tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post7770860546043411273..comments2024-03-29T10:52:55.716-04:00Comments on Lovely Bicycle!: Springing ForwardVelouriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-49477681359371219022015-04-29T13:32:57.171-04:002015-04-29T13:32:57.171-04:00The buds are blossoming and the sun strobes throug...The buds are blossoming and the sun strobes through the branches for us rural riders. I can only dream of the joy of changing bikes with the seasons, but south of the border the yoyos stretch as far as new tyres but its enough. Its been a long hard winter and the joys of springtime spins are the reward for foul weather grinds with a face full of sleet and hail.... oh wait hang on, noooooAndyFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-89971270458853189232015-04-08T12:12:44.975-04:002015-04-08T12:12:44.975-04:00I love getting on my road bike after not riding it...I love getting on my road bike after not riding it for a while. The feeling of my pedal strokes turning into instant movement of my bike is always amazing and my commuter doesn't come close to that feeling.New England Bicyclisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16609454624593868118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-22106208012625213752015-04-06T14:28:48.270-04:002015-04-06T14:28:48.270-04:00My sister's a metallurgist, and she says stain...My sister's a metallurgist, and she says stainless steel comes in all different strengths. It's used all over the place in nuclear power plants. I'm pretty sure they can find a grade of stainless steel that's strong enough to crimp and hold in place a brake cable.Jon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02944939117507730995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-51236360894954707002015-04-06T14:00:24.462-04:002015-04-06T14:00:24.462-04:00When I'm touring, I get that sprightly-steed f...When I'm touring, I get that sprightly-steed feeling every evening when I take off the panniers, shower, and ride off in search of dinner. No matter how long the day has been, if I can move at all, I move with wings on my heels!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-83282976261205316912015-04-06T12:18:10.825-04:002015-04-06T12:18:10.825-04:00A friend and I put in about 25 road miles Saturday...A friend and I put in about 25 road miles Saturday. He commented that it was nice to get back on his "fast" bike for a change after winter. "My mountain bike (used for foul-weather commuting) is made from lead," he said. "Fast" can be a relative term, however. I dropped into my bailout gear on the steepest hill. Granted, I'm just getting over a cold. But after a couple more trips along this route, I'm hoping that my fitness/climbing will improve.MT cyclisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17451590809473759574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-20516437458253995442015-04-06T08:01:29.333-04:002015-04-06T08:01:29.333-04:00Here is a picture of it - though, to a remarkable ...<a href="https://flic.kr/p/nxfSwB" rel="nofollow">Here</a> is a picture of it - though, to a remarkable degree this bike resists being photographed in a way that does it justice. I shall try harder. Velouriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-40788947457365089132015-04-06T05:02:14.131-04:002015-04-06T05:02:14.131-04:00I also have only one bike which is used daily for ...I also have only one bike which is used daily for commuting and shopping - on the weekend when I don't have anything to carry I have a lighter, faster bike to enjoy some recreational riding.spokeswomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05003029599627697118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-10942865654717387332015-04-05T21:46:12.966-04:002015-04-05T21:46:12.966-04:00Interesting that you come forward with this post j...Interesting that you come forward with this post just now. I have been using four bikes for the past few years: two Raleigh Sports 3-speeds ('73 and '78), a Performance mountain bike inherited from my kids (ca. 1997) and a Surly LHT which I use on the road. Over the winter I decided to rehabilitate one of two 40+-year-old Ron Kitching time trial frames we used for all kinds of riding in the '70s (including touring through Europe in '75-'76), converting the frame to a city bike with upright Soma bars and a 40-26 crankset from Rivendell (I think.) This crankset is to get up the big hills in my town in western PA.) The crankset is paired with a ca. 1970 Regina 14-24 freewheel (five speed) of which I have a collection from racing days in the '70s. Lots of issues with merging old parts and new, but it works pretty well. <br /><br />Now to get to the point: the Kitching TT frame is exceptionally light. How they held up on a tour with front and rear panniers from Le Havre to Firenze and back and then the south of England in '75-'76, plus several years of racing on either frame in the late '70s I can't say, except that the workmanship must be first class. So, riding this very light bike, a frame I have ridden thousands of miles, (but with an interregnum of over 20 years,) is a revelation. I have found the experience of beginning the season on the lightest bike with the lowest gearing not just fun, as a gesture to my age (I am 66 years old) but also as a spur to getting outdoors every day for exercise and as a kind of muscle-memory dope to get me tuned to the task at hand: get riding, get fit, get back into the daily groove, and stay healthy. The light bicycle has a salubrious effect in the early season no doubt about it. I thank Velouria for bringing up the topic upon which I have reflected many an hour.<br />PJTramdackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16141606753538047938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-87183277630631471492015-04-05T13:17:52.135-04:002015-04-05T13:17:52.135-04:00It can also happen with a single bike. Mine is no...It can also happen with a single bike. Mine is no racer, I'm no racer, but we both enjoy feeling light and fresh from time to time. I've got a decent machine, hand made for me, but it's always burdened down with fenders, rear rack and panniers that always have something in them. On windy midwestern days (which there are many) it takes a lot of effort to keep it moving when one is going in the wrong direction. BUT, when I've the urge I'll strip it down (takes only five minutes), off with the fenders, off with the rack and panniers and my thirty mile loop is a piece of cake. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-63640286432215952072015-04-05T00:45:01.510-04:002015-04-05T00:45:01.510-04:00You know, you don't have to wait for winter to...You know, you don't have to wait for winter to turn to spring to experience the magic that is changing bikes(of course you know this, but I'm going to pretend that I'm saying something clever here in a minute and would appreciate everyone acting like everything I'm about to say isn't 100% self evident)...<br /><br />I have a thousand bikes and 996 of them suck. Some of them suck because they're 75 years old and I'm too cheap to buy tires so have just lashed twisted bedsheets to the rims with coathanger wire, some of them suck because they're just weird, like they started out to be lawn chairs and somehow ended up as bikes, and some of them suck because they were simply dumb bikes designed for teenage boys to hoon around doing wheelies and jumping over crap on, but they ALL also suck because they weigh like a ton each. And I love them(or I would have turned them into lawn chairs by now). Some of the worst of them are bikes I don't ever want to be very far from so they hang out by the back door, at the bottom of the basement stairs so I can do trackstands when I should be finishing somebodies rack, or leaning against the air compressor at work so I can ride down to 7-11 at 2 for elevensies. So I'm riding crap bikes ALL THE TIME. And when it's time to ride home I get on my nifty Mercian and it feels like a Lotus 7, or when I get on my 'Cross Bike, it truly feels like something built for racing even though it's really not that exotic. If I ever get my new SEVEN put together I hope it feels like the bazillion dollar bike I'm hoping for, but if it doesn't, I shall always first take a spin on the (ugly) old Schwinn I turned into a Mtn. Bike in 1979. That bike that I will never attempt to lift into a repair stand ever again. That (ugly) bike only get's operated on while on it's (ugly) back resting on it's grips and (ugly)saddle. It's so incredibly heavy(and ugly), only a 14 year old boy could have felt like they had something worth throwing a leg over and taking for a ride. But it's fun so I still take it out and bang around on it and enjoy the horrible modulation from the not very effective (but ugly) cantilever brakes I made myself after only seeing cantilever brakes in a magazine and it makes my regular run of the mill Mtn. Bike feel AMAZING and together they don't cost as much as the 2 sets of tires we need to get for the cars my wife and daughter drive before the inspections run out in June.<br /><br />It's kind of neat (but sad) that to be happy with my bikes, I don't need to get ever nicer ones to enjoy riding, I just have to get ever crappier bikes to endure riding before getting on my NICE (slightly nicer than off the rack at the LBS), bike. And I can always find some crappier bike to stick behind the fridge to ride while I make breakfast if my NICE bike starts to feel like it needs an upgrade. I think more people should try this approach, they'd appreciate the nice bike they already have more, they'd build up some muscle tone from wrestling the ugly bike into the closet whenever company comes over and I might be able to sell a few of my worst old sheds and buy some tires for the Subaru. <br /><br />I think you just need a real piece of whatever the word is they use over there to keep on hand so's riding your nice bike always feel like the first day of spring... You might also fall in love and have another (ugly) lifelong friend. <br /><br />SpindizzyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-69132888304663804332015-04-04T23:39:28.237-04:002015-04-04T23:39:28.237-04:00I think you would tire of stainless steel bolts st...I think you would tire of stainless steel bolts stretching and shearing from the forces required to properly secure a brake cable. Stainless Steel fasteners, if one of the actually Non-Rusting alloys and not simply Rust-Resisting versions, are too prone to stretching and cracking for that purpose and why in a marketplace mad for SS you still don't find them on brakes and stems and that sort of thing.<br /><br /> The bloom is sort of gone from the Polished-Stainless-Steel-Frame Rose in these parts for some of the same reasons. People have a little freakout the first time they see the red scabs on the welds and behind the headbadge of their nice new ride and grieve for their dreams of a maintenance free winter-bike whenever they pull out the bristle brush (stainless steel of course) and the wax... You really wouldn't want a frame made from one of the truly rust-less stainless steel alloys. It would have to be so much heavier to be strong enough you'd likely just hang it up and join a curling league till spring...<br /><br />SpindizzyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-19703899158123722522015-04-04T18:26:26.978-04:002015-04-04T18:26:26.978-04:00Velouria, could you post a photo of your Claud But...Velouria, could you post a photo of your Claud Butler. I have a 1939 and a 1951 which I am in the process of rebuilding/restoring. Thanks.Steve Bausermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08672602678987213127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-65188116195062523142015-04-04T12:13:33.118-04:002015-04-04T12:13:33.118-04:00I must admit, I tend to favour my Bakfiets in wint...I must admit, I tend to favour my Bakfiets in winter, although it isn't an either/or situation. Mind you, it shows the weight of a Bakfiets that I have the experience you mentioned when changing to an Xtracycle, the Xtracycle feels lighter...Andy in Germanyhttp://www.workbike.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-37846688982551661772015-04-03T18:38:56.726-04:002015-04-03T18:38:56.726-04:00You can't wrap your mind around the alternativ...You can't wrap your mind around the alternative - ha! Unfortunately, I can. <br /><br />For example, when I said weight matters years ago - you'd think I'd have kicked their toddler in the shins and said they was ugly. The shins. GR Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01145811568384053426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-7867018946264349082015-04-03T16:46:31.702-04:002015-04-03T16:46:31.702-04:00I am pretty sure I have several posts that describ...I am pretty sure I have several posts that describe the build. But this site is so badly organised since its redesign, I'll be damned if I can find anything. Hopefully the editor will get around to fixing that one of these days.<br /><br />I've had my Seven for just over 3 years now and love it more than ever. The purple bar tape is Brooks leather tape. It has faded in places, but otherwise remains fully intact despite heavy fondling and frequent exposure to rain. My hands prefer the feel of Campy levers, but this is purely subjective. I've changed saddles a few times - from Berthoud to Selle Anatomica and back, and then to Rivet a year ago, which I'm still on. I will try to find a link to the full build description. Velouriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-74846375355739620012015-04-03T16:26:51.673-04:002015-04-03T16:26:51.673-04:00Чудный велик продолжает весело разъезжать, Рома, в...Чудный велик продолжает весело разъезжать, Рома, в параллельном мире. Передает привет.Velouriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-48420076845731585392015-04-03T16:24:39.051-04:002015-04-03T16:24:39.051-04:00Don’t speak to me of prátaí. I just figure people ...Don’t speak to me of prátaí. I just figure people are putting me on when they reply seriously, can't wrap my mind around the alternative. Biggest number of concerned reactions may have been in the inaugural AF post, when my cat was getting fitted for a custom bike. That and maybe 2 years ago, when the entire site was redone in Russian. Velouriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-15614924746495908942015-04-03T16:15:29.097-04:002015-04-03T16:15:29.097-04:00SRAM Rival and Campy Shifters I found. Do you pref...SRAM Rival and Campy Shifters I found. Do you prefer those Campy shifters? Have you ridden Shimano extensively before? And how is the saddle working out for you still? Nevermind, totally just found the bar tape. Thanks for the gorgeous pics to give me a heads up!!<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02567165136269002288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-43652294705944089062015-04-03T16:04:05.419-04:002015-04-03T16:04:05.419-04:00I'm still in love with that beautiful titanium...I'm still in love with that beautiful titanium machine!! I did a admittedly not-very-in-depth search for the build components and didn't find anything, and didn't see you list or answer any questions in the previous post. I've been searching for purple bar tape for-ev-er, and well... today is my birthday... and I'm doing it today... regarldess, no more excuses. And back to the point! Besides, and including, the superstupendousradicularly awesomesauce bar tape, what is the rest of the build? Wheelset, Groupset, etc.?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02567165136269002288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-1253458288781124222015-04-03T16:01:43.366-04:002015-04-03T16:01:43.366-04:00"Exaggerated sensations ... were certainly ou..."Exaggerated sensations ... were certainly out of all proportion to the actual difference between the two bicycles."<br /><br />YES! I have noticed this too and laughed at myself. But really I am just glad it's plunking spring already! Sheesh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-12960809616868685392015-04-03T15:57:47.102-04:002015-04-03T15:57:47.102-04:00I want Чудный Велик back! ;pI want Чудный Велик back! ;pPOMAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-56564991089183287532015-04-03T15:42:30.663-04:002015-04-03T15:42:30.663-04:00Potato, Potahtoe. Traditonally apprehensive that ...Potato, Potahtoe. Traditonally apprehensive that some current/future readers don't have a sense of humor? <br /><br />Judging from some of the comments the answer is clear. GR Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01145811568384053426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-6154295217535814602015-04-03T15:39:59.006-04:002015-04-03T15:39:59.006-04:00For a good 5 minutes of every day (usually just be...For a good 5 minutes of every day (usually just before sunset) we do have that beautiful sunshine :) Velouriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-26021660366826901312015-04-03T15:36:08.033-04:002015-04-03T15:36:08.033-04:00Oh re tires: I love Compass and Grand Bois, but my...Oh re tires: I love Compass and Grand Bois, but my local roads don't seem to share the sentiment (see my latest Instagram for example - 2 punctures in 1 day on rear Hetre). Strada LGGs, on 2 bikes now, have so far been bulletproof unlike anything else I've tried. Wish they'd make them in 650B x40mm.Velouriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-36111864640427538862015-04-03T15:19:34.654-04:002015-04-03T15:19:34.654-04:00Not sure to what extent trail plays a role in this...Not sure to what extent trail plays a role in this. My best handling 'wind bike' is actually the heavy deep-drop 1930s Claud Butler TT/commuter (seriously) mixte I have on loan from a friend, which I'm pretty sure is mid trail.Velouriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.com