Delux Mixed Terrain sled

Check out Andy Hampsten's bike on cyclingnews.com

You can take him anywhere once...

... Wayne Sullivan, that is, whose email report of the excellent Broomie's Wall Ride eclipses anything I could have composed myself.

Some names have been omitted to protect the innocent.

Subject: THE WALL - BRAGGING RIGHTS
Hey Monkeyman,
This short correspondence to keep you up to speed and advise you of what you missed out on.

We did it as promised while you lay comatose in your lovers arms.

It was a loose pelican of riders that trundled South and wound our way around some nice country roads to the base of the Bombay's and over a few small lumps (some of which I thought were a bit "wall like") until at last there it was, rising before us like a gray curtain on a green wall. Indeed it was a wall. Fuck!

As we approached this cyclists nightmare I swear I heard an announcement which said "fat people or old people line up at the back please", so I did, and stayed right there until the top, coming over the final crest a sad and sorry last. (But Hell man, it was nothing, I'd do it again tomorrow.)

As I cleared the last bit I swear I heard another voice, this time from somewhere above that said something like "blessed are the weak for they will provide us with mirth" (I think it was a sign from God.)

After this part of the ride I "came right" and rode with some aplomb, and back at Ramarama the bunch stopped for a banana and a beer, but Gaz and I being latish for our tea party, rode on alone (except for a beautiful young escort) The three of us powered all the way back to Otahuhu at a good clip, with my brother in the van for the whole distance and us two (me and the babe) hanging on for grim death.

To summarise I have to say "we done it Mr Monkeyman" and you didn't, now harden the fuck up.......

Kind regards as always.

Richard Branson.

MORE PHOTOS

'No Record' Record

In anticipation this weekend's ride up Broomie's wall, I decided that the Hurlow needed some lightweight wheels. This proposition won't stand up to critical scrutiny, but the pair of 28h Fiamme Red Label wheels that I got last year from Cycle City have been preying on my conscience for 9 months, so I needed only the slightest excuse to disinter them.

The hubs are early Campagnolo Record, known in vintage bikenerd circles as 'No Record' because the hub shells are marked only with the Campagnolo logo.
From 1963 the hubs were also marked RECORD.

Rims are Fiamme Red Labels with the Cerchio Fiamme "helmet" logo.

To further enhance my hillclimbing, I swapped out the TA Cyclotouriste cranks for a set of Zeus 177.5s with 36/49 rings.
Combined with a 14-26 Suntour Ultra-6 freewheel, this is right on the limits of the Zeus Criterium derailler's meagre capacity.

Broomie's Wall Ride Sunday 18th May

A message from Kate Mullarkey:

Hi all,
Having never completed the Auckland icon that is “Broomie’s Wall” I thought I would try and get a group together to tackle it alongside, or more realistically, well in front of me!

Sunday 18 May. 7.45 am leave from top of Meadowbank Road (will make the round loop about 110km); or 8:15 am from 16 Ngaio St, Otahuhu (for those from South Auckland or wanting a round loop of 75km).

Please feel free to invite anyone else who may be interested, as long as they do not half wheel anyone, or consider it acceptable to attack the bunch at any point other than at the base of the wall !!
For those of you who have also never completed Broomie’s wall , a well known Auckland cycling personality describes it below:

"Broomie's Wall, named for legendary coach and 60s roadie wildman Jack Broome, is the 2km steepest pitch on Hillview Rd, Ramarama, as it heads south towards Bombay.
Most Auckland cyclists have seen it from the Southern Motorway and wisely resolved not to investigate further. Whilst Broomie's long-suffering proteges would have made multiple ascents on 42 x 18, a 39 x 25 or compact gearing will be more congenial.”

There has also been rumours that there may be a post-Wall beer stop at a yet to be determined venue.

Trackies rain* rules (i.e. we don’t go) apply.

Cheers

Kate

*defined as any amount of precipitation that continues for long enough to make your shoes wet, or that requires the wearing of rain jacket for longer than a five to ten minute shower.

Okoroire Mid-Winter Fun Ride entry forms are out..

Downloadable from http://www.funcycling.net/documents/okoroire_2008_entry_form.pdf

The day after

Paying the price for yesterday's mixed terrain fun.

Cecil stood up the abuse pretty well- except for a bit of chainsuck, everything, even the 1970's Campagnolo Record brakes, worked better than I expected.

For the next outing I'll fit bar end shifters, and change from a 50/47/32 triple to something like a 47/32 double.

Once I have Cecil dried off and relubed, there are a yet a couple of unclean singlespeed in the shed from the NZSSC last weekend.

Riverhead Mixed Terrain Ride

The plan was simple- a dirt road christening for Adam's Breakaway Cross bike. Since he's a westie, Riverhead Forest looked like the best venue.
Invitations were emailed out, and despite fairly miserable weather, eight of us set out this morning from the Swanson Station Cafe:

Adam Lovell____________Ritchey Breakaway Cross
Hugh Calder ___________Kona Jake
Allister Worrall _________GT cross
Peter Alexander________MTB
Kim Sinclair ___________Bauer MTB
Chris Tennent-Brown ___Ritchey Breakaway fixed gear
Glenn Selwyn __________Nakagawa
DB___________________Cecil Walker

By the time we reached the forest, CTB had peeled off with a sore knee, and Glen called it quits, having forgotten his inhaler.
The rest of us rode into the forest at Browns Road, for the first gravel leg to Ararimu Valley Road via Strip Road.
After turning back into the forest at Campbell Road, we took a wrong turn off Whakatahi Rd that fortuitously took us to the best part of the ride- a muddy four wheel drive track descending to Deacon Road. Thence we guessed our way to Forestry Road, only a couple of kms from our planned lunch stop at Hallertau.

All the photos fit to show your mother

Click on the button for a map

A weekend in Rotorua

For most of the week I have been operating at about half speed, after an excellent couple of days riding in Rotorua, in the company of Kate Mullarkey and Gaz.

On Saturday Kate and I rode the Rotorua-Taupo 100k Flyer, while Gaz took care of the Nzo stand in the finish at the Taupo Events Centre.
My plan had been to ride Team McCall, the fair weather performance option; but a forecast for rain made me reconsider and refit the guards on the Hurlow. Needless to say the day dawned fine.
Although the course map promised a detour through the Whakarewarewa Forest, we barrelled straight out of town along Highway 5, over a series of draggy uphills that soon showed that I had started with a group that was too fast for me. Eventually I settled into a decent group, where I remained until they unloaded me about 5kms from the finish.
Retro Ride regular Mark Skelly made an appearance in the group somewhere before Reporoa. Despite his 81" fixed being a bit big on the climbs, and too small on some of the tailwind declines, he stayed in the bunch to finish a couple of minutes ahead of me.

With the NZSSC but three weeks away, it would have been madness not to ride in the Whakarewarewa Forest, so Sunday morning saw the three of us at the Waipa Mill carpark for a couple of hours singlespeeding.
We weren't alone- in the carpark we met Mike Metz, lately moved to Rotorua to start Bike Culture with Rob Smail, and Zib Campbell who for years kept Nzo on an even keel. Their posse had gears and were heading for the high ground, so we bid them adieu and made for singlespeed compatible territory.
Gaz took us through various Pondies and the Yellow Brick Road, while keeping up a running commentary on trail conditions and world affairs. The only time either of us got close was when I banged my front tyre squarely into his back tyre, tipping myself head first off the low side of the trail.

My unrequited desire for a Tom Ritchey road frame

The arrival of this frame (Item number: 130210111168) on ebay yesterday reminded me of the tragic lack of a handbuilt Tom Ritchey road frame in my collection.

If you have a 60-63cm frame like this (lugged or 'fake lugged' head tube & seat cluster; lugless bottom bracket with the parkbench chainstay bridge), don't think twice, email me now.

International shipping is not a problem.

My Flickr gallery of Ritchey road frames, variously culled from ebay and other sources.

Adam's Breakaway Cross

Adam Lovell's Ritchey Breakaway Cross, hastily snapped on Friday afternoon as he hustled out the door with his just-finished new toy.
Intended as an allround commuter/tourer/cross sled, and built from a mix of new parts and drivetrain from his old BMC Streetfire.

Frame_________________Ritchey Breakaway Cross 56cm
Headset________________Ritchey WCS Logic
Bottom bracket__________Campagnolo AC-H
Crankset_______________Campagnolo Veloce CT 34/50
Brakes_________________Avid Single Digit
Brake levers____________Cane Creek Drop V
Shift levers_____________Campagnolo Record 10 speed bar end
Front derailler__________Campagnolo Veloce CT
Rear derailler___________Campagnolo Veloce
Wheels________________Fulcrum Racing 5
Tyres_________________Continental Contact Reflex 700 x 37
Sprockets______________Campagnolo Veloce 13-26
Saddle_________________Fi'zi:k Pave
Seatpost_______________Ritchey WCS 27.2mm
Stem__________________11cm, something we found
Handlebars_____________Ritchey BioMax 26.0mm

Next Critical Mass, March 28th

Taking stock

On the Breakfast Ride this morning, Amy Taylor interrogated me as to exactly how many bikes I have, and I was unable to give a definitive answer.
As far as I can remember, this is the current inventory:

Modern
1995 Benson nowadays with 9 speed Campagnolo
Ritchey Breakaway, currently disassembled to touch up the paint
2002 Benson Demountable

Vintage
1969 Gillott
1969 Hurlow
1963 Condor Italia a neglected size Small Retro Ride loaner
80's Echelon Spectra, aka Team McCall
1981 Cecil Walker

Off Road
2007 Gt Peace 9r singlespeed

Incoming
Ritchey Breakaway Fixed/singlespeed

In stasis (mosly frames):
1956 Holdsworth Whirlwind (with broken seat tube)
1956-ish Holdsworth Zephyr
1952 Claud Butler Olympic Sprint
1958 Flying Scot
50's JRJ road/track
Esposito the mystery Italian
A putative Rory O'Brien
Olympic mystery Australian road frame
Some manky Legnanos

Seen at the March Retro Ride

Gary Ulmer's Zeus, originally belonged to his father Ron who represented New Zealand at the 1938 Empire Games.

Later, Ron Ulmer was the owner of Bluebird Cycles in Petone, whose shop sticker can be seen on the Zeus' downtube.
Gary rode this bike when he returned to racing in the late 80s, before passing it on to daughter Sarah who began her illustrious career on it.
MORE PHOTOS

Vic Crutchley has owned this Carlton Franco-Italia bike since 1964, a reward from his father for passing his O levels.
Most of the parts are original, though Vic fessed up to swapping the 27" high pressure wheels for Fiamme Red Label tubulars after a couple of years.

MORE PHOTOS

Mark Battley's Frejus

Mark Battley has, more or less, finished the Frejus Super Corsa that I sold to him (misidentified as a Tour de France) a few months ago.
You can see his before and after photos here.
He can't rest too long on his laurels though, because he has the ex-Bruce O'Halloran 1968 Colnago that caused a brief frenzy on the CR List earlier in the year.

See you there...

Click on the photo for big.

BMX, Wine & Food

On Sunday, CTB and I took a jaunt via Swanson and Riverhead, to watch some BMX racing at Albany, and finishing up at the Devonport Wine & Food Festival.

My day started on the train from Otahuhu to Newmarket, whence I rode to CTB's subdelux bachelor accomodation at Waterview.
By 9:30am, CTB was out of bed, dressed in appropriate gear, his Hillman fixie was suitably festooned with baggage, and the coffee machine was warmed up.
Our route took us along the North Western cycleway to Swanson, where CTB dropped me like a stone on the climb up Birdwood. So much for his assertion that he was handicapping himself by riding the fixie.
At Riverhead, we stopped at Hallertau for a beer before climbing Ridge Rd to the top of Highway 18. Descending into Albany, the boot was on the other foot as CTB ran out of legspeed while I coasted.
We spent long enough at the BMX watch a few races and inhale a hotdog each, then headed to Devonport for the Wine & Food Festival. There we ate yet more, sampled a few glasses of wine, the highlight being the Thornbury Pinot Gris, and were entertained by Hello Sailor and The Lady Killers.

We returned to Auckland on the ferry, parting at Britomart where I caught another train home to Otahuhu.

Toei 'British Lightweight Model'

Found during my daily websurfing routine:

A Toei British Lightweight model, on Mr Akuta's 'My Cycle Touring with Toei' website (here mangled by Babelfish).

As you can see from Mr Akuta's own steeds, and those of his friends, most Toeis are in the French style, so an English-inspired Toei is something of a departure.

This bike features the bilaminate construction and lug design of an early 50s Claud Butler Avant Coureur, with the 'Greatest Hits of the 50s, 60s and 70s' component choices that are almost compulsory on English frames.

More NAHBS

Rich Pinder has put the show catalog online: http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~rpinder/Show08.pdf

NAHBS 2008

Burn up a few hours of corporate broadband ogling some pix from the 08 North American Handmade Bicycle Show:

Bike Portland's Flickr album

Clockwork Bikes downloadable NAHBS album, is now also at Wooljersey

Alex Wetmore's photos

Pegoretti Luigino photo from Clockwork Bikes

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.