Summer Sell a-thon

I started in the spring wanting to thin the herd, at that point I had 9 bikes which was way too much for my 2 bedroom apartment and I wanted to get down to a core 4.  I did NOT want to be the crackpot with a porch full of bikes and parts again.

I started with the Ibex, I paid $80 for it, rode it in last year clunker challenge,considered keeping it but couldn't get the fit quite right.  I put new grips and tires on it for $50 and basically broke  even with the sale at $130.  It went to a Mom who wanted a camping bike and something that could haul a kid trailer.

Next up was the 87 Letour that I started on last year.  I got this bike cheap, $50 but it had no rear brake, I spent $10 get a nice used long reach from the co-op.  This bike was odd in that I did all the normal full refurb stuff, stripping the bike to the frame, rebuilding all the bearings, cleaning the components, waxing the frame etc, but  I didn't change the bar tape or tires.  I picked up some misc cables to go with bits of housing I already had an a new chain so maybe $20 to get to about $80 all in.  The Schwinn sold for $130 to a nice local young man who was going to commute on it.

I had intended to keep riding the Novara Randonee but between its less than ideal fit, short TT, overlap with other bikes in the fleet and the fact it was prime selling time I put it on the market.  This bike gave me some challenges between seat post binders, shifters and trying to use a cartridge bb but it was in fine fettle by the time I sold it.  I paid $70 for the bike but then replaced the shifters, did the normal bar tape, chain, tires, cables and then also upgraded the cockpit.  I got $200 for it and we'll say that after getting use out of it riding (Including the Tour De Lopez),  I just about broke even,  It went to a Kid who is going to college in LA and needed a bike to get around, his dad is an avid cyclist and gave the Novara his blessing, and paid for it lol.  Had I kept the cockpit stock and not messed with the Symmetric shifters I could have probably done well on this bike but I did build it to ride it and I made it comfortable for me,

The Allez was the crown jewel of the bunch, I had a lot fun riding it last year to determine that a 56 cm bike just wasn't going to fit.  I got a great deal by finding this for $80 on CL.  It got the full spa treatment, I bought new tires and cables but the bar wrap and new chain had been in the parts bin for a few years, I hated the quick link on the Connex chain but used a KMC quick link instead which worked great.  I spent about $150 all in, and got $225 for it from a young guy who was already an Allez fan and was intending to use this one for winter commuting.  One of these days I will find a 58.

And tonight I sold the Rock Hopper to a tall gentleman who will use it to commute on the Burke-Gilman bike trail.  I got the RH for $65 and if I could have gotten the rear shifter to work I think I could have come close to doubling my $$.  As it was I put another $40 into for tires, really like the Schwable City tires btw, and used an orphan left friction shifter from the parts bin to solve the shifting issue,  I ended up selling it for $120 so I did make a little bit on this one.

I started with 9 bikes, adding the Rock Hopper brought me to 10, I have sold 5 and have the Trek  420 yet to refurb and sell and that will get me down to 4 bikes.  A lot more room and a bit of cash in my war chest for the potential coming unemployment, depends on how long it takes to find a new gig. 

I might have squeezed more $$ out of the above bikes but I am happy overall and my investments certainly did  better than sitting in a savings account,  and I had fun on most of these bikes to boot,  My plan is to refurb the Trek 520 over the winter an then do a lot of comparison riding between it and the Cresta GT,

Ride. Refurb. Thin the herd. Stack the Cash. Smile. Repeat

Randonee: On the Block

Due to a number of factors I have decided to list the Randonee on CL.   First of all its summer and therefore the prime time to sell bikes, I have sold the Ibex and I have had some interest in the Letour but I have a ridiculous number of bikes and the Novara is the closest to being ready for sale.  My other bikes are either keepers or projects that need the full treatment.  Also while I like the Novara it is overlapped by multiple other bikes (520, HD, Cresta, 420, Moto_GT) in the stable.

I decided to be a bit smarter than I have been in the past and I removed the nice VO leather saddle and replaced it with the Vetta that was on the Cresta GT,

I also removed the Sneaker pedals and swapped them over to the Handsome devil and took the platforms from the HD, originally on the Trek 420, and put them on the Randonee.

For now I am leaving the updated cockpit in place and pricing the bike high enough so I recoup those costs, but if the bike languishes on CL for multiple weeks then I can always swap to the stock cockpit and lower the price.

Another reason to get a bike on CL is that I have been hearing allot of grumbling on Bike Forums about how soft the Vintage bike market has become.  I have never been in this for making $$ but I like to at least break even.  A soft market might be good for me in that I could pick up bikes I am interested in for less but I do have a glut currently I would like move and not take a total bath on.  Time will tell.

Ride. Reduce. Resell. Repeat

Randonee: shifting gears

The ebay Suntour Downtube shifters arrived Thursday as anticipated.  I toyed with the idea of ordering replacement hoods for the ends but the Rustines version Velo Orange sells would cost me more than the shifters did so they will go bare for now.

I got them mounted on the bike with no issues other than I started out with them upside down lol,  I was lucky the Symmetrics had been mounted on a clamp band because there was a stop on the backside of the downtube that also works for the banded DT shifters, some bikes mounted Symmetrics via a braze on bolt hole in the center of the downtube which would have been more problematic.

One nice feature of my Park PCS-9 work stand is that you can loosen the knob on the back of the clamp arm and that allows you to..

Rotate the bike to the desired angle.

That allowed the RD to be at close to chest height when I ran the RD cable which is a bit funky on the Suntour Cyclone as it runs through the center of the derailleur body, rather than underneath.  With the bike rotated I didn't have to crouch to try and run the cable.

I got the shifting to work fine in the stand, now I just need to shake this stupid cold so I can take it for a road ride and then return it to work.

Ride. Power Shifters Rock, smile. repeat

I should 've stood in Bed

With apologies to Bugs Bunny on Saturday maybe I should've stood in bed.  I was going to do so many bike things.....

It started off well enough wrapping the bars on the Cresta GT one side done, right...

Wrong.  I fell victim to one of the classic blunders which, besides not getting into a land war in Asia, is when wrapping bars check your work early and often and certainly before you tape up at the end! Sigh.  So hearing the voices of my parents in my head, Any job worth doing is worth doing right, I unwrapped the whole thing and started anew, this time remembering to check -visually and by feel that the wrap was even and had no gaps.

Ok bars wrapped, lets go for a ride, after all I just got my brakes adjusted so its all good...right?

I'd only gone a few miles when I noticed an odd sound during braking, so I stopped and saw the above (adult language) not the result I was looking for.  I limped home, left it for a day so I could find my zen.

These vintage Dia Compe canti's have a hex nut one one side so you can loosen it to make the pad adjustments and a hex head on the other side which allows for..

The step I didn't do last week (edit coming to that post) which is to use an allen wrench on one side and a box end wrench on the other to get the brake post very SNUG so it doesn't rotate like it did for me.  I thought I had them all tight last time but I went and did the both end snug trick on all four pads.  I hope this is the end of the Canti saga.

The good news is that I rode the Novara after work twice last week and even tackled the hill I had avoided the week before and conquered it.  The bad news is the front shifter was acting up and needed attention.  They do provide a workstand in the bike lock up which is nice but there is no clamp so its tough to much actual wrenching and I also remembered how many little parts the Symmetric shifters had so the bike got a ride home.

I soon realized that even with a proper stand I needed the shifters off the bike to really work on them.  I did this reluctantly because dealing with mounting the clamp for the shifters before had been a real PIA but I removed the cables and forged ahead.  Even with the diagram and multiple attempts I could not get the front shifter secured to the shifter body without a lot of lateral play,  I finally removed a washer and it kind of worked but I had no faith it would hold up and my patience had run its course with the Symmetric shifters.

Ebay provided a pair of banded Suntour power shifters like the ones on the Moto_GT, I would have liked to get them from Bikeworks but I would have had to wait a week to go and there is no guarantee they would have any, and by then the Ebay ones should arrive.  Hopefully the Novara will be back up and running next weekend.  The Symmetrics are boxed an ready to go to a bike forums member for the cost of shipping.

Ok it wasn't all bad, I got the Ibex sold to a nice lady who also has a Bianchi road bike but wanted something to haul kid trailers and take camping.  I rode the Moto_GT to deposit my haul but held back enough to treat myself to an IPA at C&P to celebrate.

Ride. Don't let the turkeys get you down. Smile. Repeat.

The forgotten bike

When I stored the Novara Randonee at work my expectations were that I would get in at least one ride a week after work.  For various reasons that hasn't been working out until Wednesday.  I noticed rain in the forecast for late in the week and decided it was time to get a ride in.

There is a rather large hill that would have finished the ride and I wasn't feeling it.  I figured wimping out and driving the short distance to the trail head was better than no ride.  The hill will come in time.

I had a nice 10 mile ride along Lake Sammamish in mild high 60s temperatures.  I wasn't particularly fast but it was just nice to be out cruising down the nice flat trail.

The trail runs along the lake between Redmond and Issaquah, I know the residents in the million dollar lakeside homes don't like having the great unwashed so close to their fancy homes but fortunately the county made good use of the old railroad right of way and despite efforts to block the building of the trail it got done.  It's a very pleasant place to ride.

And after the ride the bike is back in secured bike parking at work, ready to go again.  I noticed on this ride that my right tricep was talking to me on the ride, not a big issue but if we had gone around the lake and done 20 miles it might have become one.  That prompted me to start a spreadsheet of all the bikes in the fleet when I got home so I could list measurements and figure out why one bike felt just fine and another might cause an ache in my arm or neck or between the shoulder blades.  Also when I have all the data on what works and what doesn't it will be even easier to replicate in the future.  I have a rough idea of what works now but I want to hone in on the why.

Ride.Ponder.Smile repeat.

State of the Fleet address II

1990 Bianchi Ibex

I received the  FW pullers I ordered, the 4 prong to work on the Ibex and the 2 prong to replace the one I banged up trying it on the Ibex in the first place.

I got the puller all set up on the FW with the skewer to hold it in place, but it didn't want move... until I brought Archimedes to the party and then it came off just fine.

I liberally doused the back of the FW with WD-40, spun it and then let it dry for a day.  I then dribbled 3 in 1 oil in the seams around the center both front and back and then did some more spinning to distribute the lubricant,  Back on the bike I had no more ghost pedaling so mission accomplished.

I did a quick test ride this morning and the Ibex shifts and stops fine with just a bit of brake pad squeal.  Its up on CL and I did actually get an inquiry but I wasn't really interested in coming down from the priced to sell amount I started at so no joy yet.  I found a pair of Celeste bar grips and if it doesn't sell this weekend I may order them as I think it will give the bike a fresher look and they are only $10.

1987 Schwinn LeTour

The LeTour was briefly in the work  stand but its going to be more work than I expected.  First I thought I only had to do the brake cables but the shift cables need replacing too and I noticed the rear wheel has a wobble and needs some time in the truing stand so I took it down for now to do shorter projects.

1984 Novara Randonee

Its a bit ironic the bars got wrapped after I did Tour de Lopez but sometimes you don't have time for everything.  Anyway I got the bars wrapped Sunday night with the Cinelli natural cork tape.

After transporting the bike in the car to the TdL I decided to forego the disassembly and reassembly process, the fenders make it bit more tricky, and just mount my trunk rack for transport.

And now the Randonee is in a secure cage hanging out with the other bikes at work.  I didn't  get a chance to go for a spin last week but I hope to this week, I did scope out the bike trail access and its very close to the exit to my parking garage so I'll know where to go when I do ride.

1987 Trek 520 Cirrus.

I continue to ride the 520 for the challenge, pictured above at a local bar and grill with the bike share crowd.  I am hoping to do a ride tomorrow that will bump me up to me to about 80 km total of the needed 100 km.  The pedals and Nitto Noodle bars I ordered for the bike post challenge arrived and the Nitto Technomic stem shouldn't be too far behind.  I also have the barely used Panaracer Paselas and a fresh set of Dia Compe brake pads that will also go on the bike post challenge.  Once I get it refreshed I will have to do a back to back ride with the Cresta for comparison.

1984 Trek 420

I didn't mention the 420 last time -its still the trainer bike and far down the rehab list.  As I mentioned when I acquired it the wheels are mis-matched and of different sizes.  I do have a set of 27" wheels in the parts bin I thought of using but realized if I got just one wheel to match either the front or back I could save that spare set for something else.  I ran across a black alloy 700c Araya on CL for $20 that matches the rear and although I have been a proponent of  sticking with 27" wheels rather than converting I thought I would give it a try.  I also ordered some maroon cloth bar tape that I think will match the Trek decals on the bike and give it some color when I do the rehab.

1987 Cresta GT

Twice before I have purchased Carradice bike bags and then had to sell them to raise funds having never mounted or used them.  I found an opened-but-not-mounted one on Ebay for about 75% of retail and decided to try one more time.

I mounted rear rack on the Cresta again to help keep the bag off the brake cable but I am not wholly satisfied with how it looks and how the bag hangs, but it's mounted!!  Carradice makes a wire support that attaches to the saddle rails for this purpose and I may see if I can find a used one but I feel like the Cresta has enough $$ sunk in it for now.  Then again the bag and bag support could always move around to other bikes.  I just hope to use it to credit card tour someday, and to be fit enough to do so.

Garage sale day.

Today is the neighborhood garage sale day I have written about in the past.  I used to hunt bikes on this day but my last experience was that the bikes were all overpriced.  I was noodling around on the 520 to get some Clunker miles in though I did keep an eye out, just in case.

I actually rode past the street this bike was on but my brain registered bike! So I turned around and sure enough there was a bike.  I thought at first it was a Centurion Ironman Dave Scott, which is a very desirable bike. Instead it was a Raleigh Technium (Aluminum) Scott Tinley Tri-lite, their (short lived) answer to the Ironman.  I came to steel from Aluminum but I have thought if I found a Technium for a song I might give it a try before selling it on.  I can just hear some former tri-athlete telling his wife But Honey I tried to sell the bike!  knowing nobody would bite at $250.

This however was not that bike, it did have some nice Suntour cyclone components but I've  never spent north of $200 to purchase a vintage bike not even the Cresta when I bought it.  This bike was a touch too small and its has bonded Aluminum lugs, which although they have obviously held up gives me a bit of pause too, so it was easy to ride on in the knowledge I didn't miss any deals on Garage sale day.

Ride. Smile. Repeat.