Zanconato

[zank]

Very cool. Have you announced pricing?

dave

Thanks, Dave! We are getting closer on figuring out pricing. Kerry (the machinist) is buying some new tools that should reduce the machine time by reducing the number of paths and increasing speed due to internal cooling. Let's just say they're not going to be as expensive as a Dura Ace or Record ring, but they won't be as cheap as a Salsa or FSA Pro Road ring.

I'd love to be able to do 7900 and 6700 compatible rings that match the OE rings, but cost would be huge. I dunno. What say you internet? Is this a product you'd be interested in?

[twowheels]

Zank--

The rings are going to be great for cx racers that like to shift the front drlr.

Can you share with the masses what handling characteristics you strive to achieve, and the geometry/design features that allow you to reach those goals?

As a zank cx owner, I can say that you nailed the geo on my bike. The bike has fine, neutral balance. If I ride it in a neutral manner, and don't unduly weight or throw the front or rear wheels into a corner, the tires maintains traction equally. Yet if I want to invoke oversteer, I can do it with little effort.

[davids]

Mike,

How do we order those hats?

[zank]

We're getting closer to having real rings! Just got some images of the rings after hard ano. This is a 42 tooth SRAM/Shimano outer before the shift pins and chain drop pin are added. We're on track to having real product for NAHBS.

[zank]

Mike,

How do we order those hats?

Hi David,
Which one would you like? We have some of the baseball hats coming. We're still trying to decide on a design for the cycling cap though. Those might be a little ways off.

[zank]

Zank--

The rings are going to be great for cx racers that like to shift the front drlr.

Can you share with the masses what handling characteristics you strive to achieve, and the geometry/design features that allow you to reach those goals?

As a zank cx owner, I can say that you nailed the geo on my bike. The bike has fine, neutral balance. If I ride it in a neutral manner, and don't unduly weight or throw the front or rear wheels into a corner, the tires maintains traction equally. Yet if I want to invoke oversteer, I can do it with little effort.

Hi Chris,
It helps that you know how to drive a bike ;-) So glad you like it.

Depending on the rider, I have a front center, trail, and stem length in mind, and then adjust head tube angle and rake it hit the numbers. The rear of the bike is lengthened or shortened to balance out the front center. The BB drop is adjusted a bit depending on the rider as well. The handling traits are defined by those variables. I have a window where I know the bike will handle the way I'd like it to. Make sense?

[davids]

Hi David,
Which one would you like? We have some of the baseball hats coming. We're still trying to decide on a design for the cycling cap though. Those might be a little ways off.

Both, of course. But the baseball hat first. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants one.

[zank]

Cool. Rosey will probably post up when the baseball hats come in.

[zank]

.....

[jmoote]

Maybe I missed it, and I apologize if so, but I know you're doing compact rings for both Campag and standard 110 mm BCD. Are there any 130 BCD rings with a Z on them in the works? 38/44 and the like would be great. I know they can be had from Thorne and other brands, but I like these both from a design point of view and because of who is behind them.

[zank]

Hi Jeff,
Man, thank you for the kind remark. I really appreciate it. Yes, 130 bcd and 135 bcd are both on the design slate and will be ready for next cross season. Now that we have the shift ramps and pins figured out, we just have to set the timing for 38 and 39 inners and then make the changes to the bcd. There's more to the 135s with the hidden 5th arm, but the 130s should go relatively smoothly. We'll develop programs for 38/42, 38/44, 38/46, 39/44, and 39/46.

Hope to see you in New England again next fall. Thanks to you and the guys on your team for making the trips down. The promoters around here really appreciate it.
zank

[jmoote]

Right on. I'll watch here and on your website/blog for their release.

Hope to see you in New England again next fall. Thanks to you and the guys on your team for making the trips down. The promoters around here really appreciate it.

I certainly hope and plan to make it down for at least a couple weekends.

[nocondorfx]

Those rings are beautiful. I need them.

[72gmc]

Those rings look great. As a 40-year-old with beat to hell knees and a thing for hills, 39/46 makes a great winter combination on the road.

Mike, you're obviously determined to address 'cross gearing yourself. What else is, to your mind, a significant drawback/compromise/aggravation from a gear or component standpoint? What else would you "fix" if it was your call?

[zank]

Those rings look great. As a 40-year-old with beat to hell knees and a thing for hills, 39/46 makes a great winter combination on the road.

Mike, you're obviously determined to address 'cross gearing yourself. What else is, to your mind, a significant drawback/compromise/aggravation from a gear or component standpoint? What else would you "fix" if it was your call?

Thanks! And I appreciate the question. Cyclocross is an interesting beast. It's become this thing that's really popular but really represents a tiny tiny fraction of the market. So there aren't many resources that can go into it from the big player's perspective.

I'm glad to help with the chainrings. I hope they are a hit and riders find the additional options useful.

My two other aggravations pertaining to cyclocross are tires and brakes. It's my background on the mountain bike. I want more traction and better braking. It would make everybody faster.

There's a chasm between cyclocross and mountain bike tire technology and tread design. I mean, take a look around a cross race and count how many people are riding on Grifos. That tread is 30 flippin' years old. Woo hoo...they added an extra row of dots a few years ago. Anyway, and having said that, I think good things are coming. I love my notubes 29er rims and the awesome mountain bike treads available. Mountain tires set up tubeless on stans rims roll and absorb shock so sweetly. I believe that's the way of the future for cross.

And brakes. Brakes brakes brakes. Disks are the way of the future. Hydros hopefully. Not everybody will adopt it. That's OK. But I know I will be faster because I know I am faster on my mountain bike with disks compared to how I was with v-brakes compared to how I was with canitlevers compared to how I was with U-brakes. But I'm a brake late into the corner kinda guy.

Anyway, that's all I can really think of at the moment.

How about you? What would you "fix"?

[72gmc]

Prepare yourself for the ramblings of an enthusiast who tries to take care of his own bike. I can think of two things I would "fix": braking and gearing.

I really like the idea of disc brakes, so I want a disc fork with the nice curved blade look of a traditional lugged fork. For now, while I'm on rim brakes, I want DT Swiss-style wear dots on every brake track.

With gearing, I want a third option that isn't proprietary C or S: A new freehub that fits either hub standard, loose cogs that fit the "new" spline standard, and readily available spacers in different widths so building a 5-11 speed cogset is like playing with LEGO. Leave indexed gearing in its current proprietary state, because it's a lot easier to make a variety of resin spacers. Find a way to make individual cogs a lot cheaper than the 30 bucks a pop that C charges. People who have a mixed bag of wheelsets would no longer be forced to have two different cassette standards, people like us could buy nice wheels on the forum without worrying about the hub type, and gearing options would be the choice of the rider rather than the component maker. From what I read you'd probably have to increase the freehub diameter because of the differences in C and S hubs, so the smallest cogs might not work. Then you go to the front to get the correct gear inches with a very versatile chainring standard, like 110bcd or White Industries' VBC, with a range of sweet high quality chainrings along the lines of TA or yours.

Of course, I have no idea how to make this work from an engineering standpoint, but it seems like a good idea at the moment.

[grscha]

Mike,

Have you done a disc-brake cross bike (yet)?

Thanks.

[ron l edmiston]

zank baseball cap, just received --- beaut blue with Z on front and logo on back --- so very classy, but what would ya expect..

ronnie

[zank]

Bikerumor did a mini pre-NAHBS interview. Check it out:
Bikerumor » Race To NAHBS! ADHD Interview – 11 NAHBS-Related Questions For Mike Zanconato

[zank]

zank baseball cap, just received --- beaut blue with Z on front and logo on back --- so very classy, but what would ya expect..

ronnie

Hi Ronnie!
Thank you for picking up a hat from Scott. So glad you like it! It'll help with that Florida sun.
Best,
zank