Tour Down Under

We have our Gulf themed Corretto with Di2 on the Shimano stand this week at the Tour Down Under. So if you are over that way, check out the Shimano stand.

We also have Nick and Chris over there. Nick is having a week of holiday with plenty of riding. Chris is working for HTC as one of their mechanics.

The blog has moved!

We've moved to a shiny new site, and with it comes a shiny new blog.

Keep reading at www.baumcycles.com/blog

Back to Building

The world championships are over and the weeks of building show bikes, organising the new kit, designing the show stand and so on are over. We had a very successful show with some new customers, plenty of existing Baum owners, much welcomed feedback and exciting racing. Now it is back to the business of building frames. It has taken a couple of days to pack up from the show and we are now back into gear building bikes. Here are some shots from the last few days.

Machining a head tube on our lathe. This is how we internally machine our Corretto and Cubano head tubes to reduce weight. It is a time consuming process because we take a small cut with each pass on the lathe.





Drilling a bottom bracket breather hole. From memory it is a seat tube breather hole. This is a 19mm cutter that we use on the Corretto.








Front triangle on the jig just after finishing mitring the tubes. This jig is a dream to use. Next step is the rear end and then tube cleaning before welding.









The same tubset after the rear end is complete and the tubes are washed. They are drying in front of our heater. Great during winter, too hot in summer. It is very satisfying to get a clean tubeset that fits together beautifully on the jig.

Roadies are Crazy

Last weekend I headed to my sisters place near Port Fairy and I joined the local cycling club for the Tom Paton 46km handicap race. I was with the 3:30 minute group and we left Port Fairy at a solid pace. For the first part of the race we just swapped turns. At Offord (about half way) there was a back marker sprint which I won. You see, thats the kind of guy I am - prepared to sacrifice the good of the bunch for personal glory!

At around 37km we caught the 8 minute bunch and joined into one large bunch. The scratch bunch was catching and when they were 300m behind us, I went off the back of our bunch, so I sat up and waited for scratch. I sat on the back for a while then started swapping turns. We caught the 3:30 bunch again and the pace went up. I went off the back again and had to bury myself to get back on - I was pushing as hard as I could and it felt like I was doing 250watts. A glance at the Garmin told me it was actually 400w. I kept at it until the bunch slowed a bit and I caught up. I gave my legs a break then moved toward the front as the finish was approaching. 300m out one of the guys on the front sprinted so I sprinted too - then all the scratch riders came pouring around the outside. I ended up 8th or so.

Being a mountain biker, I am not used to the high intensity bursts required for road racing. It was one of the hardest races I have done. I reckon these roadies are crazy doing that kind of racing each weekend. I am sure it is great training for me and I will do more of it when I can fit it in.

Next weekend it looks likely I will be supporting at the Melbourne to Warrnambool on Saturday and riding Around the Bay on Sunday. Hope to see you out there.

David

God of Thunder brings the rains

Last Sunday, Thor Hushovd crossed the line to win the world championship in brilliant sunshine.
















However it seems that the God of Thunder brought the rains. Since he crossed the line, on three of the four days it has rained, with yesterdays downpour turning the streets of Geelong into rivers.

Go to the Geelong Advertiser for more images.



Jared has been driving home from work each day along the waterfront where the names of the famous are written all over the road, covered in water, or in the case of last night, barely visible through the driving rain.

Jodie went for a ride last night and the rain got so heavy she could not see the road and had to stop. The rain eased, then started again. Jason was concerned for her welbeing and called her. He got no answer so we were worried she had drowned. She said she toughed it out and continued on her ride, however her husband let us know she capitulated and called for a lift home.

David has been caught twice this week out riding in the rain. It seems that last weekend was the warmest for months and may prove to be the warmest for a while yet.

The Worlds, Tony Chandler and the Stelvio

There we were in the middle of a busy week of exciting racing, showing off our bikes at the trade show and suddenly as Thor Hushovd crossed the line it was all over. It was great to have the Worlds in our home town. Thanks to all of you who came and said hello at our stand.

Tony Chandler, a Baum owner, is a keen Masters racer. He recently sent an update on what he has been up to:

Hi Guys,

I have just returned to Australia from racing in Italy and Austria during August. I started the campaign with the Giro Delle Dolomiti, a six stage tour in Italy over some of the major climbs including Stelvio. I managed 5th in my age group and 42nd in the general classification. There were almost 800 competitors. I just missed out on 4th place by 26 seconds. It was a great event.

From there I had a week to recover and then started racing in Deutschlandsberg Austria. 5 races in 6 days for 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 10th. I was robbed of a win in the road race when I was 2 minutes ahead of the nearest rider with 28km to go. Then the lead car took a wrong turn and took me off the course and down a parallel road to the road I needed to be on. By the time they got me onto the correct road they had cost me several minutes and I finished second. Needless top say I was furious but there was nothing I could do as I was second over the line. The rest of the field rode the correct route, the embarrassed officials gave me a winners jersey after the awards ceremony.

From Deutschlandsberg I went to St Johann for the world championships. I came 4th in the worlds hill climb. A short race of 11 km where you can feel your heart start to come out of your chest. The guys who got on the podium were worthy winners and I doubt that I could have beaten them up that climb on any day.

In the road races I came 21st 53rd and 48th. I finished on the same time as most of the guys in front of me but they were bunch sprints.

Yesterday I won the Australian masters road race for the 50-55 age group. A local guy from Geelong Greg Stewart came second.

Crossing the line at the Australian Masters.








Tony on the podium at the Australian Masters Championships.














I don't know if I told you but I also won Mt Baw Baw earlier this year as well.

Winning at Baw Baw.















Thanks for buliding me such a great bike.

Regards
Tony Chandler

So you can see Tony is a busy racer and he can obviously pedal a bit! Thanks for the update Tony, and congratulations on winning the Australian Champs and Baw Baw. It is great to see you are getting good results from all the work you put in.

Tony will be racing the Tour of Bright in early December. David from the factory will also be racing, but a fair way behind Tony!

Finally, on the topic of the Stelvio, a Baum owner from Europe sent us some photos of his ride up this iconic climb. I hope to bring you a blog entry soon on this.

See you out on the black top...

World Championships display bikes

Here are 5 of the 6 bikes we are displaying at the UCI World Champs which began today.

Come and visit our stand at The Bike Shop, Cunningham Pier, Geelong.

See you there!