Velo Orange Pedals

There are not that many choices these days in classy, traditional pedals. Velo Orange recently stepped into the gap with a new pair of polished body, chrome caged, sealed bearing pedals for under $50. I was enticed and ordered a set just after the holidays. They don't disappoint. Photos here are with MKS toe clips and Christophe straps. I've now been riding on the pedals for over a month and they are really smooth, extremely comfortable items. The difference between the previous high quality Maillard pedals that I was riding and these is night and day. I have rather large feet and having a pedal with enough width to make my foot feel comfortable is worth a lot.

In all I love them. They look great, and at the price you can't beat them.

Raleigh Professional

I finally got the Raleigh Professional finished! Here are some shots of how it came out. There is a total mishmash of components, mostly European, but some Japanese. Heavy French influence due to my parts collection and interests. Note the sweet Normandy Luxe Competition gold label hubs, TA cranks, IRD freewheel, and Huret Duopar rear derailleur. Those are really the sweetest pieces on this bike. I'll use TA cranks on anything I can from now on: they are outstanding.

One cool note about the ADGA saddle is that it's from the Peugeot my Dad rode when I was a kid. I wanted it for sentimental reasons, but it turns out to be a really outstanding saddle. Sure the finish isn't quite Brooks, but the leather is just as thick and it's quite comfortable.

Here are the parts:

• 1972 Raleigh Professional
• Fancy lugs (bird's mouth)
• Normandy Luxe Hubs
• Sun CR18 Rims
• Sapim Race Spokes (DB 14/15)
• TA Pro 5 Vis Cranks
• Huret Duopar Rear Derailleur
• Campagnolo Nuovo Record Front Derailleur
• Campagnolo Nuovo Record Shifters
• Olimpic Pedals
• Belleri Drop Bars
• Universal Brake levers
• SunTour Superbe Brakes
• IRD Freewheel 14-28
• GB Stem
• Campagnolo Seat Post
• ADGA La Chatillonnaise Saddle
• Zefal Pump and Pump Clamp
• Tressorex Cloth Bar Tape
• Velox Bar End Plugs
• Honjo Koken Fenders
• ALE Toe Straps
• Huret Cable Clips
• Klean Kanteen Bottle
• Jagwire Cables and Housing
• KMC Chain
• Vittoria Zaffiro Tires

Here's the whole Picasa photo gallery from this shoot of the bike:

Raleigh Pro

My UO-8

My Peugeot UO-8 got a thorough cleaning this weekend when I finally got it all setup with the proper wheels and had it off the road anyway. I rode the Fuji for a week while I did all that. Now that it's all cleaned, I'm posting pics with the Super Champion/Pelissier wheels, the Velo Orange fenders, etc.


The current incarnation includes:

• TTT long stem
• MAFAC Competition levers
• MAFAC Racer brakes
• SunTour Sprint retrofriction shifters
• Campagnolo Nuovo Record front derailleur
• SunTour V-GT rear derailleur
• Nervar cranks
• Maillard CXC pedals
• SunTour Perfect freewheel
• KMC Z chain
• Pelissier P1001 Hubs
• Sapim Race spokes
• Super Champion rims
• Vittoria Zaffiro tires
• Velo Orange alloy fenders

NOS Parts

I'm building up my Raleigh Professional frame and have been acquiring NOS parts to keep things as nice as possible. Here are some cool parts I've scored on eBay and locally lately. They include:

• Gipiemme bottom bracket spindle
• TA crank bolts
• SunTour Superbe brake levers

More cool stuff is on the way, including some nice Olimpic quill road pedals in French thread to fit the TA Pro 5 Vis cranks I acquired on eBay France. Photos on arrival.

Still looking for decent hoods for the Superbe levers. That single one is NOS but I may have to resort to buying Campagnolo clone hoods on eBay.

Raleigh Professional

I'm really behind on talking about all the stuff I've been up to of late. About a month ago I picked up a nice Raleigh Professional frame and some components at a swap meet. It's a 1972 with the fancy lugs and braze-on eyelets! I don't normally dig sloping fork crowns, but this bike looks so good with the fancy lugs I just couldn't pass it up. I wish it were still in its original colors, but the power coat was done well and it's a nice red. I'll be highlighting the lugs myself shortly. I'm collecting parts to build it up. It'll be my Raleigh (French) Professional when I'm done because of all the French stuff I have to go on it. Here are a couple of shots:

Note the super cool Carlton fastback seat lug with fancy tooling to match the others.

I am building a nice set of wheels for it using Sun CR-18 polished 700C rims. I had to track them down as they have gone out of production now. The regular silver CR-18s are still produced, but not in the polished finish. I managed to find one each at two different local bike shops, both with Presta drilling. I don't at the moment have the spokes or the hubs that will go with the wheels. I have a set of standard Normandy's that I polished up, but I'd like something nicer. I'm looking for a score on eBay or Craigslist. The bike took 27 inch wheels originally and reducing to 700C should leave me room for fenders, a must here in Portland. I'll be looking in to more Velo Orange fenders for it once it's on the road.

The Zeus headset that came with the bike is brilliant. It's as smooth as any head set I've used. I've heard good things about them in the past, so we'll see how it holds up on the road. I'll post more pics as I polish and clean parts to go on this bike.

On a sadder note, I sold the Raleigh Competition I had purchased in the fall in an effort to pay for this bike. I never got that one assembled and I'm glad I waited. This Pro should be more fun. It's definitely built better and much more my style.

New Nervar Cranks

Well it turned out the left arm was toast on my sweet old Nervar Star cranks. I am still looking for another set to replace them. Next time I am used serious Lock-Tite on those bolt threads. In the meantime I need to ride something to work. So I headed down to the Recyclery and asked about a pair of vintage cranks to replace my injured Nervar cranks. They didn't have anything up at the counter or out on the floor, but the nice guy at the counter kind of smiled, walked into the back and came out with these pretty Nervar cranks. I scored them for a really great price.

Sure, they're not as cool as the Nervar Stars, but they are really nice, and astoundingly light. I wish I had the correct rings for them, though. These seem to be the right BCD (122mm like Stronglight) but not exactly the right shape. They came home looking pretty rough, but some 400 grit and 1000 grit sandpaper and some Nev'r Dull later and they shine like almost new. The rings got the same treatment and look excellent now. The only thing not excellent is the Sugino chain ring bolts that need to be replaced. But they work for now.

The left arm is already on the bike and the drive side will go on today. Too bad their first ride will be in the rain!

Crank Arm Toast?

After nearly a year riding them, my Nervar Star left crank arm came loose about 2 months ago while I was riding. I put the bike on the train and walked it home from the stop. I tightened back up, this time with lock-tite on the bolt. It seemed ok for awhile, but a few weeks ago this clicking started when I was pedalling hard. I checked and the bolts were still tight. It got much worse this week so I decided to take it to the bike shop downtown by my office to see if they wanted to take a look at it. After being treated badly by the staff and with lots of "French stuff, ooooh, yeah that could take awhile" comments, I left in disgust. I tore the arm off last night and figured out that it is not deformed in the normal way that an arm deforms when it comes loose (rounding it out), rather the flat sides have been dug into too much by the spindle at the point, so it rocks impercetibly on the spindle while riding. But you can sure hear it. I'm now looking for a solution or a new crank arm. What a bummer. These are really pretty cranks so I hope I can fix it.

10 Months Bike Commuting

I have now passed 10 months of commuting by bike. This has totally changed my world in a positive way, and the funny thing is that I had no idea how much that would be when I got started. My trusty Peugeot (see earlier post) is holding up well and I've gotten to where shifting the nice SunTour levers is almost easier and more accurate than indexing anyway. When the weather gets consistently nice here I will switch from my winter wheels to my newly-home-built Super Champions with Pelissier hubs. They look fantastic in my office so I'm almost sad to put them on the bike. We'll see how well my first try at wheelbuilding holds up. In the meantime, if you're ever going to build your own wheels, pick up this book by Jobst Brandt: The Bicycle Wheel. This book really gives you all the information you could want or need on how to make it work. So far so good. More after I've put a few hundred miles on them.

Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show Photos

I finally had some time this afternoon to post some of the photos from the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show which I attended last weekend. More photos will be coming in a second post this week. This was the first show ever for the OBCA and I think they felt it was a great success because my wife overheard the people at the door talking about how great attendance was. Well no, wonder. Portland is a real bike town and these are the nicest machines from the state's builders. The one negative of the show was that the lighting was terrible. Pardon the photos, I did the best I could given the dark environs.

There were lots of builders present, including Strawberry, Ahearne, Vendetta, Pereira, Sweetpea, Bike Friday, Lyon, Stewie, Davidson (Washington), and probably some others I missed.

In my opinion absolutely the coolest bikes at the show were those of Joseph Ahearne. Not only does he built incredibly attractive bikes, but the accessories that go with them are unique and highly functional. Yes folks, that's a fully-functional, detachable "spork" on the front of that bike. The matching racks and U-bolt holder are unique handmade creations formed from chromoly tubing, as well. That rack screws into custom fit receptacles on the top of the front fork. Beautiful work.

Ahearne does something else I've never seen on another maker's bike: a flask holder that screws into standard water bottle lugs. Now, tell me you've never had a moment where you wished you had your flask along for the ride. You can order those from his website if you're jonesing for one.

Really the next nicest bikes that were fully lugged were the Strawberry bicycles but sadly my photos are not at all good or representative of the quality. Their stand was half in the shadows and the flash-shot photos look terrible.

So I'll move on to Bill Davidson's bikes which were also outstanding. Bill is from Seattle as I understand it, but they let him show anyway. Hey Oregon is like that. This green bike is his work and it's a stunner. The sticker says Nervex Professional, and if they are the real thing they must have bee n around for awhile. They sure look great.In the close-up you get a better idea of the detailed lug work on this beautiful ride. I like how the pump is fit behind the seat post. I now wish I had more photos of this bike. I can't imagine how much it must have cost, but it's just stunning.

There was also this and another beautiful bike made of bamboo. These are from Daedalus Cycles and are really nice looking. I don't know how bamboo will hold up with age, but these are sturdy as new. There's a bit of the fixed gear crowd aura surrounding Oregon bike building but Ill forgive them when they make cool stuff like this. It would be so much cooler with derailleurs and two brakes.

Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show

This Sunday the Oregon BCA is holding the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show here in Portland. There are some incredible builders here in town and they will be showing their wares. The prices on most of the handmade frames start at well beyond my price range, but hey, it's worth going and drooling. I'll be interested to see works from Ahearne Cycles and Vanilla, among others. I've seen a few of their constructions on the street and they are gorgeous machines. Lots of new steel being put on the road. Pics will follow when I can get them off the camera early next week!

Marin County

On the same trip to San Francisco, we spent some time up in the Marin Headlands. You may know of Marin County as the birthplace of the mountain bike. Well it turns out to be a stunning place to ride a road bike, as well. I found myself really itching to ride. We drove up to a nice lookout spot below a set of disused WWII era fortifications and looked out over the Pacific and the Golden Gate bridge. While we were eating lunch, a guy stopped on his Rivendell Rambouillet to catch his breath and enjoy the view. I talked to him and drooled over his bike for awhile. Unfortunately I didn't get to ask to take a picture of his bike in this backdrop. But this is the kind of road you just need a bike for. A road bike, that is...

Rivendell

I just got back from a trip to San Francisco this weekend, which included a stop at Rivendell Bicycle Works, home of some of the very nicest lugged steel bikes on the planet. I went hoping to get a chance to ride an Atlantis, which looks like it could be my next bike (down the road). The guys at the shop were super helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable. Marc Brandt, the nephew of Jobst Brandt (of The Bicycle Wheel fame) helped me fit and test a couple of bikes. The quality of these frames cannot be overstated. They really are beautiful, and lighter than you would think considering how often Grant mentions that lightness is not really a design feature. "They're as light as they need to be." The shop was so low key that it was difficult to find.

Rivendell don't post an address most places and say "call us for directions." I can see why. It's tucked off in a building with a few muffler shops, upholsterers, small-time auto repair, etc.

So for general impressions of the bikes I road: extremely comfortable. I got the feeling when i came home that my Peugeot is actually perhaps a little small for me. After riding the 64cm Quickbeam they set up for me, I discovered that it was so comfortable that I wanted to take one home on the spot. Well, that didn't happen, but I now have the bug for sure. I road those odd-looking mustache handlebars, too, and they turn out to be just as comfortable as Grant claims. But they're weird looking, so don't expect to see a set on my Peugeot any time soon.

If you're even in SF... drop by Rivendell in Walnut Creek. It's very much worth the trip.

I'm Back

After a vacation and short hiatus I'm back and cycling. It has been wet this week in Portland and I'm going to finish installing my Vélo Orange fenders so I don't get filthy riding on damp roads. I may make a stop to pick up a decent rain jacket for riding as well. I'm intending to ride all through the winter, otherwise known as "the rainy season." We'll see how it goes.

On another note, I am going to be building my wheels finally this week. With everything going on it seems I have just never gotten to it. I'll post pics of the process and the finished wheels.

The Raleigh Competition I picked up just before leaving for England for two weeks has not yet been touched. I may build it up with parts in my bins, including the Shimano 600EX cranks I picked up when I got the Fuji. Pics as that progresses, too.

531 DB for Me

I got it! Trawling Craigslist finally paid off. This morning I went and picked up a 1976 Raleigh Competition frame! It has a dented top tube, but is otherwise in good condition. This one has Huret dropouts on the frame and fork. I may investigate getting the dented tube replaced, but I have no idea how much that will cost. It's rideable and straight as is. I'm now not sure about the fate of the Fuji America I picked up the other day. The Fuji is a bit small for me. I'll strip it down to take to the powder coater and we'll see how it compares to the Raleigh. Either way the Raleigh stays. Pics when I return from nearly two weeks of vacation... in England. :)

Fuji Identified

T-Mar from Bike Forums is an expert at all things vintage and, particularly it seems, all things vintage and Japanese. He helped me identify the Fuji as a 1977 Fuji America. It's not a 100% ID without the paint and with some original components swapped out, but that's what it looks like. I weighed the bike as equipped and it came in at 22 pounds which is nice and light for a vintage ride. If this is an America that would make it the 4th from the top in Fuji's lineup. I'm impressed. The Fuji Professional must have been an outstanding bike.

Fuji Find

While still waiting for my spokes to show up I went to a bike swap in Washington this weekend. There was a lot of really old stuff there, including some very cool 1880's and 1890's bikes. A couple had shaft drive which I think is really cool, and one of the bikes with shaft drive had three speeds with a multi-plate clutch. That was kind of cool to look at. Not much in the way of 30's-70's drop-bar bikes, but a lot of cruisers and kids bikes from that period. But I managed a few scores anyway.

The first was this as yet unidentified Fuji I picked up for $35. It's a nice and very light Japanese bike and I'm still trying to identify it. Possibly a 197 7 Fuji Newest. The bad repaint makes it hard to say for certain. It has had the wheels substituted for Schwinn equipment, but those are beautiful Rigida rims and some kind of fairly nice Japanese-made high flange hubs (perhaps Sanshin?). Nitto Olympiade handlebars and stem, and a nice SunTour Cyclone M-II rear derailleur. SR Apex cranks are forged, not swaged and are in great shape. It's not the touring bike I'm looking for and it's not Reynolds 531 (heck it's not even Euro), but it's a fun toy nonetheless. With those half-chromed stays and that curved, sloping front fork it looks almost French. The tubing appears to be double-butted Fuji 331 and without the cables and levers the bike appears to weight in at 21 pounds. It is on the small side for me, but we'll see how it rides.

I also picked up an insanely cheap ($10) like new Campagnolo Nuovo Record front derailleur and a nice set of Shimano 600EX arabesque cranks in very good condition ($8). I couldn't help grabbing a few others odds and ends, too. Looks like next weekend will be spent putting the Fuji on the road if my spokes don't arrive.

Tearing up Highways

It's not very often that a city tears up a highway and replaces it with a park and multi-use recreational path. Can you think of a city that has removed a highway? Portland did just that in 1974 when the city constructed what became known as Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park. I get the pleasure of riding my bike through this green space every day on my way to and from work. The park has been supplemented by a pedestrian/bike bridge on the lower deck of Portland's Steel Bridge since 2001, connecting the park's path to the Eastbank Esplanade. I read that in excess of 900 cyclists per day crossed the Steel and Broadway Bridges in 2006. All of this is part of why Portland is the only large American city to have received Gold status from the League of American Bicyclists. I ride my bike to work every day in no small part due to the transportation system that has been built to support cycling. As we all work to fight global warming and reduce waste, we need more cities to step up to the plate and build networks of bike paths and bike lanes. Lets hope that the foresight and determination that led Portland to replace a highway with a bike path in 1974 can serve as a model to other cities.

Spokes

Due to the shockingly high price of decent spokes in recent years I thought I would not be getting double butted spokes, nor even the highest quality spokes, but on a tip-off from Steve I started poking around European eBay sites and ended up picking up a set of Belgian-made Sapim Race 14/15 double-butted spokes for a completely reasonable price. Sapim also have a nice spoke length calculator which makes it really easy to get the right length spokes. I had calculated these numbers with Spocalc and got the same measurements, but that was more work than the Sapim calculator because the measurements are easier to take the way that Sapim figures spoke length and my hubs weren't already in the Spocalc database. I encourage anyone to use Sapim's calculator. A little research shows that Sapim have been supplying top riders since 1918 so I'm pretty confident I'll like what I'm getting. Shots when they arrive.

Pélissier P1001 Hubs

My hubs and fenders arrived and now I'm busy measuring the hub dimensions so I can order the right spokes to build up my Super Champion rims into wheels. Here are some shots of these really nice hubs. I wasn't sure what to expect, having never seen a set in person, and I sort of expected something around the quality of a Normandy hub. Normandy hubs were very strong, solid hubs that look nice and last nearly forever, but they are not top of the line. These Pélissier hubs are not top of the line, either, but they are definitely a step up from the Normandies. All the research I have done shows that Pélissier hubs were a brand of Maillard by the time these hubs were made but I haven't found much more than that. If anyone has a more complete history of this hub manufacturer, please share it! In any case, I'm delighted with the hubs. These will make great wheels!

Waiting for Hubs

For my birthday my wife bought me a beautiful NOS set of Pélissier hubs and some nicely-designed, brand new in-house fenders from Vélo Orange. I'm waiting for them to arrive so I can measure them and order my spokes. Due to the almost outrageous price of spokes these days I will not be buying double-butted spokes from DT Swiss or Wheelsmith. Of course stainless is the only real choice so I will be buying Union spokes which I think are of moderate quality. But heck they'll be better than the period-correct high tensile steel spokes anyway. Oh and about those hubs: if you haven't read the history of Henri Pélissier check out the Wikipedia article.

On a side note, the other day I helped a guy lug a bunch of bikes to his house in the trunk of my old Volvo. In return he gave me a really nice 700c wheel with a near-perfect Helicomatic hub and freewheel, and stainless 14 gauge spokes. Not sure what I'll do with it yet, but it's a nice piece.