Archive for June, 2010
TdF Snaps.
June 15, 2010
Exploded.
June 15, 2010
Gotta love an exploded team Raleigh.
Seen at Cool Steel’s Flickr spot.
Very Well Re-Up.
June 15, 2010
Well, not a re-up as such, just that I spotted that Tokyo Fixed Gear still have some stock of the Spinwell ‘Very Well’ T left on their newly re-opened webstore.
So everyone who has emailed me requesting one should promptly head there, as I have none left!
Rollapaluza in Birmingham!
June 15, 2010
Rollapaluza roller racing takes place Thursday 17th between the hours of 12pm and 6pm in our great big neon toilet, the Bulls ring, sorry I meant Bullring… Hmmm, I certainly have my reservations about it being held in a huge 3 story shopping complex but hey, I’ll be working anyway.
For those not working, or studying get yourself along and have a race. It’s free, you could win prizes and there will be some “surprise stars” there.
Colnago Sleekness.
June 14, 2010
Right, that’s it. The Olmo is going to Black, or maybe Charcoal. This Colnago looks hot as hell! None drive side photo fail, though guys.
Friction.
June 14, 2010
As some of you may know I recently acquired a ‘classic’ racing bike, complete with down-tube friction shifters.
Now, my days of friction shifting were over sometime in the 90s when I ditched my bar mounted XT thumbies for the ‘rapid fire’ version of said shifter but I’m now back in the game with my de-indexed Campy Synchro 2s and I’m loving it.
Before I continue I’d like to say: Please don’t get me wrong, a bar/brake lever mounted shifting setup is fantastic. It is very quick, reliable, and you don’t have to move your hands, so for racing bikes ‘rapid fire’ really is the way to go.
Back to friction. For those who do not know, a friction shifter ( usually mounted on the down tube of road bikes ) are mostly non indexed, meaning that there are no ‘notches’ to ‘index’ the gears onto. Therefore one has to do the indexing themselves. To a novice this may sound complicated but with a bit of practice it’s all fun and games.
I actually enjoy friction shifters, they take the hurry and technicality out of something that was and is so simple – The bicycle. A friction shifter trains you to select the appropriate gear at all times because on that climb there should be no shifting, you should be judging your speed and getting your gear right first time, everytime. A friction shifter helps with this.
Field repairs inside ergo levers is a no go, I think you’ll agree? All of those moving parts crammed inside those levers inhibits tampering of anysort. “When will you need to tamper” I hear you cry. Probably never but imagine being stuck, having to turn 80 gear inches with 50km of climbing to go? No thanks. With everything about a friction shifter being external, plus the fact that there is only one moving part ( it ) means the system is practically bombproof. This is why many long distance tourers choose to use this method.
It is not for everyone or every bike. Any more than 7 gears on your racer and I’ts probably about as much use as shifting with your heel as it would become increasingly difficult to maintain an indexed gear for any length of time, given the slimness of the chain and distance between each sprocket. Your chain will be dancing all over your freewheel like a ballet dancer on stage so if you are building a bike with more than 7 gears – go for indexed. I have 6 gears, I have no problems.
On a classic bike friction shifters look, well, perfect. They were meant to be there! I am not saying classic frames with adequate rear spacing look rubbish with ‘ergos’, ‘frictions’ just look better.
Right, so that’s enough from me, I’m off to ride my bike.
For those with indexed campy down tube shifters, here is a great article form tears for gears on how to de-index’ them as I mentioned above. Exactly why I love Campagnolo.
Campy Scan.
June 11, 2010
Lugtastic.
June 10, 2010
Cervelo Project California.
June 10, 2010Women! Reclaim the bike.
June 10, 2010
It is ashame that for one reason or another you don’t see an awful lot of women cycling around our city, but by the looks of it Femme Pedale are looking to change all of that starting on the evening of the 18th June.
I already know of a good handful of girls that are attending this next week but if you know any that aren’t… let them know!
Such a great thing to do.
More info here.
Bikezilla Birmingham Loop Race.
June 9, 2010
God, I’v got jitters with the excitement. Sunny Birmingham hasn’t had something like this in a good while, so it’s about time. Props to Fin for hooking this up and by the looks of it boy’s been busy collating the prizes too!
So, Birmingham people! Get yourself there and if everyone agrees not to mention the wea**r we should be in for one slamming evening.
Bicycle Portraits. South Africa.
June 8, 2010
The Bicycle Portraits project was initiated by Stan Engelbrecht (Cape Town, South Africa) and Nic Grobler (Johannesburg, South Africa) early in 2010. Whenever they can, together or separately, they’re on the lookout for fellow commuters, and people who use bicycles as part of their everyday work, to meet and photograph. They’re finding out who rides bicycles, why they ride bicycles, if and why they love their bicycles, and of course why so few South Africans choose bicycles as a transport option. There is no specific range of questions asked, they’d rather just establish a conversation around the rider’s life and where his or her bicycle fits into it. Please bear in mind that these recordings were transcribed verbatim and that english is not the first language of many of the characters they met. Being avid cyclists themselves, this project is as much an investigation into South African bicycle culture as it is an excuse for them to ride their bikes and take photographs. Follow the project on Twitter
The fellow in the photo at the top had this to say: “The bike, it’s been one year. I use it… not every day. It’s like gym, like exercise. Also some transport. This bike, you know Cash Converters? I buy it at that shop for R950.” Honest and to the point, a man I’d like to meet!
Great project. See more here.
Spinwell Projects No.3
June 7, 2010
Cloth is cut. 2 processes to go and this project will be complete.
Keep em peeled for more info, soon!
Sunday morning Necessities.
June 7, 2010
Home made leather pouch.
Jimi Wallet.
Phone.
Mini Pump.
Tyre levers ( 4 year old Pedros’, the best I have ever used ).
Tube.
Mini tool kit.
Pu****re repair kit.
Rapha x Burfields & Co.
June 4, 2010
Established in 1944, Burfields & Co. is one of only two surviving glove manufacturers in an area that once boasted 38. The hand-painted sign welcoming visitors is a relic of that bygone age. It reads: “This is where gloves of quality and superlative design are manufactured by Burfields and the Martock Glove Co.” In a rabbit warren of buildings at the end of a small lane, the main factory sits beside the old fire station which now acts as the Burfields warehouse.
Richard unwraps a piece of black goatskin from inside a wet cloth; the leather is dampened for a few hours, making it easier to work and stretch. This piece is destined to become a pair of black Rapha Grand Tour Gloves. He moves the skin one way and then the next, with the urgency and agility of a pizza chef stretching dough. The degree of stretch within the leather is very important. It is the cutter’s job to ensure every piece of a glove has, within the leather’s grain, the same stretch. To allow the glove to bend around the hand, the leather must have something extra, a quality Richard refers to as “hidden stretch”, something not necessarily apparent when the leather is relaxed. A size large glove, for example, may have as much as 2 ¼ inches of this ‘hidden leather’, which is needed to transform a flat, 2D pattern, into a working 3D glove.
Great post and great gloves too.
Read the entire article here.
Praises be to tracko for pointing it out.
Bike doping. Really?
June 3, 2010I doubt it very much.
Thanks Joe for the linky.
October 1967.
June 3, 2010
Loving the minimal graphic design on this one.
Seen.
Bare Steel.
June 2, 2010
Still undecided as to what colour to do my Olmo in. Yesterday’s post on Black bikes was food for thought, as were the metallic beauties seen in the original Olmo scans.
New idea. Chris, a long time cycling gentleman from my local store has a few cycles in the ‘colourway’ ( can you call it that? ) seen above. Bare metal. I think it looks awesome and no doubt very easy to acheive with a mere strip of the paint and a clear coat. Although you don’t get the high gloss finish of paint or powder you need never worry about chipped paint again, simply because there is none!
The tussle continues.
Rigi track bike hotness spotted here.
Like this:
Olmo Scans.
June 1, 2010I recently got hold of an Olmo. A 50th anniversary, Columbus tubed, full Chorus Olmo to be exact.
After years of riding bikes that are too small for me I have at last found something that I believe to be perfect for me, but it needs painting. No, really, it does. Despite what is written here I am going to do it as the frame is 1. In a relatively bad way and 2. It’s disgusting, I don’t do 2-tone black and grey with rust spots!
So, I am not sure what colour to go for at this point but here is some great inspiration I found at bulgier.
Next is the tussle between powder, acrylic and enamel. Powder is very cheap, easy but can look a bit ‘flabby’ but then where near to me will do stove enamel? Let the tussle begin.
Like this:
Montagner Scan.
June 1, 2010
