His bikes

[non-fixie]

As @Guinessisgoodforyou had already taken my bikes, I thought I'd get even and take his bikes.

 

[non-fixie]

Anyway ...

This thread is just to give you an idea of the bikes I own and ride. I'll be randomly listing those bikes.

My latest outing, a little over a week ago, was to L'Eroica in Gaiole, Italy. The bike I brought along for the event was my Eddy Merckx. Built in ca 1975 by Bernard Dangre's Starnord shop in Valenciennes, France, it is made with Vitus 172 tubing and quite a nice ride. I bought it as a bare frame set, and built it with what I thought might have been original, such as the (wonderful) Huret Challengers mechs.

Originally the lowest gear would probably have been 42 x 21, but as that doesn't get me up any of the Tuscan hills, I changed that to 37 x 28. Much better.



The week before L'Eroica mrs non-fixie and I spent a week touring in Tuscany, and for that I'd brought along a Gazelle Champion Mondial semi-race. Originally it had a SunTour 7 transmission and a Gazelle-branded SR crank set, but for comfort and climbing capabilities I replaced those with a Shimergo setup and a Gipiemme triple.

The original Bluemels mudguards were cracked, and were replaced by VO "aluminum fenders" (they're American, after all).

 

[grantoury]

Anyway ...

This thread is just to give you an idea of the bikes I own and ride. I'll be randomly listing those bikes.

My latest outing, a little over a week ago, was to L'Eroica in Gaiole, Italy. The bike I brought along for the event was my Eddy Merckx. Built in ca 1975 by Bernard Dangre's Starnord shop in Valenciennes, France, it is made with Vitus 172 tubing and quite a nice ride. I bought it as a bare frame set, and built it with what I thought might have been original, such as the (wonderful) Huret Challengers mechs.

Originally the lowest gear would probably have been 42 x 21, but as that doesn't get me up any of the Tuscan hills, I changed that to 37 x 28. Much better.

View attachment 894625

The week before L'Eroica mrs non-fixie and I spent a week touring in Tuscany, and for that I'd brought along a Gazelle Champion Mondial semi-race. Originally it had a SunTour 7 transmission and a Gazelle-branded SR crank set, but for comfort and climbing capabilities I replaced those with a Shimergo setup and a Gipiemme triple.

The original Bluemels mudguards were cracked, and were replaced by VO "aluminum fenders" (they're American, after all).

View attachment 894626

I see you have the Challenge Strade Bianchi tyres on the Gazelle. I have them on my Vittorio now, and rather like them.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Are they 700s? Looking forward to seeing more of his bikes

 

[non-fixie]

I see you have the Challenge Strade Bianchi tyres on the Gazelle. I have them on my Vittorio now, and rather like them.

I have used them on several of my resto-modded light touring bikes as they are quite nice for the, well, strade bianche. And yes, they are 700 x 30C. Don't care much for the loud graphics, though.

Here's another one. A 1985 Koga-Miyata Randonneur, which came to me as a well-abused frame set in 2015:

A couple of years ago I wanted to try a few new-to-me parts I'd acquired, and I decided this would be a nice frame for it. I gave it a quick rattlecan respray and have used it as a test mule during several vacation trips since.

In France with an 8-speed Shimano Claris/Deore mix, a cheap Taylor wheelset, Andel cranks and a home-made decaleur:

A few months later in Italy, with a Shimergo transmission, Gipiemme triple chainset, Nitto randonneur bars, MAFAC Criterium brakes and more vintage wheels:

Fast forward another nine months and we're back in Italy. Now with Motobecane bars, Campagnolo shifters operating a shortened 9-speed Shimano cluster, TRP carbon brakes, an Idéale saddle and 28mm Vittoria Corsa tyres:

Another three months later, now back in France, with 30mm Grand Bois Cypres tyres and the plastic mudguards have been replaced by Honjos:

 

[grantoury]

I like the experimentation. It has given me ideas for my Semi Race. How do the Grand Bois compare to the Challenge in your experience?

 

[non-fixie]

How do the Grand Bois compare to the Challenge in your experience?

The ride quality is pretty much equal, I'd say, in my use cases. But I like the look of the Grand Bois better. The 28mm Vittoria Corsa G2 Graphene blabla, BTW, is also a very nice tire which has served me well on a few Eroica rides. I'd also put those on my Gazelle without hesitation.

While I'm at it I might as well add some more notes from these test vacations (how's that for an excuse to take a week off from work? )

Cranks
That faux René Herse Andel chainset is really nice. I paid £125 for it, and I think it's well worth the money. If you can find a set, that is. Took me quite a while and a heads-up from a friend on another forum. Mine currently resides on my Halfords Sport.

The Gipiemme triple has a look that Shimano (with all due respect) can't match. Got them in VGC at a car boot sale for €80, including the matching BB. I moved them to my Gazelle, as you will have noticed, because of the black accents.
I liked them enough to have bought another complete bike recently, just because of its Gipiemme triple. This one:



Pedals
The Lyotard Model 23 "Marcel Berthet" pedals are pretty awesome. Their design dates back to a century ago, but as they were made well into the eighties, finding a nice pair is not too difficult. They are easy to service, take standard toe clips and work well with trainers. Which is just what I need on a "vacation bike".

The Maillard CXC pedals are also quite nice, but they use proprietary toe clips. Those are adjustable, but only so much. You'll have to get them with the clips, and anything bigger than a size 8 1/2 will be a challenge to fit, methinks. But for the €5 I paid for the pair I am not complaining.

Shifters
I've Shimergo-ed 5 and 6-speed before, with the old Campag 8 and 9-speed shifters, and that works well. I now know that matching Campag 11-speed shifters with a Shimano 9-speed back end also works quite nicely. However, I don't like the look of the modern Campag lever shape on classic bars. Will try again with more modern bars.

Another thing of note is that the Shimano levers need a bit more (horizontal) space, as they swing out a bit further when shifting than their Campagnolo counterparts. Something to be aware of when using a front bag and randonneur bars. Those are often quite narrow at the top.

Mudguards
The plastic SKS Bluemels Basic 'guards are great. They work well, are unobtrusive and very affordable at ~ £20 a set. I like them and use them a lot.

The Honjos are much more expensive at > £100 a set and a PITA to set up correctly, but once done they look great, IMO. True bike jewelry!

Derailleurs
I'd almost forget, but the Shimano Deore derailleurs from the nineties are as good as it gets, derailleur-wise. I buy them whenever I can at a reasonable price.

Saddles
The Idéale 90 is achingly beautiful, but not (yet) my ideal shape. The Brooks B17 titanium in de first picture is by some distance the most comfortable saddle I own. It is very soft, probably because a previous owner apparently soaked it in oil. I am not sure how long it will survive in that condition. Currently enjoying it on my Union, which is bound to appear later in this thread.

Decaleurs
Put off by the high market prices for these things, I decided to try and make something myself. I made the one pictured from an €8 Minoura SwingGrip and fifty cents worth of aluminium tubing. Perhaps not the prettiest, but it works well and - most importantly - it lets me mount almost any bag using their standard straps. The "swing bit" takes care of bag size variations, something most other decaleurs won't do.



Brakes
Long story short: when it comes to cantilever brakes the 1940's MAFAC Criteriums still rule. Both the Tektro CR520's and the TRP Eurox' weren't an improvement, cool and modern as they may look.

Bar tape
One thing I haven't changed during these rebuilds is the bar tape. Cheap( €8 ) 'vegan leather' from Red Cycling Products. Nice to hold and easy to re-wrap multiple times (which I did). It is not stretchy, which means you can wrap it top-down as well, if - like me - you don't like sticky tape on your bike.

 

[non-fixie]

This Huissoon came up for sale last year on a local bicycle trekking forum. Nobody there was remotely interested, it sat there for a while, and when the seller dropped the price to €100 and still no one responded, I decided to put them out of their misery and pick it up. The Daytona group set was easily worth that to me and I had been looking for nineties Campag stuff for a planned project.

I made the mistake of taking it for a spin around the block before commencing the tear-down. Dang! That is a nice ride! So now I had another nice bike I don't need instead of a group set I do need.

The Zeelander Jaap Huissoon was a pro rider in the late fifties and early sixties. Came 44th in the 1958 Vuelta a España at the age of 21. He hadn't planned on becoming a frame builder and bike shop owner, but after he'd built a bike for himself, friends wanted one too, and in 1974 he opened a shop.

This particular example is made with the rather typically-shaped Columbus Max tubes. It is a bit scruffy and the Mutant stem looks "interesting".

 

[non-fixie]

Full size folding bikes are rare, and nice ones even rarer. I had been looking for one for ages, and when this Bridgestone Grandtech GR-27 came up for sale I jumped at it.

I had recognized it immediately, as it is featured in Michael Embacher's Cyclopedia, my favorite restroom literature.

It is in great original condition and came with the original papers, including the original price tag and straps. The Bluemels mudguards were probably added by the dealer for the first owner.

If only the Japanese were taller!

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Som

This Huissoon came up for sale last year on a local bicycle trekking forum. Nobody there was remotely interested, it sat there for a while, and when te seller dropped the price to €100 and still no one responded, I decided to put them out of their misery and pick it up. The Daytona group set was easily worth that to me and I had been looking for nineties Campag stuff for a planned project.

I made the mistake of taking it for a spin around the block before commencing the tear-down. Dang! That is a nice ride! So now I had another nice bike I don't need instead of a group set I do need.

The Zeelander Jaap Huissoon was a pro rider in the late fifties and early sixties. Came 44th in the 1958 Vuelta a España at the age of 21. He hadn't planned on becoming a frame builder and bike shop owner, but after he'd built a bike for himself, friends wanted one too, and in 1974 he opened a shop.

This particular example is made with the rather typically-shaped Columbus Max tubes. It is a bit scruffy and the Mutant stem looks "interesting".

View attachment 895117

Sometimes they just choose you