Show your bicycles, sans engines!

[Ulu]

 

 

 

 

My niece did the CNC embroidery.

 

[Ulu]

I pulled out the whole string, so I could clean my garage, when it mysteriously got warm & sunny yesterday.

 

[pflaming]

I did not know you had a dog!

[Ulu]

Hey, how’s the leg Paul? Are you back on the bicycle yet? Or at least on two feet?

 

Edited January 22, 2023 by Ulu

[Ulu]

Well, my bulbhorn would not work with that skinny copper tube, and I took it off and replaced it with some 3/8” plastic tubing.

Now it sounds great. I just wish it was red.

 

I also made a special kickstand perch. This is much more solid than the typical arrangement.

 

 

It also moves the kick stand back about 3 inches which is critical to the balance point of the bicycle.

 

Just for the record, those were the roller brackets from a hanging glass mall front.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2023 by Ulu

[Ulu]

It turned out to be a very long kickstand. I extended it with aluminum tube, an aluminum knob, some threaded rod, and JB Weld.

 

Working on the baby chopper bike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Ulu

[Ulu]

About 12 hours to pick off all the stickers, bit by bit. The paint got rubbed out, but is not polished yet. It only has a few blems. With a few new stickers it will look good.

[Ulu]

Another generic Asian coaster…

I polished all the spokes, and I burnished and re-blued the rusty sprocket. I used Birchwood Casey’s super blue, a little tin can, and a heat gun.

[Ulu]

The back hoop:

 

 

I re-laced this but the paint is still a little soft, and I will let it cure a few more days before I put a tire on it.

[Ulu]

The Pink Puppy is 99% complete.

This will still need some tassels and some stickers and probably some training wheels.

[cheesy]

I'm getting two bikes ready for a local bicycle show this coming Saturday.

 

This is my 1990 Miyata 600GT

I rode this in the 1991 running of Paris-Brest-Paris, one about 700 Americans participating. I finished the 1200km slog fifth from last. Missed turns added about 200km to the route. Other than the ooky bar tape, rear rack and the Flex-Stem, it's as I rode it 32 years ago.

 

The other is this abomination. It's a highly modified early sixities Dunelt Sports, same as the ubiquitous Raleigh Sports, save for the fork crown.

 I pulled it from a dumpster with no wheels or handlebars. The wheels are 26" MTB rims, which are a smaller diameter than the British 26x 1 3/8, which in turn, are smaller in diameter than Schwinn 26 x 1 3/8. Gotta love bicycle tire size lack of standards.

Anywho, this bike began my foray into multi speed fixed gear hubs. The rear hub is an old Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed converted to 2 speed fixed gear. My first hub failed spectacularly while rolling down my driveway. Which was at the top of a hill. And I had not yet fit brakes.

The second drawing board visit resulted in what's on here now. That was back in 05. I commuted to work for 8 years and ran several Alley Cats on it while in my early fifties. Even though I had my butt handed to me in every race, I had a blast. I've racked up about 10,000 miles on the hub with nary a problem. That's not to say I haven't had problems with the bike. There have been more than a couple of impressive dismounts. Most memorable was a 22mph downhill endo that damaged both of us.

Because of the considerable amount of, ummmm, 'patina' on the frame, one of my buddies said he might end up with Tetanus if he touched it. Hence, it's been known as 'The Tetanus Express' ever since.

[Ulu]

I have never been to a bicycle show. I wouldn’t know what to think about it.

 

I did the same thing by putting modern wheels on the western flyer, but it doesn’t have fenders so it doesn’t look as awkward.

 

I’ve got nine bicycles in the garage now, none of them have fenders, and only one of them has a chain guard. The Pink Puppy. 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Ulu

[Ulu]

On 2/6/2023 at 2:52 PM, cheesy said:

 

 'The Tetanus Express'

You can get a injection for tetanus, but there’s no known cure for a boring bicycle.

 

Your bike appears the kissing cousin to my Wayfarer Flyer, which is totally evident by the chain guard and frame.

 

But mine is a step-through frame and it never was a three speed so doesn’t have the little pulley etc.

[cheesy]

12 hours ago, Ulu said:

You can get a injection for tetanus, but there’s no known cure for a boring bicycle.

 

Your bike appears the kissing cousin to my Wayfarer Flyer, which is totally evident by the chain guard and frame.

 

But mine is a step-through frame and it never was a three speed so doesn’t have the little pulley etc.

I'm at around 25 bikes. My track bike has neither fender or chain guard, but most of the internal gear hub bikes have chain guards. Because I commuted year round in N. Illannoy, all but four bikes have fenders. I hated having the 'skunk stripe' up back. A couple of the commuters even have mud flap extensions on the fenders to keep the slush snot off my feet during the winter months.

 

I've never participated in a bicycle show, either, so I'll see how it goes. I do know there will be some pristine high end road bikes displayed by the host and the others that will have me wiping drool off my chin.

 

As far as awkward, 'Eye of the Beholder'. The Tetanus Express was built as test bed for the 2 speed fixed gear hub and not to look good. It became a workhorse commuter/alley cat racer. At the time I built it, Sun had not yet released their CR-18 rim in EA3 size(British 26x1 3/8). I now have a set of those on my 1968 Raleigh Superbe. Big improvement in speed and handling. But, and there is always a but, the choice of good tires in EA3 is limited. In 590 size, MTB 26", there is an almost unlimited choice. I run Nashbar street slicks on The Tetanus Express, 26x1 1/4 at 85psi.

[Ulu]

Since I only do one kind of riding, which is basically daily casual riding around the neighborhood for fitness, I only need two bicycles.

 

The fancy bicycle that I ride all the time, and the crummy bicycle that I ride when the fancy one is apart for some reason.

 

The rest of these bicycles are all just for the grandkids to ride when they come over, and because they’re almost all adults now the small bikes might well be passed on to my great grandkids someday.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Ulu

[cheesy]

I, to my wife's' chagrin, practice N+1 when it comes to bicycles and motorcycles. N equals how many you have and 1 equals how many you need. My Dad taught me how. He had a bunch of snowmobiles. At 89, he's down to one.

[Ulu]

Baby bike reflector.

[cheesy]

I had a good time at the bike show yesterday. When it's a nice February day in N. Illannoy, you throw caution to the wind, bundle up, and break out the the motorized bikes and trikes.

 

There was a lot of eye candy to see.

 

Like our old vehicles or my weird a$$ motorcycle, sometimes the different gets all the attention. The Tetanus Express turned out to be one of the stars of the show.

 

I got asked a million questions about how I built the 2 speed fixed gear hub, why the MTB rims, what kind of seat bag, it's age, why the name. The guy putting on the gig did a video interview with me about the rig and with the guy who owns the curved tube Schwinn Paramount behind the Tetanus Express.

 

Looking forward to next year.

 

[pflaming]

And there was this one. 

[cheesy]

I finished up this beastie Saturday and took it on a short maiden ride yesterday.

It's a seventies something 23" Raleigh Sports frame with a bunch of stuff from other Raleigh's from the same or earlier periods, along with some newer bits and some French Lyotard Berthet pedals. The 23" frames are kind of hard to come by as most Raleigh Sports frames were 21". The Sports 3 speeds were also geared really high, usually with a 46 or 48 tooth ring up front and an 18 tooth cog in the rear. 3rd gear with that set up was akin to a racers gear and a bear to push. I put a 22 tooth cog on the rear that gives a more civilized 3rd gear for old pharts.

 

I need to level the rear rack, it looked okay when the bike was on the repair stand. Not so in real life. Also need to tighten up a bit on the suspension stem and it will be ready for the Lake Pepin 3 Speed Tour next month. www.3speedtour.com

 

I hope I will be.

[SteveR]

Back in 1966 My friends and I were riding around and went into a new bicycle shop. They were having a competition and first prize was a Schwinn Varsity 10 Speed Bicycle.I filled out about 6 forms and thought nothing of it again. Several weeks later My mother received a phone call from Penn Cycle asking If she had a son or husband by the name of Steve She was skeptical and asked what it was in relation to. They said I had won their first prize. I got to pick out any color bike I wanted and chose a Purple one. The bike was valued at $75. That about $700 today.

I no longer have that bike I suppose the ex had it thrown out. Here is photo of one that looked similar

[SteveR]

On 4/10/2023 at 3:55 PM, cheesy said:

it will be ready for the Lake Pepin 3 Speed Tour next month

I was born and raised in Minnesota. We use to have a "Flood Run" on Motorcycles that went from Hastings to Winona in the spring. The last year I went there were 5-7K motorcycles.

[cheesy]

Hauled this one to The Chicago Tweed Ride yesterday. We did a crash and I lost a tiny amount of skin.

There were all kinds of restored British and American bikes.

 

This was my favorite. A mostly original 1949 Raleigh Clubman.

[cheesy]

Bump. 

This followed me home Monday. Dyno Crestline tandem.

Mrs. Cheesy is getting a bit soft and doesn't want to ride her own bike anymore. TBT, her bike hasn't turned a wheel in 10 years.? So, anyway, after a bit of service and new tires, we'll hit the roads in the neighborhood and she can be a backseat driver.

[cheesy]

A couple more pedal thingies ended up in the garage over the past few months. First up is the Old Phart Lefsa Special.

It was built up from two different Scandinavian bicycles. The Orange step through frame is a Danish built Everton. The wheels and rear rack are from a Finnish Tuntari bicycle. It has a Sachs 3 speed coaster brake hub. As I'm still in recovery mode from a broken ankle, I've just managed a ride down the driveway. I'm hoping to get the okay to hit the bike paths by the end of the month.

The other is a 1970 French Mercier 100 I picked up as a basket case at motorcycle swap meet a couple weeks ago.

I've loosely slapped it together to see what's there, what's not, what's good, and what's shot. I've seen worse for more money. 

 

Because of my ankle, the Desoto is about 45 days behind schedule for it's annual first run of the year.