Wheels

 Without wheels a bicycle could not roll. The wheel is perhaps mankind's most stupendous innovation-the wheel transformed daily life and added endless possibilities and broader horizons to every life on the planet. The wheel- it's how we roll.......the key to going beyond how rapidly one can proceed walking. The wheel in its first form was most likely some form of cart, a bearer of cargo to be pushed or towed down the road-some times by beast but initially by man.

 It was many thousands of years before the Baron Von Drais crafted the first primitive 'hobby horse' that would be the beginning of a two wheel revolution-the bicycle. In the last two centuries the bicycle has taken many forms-some practical, some quite daft-but always with a thought toward improvement of the machine. What endures in spite of all the many incarnations of the bicycle are the wheels upon which it rolls. To be clear, it is possible that if there is any part of the bicycle that cannot be improved upon, it is the wheel in its essence.

 As a team we are duty-bound to ride rare and unique bicycles. We are also taking the step if building our own period-correct wheels-the calculations of spoke lengths are garnered from the sacred text of the "Book du Spoke" written by master wheel builder Robert Slope. The spoke lengths were compiled from the year 1982 until the present and the information in the pages of the "Book du Spoke" are particularly valuable for building wheels with decades-old parts and specifications.

To construct the wheels, spokes must be sourced from the shop library of boxes of the finest Swiss stainless steel spokes. One millimeter too long or too short and the wheel would be garbage-not suitable for the grueling coastal hills of the Eroica. Truly heroic riding demands truly heroic wheel building-the personal sacrifice and agony of the riders must be rewarded by giving them all the very best old, archaic wheels built to period correct standards. Breaking a spoke on this ride would be traumatic, especially for riders such as ours who are striving for the very pinnacle of great personal casual coastal sacrifice. Upon these wheels true greatness can happen-we can only try.