From Wheels to Bikes: steel bicycles

Showing posts with label steel bicycles. Show all posts

Saturday, December 21, 2013

A Modern Lugged Frame & 3D Printing

VRZ 1. a tack bike frame with 3d printed lugs from Ralf Holleis on Vimeo.

A clever use of 3D printing to create lugs for a bicycle frame. I am not someone who pines for a bicycle-as-work-of-art like this, but there is no reason I can think of not to use a technical approach like this to build a bicycle frame that would more pedestrian in appearance but good to ride.

From a bicycle "accessories" (mostly parts) catalog of 1900

The elegance of a lugged bicycle frame to me is that it is the way most good (and I suppose some other) bicycles were built for the better part of 100 years.

My 1982 Bridgestone with a lugged steel frame

Friday, July 27, 2012

Vertically Compliant in 1896 . . .

I'm just kidding - while bicycle advertising from the 1890s can seem surprisingly familiar more than 100 years later, they didn't talk about "vertically compliant" bike frames. Not that I understand what bicycle reviews mean with some of their phrasing, but vertically compliant seems to be the opposite of rigid - that a bike frame flexes vertically.

What they mean is, buy this bike!!

"A bicycle with the strongest, most rigid frame built." An 1896 ad from
"The Referee and Cycle Trade Journal: a Weekly Record and Review of Cycling and the Cycle Trade." Volume 17, Number 1 - May 7, 1896.
Full volume of issues

Here are some modern discussions of this sort of thing:

* Bicycle frame compliance

* Frame design

* Carbon fiber frames and compliance

I tend to give a lot of credit to developments in bicycle design of the 1890s but it seems intuitively obvious that this is one of those "there can be too much of a good thing" situations. I am reminded of the infamous SNL skit where Ed Asner, leaving for vacation from his job running a nuclear reactor, says, "Remember, if something goes wrong, you can never put too much water into a nuclear reactor." In the bike frame ad the meeting is clear - the more rigidity the better! Well, maybe . . .

Monday, January 2, 2012

Good Looking Classic

PerformanceBike has a nice looking all-weather traditional looking sort of steel frame road bike for only $999. The CroMo Tange steel frame is made in Taiwan and sold by the British company Charge Bikes. For $1,000 the component selection is excellent and it supposedly weights less (just) than 22 pounds with fenders. That's excellent.

A 2010 version of the same bike (with fenders removed)

Here's a typically laudatory review from the British cycling press.

Features good Shimano 105 and other components

About the only thing I don't find so attractive is that it isn't a lugged frame but that probably reduces the weight over my Bridgestone which in many respects is quite similar.

This is a more interesting bike than a lot of the stuff PerformanceBike carries.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Carbon vs Steel for Bike to Cross USA

Bruce Weber, a journalist for the NY Times, is at age 57 "recreating" an earlier cross country bike trip and is writing a serious of articles (and blog entries, and tweets, and ... and ...) about it. Also, given the nature of things, there is an "interactive" map that charts his progress.

To summarize his article in the Sunday NY Times today - it's been hard going so far. For better or worse, now many people can offer advice that is shared with all of us. The NY Times featured seven "emblematic" comments from the hundreds made so far, one of which suggests that it's his steel bike that's the problem.

I ride a lot. My best road bike cost $14,000 (custom full-carbon). I think you’re underserved by a steel bike. But then, I’m old (75), though I do log 5,000 miles per year cycling, in the U.S. and Europe.

The suggestion seems to be that an expensive carbon fiber frame bike would be better for this activity than the (presumed not expensive) steel frame bike. I do not believe that it is necessary to spend anything like that much money on a bike suitable for this and I strongly believe most carbon fiber bikes would be a poor choice for what Mr. Weber is doing.

A steel randonneuring bike, based on a 1982 steel bike frame

Looking at the second issue first - I wonder if the writer understands what Mr. Weber is doing. If you are on a supported ride, when your baggage is carried by a support team in motor vehicles (and all the meals arranged in advance, and so on) then riding a carbon fiber road bike would be great. Here however the rider is carrying everything with him in panniers, and the traditional (and seemingly reasonable) approach to that is to ride a randonneuring or touring bicycle, made of steel. You sacrifice some weight for the cycle in favor of strength as well as a bicycle geometry more suitable for hauling weight long distances reliably and comfortably over pure speed. It's simple, really - touring bikes are made of steel. And this is a touring bike situation.

As to cost, that's a different matter - certainly one can spend thousands (even more than $15,000 for one custom built by a builder who produces them one at a time) on a high-end steel touring bike - I would chose something like this Co-Motion steel touring bike (at around $3,500). The example in the photograph (that could have a rack and panniers added easily enough) is based on a steel frame exactly like one I bought on eBay for $117 (including shipping!) that one could then kit out in a suitable way for another thousand dollars or so. I tend to think that Mr. Carbon-Fiber-is-Best is partially correct that for a bike to ride across America, Mr. Weber has underspent in dollars and is paying for it otherwise. And eventually will pay for various fixes such that it would have been less expensive to buy a more expensive - and suitable - bike right at the start. He has already replaced the cassette with one that has cogs more suitable for climbing hills at slow speed, for example. Many other components on a lesser bike will have a predictable service life less than the distance represented by a cross country ride.

I have not been able to work out exactly what sort of bike Mr. Weber is riding - the photos seem (purposely?) to obscure that information. The type of bike, however, is obvious enough - it is the kind of "not a mountain bike, not a road bike, but what is it bike" that one sees around town often enough. Riding across the country seems like an activity for a purpose-built bicycle.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Nice Steel Track Bikes for a Sunday

Fellow had these two bikes on his truck for riding at Hains Point (in Washington, DC).

Old school drilled holes in rims to lighten - and enhance appearance

French 1960s Abel Borne track bike - weighs only 13 pounds

Steel is real! But can be light.

Fellow said this was one of only 26 such track bikes produced.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Weight of Cycles (1890s' View)

A discussion of the all-important bicycle weight question

A prevalent notion regarding the weight of cycles seems to be that the lighter a machine is, the easier it must run. While for race tracks this is practically true, such conditions as are met with in average road riding alter the case considerably. Lightness is certainly a most desirable and important quality to secure in a cycle; but the moment it is obtained at the expense of rigidity, or at the expense of generous tires, it does not make the machine any better as a whole. Lack of rigidity means waste of power, and small tires mean more vibration; and both these are detrimental to ease of running, especially at any distance. Should lightness be further obtained at the expense of a well-stayed frame, or use of insufficient metal, durability is largely sacrificed. It does not follow from this that a machine need be heavy; for a properly proportioned one of medium weight and first-class quality is just as strong; but it does follow that extraordinarily light machines are not suitable for road work, and are not as durable as those of medium weight.

A reasonable point of view! The author goes on to offer further analysis~

Since 1892 the advance that has been made in building light bicycles has been absolutely extraordinary, and in less than three years the weight of road machines has been reduced from forty-five to twenty-two or twenty-three pounds. No man, however heavy, need ride a modern wheel of over thirty pounds' weight; very few need ride over twenty-five pound wheels, while the majority of good riders can be safely fitted with wheels that weigh but twenty-two or twenty-three pounds. Of course a good many wheels at even less weight than this will be used on the road, but it should be done with extreme caution. Track racers run from fifteen to eighteen pounds.

A modern carbon fiber racing bike that weighed around fifteen pounds would be a costly item, but the track bike described for the 1890s would not have any gears or brakes, which do add weight even on a modern bike. And to save weight, the wheels of an 1890s track bike might well have been made of wood.

Still, one wonders at how quickly steel cycle builders of the 19th century managed to make lightweight track cycles that rival those of a hundred years later in certain measures.

Typical single speed cycle from 1897

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Book Review - "It's All About the Bike"

"It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels" by Robert Penn. Published April 26th 2011 by Bloomsbury USA, 208 pages.

Book description at Goodreads.com.

YouTube video giving author's description of his book

Here's my review on Goodreads ~

The author describes some of the history, particularly the early history, of the development of cycling along with an account of his selection of the bits and pieces that are eventually assembled to make his dream bike including visits to manufacturers, all in less than 200 pages. Since I have a coffee table book that describes the history of just derailleurs, in my view he summarizes, generalizes, and leaves some (OK, a lot of) stuff out. For me, knowing something about the subject, it was an interesting read - I enjoyed it. I have to wonder how a reader who was interested in bikes but didn't know that much about the subject would find his explanations of certain slightly technical subjects. It would have been great to have more and better illustrations.

I read the U.S. edition. The dust cover of the U.K. edition included a color photo of this bike he went to so much trouble to have built; it seems odd to have left that off the dust cover of the American version. The British English was not fixed for the U.S. edition - I thought that was a standard process. "Tyre" etc. Not a big deal but seems odd. U.S. distances are supplied in addition to kilometers etc.

Even having read his book, I still don't quite understand what this was the ideal bike for (given that he has six other bikes of various types). It almost seemed like he wanted a randoneering (touring) bike, anyway something for long-long rides, but the subject of randoneering (with its rather different views of many of the choices he made) doesn't come up.

At the end he points out that the bike cost him $5,500. (He translated that to a U.S. measure, anyway). There are plenty of off-the-shelf bikes that cost more than that, so I think he must have got some special pricing on some of it. (Which is fine.)

I have a few other thoughts since I wrote the above ~

* Coming from the U.K., he really has a very European focus in the components he finds interesting. This isn't really a problem per se, but it would have been nice if he could have said a little more about some of the other sources that are important today. Yes, Campagnolo of Italy has made and continues to make great components, but they are mighty pricey and most people are making other choices - Shimano and increasingly SRAM.

* I still don't really understand his "dream bike" except that it is a really sturdy road bike made of steel. He says he figures he'll still be riding it when he is 70 down to the pub, but I am doubtful he'll want to ride what is essentially a racing bike to the pub then. He says nothing about randoneering bikes that seem a lot more "dream bike" to me, but perhaps this movement hasn't caught on in the U.K. (I don't think this fellow reads Bicycle Quarterly, the mother-ship journal of rando cycling.)

* With all the choices in the universe, he has his custom bike painted orange and blue - really, orange and blue? The Denver Broncos. Oh well.

* I also didn't get his choice of carbon fiber Cinelli handlebars for his steel bike, particularly since as I read the book, he got Cinelli Ram bars that integrate the stem and the bars, but on his site the photo shows carbon fiber handlebars with a standard stem. The photos of Cinelli Ram bars that I have seen are quite exotic - so much so that they would grab much of the attention on any bike you had them. Anyway, I must have misunderstood something, but I would have chosen something more traditional for the handlebars.

* The book is mostly about his quest for a perfect road bike of his own profile, but he does meet Joe Breeze of mountain biking fame and describes a pretty amusing outing with him, riding down a famous old mountain track. A lot of his descriptions of discussions with the people he meets who create (or whose companies create) the parts of his bike are engaging; really, that stuff is better than some of his descriptions of early cycling history.

He has photos of the bike

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Black Bicycle Mfg. Co. - 1896 Bicycle Factory

The Black Bicycle Mfg. Co. in 1896, external view

The January 4 1896 issue of Scientific American has illustrations showing scenes from the Black Bicycle Manufacturing Company factory and some description of the manufacturing process in an accompanying article.

THE TRIBUNE BICYCLE

Within the past three years, the American bicycle Industry has grown up to dimensions which fairly entitle it to be considered representative of the country and of the day. Every day sees hundreds of wheels of high and low grade made in the factories of this country for the American and foreign market. Three years ago the English bicycle was considered by many the best wheel, and the possessor of such was apt to consider himself better equipped than his friend who rode one of American manufacture. Now, all is changed. A visitor to England or to the Continent, if a cycling enthusiast, cannot fail to be impressed by the superiority of American wheels as contrasted with the foreign ones, and no wheelman really an fait in his subject would dream of buying his wheel abroad, so superior is the American make. The industry has brought about an enormous development in the manufacture of special tools and of parts of bicycles.

Assembling the Bicycles

Many assumed bicycle manufacturers simply buy these parts and do their own assembling. But for the production of the absolutely high grade American bicycle, a factory is required which will turn out practically all the parts of the wheel manufactured, for unless such is done one concern cannot be answerable for the perfection of the whole machine.

We select as the representative of such a factory the works of the Black Manufacturing Company, of Erie, Pa., a company which produce the highest grade of wheel and which put it on the market purely on its merits without the adventitious advertisement of paid riders. The wheel made by this company, the "Tribune Bicycle," embodies the best possible practice and is correspondingly free from structural variations of unproved merit.

Milling Machine

The tubing, whose walls are of 20 gage thickness, is of American make, the company having found that English tubing could not be obtained of sufficiently even quality. At the junctions of the tubes forged connections are employed. These are received in a solid state and are machined out, drilled and turned, until only a shell of the original material is left. Each connection has projecting nipples which enter the ends of the tubes, and the whole is so accurately made that when the ends of the tubes are placed over the nipples the frame will hold itself together without further fastening. The tubes are of uniform diameter throughout and are simply cut of proper length, so that their natural strength is unaffected. The most striking instance of the preparation of the forged connections is in the crank bracket. This is received as a massive forging weighing 3 pounds 2 1/2 ounces, in general shape a cylinder, with four solid projections. This is put into the finishing machine and finished. It comes out with the solid cylinder drilled out so as to present a large aperture through which the crank shaft is to go. and its ends faced off and finished for the reception of the ball races: The four projecting nipples are drilled out and are also turned down on the outside so as to fit accurately the outside of the tubing. The bracket now weighs 8 ounces; all the rest has been converted into drill chips. One of the typical connections is that used for the head of the rear forks, which forging we specially illustrate, in order to show how solid a construction is given to this vital point.

Rear Fork

The frame has now to he brazed together. The pieces are placed in a massive iron jig or template, adapted to receive them and retain them in position, and which holds horizontally the entire frame. This template is mathematically accurate. While held therein, holes are drilled through the connections and tube ends and pins are driven in, pinning all the parts together. When removed from the jig the frame is perfectly rigid. It now goes to the braziers, who, with the best quality of brass and with large gas blowpipes, braze all the the liquid spelter penetrating all the join even running out around the pins. The frame next goes to the filers, after the borax has been brushed off it, who with file and emery paper, go over all the connections and over the tubing, polishing it all, and removing every excrescence, which, it will be observed, gives the frame an absolute hand finish over all its surface.

Brazing Room

The forks taper toward the end, and to produce this taper cold swedging is employed. The swedging machine carries a heavy head like a lathe head or chuck, which rotates in a horizontal axis, and within which are eight hammers, which by the action of the machine move in and out in radial directions. A piece of cold tubing pushed into the machine and fed up by hand is subjected to a multiplicity of blows and has its diameter rapidly reduced, the workman being able to give it any desired taper. The metal thus tapered is flattened and bent to the proper curve to give one side of the fork.

Cold Swaging Machine
[For someone who doesn't know what "swaging" is - like me - you can read something about it in Wikipedia.]

The cups and cones for the ball bearings are made on automatic turret lathes, the turret carrying in some cases as many as five tools. A bar of tool steel which may be 20 feet long is introduced into the machine and is gradually and automatically fed up to the tools, which shape and cut off from it bearing after bearing, which drop from it every few seconds without any attention from the workman. A liberal supply of oil is kept in constant circulation through the machine, falling upon the cutting tools. The bearings thus finished are purposely left 0 005 of an inch too large. They are then screwed on a mandrel in a special lathe and the final finish is given by hand. They are then tempered by secret process with sperm oil and polished, coming out with a beautiful straw color, equal in finish to any steel tools made. The standard finish of the machine is black enamel and nickel plate. The enamel is put on in four coats, two of India rubber enamel and two polishing coats, the frame being rubbed down with rottenstone between the applications. This gives a finish equal to a piano body. To secure evenness the enamel is applied by dipping in a tank of the compound, after which the parts are hung up and allowed to drip to remove the surplus before baking. All nickel plated parts are first copper plated. This prevents water or moisture from getting under the nickel and rusting the steel and thereby causing a separation of the coating.

[Factory Floor]

The aim of the constructor of this typical American wheel has been to secure simplicity and produce an absolutely standard article. Its criterion is its quality pure and simple. There are, however, some novelties introduced that are especially worthy of illustration. One of these affects the crank and crank shaft mechanism, the crank being secured to the shaft in a new way. V-shaped teeth are formed upon the crank shaft and upon the aperture in the pedal arm. This aperture in the pedal arm is split and provided with a tightening screw. To attach the ciank arm to the shaft, it is thrust over the end of the shaft and the tightening screw is turned up, when it is secured as rigidly as if all were one piece of metal. Those who have struggled with the old-fashioned cotter will realize the advantage of this crank, which is instantly released with two or three turns of a screw.

The handle bar is made adjustable by an arrangement of equal simplicity and efficiency. The socket in the head which receives it is threaded. On the center of the handle bar is brazed a sleeve threaded with the same pitch of screw. The socket is split and provided with a tightening screw. The screw is loosened, the handle bar thrust through the socket and screwed into place. When at the desired angle the screw is tightened and the whole becomes practically one piece of metal. By reversing the handle bars, they can be used in up-tumed or downturned position.

The sprocket wheels ought not to be spoken of as a novelty now. They are cut to the cycloidal or theoretically correct curve, which avoids all friction of the chain against the teeth. This has long been the specialty of the Black Manufacturing Company, but now the system has spread among other companies, and cycloidal sprockets are characteristic of several other first-class wheels.

Cycloidal Sprocket

We also illustrate the system of truing up the wheel. Each wheel is mounted on a gaging frame, and the workman, by setting up and loosening the nipples, brings the rim into an absolutely perfect plane. The steering arrangement of the tandem machine deserves attention. Sprockets are carried by the front and rear steering posts, and these sprockets are connected by chains and rods so as to insure unity of steering action between the front and rear handle bars.

Wheel bearings

What I have done here is bring together the illustrations that were on the cover of the issue and with the article with my hand-corrected version of the OCR'ed text, but some errors likely remain (alas) - if you come across a mistake, let me know in the comments and I'll fix. Thanks!!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Riding 1982 Bridgestone Sirius

Completed Bridgestone Sirius bike in Madison building garage (where I work)

I bought the frame, fork and bottom bracket on eBay for a 1982 Bridgestone Sirius road bike. It is a lugged steel frame, size 56 cm. The frame was like 85 dollars plus shipping. The paint is in better shape than the seller's photo showed it on eBay.

Nitto Olympiade handlebars, purchased on eBay

I was not going to try to create a "PC" (period correct) 1982 bicycle - I wanted to see if I could buy and assemble a pleasing ride with components from various years for around $500 or so. (The joke was that for $500 I would put together a bike that I could easily sell for $350.)

Still, some things I did more or less PC - since the bike requires a quill stem for the threaded headset, I got Nitto Olympiade handlebars that are similar to what the bike came with (it had Nitto Universiade bars - close enough). I found someone selling these handlebars along with an SR stem (same period) at a good price (around 25 dollars for both) and stopped looking for the Nitto Technomic A stem the thing came with.

View from the rear - "flamboyant red" paint (per catalog)

I got a Shimano 1055 series 105 group, although it didn't include the cogs (in back). So the brakes, brake levers, the stem shift levers, front and back derailleurs, and cranks and rings are all Shimano 105 from 1990 give or take. Intended to work with seven cog cassette. (The bike came with a six cog freewheel and most of what is now Shimano was originally SunTour.) The cog and ring tooth numbers are completely different than what this had originally -

Before - front, 52 x 42 teeth; now 53 x 39 teeth
Before - back, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28 teeth; now 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 24, 28 teeth
So nominally this makes it faster. Also, it came with 25 mm tires and these are 23, but now of course people are all over the place as to whether narrower tires are faster or not.

Seven cogs should be enough

Some things I bought new. The Shimano HG-70 cassette (with seven cogs) I bought new. The bike was sold originally with six cogs and apparently the "standard" was to have a space for the rear wheel 126 mm wide - when the increase was made to eight cogs (and now up to 11) the typical (or "standard") width was increased to 130 mm. So I had to buy a 4 mm spacer so that the set of seven cogs don't have too long (big) a cassette space to occupy (and slide back and forth - not good!). I decided not to try to find a 126 mm wide wheel so I simply spread the 126 mm wide opening of the rear stays to force in the 130 mm wide wheel with cassette. Four mm is not a problem for this "brute force" approach, it seems. Or so people advise on the Internet. So far so good.

I also bought a new aluminum seatpost and a (relatively) cheap new seat (but in red to match the paint!). I mismeasured, thought the opening was a standard 27.2 mm and bought a seatpost that didn't fit. Had to buy a 27.0 mm diameter seatpost - it fits. Not terribly attractive, but the choices in this size were few. In fact, I was a little concerned until I did find one that there was no such thing and that for lack of a seatpost the bike was going to be unfinished.

I got a new SRAM 870 chain. This is a chain intended for use with either 7, 8 or 9cogs (which are all the same width, it seems). Compared to a ten speed chain, it looks incredibly wide, which is sort of funny (to me).

Italian cut head lug (according to the 1982 catalog)

The frame is ChroMo tubing with Tange steel lugs. The headset is also from Tange.

The shift levers look more "old school" than they really are - the right one is actually "variable" - you can choose between indexed shifting or friction shifting. I have been using the indexed shifting option and it works well. The left one is friction shifting for the front derailleur.

I found brake and shift lever Shimano cable "kits" rather than buying lots of cable and housing and cutting to length. This worked fine, which surprised me for some reason. Some Jagwire replacement cables are pretty expensive but these were less then eight dollars each.

The wheels are new - Shimano R500 wheels that I found on sale (Presidents Day holiday) for $150 with free shipping. The wheels are the single most expensive purchase made for this - much more (relatively speaking) than the frame.

Oddly the original brake caliper slots for the brake pads were longer, the brake pads with these newer 105 brake calipers just barely make it onto the wheel rims properly; I will probably file out the slot holes so that they can be moved a little to do a better job of gripping the rims. This I suppose is the problem with choosing parts from different eras in bike production practices.

The Shimano 105 rings and cranks (pedal arms)

One change for me is that my other bikes have 172.5 mm long crank arms - these are slightly shorter at 170.0 mm. 170 is more typical of a (slightly) smaller bike. I don't have particularly long legs, so perhaps this is good?

Bridgestone company nameplate on headtube

Summary - the assembly of the parts (in effect, attaching to the frame in various ways) was not particularly difficult - the complex part was figuring out which parts from which periods would work together and also trying to order only parts that would fit with whatever had been purchased already. Not sure why, but it was quite enjoyable and best of all, the bike is fun to ride and looks lovely (says I). Getting used to the different shifters is a challenge but that's OK.

Monday, January 17, 2011

1982 Sirius Bridgestone

As I mentioned in my preceding post I have bought a frame (+ headset + fork + bottom bracket) on Ebay.

The 1982 Bridgestone Sirius as shown in the 1982 Bridgestone bicycle catalog

I am apparently a terrible librarian - I should have done various research before I bought the thing, but instead am doing most of it after. So far, no particularly surprising (unpleasant or otherwise) discoveries.

The bike is double-butted 4130 Chromoly (CrMo) with Tange lugs and Tange headset. The 23 inch (or 56 cm using today's usual metric) size was listed at 23 pounds, which is fairly good. Made in Japan. . . it is the same "Bridgestone" that makes tires for Toyota etc. It was the top of the line for Bridgestone at that time, but that doesn't really mean too much - they were not yet a very serious builder.

Apparently some time not long after Bridgestone made the Sirius (and other spacey-named bike models) a fellow named Grant Petersen started running the Bridgestone bike division and the Bridgestone road bikes produced under his leadership are considered rather special - "Bridgestone bicycles are something of a cult item now" per Sheldon Brown. However he means ones made after the one I just bought. Still, this is a classic Japanese-built steel road frame and should be very nice to ride.

Research on such things is interesting. Sheldon Brown has an entire separate page on the subject of Bridgestone bikes (again, focusing on 1985 forward) as well as digitized Bridgestone bicycle catalogs from 1985 through the 1990s. These digitized catalogs are quite interesting (well, it depends on what turns you on) to look at, but of course the selection generally via the Internet is completely random depending on someone having them and then decided to digitize them. (Many such catalogs, particularly from 1989 on, are in violation of copyright, but one can assume the relevant company wouldn't care, up to a point. The catalogs before 1989 for the US market that aren't marked with (c) or the word "copyright" with a date are probably in the public domain. Maybe.)

At any rate, a simple Google search on "1982 Bridgestone bicycle catalog" brought up a site where someone has the full 1982 catalog in PDF - I'm not going to link to it since it is slow to load; it is over three megs. Very nice to have that, if only to confirm that what I bought in fact is an '82. There is another article about Bridgestone bikes that gives some further background.

The above beautiful randonneering bike was built up on the same frame I purchased (which is available in two color schemes - this is the less gaudy one). It is from a Flickr group devoted to Bridgestone bikes. The randonneering approach with fenders and so on is not the direction I am planning to go in but it is nice to see someone investing that kind of money into this frame.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Building Up a Bike - Getting Started

Having completed the "Park Tool School" (for bike mechanic basics) a while ago I am interested in seeing if I can bring together all the (used) parts of a bicycle, assemble them, and have something ridable. Well, something even fun to ride, actually. I have started by buying a old-ish steel frame on eBay (above). I liked the looks of it, a lugged frame, that includes the bottom bracket and (the thing the pedals attach to) and a fork.

So now I have to acquire all the stuff that bolts to the bike - and make sure I get the right stuff for this frame (where it matters). Much of that is what is known as the "gruppo" or group - gear shifters, brake levers (or integrated brake levers/shifters), brakes, front and rear derailleurs, a bottom bracket, a crankset, a chain, a cogset and a freewheel (or cassette). One small problem is that I already have a bottom bracket but near as I can tell, people selling older groups on eBay often don't include that. It is an interesting puzzle to sort out what would work with this frame (and what won't).

My first puzzle is with crankarm length - that is, how long the arms that have the pedals on them are. (This iscertainly not the only or most important thing to figure out but the one I have bumped into first.) Various lengths are available, but most road bikes come with 170 or 172.5 mm. I believe my two road bikes have 172.5, but I realize I would have to measure - it isn't in the technical details supplied with one of them and the other was rather short on such info generally.

I have already found a detailed bicycle crank length discussion that suggests that the Shimano 105 group I have located with 170 mm cranks would be fine (assuming I can successfully purchase it).

Of course a more reasonable question is why Shimano 105? Hmm...

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Slow Bike as Fast as Fast Bike for Commuting (says MD)

This article in the UK's online Telegraph refers to a medical journal's study that demonstrates that commuting on a cheap steel bike is every bit as fast as commuting on an expensive carbon fiber (or fibre, since he's British) one. The author is a medical doctor, which apparently is considered enough to make up for the many methodological problems with his "study."

As is often the case, the comments are more entertaining than the article itself. Some completely miss the point and a few quibble that the author's "expensive bike" wasn't expensive enough to properly compare to the cheap steel bike.

The best comment includes this:

But the best bike is better, although the difference is marginal. Carbon fibre means the bike is lighter and stiffer and more efficient to ride at any given speed. I would suspect the doctor's heart rate and power output will be slightly higher on his steel bike compared to his carbon bike. If you are very fit and taking part in events at a reasonably accomplished level, spending more on a bike is worthwhile.

I particularly found the article interested since the good doctor's equipment (two bikes being compared) is similar to mine - a steel bike around 30 pounds and a carbon fiber around 20 pounds. (One difference is that I spent about the same amount on each, where he spent very little on his steel bike that he bought used and also less than I spent on either on his expensive carbon "fibre" bike - he's more fiscally sensible than I am, I guess.) And the commuting distance, around 40-45 minutes in good weather - is also similar.

My impression is that the increase in the average speed when riding the lighter bike (and using messenger bag rather than panniers) may not even be two miles per hour - say, from 15 to 16 mph average (for the whole ride, including sitting at lights and various slowing down for this and that). But the enjoyment of riding a faster bike and being able to accelerate much faster if I want to is more than enough that I choose to ride carbon fiber whenever that bike fits with the weather.

The suggestion that the cyclist losing weight is simpler and cheaper than paying big bucks to buy a lighter bike is something one sees in print often enough, but it doesn't work for me. By the same logic, I can argue that a particular tool (say a wrench)is just as good as a more expensive one that applies more force if the purchaser went to gym and worked out more and was stronger. Besides, if most people could lose five pounds or ten that easily, presumably they would.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Cheap Spokes = Bad Idea!

My impulse buy bike, a Traitor Ruben steel sort-of cyclocross sort-of urban something-or-other bike had pretty good components but the wheels were no-name (other than the name of the company, Traitor) and the spokes were these black-coated anonymous things, 32 per wheel.

Anyway, a few months ago they started popping at the nipple end on the rear wheel. First one - replace it, then another - replace it. Now after the third has blown I have given up on one-at-a-time and am having the black crap spokes cut off and having the wheel rebuilt with new DT Swiss spokes.

A drive (ok, rear) wheel of a road bike with disk brakes has to work really hard, so the spokes need to be something other than junk selected to make the bike look "cool." (Assuming someone is going to ride the bike and not just admire it.) 2,000 miles or so isn't that long for the wheel to go through, so it is poor performance for the spokes to fail already. (No, I don't wait 220 pounds or carry panniers full of bricks.)

Well, there you have it. When evaluating a bike to buy, the wheels and the spokes should meet the same quality assessment as the derailleur (let's say). A 105 or Ultegra derailleur doesn't make up for crummy spokes.

Fiddlesticks!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Steel Bike in Morning

On my commute I sometimes am lucky enough to chat with some interesting riders. Friday I came upon a young fellow riding a 1985 Fuji steel racing bike that he had "restored" and somewhat updated.

This is a similar looking Fuji from that year. (I should keep my camera in a more reachable location when riding, I guess.)

The bike was beautiful - it looked new (well, other than the design) although he had removed all the decals so I had to ask him what it was. Very nice lugged frame and fork. He had reused the original derailleurs, shifters, and even brake levers. The one concession to modern cycling was to replace the so-called 27 inch wheels with 700 size that he hand built and to put on modern Campy dual pivot brakes.

I interested to see he was riding on 32 mm tires rather than 23 or some more racing bike-typical size. Hmmm. And he reported that while he had started putting in 80 PSI he was now closer to 60 and it seemed fine, speedy enough. And he obviously finds people like me, die hards in the "tires can't be too thin and have too much PSI" camp amusing. (23 mm and 120 PSI in rear, 110 in the front is what I have. I am rethinking this.)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

There are many good Flickr sets . . .

For example, this one. With photos such as this ~

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Philadelphia Bike Exposition

The Philadelphia Bike Exposition, October 30-31 2010 looks quite interesting and worth the drive (from DC).

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle (exhibit)

Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle is an article with some photographs of the amazing bicycles in the "Bespoke" exhibit. Most (but not all) are steel frame bikes.

The online version of the exhibit with more photos.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Huffy racing bike

Historic pro bike: Andy Hampsten's 1988 7-Eleven Huffy Giro d'Italia

Hampsten's steed back then was a prototypical road racer of the late '80s with a lugged steel frame and fork, a 1in threaded steerer and shifters that were mounted on the down tube, not conveniently integrated into the brake levers. But the characteristics he sought from his machine back then aren't far off what racers demand today.

Photo gallery of this steel bike

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Univega Superstrada

Univega Superstrada
Originally uploaded by Michael Neubert

Steel used bike that has been refurbished (restored?) rented for 2.5 weeks from Recycled Cycles in Seattle.

Set of photos of the bike on Flickr.

Strictly speaking at 54 cm this is a little small, but the distance from end of saddle to the front of stem is OK and this was the best (really only) choice. I am comfortable riding it, so that seems like the big thing.

Some research suggests that this is something like a 1998 or 1999 model, frame made in Taiwan. (Earlier Univega steel frames were made in Japan, apparently.) The bike has mostly 105 components - the drive train is entirely 105 but the brakes are RSX (a lower component grade) and having both on one bike seems peculiar. The info I see shows that from 1995-1997 the Superstrada has all RSX. Hm. Also, the 97 model was shown with seven rings in back and this has eight, so again I'm thinking this is a later model than 97. But in 2001 the brand disappeared, so no later than that!

The back wheel appears to be original but the front wheel is new. Odd that the back wheel would outlast the front wheel. The paint has been touched up in a few places but generally for a bike more than ten years old, I don't think this was ridden that much.

The metallic flake burgundy paint job is not something I would probably choose but one gets used to it. The extemely strange lettering used for the "Univega" brand name is a peculiar choice - does it help with marketing to make the name of the company impossible to read??

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Traitor Ruben - Photo on Flickr

Traitor Ruben - new cycle
Originally uploaded by Michael Neubert

This, oddly, is my most viewed photo on Flickr even though it is low res from a cell phone camera. I bought this bike in August 2009 in Seattle to use as a commuter bike here in Arlington (Virginia). Slightly surprising assortment in the group on an steel frame. Ultegra brake levers/shifters, 105 in the back, FSA compact crank in the front, Avid road disk brakes, Nitto road handlebars.

And yes, the seat post, seat, handlebar tape, hubs and rims are all white (or were, when I bought it - the handlebar tape and seat have changed . . . ). The spokes are black and the frame is a dark grey. The lugged steel fork is chrome (no paint).

I replaced the pedals with cages with better pedals when I got home (Arlington).

The Traitor site has photos showing more details, but the version shown there doesn't have a front derailleur and has a single bar-end shifter. Also they have made some small changes since I bought mine.

I really should take some better photos to make available.