Kate's Atala...

...deserves some bloggage too, but that can wait until after it has made its debut at the Karioi Classic on Sunday.
In the interim, a photo to tantalise.

This has got well out of hand

This should have been so simple, to scratch my itch for a Masi by buying a frame and building it up with parts that I had lying around.

That's how it all started, but it didnt take long for things to go pear shaped.

The trouble started when I read a CR List posting by Brian Baylis which said:

"All CA Masis have 1973 dated parts. That shipment lasted for several years." Baylis worked there, so he ought to know.

Most Campagnolo parts from the era are not date stamped, so there was no need to mess with the pre '78 brake calipers or front derailler, but the 1981 rear mech had to go.

That left the unfluted mid-80s Super Record cranks and chainrings on borrowed time.

I searched ebay for a set of 175s but everything on offer was either visibly buggered or astronomically priced.

Broadening my search parameters a smidge, I found a mint pair of 180mm Nuovo Record cranks.

Some nice Campagnolo Super Leggera track pedals, a plausible period correct upgrade, were just collateral damage to my credit card bill.

Thankyou Ebay.

The decision to ride the Masi at this year's Noosa Strade Bianche created a couple of more practical problems.

The unpadded Cinelli saddle looked the part, but was excruciatingly uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

Knowing That Eddy Merckx used Ottusi saddles, a boutique-butchered Brooks, on days when his arse was tender, I wanted something similar.

I pondered doing a bit of saddle butchery myself, but, once again, ebay came to the rescue with a nicely modified Brooks B17 Competition.

The B17 Competition was the predecessor the legendary Brooks Professional, and this one has been reshaped, trimmed and re-rivetted with large copper rivets.

The 32 spoke Super Champion Arc en Ciel rims that I had built initially give a lovely ride, but are a bit light for spirited gravel riding at 340g.

A rummage around the shed turned up a single Mavic Monthlery Route rim, which looked ideal at 420g and 21.5mm wide.I tried to get a match on Ebay, eventually buying a pair from Poland for less than other vendors were offering a single rim.The hubs are small flange Campagnolo Record 36h, laced with Wheelsmith DB14 spokes.
Gravel riding is always better on fat tyres.I have long been fascinated by the fat handmade tubulars used in cobbled road races, so this was the perfect excuse to get pair of FMB Paris Roubaix 27mm tubulars

Rotorua-Taupo 2008

Made a last minute decision to ride the Hurlow because it had mudguards. Needless to say, the weather ws fine on the day.

November Retro Ride Photos

It has been too long since we had a Retro Ride.
I changed the formula bit this time. To make it easier for denizens of the North Shore, we started from the  Quay St Ferry Terminal, and rode around the city instead of out into the countryside.

Redstar Images

Redstar Images

Redstar Images

Redstar Images

Redstar Images

Redstar Images

Redstar Images

Redstar Images

T.White's Weight Weenies Weigh-off

Avoidance strategies

Condor, Ron Cooper, Ritchey Swiss Cross, 1995 Benson, Ritchey fixed gear, GT Peace 29r

This weekend I have to assemble road bike from  box of parts so that CTB can ride it next weekend.
A simple enough task that I figured I could swap the Brooks Professional saddle off my '59 Condor onto the Ron Cooper before I got started.

Replacing a worn out Brooks Pro with another, more salubrious, example presented no great challenge; and nor did replacing it on the Condor with a nice 1960s Brooks B17.
The B17 looked a bit grubby, so I gave it a scrub with saddle soap, and when it had dried, a slathering of Proofide.

After lunch, other, similar, tasks seemed to become pressing.
My red road bike appeared unconscionably dirty, as did my Ritchey Swiss Cross. The Ritchey fixed gear bike was streaked with wintry road muck, unused since Gayle decreed she would be riding gears on our next ride and I, bringing only the blunt pocketknife of my athletic ability to that particular gunfight, followed suit.
These cleaned, it was apparent the the 29er singlespeed, neglected since my last visit to Rotorua with CTB, could not remain encrusted with dirt.
My vintage Ritchey missed getting photographed, but got a wash and had its tubular wheels swapped for a pair of nice clinchers.

Eventually I got CTB's Giant into the stand but I needed a beer. Fortunately, tomorrow is another day.

Further musings on Compulsive Bicycle Acquisition Disorder

I am wont to view as auspicious the rediscovery in my inventory of anything that seems especially compatible with my current project; and even to view such discoveries as a vindication of my enthusiasm, but this is self serving bunkum.
In truth, any CBAD sufferer with inherited magpie instincts will eventually reach the state of owning more junque than one can possibly use in a lifetime, with the happy result of always having to hand a few relevant widgets and knickknacks; and a more unhappy result for one's heirs whose task it will be to shovel away away the clutter on one's demise.

The devil is in the details...

gazzetto
Originally uploaded by bensondoc

...and if you are wrapping your spare tubular, it should be in the pink newsprint of La Gazzetto dello Sport

Don't cry for me Imelda

I know I'm mixing up my fascist dictatorettes, but the grief of binning two of my favourite pairs of cycling shoes is almost overwhelming.

On the left, my Sidi cyclocross shoes, bought from Belgium 20 years ago.
Used for a few years of mountain bike riding, and then for commuting, I reglued the soles more times than I can remember.
Recently I replaced them with a pair of crappy Diamant cross shoes from Ebay, which are not as comfortable, and probably less durable, but there is not a lot of choice when you are still commuting with toeclips.

The Diadora Euro TCK (size 43.5 in case you have a pair you want to part with), were my #1 pair of road shoes from 1998 onwards, being demoted to retro riding duties when I went back to clipless in 2001.
I stopped using them when the sole started peeling off, and Ebay eventually provided a pair of Marresis that I am growing to like.

This could hurt...

CTB came by yesterday to convert an old Ron Kitching into a ride-to-work fixie.
It seemed like a good idea to take the fork out and inspect the steerer tube for damage, and just this once, caution paid off.
The steerer had broken a couple of inches above the crown, been brazed up by some handyman, and a steel plug pressed into the ID.
It could last forever, or or ruin CT-B's good looks first time out, so we dug up suitable replacement from the back of the shed.

Busted

Riding the demountable home through the Otahuhu Railway Yards tonight, the rail on my best Brooks B17 broke.
Bought in 1998 from Rivendell Bicycle Works, I was hoping for a couple of decades more riding.
The dilemma now is whether to buy a new one, or to press into service one of the Brooks Professional lingering in the shed. I would have bought a Pro back in 1998 if they had come with saddlebag loops, a shortcoming that I have since addressed by making a couple of stainless steel brackets.

Italian Mystery Frame, part 2

In between the various annoyances and outright calamities of last weekend, I did manage to finish painting 'Esposito', the mystery Italian frame.
Its obvious that lug lining is not one of my natural talents, but I have seen much worse.

I'm not sure what to do with this frame.
The demise of the Holdsworth calls for a new fixie, which would probably be the sensible outcome, but I have a hankering for a 60s style Italian road racer.
I already have most of the parts for such a bike, including the 1968 Nuovo Record rear derailler that came with the frame.
Campag bar-end shifters and Universal 61 centrepulls would definitely feature.
Although they are a few years older, I have a pair of Campagnolo Gran Sport hubs that are too nice to keep on the shelf forever.
It could be just the ticket for a return to l'Eroica

Please email if you have any thoughts as to the identity of this frame.

Swings and roundabouts

The Auckland Anniversary weekend started with promise, when Dave from Wellington opted to Buy it Now, relieving me of my long-neglected GT I-Drive.
This was possibly my full allocation of good fortune for the holiday:

My plan to fit Mafac Top 63 centrepulls to the Hurlow foundered when I discovered that the brakes don't have enough reach, even though the bizarre sliding whatchamacallit appears to have plenty of adjustment left. It is possible to get the brake shoes lined up with the rims, however the lefthand anchor point for the straddle wire fouls the arc of the front brake arm. I think that swapping to 27" rims might solve the problem, but that's not an option.
Despite buying new bushes, and spending a few hours polishing, this is but a minor irritation, unlike the next calamity which really pissed me off.....

The seat tube on my Holdsworth Whirlwind cracked. I was intending to restore the frame this year, so I guess its a good thing that it happened now, and not after I had spent hundreds on nickel plating and new paint.
The frame is repairable, so I may yet grind out the old tube and braze in a new.

Shiny

My Vittorias, polished up for today's Retro Ride.

Unfortunately a test ride showed that the cleat adjustment would have crippled me in only a few kilometres, so I swallowed my pride and went clipless.

Italian mystery frame

This frame, seen above in my delux spraying facility, has been on the inventory for nearly 18 months without much action. I decided to make it presentable and use it as a road fixie instead of the Holdsworth which is in dire need of refurbishment.

Except for lack of an Italian thread bottom bracket for TA Cyclotouriste cranks it could be rideable by the end of the week. Now that the summer weather has packed up, I have already polished up a set of Universal 61 calipers, and the weird Nitor seatpost that came with the frame.

Despite an appeal to the collective wisdom of the CR List, I don't know anything about this frame, except that it is Italian, probably mid-50s to mid-60s.
A number of Italian brands of the period used a similar seatlug, including Frejus, Olmo, Torpado, Galmozzi, & Girardengo but the headlugs don't match any of these.
If I don't get a positive ID soonish, I'm going to call it Esposito.

More details and photos are at my Wooljersey album.

Please email if you have any thoughts as to the identity of this frame.

Thanks to Robert S Broderick for the Nitor seatpost image, which I stole from his excellent gallery of catalog scans on Wooljersey.

The CBAD chronicles- remake/remodel

One of the symptoms of chronic CBAD is when you start seeing your existing bikes as a source of parts for other projects.

This is no big deal if you only cannibalise your own fleet, but once you start coveting widgets belonging to your Significant Other you are living dangerously.

The situation became critical recently when I took the Zeus seatpost off Donna's road bike as part of the ongoing pimp-my-Hurlow program.

There was nothing wrong with the original clamp that came on the Ideale No.90 alliage legere saddle, but a recent saddle swap on my Holdsworth Whirlwind had liberated a set of Zeus-for-Ideale saddle clamps that cost too much to leave unused.

These also fit Campagnolo Nuovo Record posts, but, nah, it wouldn't be the same.

Luckily, ebay provided a NOS Campagnolo Gran Sport post for Donna's bike before my stuff got put out on the front porch.

The Hurlow didn't just get a gratuitous seatpost upgrade- the 12cm Fiamme stem, though a thing of beauty, was just too short, so I swapped it and the Ambrosio bars for a 13.5cm TTT Record stem and a pair of Fiamme London bars.

Taking some care, I even managed to reuse the bar tape.

The crusty looking Mafac Racer brakes got a polish and a set of Matthauser brake shoes.

The seatpost that started all the trouble. I outbid a Japanese collector for the Ideale seat clamps, which should have made me realise that I'm not totally rational about this bike collecting thing.

Thanks to Robert S Broderick for the Zeus catalog page.

Leather fetish

This week I had a small ebay splurge, stocking up on TA bottom brackets & crankarms, but the item I really wanted eluded me. Despite already owning 4 Ideale leather saddles, I'm still hankering for a cutaway, aluminium rail Model 90, but lack the financial recklessness necessary to acquire one.
This beauty sold for US$311.69, which is nothing like top dollar- in 2005 this Ideale Model 57 went for US$2175, according to the Classic Rendezvous Market Highs page.

The buyer, ebayer tdan4th, must have the world's largest collection of Brooks and Ideale saddles. Check out his ebay feedback- 21 saddles since 14th June, which makes my recent acquisition of only two non-cutaway Model 90s seem almost rational.

Polishing

Despite fine weather and a shed full of functional bicycles, I mostly stayed indoors last weekend. I had plans of building up some wheels for CT-B's Holdsworth, but a glitch in my spoke calculator spreadsheet put paid to that. Fortunately Rick Woodward's OSH non-compliant polisher was more reliable, and I got a nice shine on the Fiamme Sport 71 rims and Campagnolo Nuovo Tipo hubs without losing any fingers.