I don't really have much to talk about cycling-wise, since I'm a wuss and haven't ridden in months. So, I'll post some pictures of a couple of my latest bicycle acquisitions....
The first set is of a cruiser that was given to me by a customer of The Bike Wave. It says it's a "Rutledge", but who knows. It's been repainted, and I changed a few things as well. The original fork was cast iron. Seriously. I've replaced it with a 1 1/8" MTB fork. The wheels were shot, so I rebuilt the rear wheel and built a new front wheel. The rims are old Weinmanns that have been in the shop for a decade, the front hub is a SunTour, and the rear hub is the Bendix that was on it. The saddle is a Brooks from a 1973 Raleigh that was donated at the same time.
The next set of pics are of my "Winter Bike".... an obviously misnamed bike, since I'm a wuss and don't ride in the winter. I have no idea what the winter bike is. Someone left a rusty frame and a box of parts outside our door. Jeff was going to throw it away, so I kept it and built it up. I can tell you that it's old. The geometry is pre-suspension forks, and it has braze-ons for a shoulder pad. Remember those? Back before suspension, people would hike-a-bike over bad obstacles like a cyclocross rider. Therefore, people designed bags that fit in the top-tube/seat-tube corner and had a pad that fit nicely on your shoulder. Some bike manufacturers even put braze-ons there and you had a nice, firmly attached pad. There is one visible lug on the entire frame, and that is on the seat tube. I had a Raleigh headtube badge laying around, so the bike is now a Raleigh. lol.
Other parts: a NOS DiamondBack chrome MTB fork, cheapo stem and headset, cruiser bullet grips, wide riser bar, NOS Shimano DX thumb shifters, crap brake levers, cheapo canti brakes, Exage front and rear derailleurs, and a junk wheelset with tires from a trashed Magna (Target bike). It's a pretty cool bike, really.... if you're a geek like me.
Comments to date: 2. This is page 1 of 1.
Gary Fountain Melbourne Australia
Posted at 7:00am on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
