This Thing Is Better Than It Looks

I know I said I'm commuting on the Bianchi; this thing
is actually taking its place. After 4 tries, I finally found a bike that those mustache bars actually feel right on. Geared for climbing Bush St in the late afternoon when my legs are flat. Fenders. No bar tape -- doesn't seem to need it. Has a lovely 'Property of City and County of San Francisco' sticker on the left chainstay...

The frame was from craigslist, and had an egg-shaped French thread bottom bracket, so I took it and 2 six packs of steam beer to Tom and reamed it and rethreaded to Italian...works fine. So I put the Bianchi in the shed for now...

Current Commuter

This is what I'm riding to work these days (well, minus the outer ring, and with old Dura Ace AX crankset with the goofy pedals Alexi Grewal liked so much)...comfy, climbs good, descends fine...it's only a 20 minute ride anyway, but might as well enjoy it with a nice bike when the weather's good.

I'm assembling a collection of worn chainrings to deposit on Jeff's milling table to turn into chainguards...what do YOU do with old chainrings...? So many of my bikes have just one ring, but almost all of them have double cranksets, so there's room for a chain guard and it sure looks nice...just need to make sure adequate 6-packs accompany the rings to Jeff's shop...

Also, lovely old SunTour bar-ends...nothing better -- I keep looking for more; would be perfect on the Pinkarello...

Towers Ride Friday!

Here's that old Giant, that I salvaged for my nephew (see the January 13th 'before' shot below)...kinda fun to ride; if it was 2" larger I'd want to keep it...

Fenderwoman's Delight

Fenderwoman's 650'ed Bianchi...a 45cm frame from the mid 80's, probably the smallest 700c-wheeled bike you could get back then...always had an abnormally high bottom bracket, so when I finally decided to fenderize it (which was impossible with 700c wheels -- no clearance) I did the math to make sure there would still be enough ground clearance with the smaller wheels. The math said yes, but there's no getting past that first thrill ride down the driveway, not knowing for sure if the pedals will strike paydirt...
This was a fun project: in addition to the fenders and wheels, I found a crank set marked 17omm that measured about 167, plus the chainrings were in 1/2way decent condition, and they shift better than the TA's that were on there when I took this pic. Also new are the long reach brake calipers -- old school normal length -- a new design from Rivendell that has room to spare.
Naturally, she hasn't even noticed the changes yet -- she's been riding other bikes -- maybe I should tell her they need maintenance...

Whatever...

Resurrection

Dragged this thing out of the shed last night -- took a lot of digging...I had buried it in there because I decided I wouldn't ride it any more until it got a new paint job...silly me...it's just too nice not to ride, and anyway, there's still more paint than rust, so what's the hurry?

Also letting the guilt get to me, so I tore down a couple of other bikes to get them repainted, for other folks...friend Jeff figures he will have his paint booth together soon, so I'll buy the paint he needs for his own projects and piggyback...hope he has an impact wrench to tear out the stuck cartridge bb...

Home with a cold today -- maybe I'll get Fenderwoman's wheels built for the 650 conversion...what the hell, it's raining anyway, and the finished bike will have fenders, as it properly should...not the sort of anniversary gift she will swoon over (details) but more fun than shopping for baubles...besides, she already got new binoculars for her birthday last month -- how much can a guy do?

OK, so it's winter...I get it...

I can't believe I'm already tired of riding the winter bike...I mean, fenders and all...sure, it's good to be out when nobody else is riding, but I'm starting to get wistful about all the other bikes hanging in the shed...

How does anyone else do it? Are you all demon bike maintainers, so you can ride your best bike and just figure on doing 2 hours of cleanup every time? Isn't life a little bit too short?

Sigh...

3 Years

Going on 3 years since Francisco Cuevas died...the same day I received this gift from my friend Peter. The other 3 bikes he gave me have, I'm sure, all found good homes via the local co-op, but this one resides in my shed. Pushing 35 years old now, but still frisky and handles as much road as I can stand (though I do replace the all-aluminum freewheel for hilly rides)...

Came assembled with almost all Zeus components except the hubs (and I've boxed up the original pedals just so I can use my regular riding shoes on some old clipless replacements)...handles 28mm tires...and that color is even cooler than it looks in these pictures.

So raise a glass to Sr. Cuevas for me this month... and read some more about him here...

What I do for family! Sometimes, a dumpster bike should stay a dumpster bike, but this one is now earmarked for my nephew, 'cause his dad knows I can do it...anyway, the list of unsalvageable components is long and dreary, not worth detailing , except to say that the fork is in a state of partial collapse -- I sure would have liked to see the event that caused it -- I'm picturing a rush to park in the garage, with the roof rack loaded...but I have a free replacement fork that fits, so we are on the way...I'll probably convert this to one functional speed from its current 21 non-functional options, and save everybody some headaches down the road...

Oh, yeah...the 2 cable locks and the chain fell right off as soon as they beheld my bolt cutters...

Ride THIS!

So when you want to go here, ride your bike.

Just sayin', 'cause you ain't gettin' there any other way...oh, and when you do get there, there's nothing to see except a lovely place...but move along, move along...

Oh, and when the cliff falls on you like it did last year, don't blame us...

Bouncing raindrops

Here's where I hit the sunshine and hailstones at the same time: http://tinyurl.com/3ycpyp
The Sunday Loop: Hwy 1 south past Half Moon Bay, then looping Verde/Purisima Canyon/Higgins...and back up the highway to El Granada. Chasing the sun through a shower-turned-downpour that started to spike me with hail.

Was riding this with fenders and a 2.5:1 gear...

stop me before I geek again...

and couldn't get on top of it on the climb today...maybe it was all the extra weight from the ice clinging to everything...

Everybody else went home before the rain hit...They missed a good ride...

Yesterday was good too, though short. WE went up and down the highway for a while, watching the surf deconstruct breakwaters, then wandered out to Pillar Point to watch stupid people harass the wildlife with their dogs...but saw some good birds anyway...eared grebes, western grebes, pied-billed grebes, goldeneyes, buffleheads, ringnecks, sanderlings, turnstones and plenty more.

Top o' the Mountain

Yesterday's view from Montara Mt, our standard destination on holiday mornings...my other shots pretty much are rubbish, so this south-looking view is all you get.
I'm hitting the trails on this Pinkarello with knobby tires added; it's my new favorite dirt bike -- slow on descents, but so am I -- however, it really climbs...

At the top, we shared the port, fruit, Iraqi tea and cookies ...if you are ever in the area at 7AM on a holiday, come on up. There's plenty to go around...

Styrofoam side down

When it's time for a new helmet, might as well take the old one out with a bang, which is pretty much what this one sounded like when I took a dive on Coronado today. No drama, just need a new helmet.

I s'pose I should slow down, but I'm just not ready yet...

Towers prep

Now that Peter has successfully revived the Saturday excursion over the Saddle for breakfast, I'm running the Pinkarello with the knobby tires on dirt rides every week. Today was the curse of the clearance hog -- this bike rides beautifully unless the tires or rims get the slightest bit out of true...the tires I'm using are vintage 32mm knobbies that just don't run straight, and they rub if I sneeze at them...

Gonna have to put different calipers on to clear a little better, and now I think it needs a more secure rear skewer because I keep pulling the wheel over, rubbing the left stay. Won't do to have that going on Tuesday morning when we do the Towers. It's hard enough carrying all the appropriate libations (including the fake cell phone filled with rum..."Hey Nev, phone's for you") -- without scraping paint off the frame with the tire...

Just another Fenderman issue-filled bike...

No matter, really; it's more about getting to the top and back down in time for breakfast at Chet's. Plenty good folks, good food, and Chet doesn't skimp on the coffee.

And before that, the Sunday ride...hmmm...Fixed? Single speed? Bianchi? Colnago? Cuevas? Guerciotti? Holdsworth? Peugeot? Pinkarello? Serotta? Zeus?

Dead tired

All y'all just quit it with those skinny-ass tires!! Git ya some real tires with some air in 'em!

Seriously, those dopey 23mm tires may make you feel all Lance-y, but get real, people: 28mm is the bare minimum width for a decent bicycle tire for any normal use, and that includes all uses short of racing on smooth roads or track. 28mm gives up NOTHING in performance under any other circumstance, and the advantages in ride quality would make up for it anyway.

And for Lance' sake -- get you a fender bike too! No time like the wet season to get motivated -- the joy of riding dry in the rain while everyone else wimps out in front of the tv is too good to miss...just hope you got the frame clearance...

Safe chains

So I'm trolling the obscure bike parts pics and see the Sogreni 'chainguard' again...glad to know we are keeping our chains safe in this dangerous world. Certainly no other reason for chainguards -- OK, fashion excepted/accepted -- the actual ability to keep from greasing/shredding your pants leg is effectively nil, whatever system you install.

Ride with caution -- the chain you guard may be your own...

flatted calf

No pain, no pain...2 days of hiking left me with whimpering calves today, so new record slow ride around the loop...didn't help much -- calves still whimpering...

Bloody cold on the loop -- vultures soaking up the sun on the power lines, wings outstretched...dead coyote on the road (probably didn't freeze to death, but still)...Ice patch at the bottom of the descent, right where I expected it.

Another flat for Fenderwoman, Queen of Punctures. Swapped out in close to record time; woulda froze otherwise...

Next Saturday for sure, the Pinkarello over the mountain with Peter and Nevio, dodging the dogs/horses/runners and wild-eyed downhillers. Maybe I'll talk Sully into meeting us along the way (if he's scored that room full of bike stuff he was talkin' about) -- a man of many parts for sure...