cheesy

I haven't been around much lately, my employer has been trying to get as much out of me as possible before I call it a career on June 30th. I managed to spend 25 days in Mexico working on what we, in my After Sales Service branch call, Factory F***Ups. It's real bad this time. Told you that to tell you this. Every other morning, since I got back home from the best of the best Mexican food, I've been riding my fixed gear track bike into town for a cuppa and maybe breakfast. Days without breakfast is about a 5 mile round trip. Days with breakfast will be 7 to 17 miles. Burning calories and losing weight. I feel a whole lot better, too. I'd like to get back down to my 80s and 90s racing weight but without the racing part. I'd prefer not to wipe out at my age.

I did ride yesterday. Today, I felt like crap and twisted a throttle instead.

Rusty-I really like your bikes. Are you a Wheelman member?

Well, I broke down and took Buster with us on our Sunday cheeseburger run in the DeSoto. He was a perfect gentleman and was even a bit protective when we experienced some DDF(DeSoto Delay Factor) by an admirer of the car. My other half handed him his own burger and protecting us or the car was the farthest thing from his mind. ? I still haven't had any luck getting his butt into the sidecar.

The only issue I see is needing to 'cold set' (bending) the rear drop outs. IIRC. 7 speeds OLD is 128-130mm and 10-11 speed is 135mm. You can make it fit and any derailleur, except electronic, will work with a friction shifter. Hell, I even make Sturmey Archer 3 speeds work with friction shifters. Grand day today. I took the 1970 Gitane Mexico track bike off the stand today for its maiden ride today. It didn't break and I didn't die so it was a good day. It's unfair that the Gitane is 52 years old.

This one has Sram derailleurs, though it is hard to top old SunTours. My Miyatas run VX and V-GT.

My Fattie, a Framed Minnesota 2.0, doesn't get ridden in the snow free months. Those knobbies sound like a semi rolling down the road.

Doing a Tweed ride tomorrow with like minded old farts. I have the Anglo-American all tuned(put air in the tires)and hung off the back of the sidecar rig for the run to Oak Park, IL.

Isn't Elmer's right across US 61 from Wabasha?

That pic was taken in May 2008, nine months after getting whacked. West side of the Mississippi bluffs in Minnesota during my first Lake Pepin 3 Speed Tour. I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the ride but it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable I'd ever been on. I've ridden it over a dozen times since then. Folks come from all over the US and Canada to ride it. https://3speedtour.com/ The last few times, I've thrown the bike(s) on the back of my Russian mini tractor and taken the back roads through Illannoy and Wisconsin to Red Wing. It makes for a memorable, if sometimes damp trip.

The earlier Park stands have an open square base made of solid 1.25 bar stock. So, yeah, heavy like they need to be when breaking loose a BB lock ring that hasn't been moved in 50 years or a stubborn pedal. I have a good stock of Park bike tools; cone wrenches, pedal wrenches, brake tools, and a wheel truing stand. I'd really like to have Parks' top o' the line TS-2 truing stand but I can't justify the cost, so I have the harder to find lower cost model. I can still build a good wheel on the stand I have, it just takes longer. I can sympathize with with the guy you got the stand from. I got hit from behind in 2007. I was lucky in the fact that I had no broken bones but ended up with a lifetime's worth of road rash, concussion, two dozen stitches, and a month on crutches. It took ten years before I was pain free. So my riding has changed from getting from Point A to Point B, while dressed as a MAMIL(Middle Aged Male In Lycra), as quickly as possible, to taking my sweet time as a Grey Beard* or Fossil**, on a old English 3 speed, possibly wearing a tweed jacket and flat cap. *Usually a term of endearment and respect. An occasional insult hoisted by youngsters that soon get their asses handed them on a platter by said Grey Beards. **An insult, usually mouthed by a MAMIL.

Can't beat a Park repair stand. I've had mine for about 35 years.

Fifty, cough cough, years ago, I was with my Dad looking for my first car. We found this nice 64 Spyder for $600. Really nice to a 16 year old kid, anyway. Ran and drove well and my Dad was even smiling. I was about to wet myself, then the seller told us there was no title. Dad said, "Time to go." Ended up with my next door neighbors 65 Merc Marauder with a dead transmission for $25.

My kid says that she has heard the same thing in Mid-Coast Maine where she lives. Only difference is that they are going to be Lobster men. I was out with my boss and a couple of coworkers, pre pandemic, and there was some ax throwing happening at a local food fest. Old weird Harold(boss)is a year older than me(I'm 66) and stands stooped from an old work injury where alcohol was involved. He pays his money and flings three axes for three bulls eyes. And he made it look easy. I've worked with Harold for 25 years and know he's dumb like a fox, so I've come to expect stuff like that. Still, I was impressed.

I take the above back. I didn't pay a heck of a lot of attention to the previous pics. When I saw the last pic without the long nut, pre-SunRace, I kind of did a WTF. Brownie was a god, tho. As you were.

Nice job resurrecting the bike. If you find yourself using the bike shop a bit more and more and they do some things gratis, a six pack of an adult beverage for the mechanic will make more things gratis. I used to wrench in a shop and can say it's true. The shifter cable is too long because the Sturmey hub has the wrong nut on it. Sheldon Brown was a god of all things bicycle. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer/adj.html A disk on the front would be way expensive. Besides the wheel, rotor, and caliper, you'd need a different front fork, beefy enough for a disk brake with the mounts for a caliper. Personally, I'd aim the current front brake pads towards the trash can and replace them with Kool-Stop salmon pink pads. Even with the side of the front rim worn, you'll be okay. To my knowledge, the wear limit with a rim brake is when you've worn completely through the rim sidewall. Most, not all, of my bikes have presta valves. The benefit is that they are easier to inflate with a hand pump, with the correct head, on the side of the road. There is an adapter that screws on the valve to use a schraeder, or standard, pump. Without the adapter or a presta pump, the valve is just a funny looking thing you can't do anything with.

Decent rims and a Sturmey Archer coaster hub that will actually stop. Sturmey Archer was run into the ground by Raleigh's parent company sometime in the early 2000s. Rumor has it that SunRace of Taiwan bought the whole kit and kaboodle for $1 and still managed to get screwed. They shipped all the machinery to Taiwan only to find it was all worn out junk. SunRace had some teething pains early on but now the quality is supposed to be equal to, or better, than the Sturmey Archer of the late forties, early fifties.

I flew into Raleigh last week for work and drove Raleigh, Laurinburg, Hamlet, and Raleigh. Yes, nice roads and the 55 has to go. My sister lives in Lousy-ana and will agree with you 100% about the roads. I can't say much about the rest stops or gas stations because anything over 500 miles or a 10 hour drive from Chicago usually becomes an airline flight. I did 84 of those last year and my 15th flight for this year is this afternoon. Working outside in downtown Denver, where the scent of weed is strong, tomorrow and Wednesday. Eight more weeks of that crap and I'm retired.

I have 11 weeks until retirement and am working hard to develop 'short timers disease'. The last 10 or so years at work have made me into a 'road warrior'. I don't bicycle or roller skate as much as I used to because of the road warrior status. That's gonna change. I'll use up all my frequent flier miles and hotel points for a first class trip somewhere in the world for the missus and myself, then never set foot in an airport again. I watch very little TV at home now and never when I'm ensconced in a hotel room. I never used to miss a Packers game on TV. Now, meh. I wake up earlier now than I ever did, and not because I have to pee. 6:30 is sleeping in. Coffee maker doesn't turn on until 5, so I try to stay in bed until then. I'd listen to shortwave radio more if there was anything on the ether to listen to anymore, so it's an internet radio station from the UK instead. I plug an iPod into my ears when I go to bed now. Missus wants the TV on, I'd rather read. When I put the book down, I turn on the iPod and fall asleep to a Relic Radio program., Usually X Minus One from the mid fifties. I've cut way back on beer consumption and would rather have a cocktail or something straight up and quickly call it a night. I don't give a squat about new cars, motos, or bicycles anymore. Content with what I have. And if something needs a bath, well, it'll rain soon. I'm guessing I'll miss some of my coworkers. Mostly those still around prior to the reorganization. Or the Corporate Clusterf***, as we call it. As to the corporate expletive above, I never used to blow my stack as much as I do now. "Just fire me, then.", has become my mantra. The noise from me stops but the problems will still be there.

I forgot about the fork lock key. Those can be had from eBay, just need the code off the lock face. These are the guts of the lock from my bike. Mine didn't have the key, either. A previous owner had hack sawed off the lock pin. I made the replacement, the longer pin, from a drill bit.

T120-Your serial number decodes as N=Nottingham, A=January, 5=1975, 255503=sequence. This is before the dark times at Raleigh, so a good find. I've tried to stretch the life of old tires but it's not worth the walk home. I don't know how many American Schwinn bikes are in Alberta, but the 26 x 1 3/8 Schwinn tire and the 26 x 1 3/8 EA-3/British tire are not interchangeable. The Schwinn tire is larger in diameter. Don't think that the bearings in the Dynohub are bad because it feels 'notchy'. Though the grease is old, it's the magnets passing over the armature. If you decide to tear into the front hub to clean and regrease the bearings, do not, repeat, do not remove the magnet from the armature. Legend has it that the magnetism will be lost. I don't know if it's actually true, but if I need to clean the 'ook' from the armature, I've always pushed the magnet over a large 3/4" drive socket while removing the armature. Though rare, it's not that unusual to find a rear hub without a date stamp. There was a run of hubs in 1969 that were dated 69 15. Those of us that eat and breathe Sturmey Archer figured the 15th month of the year was something magical but wondered what happened to the 13th and 14th months. A few drops of 10w or 20w motor oil will keep the 3 speed hub clicking away for decades. Just don't use veggie based 3 in 1 oil. The veggie based stuff dries out and gets like superglue. New tires and a grease job will give lots of miles. My 1968.

I had two different bike trailers when my kids were little and neither had suspension. The balloon tires provide plenty of that. I built the first from plans in a Mother Earth News magazine in 1981. It wasn't that light but it towed great. I bought a Cannondale Bugger when their butts got too big for the home built. The C'dale also had a removable rain hood to keep the kidlets dry if I was dumb enough to take them out in the rain. Link to the home built. https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/bicycle-trailer-zmaz81jazraw/

Wow. My Superbe was $15 but not that nice. Dynohub generator, self adjusting brakes, AND a Presstube rack. Does it have a locking fork? Date will be stamped on either hub. Dates may not match but they'll be close. My Superbe is from 1968. Because the output from the hub generator is only 1.8W, I highly recommend swapping the hard to find incandescent bulbs for LEDs. Down the road, swap out the heavy steel rims for Sun CR-18 aluminum EA3 rims. Just glancing, the rims look like 32 hole in the front and 40 in the rear, which is typical British. The Sun CR-18 rims are exactly the same ERD, so you'd just move the spokes over one at a time instead of relacing. As it looks bone stock, I'd swap out the 18 tooth cog on the rear wheel for at least a 20 tooth cog, preferably a 22. These were always geared too high, which is why they can be found in such nice shape. They were hard to ride. Again, great score.

I'd go used. My first choice would be to hit up a local thrift shop. Usually (usually) those bikes are priced to move, but you need to give them a serious once over and factor in new tires, brake pads, and cables. Second choice would be a local bike co-op, if you have one. Bikes there will have been gone through and usually have new tires and bits for a tad more money. Choice 2.5 would be a local bike shop that takes trade ins. I've scored a few nicer bikes that way. CL and police auctions would be my last choices for a used bike. Not saying you can't get a good deal, but the chance of getting screwed or ending up with junk is pretty high. If you want new and are slightly immune to sticker shock(Me in 1981-"It was only $350." My Dad-"Whadyamean, $350? Goddam thing doesn't even have a kickstand."), support your local bicycle shop. I used to wrench in a bike shop and bike set up done right takes time. You usually end up with a lifetime warranty on the frame and a year on components with a free tune after a 30 day break in period. Avoid Wally World and Tar-Jhay like the plague. Their bikes are very poor quality and just slapped together. After that, it's what kind of bike do you want. Though I still will ride a go fast bike, but as I'm closer to 70 than 60 now, I am content to watch the scenery go by on an old British 3 speed.

Bought the trailer from work for $150. 8 x 12 tilt bed, 3000lb rating. Hauls vehicles with flat front tires, too. Time for some new boards, though.