hub so you can run different sized sprockets or run a fixed and a freewheel.
Believe it or not this bad boy only cos
t me �15! Thats with cartidge bearings as well, awsome value. I've fitted an 17T BMX style freewheel so the
drivetrain works out as 48T x 17T using a Sachs PC1 chain. I find this gear just a tad to big for my route. I have
one reasonable sized hill and its just on the wrong side of unpleaseant cycling up it in this gear so i'll probably
swap for and 18T at the back at some point.
I mentioned the brakes earlier. This was a tricky one. You see, I didn't want to run flat mountain bike style handlebars.
But you cant use normal road levers with V-brakes, they dont pull enough cable. You have to have the blocks set up as close
to the rim as possible but this means having to readjust the brakes all the time as the blocks wear out and of course
if the wheel goes out of true they will rub. I bit of research showed that the there was one brake lever that would
do the job, its the the Dia Compe 287V Aero lever.
The only place I could find them was at
SJS Cycles.
To be fair they do exactly as they say on the tin. They work well with V-brakes. The only thing I found was that the cable run through the lever (you use the wee bent pipe), and round the haandle bars adds quite a bit of friction. To compensate I set the V-brakes up on highes spring setting (those 3 wee holes in the boss). In reality, this just makes the lever slightly stiffer to pull. You dont really notice though, better than a sticky cable! The brakes themselves are just standard Shimano Deores, in silver. Nothing fancy, they do their job well when mated to a decent set of blocks. I use Koolstops.
My other 'dilema' was what size Stem and drop handlebar to fit. I didn't wanta full drop because this bike want being
built for full aerodynamic efficient speed. I wanted a bar that had plenty of positions but was also comfortable without
going for a flat bar. On-Ones Midge bar is just the ticket.
It looks a bit odd but some serious thought has gone into it. The drops have a tighter radius on them and are then flared out wards. The idea being that the you can stay in the drop position all day without discomfort. This article explains them much better than I ever could.
I wanted a reasonably upright position and therefore had to fit a high rise stem or a massive spacer stack on top
of the headset. I compromised with an On-One 3D Forged 100mm with 17 Degree rise and about 20mm (ish) of spacers.
The headset is Smoothie from On-One. I went for the MTB one because it has a much better Labyrinth seal on it.
I figured this was a safer bet as I would be riding it mostly in the winter on cyclepaths covered in the usual crap.
It looks a bit odd as the lower race is absolutely massive! You stop noticing after a while. Also after fitting,
i noticed a tiny gap between the lower cup and crown race. Both are square on their respective mounts yet when
meet when the forks are slotted into the head tube, this tiny gap appears. You can just see it in the pic.
Its totally smooth and doesn't knock or anything so I can live with it.
So theres not much more to add. The wheels are just Planet X A537 CF Rims built onto the above hubs with standard double butted spokes. This the 3rd pair of wheels i've built now. These are the first road pair so I was a bit more anal about getting them 'mm' perfect. I'm pretty pleased with them and they're still straight. :O). Oh yeah, the rubber is Specialized All Condition Pros.
This is the bike pretty much finished. I love it. Its quite different looking compared to a standard road bike.
The top pic of the two gives you a good idea of the 'uprightness' of the cycling position. Check out the distance
from teh top of the stem to the wheel.
This front on pic is cool. The bars are totally mad looking but i would never change them. There are probably at least 5 different positions for your hands. Its so comfy just sitting in the drops but the bars are quite wide so the drops are excellent for 'honking' up short steep climbs. I find grabbing the hoods and a bit of bar is better for extended out of the saddle climbing because it puts your weight a little further forward along with a more stretched out position.
I went for SPD M520s, I have these on 3 of my bikes now. I didn't want to run road pedals in the winter for a number of reasons. Road shoes are hopless in the wet when you're unclipped and they're not exactly warm either. I'm using Specialized Sonoma shoes which are warm and have a great rubber sole but are just a little too flexible in the sole. I'll look for something a bit stiffer next year. Since these photos were taken i've added a bottle cage and a set of SKS Mudguards.
Update:I'm about to head into my second winter on the Pompino and I'd thought I'd share some thoughts on what I think is good and maybe not so good about the Pomp. OK so the biggest change I made to the setup this winter was to invest in some proper stiff shoes. Until recently I'd been using a pair of Specialized Sonomas which are VERY comfortable and look normal but were way too flexy. I was losing power and acceleration. Becuase I'm using SPDs i needed a good set of Mountain Bike shoes. I'd recently got a pair of Sidi Genius 5s for the road bike and Sidi do a MTB version called the Dominator, the price tag makes you wince at £130 but they are phenomenal. So stiff and very comfortable. They double as my main MTB shoe now as well. They have made a noticeable difference. Frame & Forks - OK so its not the lightest frame in the shop but is surprisingly stiff. I haven't noticed a great deal of flex, particularly now that I haver the new stiff shoes. I'm amazed that On-One make a profit as I think I paid £120 for the frame. The paint is thick and there are a few scratches but these are my own fault and I would say the quality of the paint is very good. Wheels (inc hubs and tyres) - The wheels have remained straight and true, of which I am most proud cos I built them myself. The original Specialized All Condition Pro's had to go. They were hopeless ar preventing punctures. I upgraded to the Armadillo version of the same tyre and I have been puncture free for a year. They're not as grippy but better than changing tubes in the dark! The front hub has been faultless and is still silky smooth. The rear on the other hand has not. One of the bearings seized and while it can be removed and cleaned (which I did) I can't help but think that the inclusion of some external seals wouldnt have gone amiss. I know this is supposed to be a 'track' hub, but at 135mm it's not really is it. I mean, dont most proper track bikes have a rear spacing of 120mm? Still it was only £15 or so so what should I expect? Drivetrain - I was worried that the ACS Claws BMX style freewheel would pack in pretty quickly and it hasn't. It does make that 'knocking' sound that reminds me of my wee 'Budgie' bike when I was a kid but the pawls still engage, dont slip and the pick-up is tolerable. At £10 I consider it a disposable item. Sam goes for the chain. Its a SRAM (or is it SACHS?) PC1. Over the course of a year it stretched to the point where I couldn't tension it anymore so it has been replaced. The chainring has suffered a bit. It is a mirror (read chrome) finish and it has flaked badly. It is On-One branded and Brant admitted they dont stock them anymore for this very reason. There is no wear on the teeth as far as I can tell. The cranks are ok. The logo has started to wear where my shoes rubs it but the chrome is intact. They are stiff but quite heavy. If I was to build again, I would probably go for something a little more svelte and slinky, like a stronglight or something. Bars - Ahhhh yes the infamous Midge bars. I love them. I have dropped them about 30mm or so to give me better aero when sitting on the drops and also when using the flats I felt too 'upright' if that makes sense? The chap who wrote the review above talks about having them really high but i just dont agree, everyone is different I suppose. Brakes - The shimano deores have been ok. The front has been fine but the back has been a pig to set up. I think this is for 3 reasons: 1. The cable run has quite bit of friction in it.
2. The narrow wheels mean you have use a lot of spacers on the inside of the arms which in turn means you have to use the spring on the highest tension 'hole'which in turn makes balancing and tuning difficult.
3. The Deores springs are not very beefy. Even with new cables I could just not stop when of the blocks resting against the rim. I bit the bullet and order some Avid Single Digit 7s. These appear and feel like the springs are much more powerful. I still have to space out the block side of the arm and stick it on the highest sring 'hole' but they have enough residual tension left to pull the arms back from the rim. Back to Top �