Show us your bikes (Part whatever...)

My outgoing baby.. i'm putting her out to pasture so i can concentrate on my triathlons.. I don't get to ride much anymore other than training rides



On order...

Dear Holty,

I am not going to challenge you to a race!

ATB from George

Ok, so decided to do this before the evening sauna..

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Dear Holty,

I am not going to challenge you to a race!

ATB from George

haha, i'm old and slow now! all the gear no idea

Thank you, Lotano.

Then the next one So did little over 2 hour cx ride with a friend today and here we are having a break in the park and you can also see my Surly CC there on the left.



And here is a side view.



After I still take on pic of my Pelago commuter you have seen all the four rides that I have in my possession at the moment..

Mika's lovely Colnago...

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Carlton with original racing drop handlebar:



And a few days later with the more traffic friendly flat bar:



These photographs are from March 2009. The flat bar has some advantages, and really the bike is a fraction too big for me [the saddle is ideally distant from the crank, and you may note quite far in on the tube!], and its general size makes the length of the reach just a strain with the modern racing bar. The flat bar improved this, but later this week I am going to fit a veteran 1930s racing bar, which will be slightly shorter in reach even than the flat bar, while having a low set grip - if not as low as a modern bar. Suitable for the older person shall we say!

I will post a photo or two by the end of the week! The old Great North Road bar should hopefully suit me better than either previous effort, as well as being more comfortable on my old wrists than the flat bar, handy though that is in traffic ...

I love this old bike. Probably I should take the advice of friend and have a frame made, but that is expensive! The Carlton was saved from being scrapped!

Even the running repairs so far have been cost-free except for my time fiddling!

ATB from George

George, that's a great point about the flat bar. When I'm riding in heavy traffic in the city, I'd rather be on a flat bar versus being on the brake hoods/drop bar on my road bike. The compromises we make.

Dear Hawk,

I have found a solution that is as fast as the modern drop bar for me - already tested - and even more comfortable than the modern flat bar in traffic!

The so called "Great North Road" bar, which was the standard English racing bar in the 1930s, and remained a regular bar for serious touring into the fifties, before the drop bar became fashionable.

This bar here is new old stock from the '30s. Not expensive as it happened, but easily the greatest improvement I have ever made in cycling beyond actually being given the Carlton. Shortly, in a week or two, the much rebuilt bike will re-appear in my "Broken Carlton" thread, which many new to me [old] parts and a refreshed coat of enamel.

The modern set up bike next is my Peugeot, which my respect is growing for by the day as I don't currently have the Carlton frame here!



There are modern alloy North road bars available, but they seem to be nothing other than a modern comfort bar "upside-down" but they are not expensive. This really old one is much more compact, lower and distinctly better for a great high speed position - tucked down. It also allows for tremendous power on hills and at the traffic lights, as the close, rather backward position allows the rider to equally pull up on the bar as he presses down on the pedals. I climbed a one in three [footpath with steps on one side] with it the day before the frame went off for renamelling, and the Carlton's gearing is not even remorely hill-friendly.

ATB from George

That is a very nice looking bar. Great leverage for climbing, as you say. You can just crouch down like Graeme Obree when you want to be aerodynamic. I just fear my hands would hurt from the bar versus Campy brake hoods. I've worked in a bike shop for years, and from tuning various customer's bikes, I've come to appreciate the diversity of everyone's bikes. I've switched to cinelli bars with very little throw, and my stems tend to be shorter with a higher rise. Less aerodynamic, but more comfortable.

Dear Hawk,

I will post a good set of pictures of it, when done in a fortnight or so. The old bar is very thin in diameter, and this I countered with very thick tape, which is good proof against vibrations. I have suitable brake levers now, which are much closer to hand and easily reached with the fingers. Those modern brake levers caused me to stretch and my hand span is 9 inches, so they were really not viable on the old bar.

This bar is not as yet completely tuned as to position, but I shaved 5 minutes of my most difficult 14 mile regular run, even in the rain, over anything previously managed with a flat or drop bar. The route is horribly hilly, and in the wind and rain I anticipated a slow time - not the best yet! There is a lot in this, though of course not everyone wants what looks like a lightweight butcher's delivery bike!

ATB from George

George, it's nice having downtube shifters, isn't it? I have brand new DuraAce STI 9spd levers in my parts box, unused. I like the simplicity of separating the levers from the brakes, less to go wrong if you crash. One of my road bikes has Campy retrofiction levers, they'll last forever, and I use different freewheels with them when the spirit moves me. The hubs are Campy Record, I've been riding them since 1999, and there is virtually no wear on the bearings. As a mechanic and rider, I like keeping it simple.
I also wanted to mention, I like Winky's bike, very intriguing, looks fast and comfortable, and yet the red Colnago Master is awesome to look at too, nice to ride. A friend of mine, who builds frames, had a beautiful steel track frame made for him by Phil Wood's. I wish I had a picture of it. Built by a very old framebuilder, the tig welds were amazingly small. Track bikes are so clean looking, but I don't have the guts to ride one.

quote:

Originally posted by The Hawk:
I have brand new DuraAce STI 9spd levers in my parts box, unused.

Send them to me .

quote:

Originally posted by The Hawk:
George, it's nice having downtube shifters, isn't it? I have brand new DuraAce STI 9spd levers in my parts box, unused. I like the simplicity of separating the levers from the brakes, less to go wrong if you crash. One of my road bikes has Campy retrofiction levers, they'll last forever, and I use different freewheels with them when the spirit moves me. The hubs are Campy Record, I've been riding them since 1999, and there is virtually no wear on the bearings. As a mechanic and rider, I like keeping it simple.

Dear Hawk,

The downtube levers are really nice with the old bar. You hardly have to move your hand to reach them! I like the simplicity and flexibility as well.

I shall build up some wheels based on Campy hubs in time though this requires finding good rims as well as hubs. That is in the future though. The back [Carlton] wheel is currently interesting, having a Maillard hub and the spindle broke a few weeks ago. I jury-rigged a diffent solid spindle into the Mailard wheel centre [Weinmann rim - well worn], but nothing would pursuade it to stay nice... Set it up to run free with no extraneous movement and next day it was either tight or wobbly! But I got a used Campy spindle and cones, and guess what? Stable as you like, rolls beautifully, and has not required re-adjusting after initial setting. Currently this wheel is being run in on the Pug!

I agree about KISS [keep it simple, stupid!]. Easy to know what to do, and know if it is right.

Best wishes from George

Winky, I wish I could part with them, but I tend to keep my eclectic collection of parts forever. I have an extensive number of stems, mostly 1" quill, ranging from Cinelli to Salsa. A pair of RockShox Ruby Road suspension forks, 1", that I tried for 6 months, comfortable but not stiff enough for road. Various freewheels, 6spd to 8spd, extra Campy hubs, 1" Easton carbon forks (in case I crash), Campy hubs, Moskva rims, Campy toe clip straps. Working in the industry, I got a lot of closeouts and I've accumulated a lot. It's nice having spare parts, never know when you'll need them.

George, I've been running Campy "Moskva" rims with my Campy hubs. They are a very small "V" shaped rim, no eyelets, with 14/15 spokes and alloy nipples. They were built by a gent here in Toronto (Ray), who started his mechanical career handbuilding wheels for Norco back in the day when there were no wheel building machines. The wheels are still true. He was the head mechanic for a local bike firm, and passed away a few years ago, while riding! Had a heart attack. We used to talk bikes for hours, best wheelbuilder I ever met. A friend left Park spoke wrenches on his grave as a tribute.

Dear Hawk,

I have found rims and hubs but am not biting just now! More to the point is a long crank set [172.5mm, Gipiemme], which is rarer! The current gearing on the front is 170 mm with 52 - 42 teeth. The long crank set is 53 - 42, and will hopefully allow more relaxed [slower cadence] cruising, potentially higher top speed [on the flat], and a slight advantage on the lower cog for hills. This one must be nailed! Gipiemme is responsible for the dropouts on the Reyolds tubing frameset of the old bike, so will be in good comapny!

More in a while on the Carlton thread, but now is time for morpheus. It has been a hard work's week so far!

I am finally selling my car, as it has been used by me only four time this year. Giving up on finite rescorce powered personal transport after a weaning period of two years!

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by The Hawk:
Winky, I wish I could part with them,

I was just kidding. My winter bike has 9-speed Dura-ace with STI; swapped from my previous road bike when I bought the BMC. About 8 years old now, and never had a scrap of trouble with them. A great groupset. I could never go back to downtube shifters - I think STI was a genuine breakthrough.

Let us know how the cranks work out. I had Record 172.5 once, I regret selling them. They were the beautiful 'C-Record' style.
Before I married, I used my bike as much as possible, sometimes used transit. It's funny, I love driving, but I hardly drive anymore. Years ago I used to drive heavy equipment. Now, living in such a busy city, my wife does the driving. We got a Prius, I know the batteries are bad for the environment and it's production has a big carbon footprint, but it's nice in that it sips gas (5.5 l per 100 km), and stuck in traffic, it is usually running off battery only. Very quiet. Nothing beats going to work and back by bike. I'm as fast as the rush hour traffic, can always escape to side streets, and all the tension of work is dissipated in the ride. Not to mention the fact that you are much more connected to nature.

quote:

Originally posted by The Hawk:
George, I've been running Campy "Moskva" rims with my Campy hubs. They are a very small "V" shaped rim, no eyelets, with 14/15 spokes and alloy nipples. They were built by a gent here in Toronto (Ray), who started his mechanical career handbuilding wheels for Norco back in the day when there were no wheel building machines. The wheels are still true. He was the head mechanic for a local bike firm, and passed away a few years ago, while riding! Had a heart attack. We used to talk bikes for hours, best wheelbuilder I ever met. A friend left Park spoke wrenches on his grave as a tribute.

Over the years I have had much better results with machine-built wheels than I ever had with handbuilts. I have never broken a spoke since switching to machine-built wheels with low spoke counts (Bontrager Race-lites and now Campy Eurus).

When I ran hand-built wheels (32 and 36 spoke, DT-Swiss DB spokes, Mavic rims like Open 4CDs, typically), I was constantly truing wheels and replacing spokes. Maybe they were just poorly built, but I have never understood this reverence for hand-built wheels.

Still, Ray sounds like a true gentleman and bike nut. Sorry for his passing.

quote:

Originally posted by winkyincanada:

quote:

Originally posted by The Hawk:
George, I've been running Campy "Moskva" rims with my Campy hubs. They are a very small "V" shaped rim, no eyelets, with 14/15 spokes and alloy nipples. They were built by a gent here in Toronto (Ray), who started his mechanical career handbuilding wheels for Norco back in the day when there were no wheel building machines. The wheels are still true. He was the head mechanic for a local bike firm, and passed away a few years ago, while riding! Had a heart attack. We used to talk bikes for hours, best wheelbuilder I ever met. A friend left Park spoke wrenches on his grave as a tribute.

Over the years I have had much better results with machine-built wheels than I ever had with handbuilts. I have never broken a spoke since switching to machine-built wheels with low spoke counts (Bontrager Race-lites and now Campy Eurus).

When I ran hand-built wheels (32 and 36 spoke, DT-Swiss DB spokes, Mavic rims like Open 4CDs, typically), I was constantly truing wheels and replacing spokes. Maybe they were just poorly built, but I have never understood this reverence for hand-built wheels.

Winky, it's interesting (like the toeclip overlap) how different our experiences are. I love my handbuilt campy wheels, very traditional, but I do have other wheelsets. I have Mavic Ksyriums on my LiteSpeed, like them a lot. Since I worked for a Trek dealer, I put a set of Bontrager RaceLites on my Marinoni. Last but not least, I fell in love with the Shimano Ultegra wheelset, where the 'j' of the spoke is at the rim, and the nipples are at the hub. Beautiful hubs. All have stayed true, but I'm an awfully careful rider. Most of my routes are memorized, especially for night riding. Toronto has terrible roads.

Cheers!

quote:

Originally posted by The Hawk:
Let us know how the cranks work out. ...

Dear Hawk,

Please look on the Carltom thread ...

ATB from George

"Sorry mate, I didn't see you"

Crikey Patrick, how tall are you??