Pre-Taupo fettling

Though I'm not doing Round Taupo on Saturday, there has been plenty of pre-Taupo action in the shed this week.
On Wednesday Chris Money brought his Salsa Casseroll for a tune up, and to fit a pair 700 x 30 Gran Bois Cypres tyres, which will decrease rolling resistance and increase his comfort.

Last night, Kate Mullarkey came by, washed her Fondriest and borrowed my race wheels for the womens criterium on Saturday morning.
This bit of grass will not need mowing again after being soaked with three years accumulation of toxic bike mung.

5th Anniversary Retro Ride photos

'True Adventures' goes Global

This blog is now available at the iBOB Metablog Aggregator, a collection of 'bicycling-related blogs, some of which belong to iBOB members.'

The iBOB Metablog is the third thing I look at every morning, after Fixed Gear Gallery and Cyclofiend's Bicycle Photo galleries. Like most things in the blogosphere, quality is variable, but there's plenty of good stuff to keep you from being productive first thing in the working day.

The pleasurable misspending of a Saturday

Went forth with CT-B, intending to tool over the Hunua Gorge and back to town by Sky High Road, but renegotiated the route once we were underway.

Climbed up Sky High Road from the Clevedon side, then headed south through Hunua to view some real estate that CT-B desires, then back to civilisation via Ararimu.

Stopped at the bottom of Pratts Rd to see the Te Maketu waterfall that is hidden in the bush behind the old cemetary, thence to Drury where I inhaled a steak & cheese pie, and CT-B knocked off a huge & greasy chicken leg.

Classic Road Racer Rally 2007

From the ever-excellent My Cycle Touring with Toei website, a report on the Classic Road Racer Rally 2007 in Yamato-Kogen.
Without understanding a word of the text, this looks like a great day out- a few like-minded geezers get together with a collection of stunning vintage bikes, go for a ride, and if the photos are in chronological order, stop twice for food.

Unrequited CBAD

Last week I got overexcited about this Ron Cooper that was on ebay, but not as excited as ebayer paradigmshiftingrev, who is now the proud owner.

Butter Chicken and other delights

Patch the failed pig dog did not get any of these fine bacon & egg sandwiches that Chris Money made for Ross Corlett and me after we rode the BCL on Saturday morning.
The plan was for me to get the train to Newmarket, but track maintenance there meant I had to get off at Sylvia Park and meet Ross & Chris at Royal Oak.
Once we got going, Ross cranked along like a small, masochistic locomotive, while Chris tried to cough up a lung which gave me an excuse not to attempt to match Ross' pace on the hills.

In the PM, we used a large carpenter's square to establish that Sam Money had outgrown his road bike.

Good news from Invercargill

Wayne Davidson's stolen Rigi has been returned to him.

More Interbike photos

Italian saddle maker F'izi:k was giving away gelato at the Dirt Demo.






A Bilenky touring bike with S&S couplers...



.. and a Bilenky carrier bike on the Rohloff booth.







Dahon Tournado is a light touring bike using Ritchey Breakaway couplings.





More Sycip town bikes

Some out of focus Pashley Moultons

Steel, seen at Interbike '07

This Ritchey Breakaway singlespeed/fixed gear frame is a new model for 2008.
Geometry is similar to the Breakaway road frame but with a higher bottom bracket for fixed gear pedal clearance.
I think there will be one of these in my fleet before too long.

Something similar from Kirk Pacenti. This was used as a showcase for Cane Creek's range of fixed gear wheels.
A demountable fixie could be the ideal non-touring travel bike, but these deep section carbon wheels might not be ideal for urban pothole dodging.

Rawlands Cycles 650b bikes with Pacenti's new fork crown, and (right) the Pacenti 650b aka 27.5" Neo Moto MTB tyre.

Makino road fixed gear on the Euro-Asia stand.

Eura-Asia always has some high-end Japanese steel goodness on display.
They also had some new leather saddles from Gilles Berthoud.




The Tom Ritchey designed Coffee Bike for Project Rwanda. You can see it in action in this video.




This Pegoretti Luigino was on the Brooks stand. I have never seen a Luigino with these Prugnat lugs before.











For 2008 Brooks is introducing a messenger bag, plus a more affordable, steel railed version of my favourite saddle, the Swallow.

This stunning town bike from Northern Californian geniuses Sycip was on the Shimano stand promoting their Alfine group.

Rigi bicycle stolen from Invercargill $500 reward offered.

Some bad news from Wayne Davidson in Invercargill:

"My much loved Rigi has been stolen from Invercargill NZ on the 29/30September 2007. Sometime between 5pm and 5am my car was broken into and the bicycle was stolen. "

If you have any information, email Wayne, or phone him, at home

03 2172918 or mobile 027 3695222

RIGI SS 57cm road bicycle.

FRAME - 57cm SS painted white.

HEADSET - Campagnolo SR.

SEATPOST - Campagnolo NR with SR Black anno side supports & OMAS black alloynut/bolt. BINDER BOLT - OMAS black alloy.

SEAT - Concor black seude.

STEM - 3ttt silver 120mm 2002.

BARS - 3ttt

BRAKES - Modolo Masterpro ti black with sintered shoes.

BOTTOM BRACKET - O.M.A.S Ti. Alloy lockrings.

CRANKSET - Galli 52x42 with OMAS alloy chainring bolts.

PEDALS - Galli SC Road.

TOECLIPS - Black alloy Galli.

STRAPS - Alfredo Binda Super EXTRA.

REAR DERAILEUR - Campagnolo SR.

CLUSTER - Everest alloy 6 speed 13-21.

CHAIN - Regina America Superleggera.

HUBS - O.M.A.S Ti small flange - 36H.

RIMS - Nisi Stretto Corsa tubular - 36.

SPOKES - SS Semi Aero, radial front and x3 rear.

DRINKBOTTLE - ALE blue.

DRINKBOTTLE CAGE - Ale black alloy.

Velo Rendezvous 7

Though I went to Interbike in Las Vegas, I could not make it to Velo Rendezvous in Pasadena last weekend.
Fortunately, some highlights are already on YouTube:
For those of you whose corporate servers won't permit YouTube, here are photos from Christine O'Callahan and Tam Pham.
Tam has also posted a video that might slide through some corporate moral filters.

Delving into Flickr

For years I have stored photos on a couple Yahoo albums, but recently Yahoo have migrated all my photos over to Flickr, which turns out to be no bad thing. While Yahoo albums were discrete entities, Flickr is more of an interconnected community. Users can 'pool' photos into groups, like the Steel Bike Gallery, the 650b Bicycles pool, or the Classic Lightweight Bicycles pool. And one for Dan Rosser, the Mercian owners pool.

Flickr is also searcheable. After only a few minutes of rainy day delving, I present a cornucopia of links for your websurfing pleasure:

A stunning 1979 W.B. Hurlow racing frame
Bob Freitas' Hurlow seen at the 2007 Marin Century
A series of photos showing legendary English framebuilder Ron Cooper at work.
For baggage fetishists, there's the Carradice Club
The Bicycle Head Badge pool

Monte Paschi Eroica Pro race

From Cycling News last Tuesday:

"Le strade bianche of Siena that have become popular amongst cycling enthusiasts will now play host to the top pros. The Monte Paschi Eroica, presented yesterday in Milano by RCS Sport, will be the first time for professionals to race over the white gravel roads. The 180 kilometre race it is held on October 9.
The race, starting in Gaiole in Chianti and ending in Siena, will include seven sectors, 70 kilometres of 'sterrati' ('gravel roads') inspired by races like Paris-Roubaix and the Ronde van Vlaanderen."

The full article, with a map and course profile, is here.

The race will finish in Sienna's town square, more famous as the venue of the crazy Il Palio horse race. The organisers must be betting that there will be no bunch finish, because the cobbled streets of Sienna are too narrow and winding for a peleton at full speed.

CBAD

That's Compulsive Bicycle Acquisition Disorder, and I've got it.
So has Matt Seaton who wrote in 'Two Wheels' of an addiction that requires 'a degree of subterfuge in hiding one's compulsive bike acquisition habit from one's family that only alcoholics and serial adulterers would recognise.'

I'm lucky that my Spousal Unit prefers an ever increasing inventory of old bikes to finding whiskey bottles or teenage mistresses in the wardrobe, but some CBAD sufferers are not so lucky. On occasion I have provided discreet storage and other laundering facilities to friends who have added to their collections without spousal sanction.

Yesterday I was uncharacteristically restrained, deciding not to bid on this 1972 Frejus frame, although I have wanted one ever since I sold my first one in 1979. I don't think this indicates that I am getting my problem under control- there were too many potential logistical hurdles extracting it from the United States.

More on Mr Gami's Toei

It looks like I posted only a few hours before Mr Gami updated his website regarding his new Toei Sportif- steel frame from Kaisei 8630 tubing, a carbon-free Campagnolo Centaur drivetrain, mudguards over fast clincher tyres, even an alternative steel fork with a rack to support a handlebar bag.
It's spookily close to my dream road bike, though I would not last long on that razor blade of a saddle.

Tantalising Toei

Sifting through Mr Gami's website, I find this photo of a modern Toei Sportif bike with a caption which Babelfish renders as:
'スポルティーフ which order has been done almost got near to completion. The fact that it goes to receiving is the pleasure.'
Some more Babelisms about the bike here.

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.

Experiments with Evapo-Rust

Rust may be the biggest problem when you are trying to preserve an old bike in original but patina'd condition. Most rust removers are acidic, and incompatible with old paint and chrome, not to mention skin. Evapo-Rust removes rust by selective chelation, without damaging surrounding paint or plating, and is non-toxic.
My first experiments were with rusty chrome plated parts- a set of Zeus Competicion chain wheel fixing bolts, and a Cinelli steel track stem. I soaked the parts in Evapo-Rust for 24 hours. As you can see, it did not miraculously restore the chrome, but it has left the surface free of rust. The black residue is carbon and will wipe or wirebrush off.
To prevent re-rusting, all you need to do is wipe the surface with Evapo-Rust after it has been rinsed off.

















My next experiment is to remove the rust from the chainstay's of CTB's Holdsworth, by wrapping Evapo-Rust soaked rags around the stays, and covering them with Glad Wrap to prevent evaporation. I'll post the 'after' photos later this weekend.

Drillium

From 'Bike World' December 1973.

Letterbox full of goodness

Today the postie brought the latest William Gibson, a good secondhand pair of Bicycle Fixation knickers, and an SR Royal Extra Super Light stem.
Most of SR's output was functional but uninspiring melt-forged crap, but, pre Yen Shock, their top of the line products were something else. Cold-forged, drilled, milled, slotted, and hollowed out, SR's Royal line mimicked the fashionable customised 'Drillium' components , but with the benefits of a factory warranty. They also supplied crankarm forgings to MAVIC and OMAS.
I already have earlier model fluted SR Royal SL stem and a matching seatpost on my Echelon Spectra. The hollow stem is destined for my putative Rory O'Brien frame, with some early Superbe Pro deraillers & hubs, Sugino Super Mighty cranks & seatpost and Dia-Compe brakes.

Catalog picture from Mr Gami's catalog scans page

A shopping trip

Last Saturday I went forth on my demountable, with BoB trailer attached, to pick up a Legnano frame from Tony at Cycle City. On the way I stopped at Bunnings, and got me a big manly Swedish axe and a gallon of Evapo-Rust (of which more later).

While I was rooting about at Cycle City I found a pair of 28h Fiamme Red label tubulars laced to Campagnolo Record wide flange hubs. The wheels themselves are pretty cool, but I had to have them for the Hills Cycle Works wheelcovers.

Retro Ride Report 12/8/07

You might think that Retroriders would stay abed on rainy mornings, but you would be mistaken.
Despite worse weather than the last Okoroire Ride, we had 6 starters on Sunday.
Mark Skelly, Dan Rosser, Peter Alexander, celebrity economist Chris Tennent-Brown, Donna and I managed a short lap of Mangere before retiring to the loungeroom for more coffee.
Dan showed exceptionally good form in debuting his brand new Mercian 753.

The Baylis Cycles website

More photos of Brian Baylis' work work from Carlos Martell.
Two galleries, one showing the painting process on a Baylis custom frame, the other showing the customisation of a Pacenti lugset.

More dodgy retro fashion.

After a decent interval of procrastination, I fitted some press studs to a pair of cutdown NZo 307 Lites, thereby converting them into a decent pair of cycling plus-twos. I have been commuting in them for a couple of weeks, worn over a pair of NZo Cruiseliners.
While you can get knickers in hemp, or wool gabardine, or fancy Swiss nano-fabric, the cutdown 307s are hard to beat for cost, ease of laundering and Nzo's legendary crashworthiness.
The only downside is that NZo doesn't acually make these themselves. If you think you would like a pair, or better a pair of knee length Dobies, feel free to deluge NZo with emails.

The Campagnolo Clothes Hanger

It turns out that the Campagnolo corkscrew was not the first application of Tullio Campagnolo's genius to domestic matters.
On the CR list yesterday, Dale Brown outed these patents for fancy clothes hangers, designed to prevent clothes being creased while they hang.

The Adventures of Sir Maldoror

Carlos Martell (right) , aka Sir Maldoror is Brian Baylis' (left) protege at the new San Diego-based framebuilders & painters cooperative .

Lately Carlos has been putting some of their framebuilding and restoration work online at maldororbicycles.com.

Without giving away too many of Baylis' hard-earned professional secrets, Sir Maldoror shows some of the processes involved in restoring vintage bikes after after a lifetime of hard use.

Some of these jobs, like paintstripping by hand are just nasty, while others, such as masking lugs, require incredible attention to detail in what seems like a mundane task.

More links to Baylis' work:
Large Fella on a Bike Framebuilders questionaire

Sheldon Brown's Baylis-restored Raleigh Professional

Baylis gallery at the Pacenti Cycle Design site.

Photo of Brian and Carlos by Matt Gorski, from WoolJersey