Monday, June 16, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
holy writing time
So, things haven't changed too much for me in the great north. Or, I suppose, they have a bit since I last posted roughly three months ago. Sorry about that, guys.
First of all, and I forget if I mentioned this, I'm with a lovely girl whose name is Alayna. She lives six miles away from me in Forest Hills and so I've been doing a lot of riding lately. Right now, unfortunately, she's in Mexico until the 19th of next month, so I miss her terribly.
Second, here's what I've done with the garage. Now I've got three sturdy bikes that are fully built in case I have mechanical issues one day or I need to ride off-road:
Alice, of course, the '79 Super Le Tour track conversion. I've got a setup that I feel comfortable riding at least 60 miles a week with now. Recently I salvaged a very old Raleigh touring frame that came with a few beautiful components such as the chrome fork and Bulletproof crankset. The crankset lets me run a 42t wide chainring with a 14t cog in the rear, so no more disparate cog widths grinding about in my drivetrain. I put a fresh set of Wellgo track pedals on as well, and finally got a pair of DP18 aero wheels with sealed cartridge bearings so I never have to grumble about tightening my hub and leaking grease all over my apartment again. I also lost the Brooks and the dual bottle cage. The cage, honestly, is poorly constructed and needed constant tightening to keep it from rattling about on the poorly maintained streets of Pittsburgh. For me at this point, it's better to just have water in my bag. Or a cup of coffee in my hand, which is usually the case on the way to work anyway. The Brooks was beginning to drive me nuts. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautifully designed saddle and it's going to get a lot of use from me someday, but it's not ideal for my riding style, which is fairly aggressive. It also weighs about two and a half pounds, and if you ever, ever get it wet it's just a saggy trash bag with copper rivets. Way too high-maintenance for me, so I put it on the Raleigh that I mentioned:
First of all, and I forget if I mentioned this, I'm with a lovely girl whose name is Alayna. She lives six miles away from me in Forest Hills and so I've been doing a lot of riding lately. Right now, unfortunately, she's in Mexico until the 19th of next month, so I miss her terribly.
Second, here's what I've done with the garage. Now I've got three sturdy bikes that are fully built in case I have mechanical issues one day or I need to ride off-road:
Alice, of course, the '79 Super Le Tour track conversion. I've got a setup that I feel comfortable riding at least 60 miles a week with now. Recently I salvaged a very old Raleigh touring frame that came with a few beautiful components such as the chrome fork and Bulletproof crankset. The crankset lets me run a 42t wide chainring with a 14t cog in the rear, so no more disparate cog widths grinding about in my drivetrain. I put a fresh set of Wellgo track pedals on as well, and finally got a pair of DP18 aero wheels with sealed cartridge bearings so I never have to grumble about tightening my hub and leaking grease all over my apartment again. I also lost the Brooks and the dual bottle cage. The cage, honestly, is poorly constructed and needed constant tightening to keep it from rattling about on the poorly maintained streets of Pittsburgh. For me at this point, it's better to just have water in my bag. Or a cup of coffee in my hand, which is usually the case on the way to work anyway. The Brooks was beginning to drive me nuts. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautifully designed saddle and it's going to get a lot of use from me someday, but it's not ideal for my riding style, which is fairly aggressive. It also weighs about two and a half pounds, and if you ever, ever get it wet it's just a saggy trash bag with copper rivets. Way too high-maintenance for me, so I put it on the Raleigh that I mentioned:
This frame represents what I've learned about building, and more importantly, restoring bicycles. I should've taken a picture of this poor bastard when I picked it up in Bloomfield; covered in green latex paint, sporting a 700c front wheel and 27 inch rear with cheap 35c knobbies, steerer tube wobbling around inside the headtube, handlebars loose, a lone brake cable draping from an ancient, clawlike Dia Compe lever through the main triangle to a rusty rear brake like a curtain. You can imagine. Apparently it used to be a singlespeed and someone completely butchered it trying to turn it into a geared reincarnation of its former self.
The first thing I did was strip the frame of every single component and carefully sand it down to the bare Reynolds tubing. I put a few coats of black spraypaint on, and then added the messy 700c track LP18s from the Schwinn, the crankset from the aluminum roadbike I still have, with a 42t Sugino chainring in the front and a 13t cog in the back. The chrome drop bars, brake and lever, and Wellgo pedals come from my parts bin, along with the seatpost and of course, the Brooks. The stem and fork are actually from the Schwinn - I stripped the original paint from the Schwinn fork to reveal a beautiful chrome plating. The amazing thing about so many bikes from that time period is that they were first lugged, then polished and chromed, then given a white primer coat before the final paint color was selected. What I ended up with is a track bike with a fairly high gear that looks high-end but is anything but.
Finally, this might as well be considered a cyclocross frankenbike. 35c knobbies on 700s that barely clear the frame, a Shimano drivetrain with a Deore rear derailleur and Tiagra crankset, a brand new 105 rear brake and a 30 year-old Dia Compe front. This bike is a monster. It crushes small children in its path. The aluminum frame can be a little jarring at times, but it's not as bad as it could be due to a straight blade steel fork, and of course, the big tires. I took it through the park the other day and was pretty happy with the way it performed. The shifting is as smooth as I'd expect with the low quality setup, and the rear cluster gives a pretty wide range of gears. The only thing I'd like to do to this bike at this point is lose the drops and put on some big ol' riser bars, and maybe a shorter stem. My reach right now on this thing really does make me feel like I'm a cyclocross racer.
Otherwise, it's hot as hell at the moment, which makes water taste really good. Also, the restaurant's hours are extended for the summer so I'm sticking around a bit later in the evenings. I also have a new telephone number, one appropriate for someone living in Pittsburgh, so if you don't have it yet please let me know.
The first thing I did was strip the frame of every single component and carefully sand it down to the bare Reynolds tubing. I put a few coats of black spraypaint on, and then added the messy 700c track LP18s from the Schwinn, the crankset from the aluminum roadbike I still have, with a 42t Sugino chainring in the front and a 13t cog in the back. The chrome drop bars, brake and lever, and Wellgo pedals come from my parts bin, along with the seatpost and of course, the Brooks. The stem and fork are actually from the Schwinn - I stripped the original paint from the Schwinn fork to reveal a beautiful chrome plating. The amazing thing about so many bikes from that time period is that they were first lugged, then polished and chromed, then given a white primer coat before the final paint color was selected. What I ended up with is a track bike with a fairly high gear that looks high-end but is anything but.
Finally, this might as well be considered a cyclocross frankenbike. 35c knobbies on 700s that barely clear the frame, a Shimano drivetrain with a Deore rear derailleur and Tiagra crankset, a brand new 105 rear brake and a 30 year-old Dia Compe front. This bike is a monster. It crushes small children in its path. The aluminum frame can be a little jarring at times, but it's not as bad as it could be due to a straight blade steel fork, and of course, the big tires. I took it through the park the other day and was pretty happy with the way it performed. The shifting is as smooth as I'd expect with the low quality setup, and the rear cluster gives a pretty wide range of gears. The only thing I'd like to do to this bike at this point is lose the drops and put on some big ol' riser bars, and maybe a shorter stem. My reach right now on this thing really does make me feel like I'm a cyclocross racer.
Otherwise, it's hot as hell at the moment, which makes water taste really good. Also, the restaurant's hours are extended for the summer so I'm sticking around a bit later in the evenings. I also have a new telephone number, one appropriate for someone living in Pittsburgh, so if you don't have it yet please let me know.