My new wheels - meet Nellie

Mea culpa. It's now October. I meant to blog at least twice a week. Oh well. Things have been happening, not the least of which is that the little Raleigh I'd bought months ago has now been restored to roadworthiness.

Meet Nellie.

I sold my mixte Petunia on eBay for $100 more than I paid for her :-)  about six weeks ago. That gave me the bulk of the Raleigh Restoration Fund. I had a Shimano 8 speed Alfine hub put aside for her, which I'd bought last year when I was feeling a bit more financial. So down to the bike shop she went, for new alloy wheels built around the hub gears, cream Delta Cruiser tyres, new cranks and pedals. The guys at the bike shop were rapt when I took her in. Aside from a couple of paint scratches the frame is in good condition and they had a lot of fun building her up. The saddle and basket were my own installation (big bike mechanic me as you can see).

None of my bits save the gears and the nice tyres cost much. I left the selection of the wheels and cranks etc to the guys at the bike shop and while they aren't bargain basement they are far from top of the line. As with any hobby you can get addicted to the good stuff and spend a fortune on bits of kit. 

The guys at the bike shop said they could have sold my basket a dozen times. I'd mounted it before I took Nellie in for her rebuild so they could see it had to be there and to make sure any alterations to the brake cables took it into account. The basket itself I picked up down in Bungendore but I've seen since them on eBay.

The only thing that bugs me is the grips. I had installed my Brooks leather grips on the handlebars and told the guys that they could put wider handlebars on if necessary to fit the Brooks grips with the new Shimano shifter. They didn't. So I have one lovely Brooks grip and a rubber Shimano grip. I'm going to operate on that and see if there is a way I can mount the other Brooks grip. You can 'cut' Brooks grips down to size but the guys at the shop said that even if they did that, the aluminium end on the grip would interfere with the gear shifter. I'm thinking thoughts that involve superglue and the leather rings that make up the grip; if I can create something shorter and stable that doesn't need the inside aluminium end piece, I've got a winner. 

Sadly I haven't taken her on a decent ride yet. I was unwell when I picked her up from the shop, and we've had rainy days or too much work on or other stuff pulling us this way and that at weekends. The short rides I have had tell me that she rides like new. Silent, smooth as ice cream melting on a hot day. She is a stunner, and the frame at 17" fits like a glove. 

There are a couple of things left to do: buy a rear rack and fit it - that was something that should have happened during the rebuild - and find a chain guard to fit. Nellie doesn't have any mountings for a chain guard but you can buy rings that clasp around the frame for mounting this and that (e.g. water bottles). A rear rack is a must so I can load the groceries in a pannier or two. 

You'll hear more about Nellie once I've taken her for a longer ride and got used to her handling and steering and the new 8 speed gear set. Shorter rides tell me the gear set is geared quite low. Great for hills, and there are plenty of those where we live. I haven't had the opportunity to really get going and hit 8th yet though ;-)

First, an update on the Raleigh

My little Raleigh now wears my Brooks saddle, Brooks grips and a rather nice front basket I picked up in a second-hand/antiques/vintage shop.

I've tried to adjust her derailleur - for now - with limited success. At the moment she's a two-speed. She has low gear in low range, and low gear in high range :-). I could take her to the bike shop for a proper going-over but I suspect her chain needs replacing; it seems pretty worn and loose.

I haven't been able to have the Shimano gearset installed and rear wheel rebuilt as I haven't sold Petunia yet and therefore don't have the money to do it. Yes, I have a credit card but I hate using it on items I may not be able to pay off within a month. It's already built up to an alarming total over the last year. More about that later.

Petunia is almost ready to go onto eBay. She's wearing the Raleigh's rather awful 'comfort' saddle - singularly misnamed I must say - and the black plastic grips that came with Penelope. The last thing I have to do it put cable ties around her gear/brake cables. Not having any when I first got her I used clear packaging tape, which probably isn't a long-term solution!

Part of me has held off selling her as she's so lovely, it's just a shame she's a bit too big for me.

I'm hoping to have Petunia sold in the next month though and the little Raleigh, Phryne, ready for early spring adventures.
I'm also on the hunt for a good-looking chainwheel cover for her. I've been watching eBay and nothing nice or suitable has come up. I have rather fallen in love with this one but shudder to think what shipping would cost even if I could afford to buy the thing itself: http://pokacycleaccessories.bigcartel.com/product/floral-chainguard

Stunning, isn't it?

So now I own a Raleigh Cameo...

With Deathtrap still in parts in my garage and realistically destined for the bin, I bid on and won a Raleigh Cameo on eBay last night. I will pick her up at the weekend.

This time there's not a lot to do to make this a perfect ride for me. The paintwork is in pretty good condition for the bike's age; apparently there are a few scratches and bits of missing paint, but this bike is at least 25 years old. The current owner - only the bike's second since new - believes she's a 1972 model.  I'll find out more when I have a good look at her in the flesh, or rather, metal.

I'll be changing the steel wheels for alloy 700C wheels and putting on my cream Delta Cruisers that are sitting in a box in the garage. Also going onto the wheels will be my 8 speed Shimano hub. The brake calipers may need to be replaced to allow for the 700C wheels. I may have to replace the crankset to find a good match for the hub gearset, but that's OK as the cranks are a bit rusty and pitted. I'll also repaint and install the chain guard that was on Deathtrap, as it's a copy of the Raleigh chain guard used on the loop frame/hub gear version of the Cameo. And that's it, apart from swapping the saddle and grips for my Brooks ones.

This time I paid a bit more than $56 - almost $230, but I suspect this is a much classier prospect than Deathtrap.

It does strike me that in owning this bike and the Pashley I will have two rather similar bikes, whereas now with the mixte and the Pashley I have two very different bikes. The Raleigh's geometry and setup is quite different to the Pashley's though, and I think she will weigh quite a bit less. At least I hope so! :-) 

I just hope she's physically a good fit. I think she's a mite smaller in frame size than Petunia, which is what I'm looking for, according to measurements supplied by the seller. Otherwise...oh well, she'll be going back on eBay!  I'm holding off giving her a name until I ride her and consider how well she suits me.

Deathtrap is dead in the water - new bike project needed!

Well. I spent last weekend stripping Deathtrap's bits from her frame in preparation for powder coating it. I could only do so much as I was missing a couple of relevant spanners/sockets, so took the partly-disassembled bike around to a friend's. Steve has a fab garage and full-on tool set. He put her frame in his vice and together we took wheels and other parts off. But... we hit a snag. The stem wouldn't be parted from the frame. It appears, somewhere deep inside, that rust has taken its toll. We followed appropriate processes for removing the stem - undoing the bolt at the top, tapping it with a hammer to release it, then pulling and - nothing!

Copious applications of WD-40 and an hour or two for it to sink in didn't help either. The wretched thing is stuck solid.

To make matters worse, Steve noticed that where we'd put the frame in the vice to hold it steady, it had dented. The steel used to build the frame is horribly cheap and light it seems. He reckoned he could feel the top tube bending under his fingers when he pushed it hard enough.

Is it worth persevering in that case? I'm looking at spending hundreds of dollars on new components, and attaching them to a very cheap frame. I think I'm being a bit daft. Although the frame size is good for me and the lugwork is lovely, it's not a good solution.

So poor old Deathtrap, her stem still eternally attached, is heading for the bin. There's stuff all worth salvaging except the chaincase cover and the mudguards.

Back to square one. I'm now looking for vintage bikes on eBay that might not require a full rebuild but will be the right sort of frame to utilise my 8 speed hub.

Cambridge Raincoat Company - stylish on a bike!

Trolling around some cycling blogs this week I noticed the ever so glam coats from the Cambridge Raincoat Company. What a marvellous idea- fashionable, comfortable coats in lovely colours, designed for women who want to ride upright bicycles. They look so good you don't even need a bicycle as an excuse to buy one, and they are made in the UK, not in China or Taiwan or anywhere else the stitching is likely to be shoddy.  I love this purple (orchid) colour coat:

This is the version with reflective tape on the coat - but if you choose you can have it without. I hope Cambridge doesn't mind me 'borrowing' their photo but it's too nice not to show.

I hate riding my bikes in the rain. I tend to avoid walking in the rain unless I have a really big umbrella, as more than simply getting wet I hate getting raindrops on my glasses as I actually can't see when that happens, which makes for dangerous cycling. 

These gorgeous coats are only 135 quid - that's somewhere around $160 in Aussie money at the moment I think; for the money, much nicer than trendy sports raincoats which don't cover enough of you up, and better fitting for cycling than ordinary raincoats.  I'm trying hard to justify spending the money as I love purple! I might even ride on rainy days with one of these to keep me dry. 

Fashion and two wheels

Yesterday I received a catalogue from one of my favourite clothing chains, Blue Illusion. While most of their clothing isn't pure cotton or wool, the style of much of it is perfect for me; lovely cardigans with out-of-the-ordinary touches, and I bought the ultimate little black dress last spring that dresses up with high heels or down with bovver boots.

Anyway, back to the catalogue. My husband handed it to me, and my first squawk of delight wasn't about the clothes, it was about the bike on the cover.

http://www.blueillusion.com/images/assetimages/cat_WINTER2011_Cover.jpg

Now it's not a super duper upmarket charmer like a Pashley or Velorbis, but it's a nice enough 80s vintage bike albeit in a frightful shade of pink akin to freshly sanded piglet. I squinted to make out the headbadge...it appears to be a star. It's been rebuilt and looks like it has all new parts which makes me think that Sydney Vintage Bikes or Melbourne Vintage Bikes did it up and sold it on eBay and....

I must have been muttering to myself because my husband was roaring with laughter: "You are the only person I know who would get a clothing catalogue and look at the bike instead!" 

Heh heh.

Meet my new bike, "Deathtrap".

Well, she won't be a deathtrap when I've finished with her but oh, dear! Right now she's lethal.

The poor darling still has her original 1980s brake pads fitted. I suspect that once upon a time they were rubber, and by some peculiar alchemic reaction the rubber has turned to a material harder than titanium. Only the front brakes work, and when they work, they just about throw you off; they are akin to a horse bucking.

I only rode my new mount around our courtyard, and that was enough. I was going to put air in her tyres - hoping that the poor old perished things would actually hold air - and ride her around the block, but one pull on the brake lever, with me almost falling off sideways onto hard pebblecrete, convinced me otherwise.

While she is armed with an ancient Shimano 3 speed shifter, only gears 2 and 3 work. You can't select bottom gear. I suspect the poor thing has had zero maintenance for many years. The brakes alone, which are seriously maladjusted, tell me that.

The ten seconds I spent pedalling in a circle told me a few things about her, though. The first was that the frame is a nice fit. I got onto Petunia first, and circled her around, noting my body and arm position, and how I was sitting. I then mounted little Deathtrap - she will have a proper name at some point - and felt an immediate comfortable difference in my seating and riding position.

I also noticed the difference in quality. Even just standing beside each bike and wheeling them along, Petunia is miles classier; she feels smoother, heavier and more luxurious, although curiously both bikes weigh much the same when I pick them up. Deathtrap feels lighter to push, tinnier, rougher. Mind you she has cheaper components on her, like those unbranded killer brakes.

Here are a few pics of the pair for comparison.

You can see here that Petunia has a much longer frame. And in this one, that the setup is quite different re saddle height etc. (Surprisingly when I got onto Deathtrap the saddle height was just right for me it seems.)

Because Petunia's geometry is quite different, I ride her with the saddle quite high to get the correct stretch for my legs. And finally, a side by side:

Little Deathtrap doesn't look too shabby here with a bit of a gleam on her. Her paint is actually a faded red metallic; the true colour - candy apple reddish - can be seen on the underside of her frame. You can't see in this pic that the mudguards are rusty on the edges.

I think with all new components and new paint - ie a total rebuild as everything is rusty - she will be a little star. She has some very pretty details on close inspection, like this lugs on the front forks:

It's not terribly visible here amidst years of grime but these pretty shapes have been outlined with gold paint - you can see it more on the edges of the lower lugs.

And here, on the back bracket, I like the shapes and curves:

T'other half laughed when I told him I'd nicknamed her Deathtrap, and suggested Venus, for Venus Flytrap, or Belladonna, for deadly nightshade. Given her paint job he jokingly said Gillard as well but I think this bike has too much potential to be named after our annoying, banal Prime Minister.

As I was handing over the magnificent sum of $56 for this bike, I spoke to the woman selling her, Alison. Alison had bought her on eBay not long ago for her mudguards and chainguard, which she wanted to put onto her 10-speed bike. They wouldn't fit, so Deathtrap went back to market. Alison thought it funny that I also wanted those items, but mainly wanted the frame. She was happy to hear I had plans to make the little bike a nice ride.

What I can't believe is that Alison actually rode Deathtrap, or so she told me. "It goes well," she said, "I've ridden it a bit." And survived, clearly. I wonder if she, like me, only rode Deathtrap around her courtyard.