Show us what you did today, thread
- Thread starter clockworkgazz
- Start date
highlandsflyer
Retro Wizard
- Feedback
- View
Lovely pics!
epicyclo
Senior Retro Guru
Re: Re:
For a cheap knockabout bike it is spectacularly good IMO.
What triggered its resurrection was me riding most of the bikes in my shed over the last few days to decide the cull. And the thought hit me - the Pompino feels better than this. So here it is, back again.
I'm going to put it to the test over the next week or two just in case it's nostalgia.
Pompinos are a bit like Surly 1x1s - basic, somewhat crude but do the job well. They're a never sell or you will regret it bike.
I'll probably take it on the Bealach ride next week.
clubby":zqf6y176 said:
For a cheap knockabout bike it is spectacularly good IMO.
What triggered its resurrection was me riding most of the bikes in my shed over the last few days to decide the cull. And the thought hit me - the Pompino feels better than this. So here it is, back again.
I'm going to put it to the test over the next week or two just in case it's nostalgia.
Pompinos are a bit like Surly 1x1s - basic, somewhat crude but do the job well. They're a never sell or you will regret it bike.
I'll probably take it on the Bealach ride next week.
velomaniac
MacRetro Rider
Re:
Wasn't the colour described as "Dave's Mum's Bathroom Blue" or something. That always made me laugh
Wasn't the colour described as "Dave's Mum's Bathroom Blue" or something. That always made me laugh
Rain this morning as bloody usual
But out this afternoon after getting Calebs swingset assembled in the back yard.
Just got a few local miles in with him and he is going further and further afield. He did a couple of miles on his second outing just before dinner.
Original plan was to head out into the flow country this morning to Altnabreac and when he got a bit worn out or needed a break then we would just throw his bike on the back and he could take his usual seat.
Hope everyone has had a good weekend.
Jamie
DSCN4229 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr
DSCN4235 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr
But out this afternoon after getting Calebs swingset assembled in the back yard.
Just got a few local miles in with him and he is going further and further afield. He did a couple of miles on his second outing just before dinner.
Original plan was to head out into the flow country this morning to Altnabreac and when he got a bit worn out or needed a break then we would just throw his bike on the back and he could take his usual seat.
Hope everyone has had a good weekend.
Jamie
DSCN4229 by Jamie Dyer, on FlickrDSCN4235 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr
epicyclo
Senior Retro Guru
Went for a wee ride, but this is the preamble so it's yesterday.
Jamie & I have been planning a DIY audax but have never got round to it, so this was basically to check out whether a particular loop would suit. I wanted to check the distance exactly on the GPs and work out check points.
The ride was intended to be a gentlemanly cruise, no hurry and on a bike set up in 1930s tourist spec, ie upright bars, sprung saddle, big saddle bag and so on with lots of stops for photos and ingesting comestibles etc.
The bike chosen was my 1935 Sunbeam which is a perfect example of a gentleman's tourer.
However the route is largely empty spaces between very few towns, so absolute reliability is essential. Most of the bike is ok, it's been looked after, but the 26x1⅜" tyres are slugs on the road - there's no demand for lively tyres because in that era if the bike was sporty you used 26x1¼ " wheels which are a different diameter. I could have taken my 1932 Sunbeam Road Racer which has those wheels, but that's singlespeed and high geared (we'll get to the relevance of that ).
My brainwave was to convert the bike to 700c wheels, only about ½" bigger and I'd have the pick out of the heaps of light supple 700c tyres in the attic. There looked like plenty room even with a decent section of tyre, especially after I took the mudguards off.
So a few hours later, "new" wheels had been whipped up, ie with 2nd hand rims and hubs, and fitted. The bike looked really good with them. It even had a modern 3 speed hub. I was on a winner!
And now to the next step, brakes.
When I last did the loop on my 1930 rod brake Armstrong I scared myself sh*tless on some of the descents (speedo showed well over 30mph), so there was no way I was doing this again on 1930s brakes (well, I would if they were Resilions as fitted to the other Sunbeam, but I wasn't going to rob that bike for parts, it's sacrosanct)
And that was the snag... Brakes.
It turned out I was unable to fit any decent modern brakes because the 700c wheels brought the rims too close to the steering crown. Short racing brakes didn't have enough clearance for the tyre. I tried just about every brake in my collection, even those from the bin of doom.
Ironically the modern brakes fitted just fine with the original wheels when the pads were put at down max extension, but, oh, those tyres.
Not having any hair to pull out I had to do some thinking instead.
First thought was to strip down the "new" wheels and rebuild them with hub brakes which I have spare. But having now learned to check first, I soon discovered that the OLD was different, so that was out.
Damn, and I had just been thinking I was on to a Pompino killer.
A few hours later I had myself a 1930s style tourer, mudguards and all.
But that's not the end of it, there will be a ride report...
Jamie & I have been planning a DIY audax but have never got round to it, so this was basically to check out whether a particular loop would suit. I wanted to check the distance exactly on the GPs and work out check points.
The ride was intended to be a gentlemanly cruise, no hurry and on a bike set up in 1930s tourist spec, ie upright bars, sprung saddle, big saddle bag and so on with lots of stops for photos and ingesting comestibles etc.
The bike chosen was my 1935 Sunbeam which is a perfect example of a gentleman's tourer.
However the route is largely empty spaces between very few towns, so absolute reliability is essential. Most of the bike is ok, it's been looked after, but the 26x1⅜" tyres are slugs on the road - there's no demand for lively tyres because in that era if the bike was sporty you used 26x1¼ " wheels which are a different diameter. I could have taken my 1932 Sunbeam Road Racer which has those wheels, but that's singlespeed and high geared (we'll get to the relevance of that
).My brainwave was to convert the bike to 700c wheels, only about ½" bigger and I'd have the pick out of the heaps of light supple 700c tyres in the attic. There looked like plenty room even with a decent section of tyre, especially after I took the mudguards off.
So a few hours later, "new" wheels had been whipped up, ie with 2nd hand rims and hubs, and fitted. The bike looked really good with them. It even had a modern 3 speed hub. I was on a winner!
And now to the next step, brakes.
When I last did the loop on my 1930 rod brake Armstrong I scared myself sh*tless on some of the descents (speedo showed well over 30mph), so there was no way I was doing this again on 1930s brakes (well, I would if they were Resilions as fitted to the other Sunbeam, but I wasn't going to rob that bike for parts, it's sacrosanct)
And that was the snag... Brakes.
It turned out I was unable to fit any decent modern brakes because the 700c wheels brought the rims too close to the steering crown. Short racing brakes didn't have enough clearance for the tyre. I tried just about every brake in my collection, even those from the bin of doom.
Ironically the modern brakes fitted just fine with the original wheels when the pads were put at down max extension, but, oh, those tyres.
Not having any hair to pull out I had to do some thinking instead.
First thought was to strip down the "new" wheels and rebuild them with hub brakes which I have spare. But having now learned to check first, I soon discovered that the OLD was different, so that was out.
Damn, and I had just been thinking I was on to a Pompino killer.
A few hours later I had myself a 1930s style tourer, mudguards and all.
But that's not the end of it, there will be a ride report...
