Raleigh Grand Prix Update

Well, The Grand Prix project that I started on earlier this year has had some upgrades. I ordered a black Brooks B17 saddle, so that went on the bike. On Friday I put some nice Schwalbe white wall tires (along with new tubes and cloth rim tape) on the bike.

Both of these items had a major positive effect on riding this bike. The position is perfect and the seating is improved as well. The white walls also set off the black and white on the frame.

The pic above was taken (with a Blackjack2 smart phone) at the beach.

All is not perfect, as I noticed a weird feeling in the top of the pedal stroke on the left pedal. I removed the pedal and put a Campy one on for a AB test and the feeling was still there, I know nothing about bottom brackets, but I have a feeling that my issue is due to something down there. Bummer.

Raleigh Grand Prix Suburban Assault Machine

Well, here it is as it sits.

I removed the rear spoke protector as well as the brittle 70s spoke reflectors.

I added a Velo-Orange croissant bag. I put my broken in Brooks B17 honey saddle to good use. I repurposed the ugly chrome bottle cage. I shined it up with Turtle Wax chrome polish and used a Velo-Orange bar mount to mount it to the bars. I am using the cage to carry the stainless steel tea thermos that I also scored from VO.

I then conferred with The Bike Guy, for alternatives to the horrible 70s drop bars and brake levers. he started out by setting me up with some used Bluemels/SKS chromo plastic fenders. We then decided that some old cruiser bars would work, as long as they had a few inches lopped off of each end. I said that I wanted to go with the Tektro inverse brake levers. We looked in some catalogs, but all of the ones that we found had externally routed cables. That was not going to work with the cork grips and the shortened cruiser bars.

The Bike Guy found some internally routed Tektros a few days later in another catalog. He then drilled some holes on either side of the stem to route the brake cables. I have to say, that they make the bike. They are kind of hard to see in the picture above. They look cool, and work very effectively to pull the Dia-Compe centerpulls to achieve maximum braking force.

Today, I swapped out the orginal looking Raleigh racing pedals for some Shimano Deore XT pedals from the 80s. They are lighter, and seem to work great. The bearings seem to have a lot more life in them than the other pedals.

The seating position on this rig is pretty straight up, and the bars allow for a comfortable upright stance as well. I think that I could put 100s of miles on this machine. I am really looking forward to it.

Raleigh Grand Prix update

Well, there has been some progress on the Grand Prix that I picked up a week ago.

First of all, I decided to go with some Bluemels/ SKS aluminum and composite fenders. The Bike Guy had used pair that are going on as I type. There is an old taillight alread on there, that I am planning to replace. It looks good as it stands, though.

I put my trusty Brooks B17 saddle on the bike. under the saddle I placed the extremely cool Velo Orange Croissant bag. The build quality n this bag is out of control- Solid brass (not plated) buckles, really nice leather straps and cool retro treated duck cloth. I also removed the brittle 70s reflectors.

I decided to go with some old used cruiser bars. The Bike Guy and I thought that if about 5 inches were clipped from each side, the bars would be perfect. I am going to go with natural cork grips. (I am thinking that a nice layer of Barge cement might be just the ticket for protection.) Salsa brake levers will be a modern, rad touch. To do the conversion, I am going to require new brake cables and cable housings. I chose black for the housings. To finish off the bars, I am going with a Velo Orange water bottle cage attachment as well as VO Moderniste cage.

I will post pics when the bike is back in the stable.

A new project...

I added the Raleigh Grand Prix pictured above to the stable. I have been getting more into the vintage touring and randoneuring thing lately. I even considered doing the whole 650b thing to my 84 Paramount. Alas, it seemed to be too much work to force the issue with that bike.

I decided to look for a 70s Raleigh and this one came up on craigslist, so here it is. The current idea is to strip all the bs off this bike and then add some velo-orange fenders. I plan to put a bottle cage on the bars as there is not a braze on for that purpose on the frame itself. I am currently undecided on the bars, but I will need to replace those and get some new brake levers as well. I will add the Brooks saddle to this one as well.

This one has the full Simplex kit and also has some Dia-Compe centerpulls. The frame is a piece of built-in Nottingham beauty with gold paint accented lugs. I am dating this one to the mid 70's but that is just a guess at this point.

Should be fun.

Biking in Gotham

I had the chance to take my first bike ride in Manhattan this morning. How awesome!

My hotel had a Puma folding bike, pictured above, that was available for riding purposes. The bike itself was pretty cool. It is a single speed, kind of a cross between a large bmx and a mountain bike. Despite the lack of a downtube, the frame felt pretty stiff under my girth. I have never ridden a bike that has been equipped with disc brakes. The brakes were perfect for the Union Square streets.

I set off from 17th St and Union Square at about 5:55 this morning and headed west towards the Hudson and the bike path that follows it. The ride along 17th was OK, I only tried to catch onto one vehicle.

Towards the end of this western jaunt, I hit a very old stretch of street that was actually cobbles, and here the wide tires were a blessing. Up off the saddle and the disc brakes killed it.

Heading south towards the Battery, I saw the site that used to have the Twin Towers on it. That was a trip. Even the path was a bit out of sorts at this point. Eieree site, never forget and all that.

Continuing on south, I hit the Battery and looked off to the south and got a good sight line on both Ellis Island and The Statue. The path sort of petered out there and I headed east along Broad Street for a few blocks. Around the bottom of the island, I caught up again with the path/ boardwalk. Heading north now, I was between the FDR and The East River. A bit further, I passed Pier 16, where I caught the Devotchka show a few weeks back at the SchniederTent Theatre, a venue that I recommend highly.

I continued in a northerly direction, passing the Houston bridge, 10th St bridge, etc. At 17th (?) and Ave C, I was able to go under the FDR. I ended up in a project looking group of brown high rises, that looked like a perfect backdrop for a breakin' throw down back in the day, but are seeing more yuppified times now.

After spinning through there a bit, I caught 12th St and headed west until I hit 1st Ave where I headed north. Once at 17th, I headed west back to my start at 17th and Union Square.

It was one of the best rides of the summer so far. 55 minutes of prime rolling in Gotham.

Chicago Critical Mass 062907

One of the best rides of my life?

Really, I went places in the City of Chicago, on a bike with roughly 800 of my closest friends, that I have never seen , much less traveled in a car or any other vehicle for that matter. But to be on a bike on a summer Friday night when the air temp was in the 60s- it couldn't have been more perfect.

Below is a picture of a mcdonald'$ on Cermak, under the American flag. I think the shot sums it all up- you have a ton of people on bikes, riding by a mcd'$ and a Coke sign above the tunnel. Riding up the Wild West Side, here is a shot that also captures the scenery and mood. Picture scenes such as this, replete with alternately Roger & The Gypsies and Curtis Mayfield blasting on the mobile bike soundsystems-loud. The residents, and the undercover police threw a lot of high signs and raise the roof gestures. They looked as if they were watching a procession of Martians. The shorty shaking it ten feet off the ground-safety be damned- was definitely feeling it.

I really have to give props to the mobile sound system DJ who was playing Chitown Homeboy #1, Mr. Mayfield. The scenery matched up with the anti-drug lyrical content perfectly. RIP Curtis.
This shot is just for looks, as I think it looks awesome. That tunnel on Damen on the South Side is like a block long, then there is a break and then it continues for another block. In a word, "Whoa!!!"

Bakfietsen

I found this site, Clever Cycles in Portland, OR. They are offering Dutch work bikes that are known as Bakfietsen.

The rider sits behind the large bucket (that is perfect for carrying stuff and people) and the steering linkage goes under the bucket and turns the front wheel. There is even a fairing/roof available for the bucket that is perfect for all of the weather in Nederlands (and Portland).

The red gizmo in front of the pedals is called a Stoke Monkey and is a human powered motor that assists in pedalling, also offered from Clever Cycles. It runs off of the batteries on the back of the bike, which are charged by the human powering the bike-- not the Grid.

So in effect the bakfiet above is a human powered hybrid. Take that you Prius drivers!

I am thinking that braking would be a challenge even with disc brakes. Maybe a brake booster could be added like on those old heavy 50s cars with 4 drum brakes.

Here are some clips of them in action-- Crazy stuff.

Critical Mass Chicago 04.27.07

OOO Wee, What do we have here? Looks like another installment of CCM Chicago. Below is an action shot, featuring the "art Bike" of the HiGuy on the left and various other riders. Note the vintage Raleigh a bit right of center.


Heading west along Wacker Drive with the river to the left, I was determined to follow the tunes on the trailer directly in front of me. A pretty impressive soundsystem, I may add, consisting of a car amp, and ipod and some vintage speaker cabinet that looked as if it could have been from an old jukebox. Loud and blaring JB (and possibly TooShort). Nice.

Here is a shot of a tall bike rider using a paddy wagon as an armrest. This shot helps to sum up the sights and sounds of this Mass. Pretty laid back, good turnout and from my perspective, few if any problems.

Critical Mass Chicago 3.30.07

What a perfect night it was for Critical Mass here in Chicago. There was quite the turnout. I would say that there were 4-500 people on the Mass.


Team Cratedigger rider looks on towards a large bevy of riders on Washington that is not visible in the shot.

Here is an action shot of a girl that was mad that she might be late, as she turned north on Michigan Ave off of Wacker Drive. If you look closely you can see her reaching for the horn button on her hooptie. To the right of me was a tourbus that was stopped on the bridge as a rider parked his bike in front of the bus and took videos of the driver and passenger reaction to his action. Entertainment at its' finest.

The ride also made its way down Illinois towards Navy Pier and then back up Grand.

Here is another challenged shot where I am shooting while riding, heading south past CroBar on Kingsbury. The stretch of the ride right befrore this, where we were riding west on North Ave, was replete with many a Beamer and irritated Benz driver. We laughed and wished everyone a happy Friday as we "beat" them in the "traffic race."

This was a great ride, and even though the weather looked threatening as I got misted while riding to the Metra prior to the ride, everything held out for a perfect night of bike riding in the city.