Components

Shimano and Sram Electronic Components

Shimano Dura-Ace 9070 Di2 components

With electronic component groups, you can count on flawless shifting performance. The top-end mechanical derailleurs were getting pretty close to perfect, but a frayed cable or dirt in the works was all it took to loose that perfection. Sram AXS and Shimano Di2 electronic shifting stays perfect.

Have you heard about Sram or Shimano’s electronic shifting?  Ever tried it?

With electronic equipment, you can ride and maintain your bike like an idiot.  The components work flawlessly in rain, mud, under pressure going uphill, with a squeaky dry chain, and even when filthy and heavily worn.  There aren’t any steel shift cables to corrode or stretch out, no mechanical shifters to wear out.  The front derailleur (if you have one) trims itself so you won’t hear the chain rubbing on the derailleur, and you will probably never drop a chain.

Consider electronic components as an upgrade to your existing bike, or come in and check out a new bike with the gear already to go.

If you already have Di2 or Sram AXS shifting and you aren’t experiencing anything that you’d consider “perfect”, bring your bike in.  We have built and serviced hundreds of bikes with this equipment, we’re trained on proper set-up, and we can even customize your shifter speed and change some of the special functions.

Handlebar Tape

Handlebar tape in a variety of colors and styles

Feel good when you grab your bike.

Fresh handlebar tape makes all the difference in your bike esteem.  You can change bar colors, get more padding or a more secure grip.  Fresh tape will help your bike look new, and boost the price you can get if you’re selling a used bike.

Come on in and pick your favorite.  Old-school cotton tape from Tressostar and Neubaum’s.  Padded cork tape from Cinelli and Serfas.  Extra squishy gel cork in lots of different colors.  There is extra grippy tape from Fizik and Lizard Skins. Brooks makes actual leather handlebar wrap and tape from PDW will adorn your bars with pictures of little donuts or pizza slices.

There is no excuse for riding around with smelly, ratty or moldy handlebars.

Pedals

Half platform, half clip-in.

Time pedals work best in muddly conditions

Crank Brothers pedals

Large platform pedals or small

Without pedals on your bike you would just be dragging your feet on the ground. 

So you need pedals. Picking the right set means a few considerations.

Platform pedals are easy. Pick a color, pick a size (generally big for big feet, small for small feet). Done.

Pedals that grab a cleat on the bottom of a cycling shoe are a little bit more complicated…

There are recessed-cleat style pedals that work well for most riders.  The cleats that attach to your shoes don’t protrude from the sole, so you don’t walk funny when you are off the bike.  For commuters riding their bikes aboard the Seattle to Bainbridge or Kingston to Edmonds boats, this is the style of pedals you want.  Most of the recessed-cleat (or “SPD”) style pedals are double-sided, so they are easier to clip into without looking down, which also makes them a good choice for mountain biking and gravel touring.  We have pedals from Shimano, Crank Brothers, Time and Wellgo to pick from in this category.

Shimano 105, Ultegra, and Dura-Ace models

Road pedals from Look

Time pedals are our favorites.

Road-bike style clipless pedals are typically single-sided, with a wider, but thinner, platform to support your foot.  They are generally more comfortable, and more efficient with less slop in the attachment.

When efficiency and longer ride comfort is more important, like on most road rides, road style clipless pedals are the best.  We have pedal options from Shimano, Time, Look, and Crank Brothers for your road bike.

If you are thinking about a power meter for your bike, Garmin has partnered with Shimano to produce power-meter pedals in either the SPD mountain bike style pedal or the Shimano road bike style.

Don’t want to be clipped in?  We have a wide range of platform style pedals as well.

Saddles

Saddles!

Bicycle derailleurs get all of the glory, but it is really the lowly bicycle seat that will make (or break) your ride.  If what you have isn’t working, come in to the shop and try out a new saddle.

We have bike seats from Brooks, Serfas, Selle Italia, Selle San Marco, Fizik, Evo, Selle Royal, WTB, and Terry.  Why so many?  Because one rider’s favorite seat is another rider’s torture device.  You can pick a saddle out based on pelvic bone width (there is a measuring device for this, believe it or not), you can pick a saddle out based on “squishiness”, or you can take a wild guess.  We’ll give you two weeks to ride your new saddle, and if it doesn’t work, try out something different.

The saddle on the spin class bikes killing you?  Gel seat covers are available…

Equipment tips:  Choosing a saddle

Big banana seat

Finding the perfect saddle isn’t always easy. 

Everyone who has ridden a bike for more than an hour has experienced some degree of discomfort, and the seat on the bike is often to blame.  There are a lot of choices out there in bike saddles, and here are a few tips to help select a winner from all of the possibilities.

While the saddle itself is important, remember that it works in the context of a system.  The type of bike you ride, your position on the bike, your body (pelvic shape, flexibility, weight), the clothing that you wear while riding, how hard you ride (pressure on the pedals), and the saddle are all elements in this system.

Saddles come in a variety of widths, densities, shapes and materials. There is no one saddle that is the best, or the most comfortable for every body.  A friend may have a bike seat that they love, but in no way does this mean that the same saddle will work for you.

Saddles with the cutout on the top have received a lot of attention in the past twenty years.  In our experience, the correct width saddle, positioned correctly, is the goal.  Sometimes the cutout is not helpful, and can actually make things worse.  Sizing is the key.  You can use one of the saddle measurement tools in the store (we call them ass-ometers) to figure out which width your riding position and pelvic shape needs.

The worst saddle

Old-style leather saddles like Brooks use natural leather, and they conform to you, becoming “custom” over time.  They can be extremely comfortable, but plan ahead, as there is a considerable break-in time for these saddles.

Inexpensive padded saddles use foam rubber for the padding.  They feel plush to the thumb, but while riding, the foam can bottom out, leaving the rider sitting on the hard shell.  Better saddles use gel.  They provide more support than foam.

High-end saddles that use carbon fiber and titanium in the construction are more than just light.  The high-tech materials can flex dramatically and absorb shock while maintaining the same strength and durability as more cheaply constructed saddles.

Here are a few generalizations that may make good starting points:

Think about the specific problem when trying to find the saddle solution. Sit-bone pain is different from crotch pain and chafing is different still.

The pelvis is somewhat triangular in shape, and tips to a narrower portion as you bend over.  The more stretched out that you are, the narrower the saddle that you probably want.

A saddle needs to be level to work right.  Tipping the nose way down only puts your weight on your hands, and is generally an indication that the seat position is too high, or the bike fits poorly.  Before you throw out an uncomfortable seat, you may want to consider getting your bike fit to you.

Your feet, hands, and rear end are the contact points on the bike.  The more weight that is on your feet (how hard you’re pedaling), the less weight is supported by your hands and rear end.  The little racing saddle that feels fine on hard weekend training rides will become unbearable when you slow down to ride with the kids.

These old saddles turned custom to their rider

Saddle width is critical to riding comfort.  If the saddle is too narrow, the sit bones will be over the edge, and put too much pressure on sensitive areas.  The correct width will perch the rider on top of the saddle so pressure is evenly distributed.  A saddle that is too wide will make you straddle too much material, and it may cause chafing.

Also, if the real problem is chafing, don’t underestimate the power of a good pair of cycling shorts or chamois cream.

Hope these guidelines will help you to find the mythical “Perfect Bicycle Saddle”.

Seatposts, Handlebars, & Handlebar Stems

Ritchey WCS Seatpost

Wow, there is a lot of selection in this product category.

There should be a lot of choices.  These components are what make a bike yours.

You can customize the appearance of your bike with a certain handlebar.  You can make your bike fit you perfectly with a different size stem.  You can make your bike more capable on scary descents by using a dropper seatpost to lower your center of gravity.  You can make your bike lighter by upgrading one item, or all three.  This is why we keep so many of these components in stock.

Come in to Classic Cycle and check out seatposts and stems from KS, Rockshox, Thomson, FSA, Ritchey, Pro (Shimano), Truvativ, Cinelli, Nitto, Deda, 3T, Velo Orange and more.  We stock handlebars from Soma, FSA, Ritchey, Pro, Surly, Salsa, Cinelli, Velo Orange, Vision, Deda, and 3T.

There are a ton of different sizes in each of these items, so feel free to bring in your bike if you aren’t sure what you need.

Dropper Seat Posts

Lots of different dropper seat posts

Mountain biking on rough trails these days?

Dropper seat posts will drop your saddle out of the way with just the flick of a handlebar-mounted switch.  With the saddle lower or out of the way you can get your weight way back over the rear wheel and clear trail obstacles without doing a headlong tumble into the bushes.

We stock an assortment of dropper posts in the most common sizes.  Posts from KS, Thomson and TransX are our favorites. If you prefer something else or need a special size, we can get what you want and install it in usually just a couple days.
 

Tires

Skinny or fat

Knobby or smooth

Tires will affect the ride of your bike more than any other component.   Minute changes in the width of your tires will dramatically alter the rolling resistance, cornering characteristics, and ride comfort.  If riding over rough pavement rattles your fillings loose, maybe changing the rubber on your bike will fix the problem.

We stock bicycle tires from Vittoria, Schwalbe, Continental, WTB, Maxxis, Panaracer, Kenda, Donnelly, and IRC.  There are tires with differing levels of puncture resistance, there are different tread patterns for different road and off-road conditions, and of course tires for different size wheels.

By the way, since we deal with a lot of antique bikes, we stock many tire types and sizes you will not find at other bike shops. 

In addition, we stock tubular tires for cyclocross and road racing applications. 

For commuters we have tire liners from Mr. Tuffy, Stop Flats, and Spinskins.
 
We deal with all of the various tubeless tire scenarios these days, so along with rim tape and tubeless valves we have sealants from Orange, Stan’s, Silca, Finish Line and CafeLatex. 

Cyclocross & all important CX tire choices

Different kinds of bike nerds obsess about different things these days.  Road riders can talk about their wattage for hours.  Mountain bikers can’t seem to shut up about wheel size and dropper posts.  Cyclocross riders, having settled the disc brake discussion a decade ago now give their full attention to their other favorite topic: Tires.

Forget carbon fiber.  The real miracle material for cross bikes is rubber.  Pick the right tires, and your bike will hook up in corners and shed sticky mud.  Choose poorly and you’ll slide through that same corner or get bogged down by mud-packed tread.

Foldable tires use Kevlar thread instead of steel wire in the bead

In cyclocross, you’ll be obsessing about tire choices all the time.  Most likely, you’ll have multiple sets of tires.  You’ll have tires for dry, hard-packed courses.  Tires for soft, muddy conditions. Puncture-resistant road tires for doing the work-week commute. There’s a lot of nuance to all of this, so here’s a little guide for all of your considerations:

Clincher tires are where we’ll start.  When viewed from head on, clinchers are shaped like a “U” and have wire or Kevlar edges (called “beads”) that hook under the edge of the rim and hold the tire in place with an inner tube inside.  The easiest tire choice here has to do with those beads.  A tire that comes folded up in a box has lightweight Kevlar beads, and a tire that holds its round shape on the showroom wall has beads made from steel wire.  Pick a folding tire instead of the cheaper steel beaded version and you can typically save a half pound of weight.  For cyclocross, standard clincher tires give you the widest price and performance range, but have some big drawbacks.  Clinchers are usually the heaviest option.  They require you to run the highest air pressure of all the different tire styles (which makes traction not so good).  Lastly, clinchers can suffer the most flats (inner tube pinches, tube cuts from exposed spoke eyelets, punctures from debris in the tread).

The same tire, set up tubeless (with sealant) or with an inner tube.

tubeless tires with sealant

If you’re comfortable with the idea of clinchers, then tubeless clinchers should be easy to wrap your brain around.  Tubeless tires are possible when tires, rims, and rim strips (the tape that protects the inner tube from the spoke holes) are made to exacting tolerances that eliminate the need for an inner tube to keep the air inside. 
Liquid sealant is used to keep these types of tires from seeping minute amounts of air, but impermeable tire casing and rim strips do most of the work here.  Switch from regular clinchers to a tubeless set-up and you can typically reduce your air pressure by 5 to 10 p.s.i. (with no tube to get pinched), which will increase your traction significantly.  The tubeless liquid sealant will also work to seal up small thorn and glass punctures.  Seems like tubeless tires would be lighter than a standard clincher, but they’re not.  Liquid sealant weight replaces the weight of an inner tube, and tubeless-ready tires and rim strips usually weigh slightly more than their conventional counterparts.

Tubular (Sew-Up) tire and a tubular rim

Tubular tires and sew-up tires are different names for the same thing.  The oldest type of pneumatic tire, sew-ups are typically made with the casing actually sewn together around an inner tube (except for the Tufo brand, which makes their sew-ups hold air without using an inner tube).  This all-in-one tubular tire is then glued onto a tubular specific rim.  Tubular tires have the best ride “feel” because the sidewalls are usually more supple and squish around conforming to the ground more readily than clinchers.  By eliminating the need for wire or Kevlar beads and the hooked clincher rim walls, tubular tires and wheels will be your lightest option.  If you run sew-ups you can also run the lowest tire pressures, usually 20 p.s.i. lower than a comparable clincher.  Tubular tires and rims aren’t always the most expensive option, but they usually are.  If you are going to spend the money for carbon fiber wheels, the smart choice is to get them Tubular style so you get the lightest weight for your money, and have the best durability during mishaps (if you suffer a flat, the tire will stay in place and won’t expose rim edges to damage while you try to stop). 

The biggest problem with tubulars nowadays is that it’s a dying tire standard, so it’s getting hard to find the wheel you want in the tubular version, and tire selection is getting more and more limited by the year.

Other drawbacks to running tubulars are added expense (get a flat and you’re replacing a whole tire, not just a tube), and added work (properly gluing a sew-up takes time and can be messy).

Tire styles aside, remember that air pressure dictates how your tires perform (rim width can be a consideration too, but no time for that today).  Go too low with your air pressure and your bike will wash out in turns, or bottom out on bumps causing rim damage and flats.  Tire pressure that’s too high will keep you bouncing off the ground, losing traction instead of digging in.

File tread, dry condtion knobby, multi condition, mud tire.

Lastly, you’ve got tread design to consider.  File tread tires (most with shallow, tightly-packed diamond-shaped bumps) are typically the choice for hard packed dirt and dry grassy cyclocross conditions.  You can expect slightly taller knobs along the edge of these treads to keep you from sliding out in corners.  If off-road conditions are a little softer and you need better traction than file treads, a good multi-purpose tire will have small knobs placed tightly together (sometimes nearly continuous down the center of the tire).  These tires work great under most conditions, but become nearly unrideable in sticky mud. 

A good mud tire will have tall widely-spaced knobs that will dig into the soft surface but will (at least in theory) shed the mud from between its knobs as the tire rotates.  My advice: if you feel limited by your handling skills and traction, go with more aggressive tread.  If you have great balance and handling but still feel slow, go with shallower tread and lighter-weight options.

If you get this tire thing all figured out, don’t worry.  You can still be a cyclocross nerd.  You’ll just have to start obsessing about Belgian beer.

Wheels

Hed Ardennes wheels with DT 240 hubs

Wheels. The things that keep your bike from scraping on the ground.

We have wheels, we build wheels out of parts from scratch, we can repair the wheels that are on your bike, or we can get you new (or used) replacement wheels.

Prebuilt wheels from the big brands offer a lot of performance and value. Mavic has been supporting bike racing for decades now (heck, Paul even worked for their race support program back in 1997), and we support them. Shimano makes pre-built wheels that are incredibly durable and really well priced. DT has dozens of different configurations to fit all of the latest rim widths, wheel diameters and hub standards.

Aero carbon gravel bike wheels with a generator front hub? That sounds like something we’d build up from scratch, but we could be wrong. Zipp has a pretty diverse product line-up these days.

A bit about pre-made wheels that you can buy on Amazon… There are a ton of little companies out there doing their version of the latest and greatest wheel.  Those brands always compare themselves to Shimano, Zipp or DT. They typically say that their product is lighter, stronger, or better priced.  The truth is, the big brands are big for a reason. DT probably makes the benchmark in every wheel category out there.  While the little guys may be able to claim “lighter”, they won’t be as durable as the Shimano product.  Someone may claim “stronger”, but I bet they’re heavier.  They may say “cheaper”, and I bet they are… cheap.  Make your wheel decision easy.  Go with a legacy brand, or have us build something from scratch and you’ll get the right wheel.

Headsets

Chris King Headsets

Not a very flashy bike part, but an important one. 

Upgrade, repair, or build your bike with a new headset from Classic Cycle.  We stock all of the size variations, and have quite a few different brands.  There are old-style threaded headsets from Tange, Shimano and Chris King.  Threadless sets from Campy, King, FSA, Ritchey, and we have the newest internal-type headsets and aerodynamic units with built-in cable routing. 

Whatever you need, we’ve got it and can install it.
 
 

Campagnolo

Campagnolo Super Record wireless

Campy has been making beautiful and functional bike components for 90 years now. 

Unfortunately, the Italian brand has fallen behind rivals Sram and Shimano in all but the highest component categories, but the stuff that they do offer is fantastic.

Besides the vintage and antique Campagnolo you will find on our museum bikes, Classic Cycle stocks a fair amount of new and used Campy for modern road and gravel bikes.  We can fix your bike with replacement chains, cassettes, chainrings, derailleurs or brakes.  We can overhaul Ergo levers that aren’t quite doing their thing anymore, or we can outfit your bike with brand new stuff. The Ekar gravel bike grouppo or the Super Record wireless electronic parts are absolutely amazing.

Sram bike components

Sram Electronic shifting

Sram is really leading the way with high performance components for good prices. Their electronic shifting equipment is intuitive and reliable, and will eliminate the annoyances you may be experiencing that can be traced to tortured shift cables. Do you wince a little bit when you reach for the left-hand shifter? Sram’s single chainring (1X) crankset groups eliminate the need for front derailleurs that aren’t up to the task.
 
We stock a lot of the goodies that Sram makes.  If you need Sram replacement parts, we’ve got them.  Need a battery? Need a chain? We’re likely to have them on hand. If you are upgrading your old bike with a new Sram AXS electronic group, we’ve probably got it. 

Our workshop is quick, so if you are riding at Green Mountain this weekend, it’s likely that we can have your bike ready with it’s new 1 x 12 drivetrain in time to hit the trail.
 
 
 

Shimano bike components

Shimano GRX Di2

Shimano makes the parts that you really want on your bike. Shimano’s stuff works reliably for decades. They offer great value, and they make most of their parts backwards-compatible with older Shimano parts that you may already have on your bike. Unlike Sram and certainly unlike Campagnolo, Shimano cares that entry-level bikes work well and can be maintained for years. They produce great parts for your $700 beginner-level mountain bike and they make great parts for the $7000 dream machine.

We stock most of the Shimano components needed to keep you on the road (or in some cases, off the road). 

Shimano’s mountain bike and gravel bike equipment is in stock.  If you bust a derailleur mountain biking at Port Gamble, or wore out your brake pads riding down to the ferry from Capitol Hill, we have replacements on hand.

Building up your dream bike?  Give us a list of the parts you need, and we’ll shoot you a price (with or without us doing the installation).  We can also attack a bike build from the other direction.  Give us a dollar amount, and we’ll give you a list of the best Shimano components that we can get you for your budget.

About our website…

Add to cart…

You may have noticed that many of the bikes on our website are lacking prices.
We also seem to be missing an “add to shopping cart” button.
These omissions are purposeful.
We like bikes. We like you. We want you to ride a bicycle that works well, fits you correctly, and is appropriate for the kinds of riding that you like to do.
We can’t make all of this happen through a website.
If you want a new bike, come in to Classic Cycle. Talk to us. Touch the bicycles. You can ride around Winslow, and see what the different models have to offer.
Come in to the shop and try out the bikes that interest you. Ask for our opinions and get some concrete facts. With us you’ll know who is behind the product review.
Sit at our bar and watch bike racing on the television or experience a bit of our little museum.
Spend some time here so Jaime can show you clothing and accessories that will resolve the little issues that nag at you while you ride.
Paul will assemble your bike with the same attention to detail that went into building bikes for two Olympic Games and countless professional racers.
Leave the UPS guy alone. He can’t help you put that mail-order bike together…