'Are you training for something?'..

...is always one of the first topics when I meet someone out on the road, and my usual answer is 'I ride with my friends to ride with my friends'.
Mock me, if you will, for this faux-zen wankery but it is the truth.

This makes the Race of Six Friends, an event for which I can claim some responsibility but no credit, the perfect competitive outing.

At the first edition in late August, our team of Emma, Jay, Gayle, CTB, Gaz and myself finished unbloodied and, most crucially, still friends.

For the second edition on September 25 we have subbed Kate Mullarkey for Emma who broke her wrist on an R6F training ride a couple of weeks ago.

Swapmeet at T.Whites, July 30

Winter Solstice Ride, Saturday June 25

The erudite Stu Hill is hosting this year's Winter Solstice Ride, and it promises to be epic.

Detail HERE

Donna at full speed

1994 Track Nationals, on the old Cooks Gardens Velodrome.

Turn on, tune in...

Too good to be true?

I wonder about the chain of events that lead to this Colnago being offered on Trademe by a pawnshop.

Gayle's spanky new bike

On Saturday afternoon I provided tools, advice and adult supervision for Gayle as she transferred the kit from her World Famous Fixie Inc Betty Leeds to her brand new 2011 Fixie Inc Chip Race frame.

Unlike the 2010 frame which was Reynolds 953, the 2011 model is from 3/2.5 titanium and weighs 300g less than the Betty Leeds frame.
 The crucial frame geometry numbers are identical to Betty's, but the top tube is almost horizontal and the seat tube is correspondingly about 3cm longer.

With a Chorus 11 speed groupset, American Classic mag wheels, and Ritchey WCS Carbon bars stem and seatpost, the new bike, officially dubbed Pony, weighs in at 7.36kg.

MORE PHOTOS over at Gayle's blog.

Critical Massquerade this Friday

T.Whites Swapmeet, October 30th

More about the tandem

Everything you ever wanted to know:

Headset	Top: Campagnolo Veloce. Bottom: Ritchey Scuzzy Logic roller bearing
Bottom brackets	Campagnolo AC-H 111mm
Crankset	Suntour Superbe Pro. Front 175mm; rear 170mm
Brakes	Front: Scott Self Energising Cantilever Rear: Suntour XC Pro SE Cantilever
Brake levers	Campagnolo Chorus Ergopower 10 speed
Front derailler	Campagnolo Centaur
Rear derailler	Campagnolo Chorus with J-Tek Shiftmate
Hubs	Front: Phil Wood Tandem 36h. Rear: Shimano Ultegra 36h
Rims	Campagnolo Omicron
Cluster	SRAM PG 970 12-26
Tyres	Continental GP 4 Season 700 x 28
Saddle	Front: Brooks Swallow Rear: Specialized
Seatpost	Front: TTT. Rear: Kalloy
Stem	Front: Salsa 14cm Easton Vice
Handlebars	Front: Mavic 350 44cm Rear: Charge Slice bullhorn
Handlebar tape	Fizik Microtex
 

First outing on the 'new' tandem

Occasionally I pine for Ergopower shiftlevers on one of my road bikes, but not being even a faux-racer, I don't feel the need often enough to spend the money.
On the tandem, its a different kettle of cod- after today's shakedown ride I don't think I could use anything else on the tandem again.

Resplendent in new Revolution Bicycles merino jerseys, Gayle and I took the Bob Jackson for shakedown ride around the Mangere shitponds loop this morning.

Overall, it feels a lot like Worrall's Bob Jackson which we rode earlier this year, but the improved gear shifting makes it a lot easier to ride.

The friction shifting on Worrall's bike is surprisingly good, but it is still frustratingly easy to miss a shift on a climb and lose momentum.

No such problem with the Ergopower shifters - early in the ride we floated up short climbs in easy gears, later on we were attacking them out of the saddle and shifting up as we started to spin out.



The self-energising cantilever brakes were a revelation too.
I had the same brakes on the bike in the early 90's but remembered the front Scott SE as grabby and prone to juddering.
Today, fitted with KoolStop salmon pads, they were smooth and powerful enough that I am lucky that Gayle's teeth are not embeded in my spine.

I am looking forward to lots of fun and mischief on this bike.

At last, my preciousss

Friday morning, a month and two days after I had paid for it, and seven years after I started looking for one, I collected the Ritchey frame from NZ Post at Mangere Airport.
It had apparently been there for two weeks, and might have lingered longer had I not availed myself of NZ Post's online Customer Enquiry Form.

Friday evening I set to work.
When building a new bike, I like to get my position sorted first, so I plugged in a dummy headset and fitted a seat and seatpost, and handlebar and stem.
The frame is a 62, 1cm larger than advertised, so with the seat at the correct height there is only a fistful of seatpost showing.
The 56.5cm toptube is extremely short for such a large frame so I didn't have to think twice about using a 15cm Salsa stem that was on standby for the tandem.

With the ergonomics sorted, I installed a Greatest Hits selection  of 70s and 80s Suntour that I had been fettling while the frame was in transit.

A set of 70s Cyclone deraillers came from CTB, the rest is Superbe ranging from 1978 to 83.

 I had built a set of Araya 20A clincher rims onto Superbe RH-1000 small flange hubs, but the 122mm rear dropout spacing is  narrower than I was expecting so my old faithful 36h tubular wheels were pressed into service.
With Clement Campionato del Mundo tubulars it is impossible to dislike a bike with these wheels.

Saturday morning, I wrapped the bars with white Fizik Microtex tape, soldered the cable ends and set out for a test ride.
Needless to say, it rained.

MORE PHOTOS

Headset	Cane Creek 100 Classic
Bottom bracket	Sugino Mighty
Crankset	Suntour Superbe Cw-1000 175mm, TA 41 & SR Royal 53
Pedals	Suntour Superbe Pro track PL-2000, with Christophe aluminium toeclips
Brakes	Suntour Superbe CB-4000 standard reach
Brake levers	Suntour Superbe CB-3200
Shiftlevers	Suntour Superbe Pro LD-3250 power ratchet
Front derailler	Suntour Cyclone FD-1300
Rear derailler	Suntour Cyclone RD-1700
Hubs	Campagnolo Record, wide flange 36h
Front rim	Fiamme Ergal
Rear rim	Mavic Monthlery Legere
Freewheel	Suntour Ultra 6, 14-24 or 14-26
Saddle	Ideale 2002 Titanium
Seatpost	SR Royal ESL 27.2mm
Stem	Salsa 15cm
Handlebars	Nitto 185 44cm
Handlebar tape	Fizik Microtex

The Ritchey is here

Collected this morning from the NZ Post depot at Auckland International airport.

Bob Jackson tandem

Completed, if not finished, this morning.

I have had the frame for about 20 years, but have not ridden it since the mid '90s.
Earlier this year I had some good rides with Gayle on Worrall's tandem, so I decided to build this one up with modern components so that we can shift gears while climbing or sprinting out of the saddle

Fortunately, when I was younger and stupider I had respaced the dropouts back so that a modern rear wheel would fit.

The drivetrain is a Campagnolo/Shimano/SRAM hybrid, with Campagnolo Chorus 10 speed Ergopower and rear derailler and a Shimano Ultregra hub with SRAM PG970 12-26 cassette.
A J-Tek Shiftmate corrects the cable pull of the 10 speed Campag shifter for the 9 speed cassette.
Cranks are Suntour Superbe Pro, rethreaded by Bruno at Cycle Express, on Campagnolo Veloce 111mm bottom brackets.

Chainrings are 52/38, which should give us a low enough bottom gear, but might leave us a bit short at the top end.

Because of the curved seattube, the front derailler needs to be positioned a couple of centimeters further back, hopefully easy to achieve by making an aluminium packer to go between the mounting bracket and the derailler.


The brakes are self-energising cantilevers. Front is Scott SE, rear is Suntour XC Pro.

All the Bob Jackson tandem photos

Scraping the bottom of the barrell?

This week I broke one of my rules of being on holiday, and visited a couple of local bikeshops on my own time.

On Tuesday I went to Cycle Express to collect some Suntour Superbe Pro cranks that Bruno had rethreaded for use on my tandem.

Twice, I found myself at T.White's Bikes.
Saturday evening for the excellent CGG Jenna Makgill fundraiser, which left me financially poorer but hopefully rich in kharma; then again yesterday to get a set of single chainwheel attachment bolts for the aforementioned tandem.

This is not a normal situation for me- having assembled my last four vintage bikes almost entirely from parts that I had on hand, I don't expect a project to grind to a halt for want of a packet of bolts.
Perhaps this means that I am finally scraping the bottom of my barrell?

I doubt it.
Despite using some of the pile of parts into bicycles, and some recent success selling surplus frames on Trademe, my shed looks no less cluttered.

Something to do in the weekend

It would be bad manners to miss out on this opportunity to support the fabulously amazonian Jenna Makgill

Mine at last!

This morning I won the ebay auction for this lugless Tom Ritchey road frame.
I have been looking for one since about 2003 but this is the first one I have found in my size.
According to the vendor, it dates to the late 70s. With fully lugless, fillet brazed construction and a sloping fork crown it bears a strong resemblance to the lugless Ritchey frame from the Palo Alto Bicycles catalog.

Now that I have won the auction, I can start accumulating parts.
My plan is to use a set of original Suntour Cyclone deraillers that CTB gave me, with early Suntour Superbe cranks, brakes, shiftlevers and hubs.
The rear dropout spacing is 125mm, so a 7 speed drivetrain should be possible.
I have a dilemna regarding bars stem & seatpost, whether to go for period correct parts; or to use my 1990s Nitto-made Ritchey WCS stem possibly with a Nitto S83 seatpost.

MORE PHOTOS

Raleigh Gran Tour on trademe - SOLD

This week's Trademe delight is a slightly hard done by but basically decent 60cm Raleigh Gran Tour frame.
With a bit of love and elbow grease this will make a great winter bike, commuter or credit card tourer.
If you don't believe me, take a look at Oli Brooke-White's stylish but low-budget Gran Tour:

Vicariously Pro

Today CTB is a guest rider for Team Bici Vida at Race 4 of the Benchmark Series at Taitapu, Christchurch.

Cecil Walker frame on Trademe - SOLD

As the ruthless cleanout continues the Cecil Walker frame that I rode at Eroica in 2006 goes on the block.