I have not died... honest!

I have been too busy with life for the past year or so. I am still alive, well and enjoying my bikes when I can.

Due to Webshots crapping out and leaving me with a bunch of missing pictures I had lost interest and have procrastinated on getting things back in order.

For the time being I am going to let this blog sit until I either get the time to correct the issues or it dies of old age.

I also blog at Wordpress this blog is easier for me to maintain using mobile format at this point in time. So please join me over there, it too needs a major amount of work, but will be easier to repair and update as I can.

Thanks
Aaron

2012 is over...FINALLY

Sorry about the lack of posting, cycling took a back seat to too many other activities this past year. I am still riding and still loving my bikes, just not as much as I would like. I also apologize for the lack of pictures. Many of my pictures were hosted on Webshots and they have since closed down. I will work on restoring the pictures as soon as I can. The good news is I have all the pictures, the bad news is they need to uploaded some where else to be visible.

Looking forward to wrenching and wriding in 2013!

I wish you a Brave New Year!

Aaron

and STILL They Roll In!

I had come to the conclusion that perhaps I needed to stop bringing bikes home...Good Luck with THAT one!

I have not one, but 4 folders come in over the winter months. The latest being a pair of Dahon Classic III folders. My lovely bride found them at a thrift shop, sent cellphone pictures. Of course the question was..."how much?" "They don't know, make an offer." I told her I would have to go down and see them first. She shows up at the house an hour later with them, the manager told her to just take them home and if we didn't want them to bring them back later or bring the money. Got both for $100, parts are a bit difficult to find, but not totally impossible. They apparently were made for two different markets or in two different factories. The red one has a Sturmey-Archer AW 3speed and a full chain guard, the blue one has a Sachs Torpedo 3 speed and a bash guard, there are several other differences too. I have already put new fenders and a rack on the red one so I can use it when I travel, I think of it as a poor man's Brompton. :-D

The other pair are from my LBS, someone brought them in for a repair estimate and decided to pass on the repairs and asked if anyone would buy them...yup, this sucker right here. :-P

The red one is a Rixe made in Germany, the gold one is an Atala made in Italy. Both  have some interesting features and I will have to go a bit more in depth in a future post. For what it is worth the Atala is a better built bike than the Rixe. Both of them are single speed, Rixe has a coaster brake, the Atala a free wheel.

Rock and Roll

Didn't quite make the Labor Day cutoff, but came close!

Got a quick test ride on the Giant Iguana today. Still have a few items to do and a couple of minor tweaks to deal with, but it is DONE! Now to get some time off to head out for a couple of days.

My shop is now the hub of excitement

Well the hub part anyway, and I am excited to have them...

Was tidying up the work bench earlier today and realized that I had quite a few hubs laying on it waiting for someone to verify dimensions so spokes can be ordered....wonder who that would be?

Hard photo op to miss out on ;-)


These are the hubs laying on the bench. Sturmey Archer vintage, Sturmey Archer new and Shimano. One pair of the vintage hubs are getting laced onto a set of CR-18 alloy rims to go on my Raleigh Superbe for everyday riding. The original steel rims have a kink and hop that I cannot get out, but I want to save the wheels for shows. Another of the vintage hubs is for my wife's Colt, she is getting a dyno hub on it. The newer SA hubs are for the Raleigh Record build, that one is getting the CR-18 rims also. The Shimano hubs are just there for the moment, both are 8 speeds, one interestingly enough is coaster brake.

Boxes on the Back Porch...

means BIKE PARTS!

Just got home from a week on the road to several boxes waiting for me. This is a good thing. Hubs are here for the Raleigh Record build. New Brooks Flyer for my expedition bike build/tour bike. The hubs I ended up ordering are Sturmey Archer. Ordered an X-RD5 for the rear and an XL-FDD for the front. I would have liked to have the 90mm drum for the rear, but apparently they aren't available state side at this point.

More parts have been ordered and will be trickling in over the next few weeks. Hopefully a complete bike or two will be coming out of the shop in a few weeks.

Pictures...forthcoming.

Aaron

Some people have no sense...

But then again?


My brother called last week and said he was cleaning out the garage and his old bicycles had to go. If I wanted them it was now or never. If I didn't take them they were headed for the local thrift store.

He is about the same size I am so I knew they would fit. One bike I was familiar with, his Giant Excursion which is the twin to mine.

The others I had never seen. So grabbed the truck and headed up the road.

Here are pictures of the haul.

1990'ish Giant Excursion, not in quite as nice a shape as mine, but it has been ridden a good bit more and was used as a commuter.

Next bike up is a 1985 Raleigh Record. Nothing real fancy, just a good solid entry level 10 speed in it's day. He had started some sort of conversion on it. Plans right now call for a strip down and rebuild as a city bike for my son who lives in Boston. Going to go with Sturmey Archer drum brake hubs. More to follow on this one.

 

And last but not least...

1991? Raleigh Tactic. This was an odd little bike they only made for a couple of years. Steel MTB, frame is 4130 CroMo which is one of my favorite materials. Bike is a bit on the small side for me, not sure what my brother was doing with it. Looks like he might have used it as a backup commuter.

So now off to order parts and figure out how to shuffle bikes about to get these three in the shed.