We called Joe Bell to paint a team bike for the Heroes to ride at the Paris-Roubaix Challenge last spring. JB, known for painting frames by Richard Sachs and hundreds of steel restorations, paints carbon without flaw. We call the bike Le Ramrod after a fellow Hero’s nickname for his bike, and because it means the toughest cowhand on the prairie. It is the house brand for the Hero scene in Chicago. Just in case you cannot make out the model and make from the pictures it is a 2006 Look 585 that we rescued from Ebay. Heroes like to think of the days that Thor Hushovd rode this in the spring classics and a Tour de France or two. Rumor has it that he preferred its comfort to the 595 for the cobbled races.
The Heroes love its simple, French-lugged construction and though its tubes have some shape, they are essentially round when compared to today’s carbon machines. Vinyl decals came from a quick trip to a Fast Signs in Los Angeles and some silver and red triangles from a 1980’s, Bernard Hinault Look decal kit. It survived the Rapha sponsored Roubaix Challenge sort of, with a few scratches and the bottom bracket threading falling out when we removed the crankset for a post-Belgium cleaning. Our local pro shop, Get a Grip Cycles, used JB (not to be confused with Joe Bell) Weld to fix the problem. Stay tuned for future adventures of Le Ramrod.
