Have Bike, Will Travel
by VéloSport Vacations President, Chris Gutowsky

I first saw the S & S coupling in action a few years ago when a client of ours from the Seattle area brought a fitted bike along on our Tour de France program. I was immediately struck by both the ease of assembly and the overall good look of the couplings. As much as I travel with my bike,
I instantly realized that I should have one with the S & S system; unfortunately, the though passed through my tiny dinosaur brain and vanished as quickly as it appeared.

Two years and much absorbed travel torture later, I happened to glance at my wall of wheeled discards and my eye came to rest on a 1988 steel Ciocc, my last race bike. Suddenly, out of nowhere, came a vision -- this bike, fitted with S & S couplings and a slick new red paint job. And yours truly casually rolling it through the airports and train stations of the world, free of worry, troubles and excess-baggage charges.

Courtesy of Cycles LaMoure (thanks, Mitch!), my vision soon came to pass. I stripped the bike down and shipped it off, leaving the builder just barely enough time to fit it into his schedule before I headed off to Europe for the spring. S & S shipped the couplings directly to LaMoure, sending all the other cool travel fittings to me, so I would have something to play with while I waited for the bike (and new Shimano group) to arrive.

When the frame arrived, it was better than Christmas and Groundhog's Day rolled into one. Cycles LaMoure had not only topped their super coupling installation with a slick paint job, but also reproduced the Ciocc headtube sticker and put our company name along the downtube. Sweet! They even matched our font!

I'd never been so happy to pack a bike for a trip. Though I'm usually a bit slow the first time through with anything involving a wrench, less than half and hour of whistling later I was clicking the case shut. I immediately began to practice my "casual cool" airport style, smiling to myself as the suitcase rolled around on my basement floor.

And it was as simple as that. Four months of intense European travel and riding later, I'm even happier. After planes, trains and automobiles, not to mention a few climbs and descents, there hasn't been a single problem. It has never made noise or come loose, and bike packing is a dream. The only scratch on the bike happened when it was loose in the back of a car between Avignon and Bordeaux, but that's another story.

Go to the S and S Machine home page for more information on their Bicycle Torque Couplings™. Also check out the Cycles LaMoure site for more on their expert framebuilding and retrofitting services.

In 1999, after Chris had a road bike retrofit with S and S Couplings, he posted this article on the VéloSport Vacations' web site. In 2005, his web site was revamped and the article was no longer available on-line so we are now hosting it on the S and S site.

Chris recently (8-4-05) wrote:

"I'm happy to say I'm still using my S&S coupled bike, no problems."
Chris Gutowsky, President, VéloSport Vacations

Contact Information

S and S Machine's Home Page