His bikes

[non-fixie]

Never seen a 531 decal like that before.

Style and material are somewhat reminiscent of the "R.C." tubing decals that were used by Superia. Same supplier perhaps?

Which, appropriately, brings me to the bike that sports this decal, my Halfords Sport touring bike.

As it came to me many moons ago, probably all original:

Last winter I had bought a pair of cheap 650B wheels. For €55 a set I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I dug out the Halfords from storage
as it was both my size and had enough room to accommodate those wheels with the 42mm Panaracer Pacenti tyres I had bought for them.

I threw whatever parts at it that I had that fitted the look I was after, resulting in this:

Rather pleased with myself I decided to bring it along on a cycling vacation in France mrs non-fixie had planned. I did exchange the gorgeous Lohmann saddle, which is rock-hard, with an Idéale 76. Much more comfortable, although it creaks like an old mattress.

It rode rather well, not in the least because of the plush tyres. Unfortunately that lasted less than a day. Apparently I hadn't been paying attention, and one of the brake pads had scoured the rear tyre. Booomphsssss ...

I managed to limp home, after fitting a new inner tube and a €10 bill:

It happened on a Sunday, and the only thing I could find on Monday morning were a pair of cheap BTWIN Cityprotect tyres at a local Decathlon outlet, for which I was very thankful, as they enabled me to resume my vacation as planned:

On the way back we stopped at Oudenaarde in Belgium for the RetroRonde van Vlaanderen. There I found another pair of 650B tyres in the classic brick red colour.

The bike rack on the car works well as an impromptu work stand:

Those Chinese Hutchinson copies ride a bit nicer than the BTWIN items, and I really like the looks:

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Style and material are somewhat reminiscent of the "R.C." tubing decals that were used by Superia. Same supplier perhaps?

Which, appropriately, brings me to the bike that sports this decal, my Halfords Sport touring bike.

As it came to me many moons ago, probably all original:

Last winter I had bought a pair of cheap 650B wheels. For €55 a set I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I dug out the Halfords from storage
as it was both my size and had enough room to accommodate those wheels with the 42mm Panaracer Pacenti tyres I had bought for them.

I threw whatever parts at it that I had that fitted the look I was after, resulting in this:

Rather pleased with myself I decided to bring it along on a cycling vacation in France mrs non-fixie had planned. I did exchange the gorgeous Lohmann saddle, which is rock-hard, with an Idéale 76. Much more comfortable, although it creaks like an old mattress.

It rode rather well, not in the least because of the plush tyres. Unfortunately that lasted less than a day. Apparently I hadn't been paying attention, and one of the brake pads had scoured the rear tyre. Booomphsssss ...

I managed to limp home, after fitting a new inner tube and a €10 bill:

It happened on a Sunday, and the only thing I could find on Monday morning were a pair of cheap BTWIN Cityprotect tyres at a local Decathlon outlet, for which I was very thankful, as they enabled me to resume my vacation as planned:

On the way back we stopped at Oudenaarde in Belgium for the RetroRonde van Vlaanderen. There I found another pair of 650B tyres in the classic brick red colour.

The bike rack on the car works well as an impromptu work stand:

Those Chinese Hutchinson copies ride a bit nicer than the BTWIN items, and I really like the looks:

View attachment 903405

Blur your eyes and it's an RH. Very nice. Edit have you altered the fork rake for the 650b conversion?

 

[non-fixie]

@non-fixie you have great taste in bikes. They all look great - classic and functional.

Thank you. I think so too.

On a more serious note: besides wanting to have 'a few' classic racing bikes to take to events like L'Eroica, I am on a permanent quest for The Perfect Sports Touring Bike.

Speaking of which, one of the first builds that made me think I was getting somewhere was this Austro-Daimler Inter-10.

I had read about those Austro-Daimlers on Bikeforums C&V and knew they were much loved by their owners. However, they were never sold in Europe. So when I found an imported Inter-10 in my size I jumped at it.

Seller's picture:

It had been stored in a damp shed and the cleaning and lubing took quite some time. With new grease, cables and bar tape:

Before making any further changes I took it for a long ride to see whether it was as nice as I was led to believe. It was. I believe the geometry and tubing were specified by the American importer and they did a good job.

After that I added a pair of Bluemels Club Special mudguards and changed the saddle to a 'vegan leather' San Marco. The mudguards were fine, the plastic saddle wasn't.

After some interesting reading about the 'Shimagnolo' concept and finding a pair of suitable Ergo shifters I decided to use the Austro-Daimler as a guinea pig:

I liked the result, both in how it looked and how it worked, so I took on a cycling vacation to Italy:

That went well, so it came along on our next trip, this time to France:

Lovely! So later that year, when back in Italy:

One of my favourite bikes, but I suppose you got that by now.

 

[non-fixie]

Blur your eyes and it's an RH. Very nice. Edit have you altered the fork rake for the 650b conversion?

Thank you. No, I have not made any changes to either the frame or the forks.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

The AD is gorgeous, I too have been looking for one.

 

[non-fixie]

In 2012 I found a pretty Benotto mixte which I thought would be really nice for mrs non-fixie.

Seller's picture:



After a clean, a lube and a few changes and adjustments it looked like this:



She did not like it. Both the saddle and the drop bars made her not want to ride it. So I rebuilt it with a nice Brooks and sports bars:



Better, but she still didn't like it much and wouldn't take it for a ride. So I went back and rebuilt it again, this time with more upright bars and thumb shifters:



Better, but still not good enough to call it done. Sigh.

A couple of years later she decided she wanted to join the fun at events like the RetroRonde and L'Eroica. She also realised that the Benotto would be a nice bike for it, but that sacrifices would have to be made.

So I went back to work and this is what I came up with. Back to the sports bars, a much wider gear range and stem shifters. At the hotel in Gaiole, ready for a very wet 2015 edition of L'Eroica:



After the finish, back in Gaiole. The bike (and mrs non-fixie for that matter) had performed admirably. Result!

 

[non-fixie]

I have tried the concept of a "winter bike" before, but with little success. They were either too nice to want to expose to wet conditions and road salt or not nice enough to want to ride.

But, this year I am giving it another try with this Raleigh Grand Prix that has been languishing in my garage for more than ten years. Built in Malaysia it is not the most collectible Raleigh, but its size is perfect for me and it needed little work.

I have already added a pair of heavy but supposedly bullet-proof tyres and a plastic saddle to deal with any bad weather and road conditions. It still needs a dynamo and bar tape. Perhaps I'll even add a ring lock and a kick stand so I can use it to run errands.

The 'fender line' still looks pretty awful, and with the lack of adjustability of these stays I may have to actually put a bend in them:



The San Marco GLR "B17" is not the most comfortable saddle I own, but it certainly looks the part and won't be ruined by a spot of rain or snow:

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

I like your bike's. Our taste is scarily similar.

 

[non-fixie]

I like your bike's. Our taste is scarily similar.

I believe it's called 'good taste'.