New fenders, old bike

23 Monday Sep 2013

Tags

B&M, B17, Bar Wrap, bosco, brooks, compass, hammered, harlequin, honjo, Luxos, Miyata, resurrectio, rivendell, sackville

I have an old mountain bike that has become one of my favorites. Not sure why, but I think it’s the pump peg. It’s always the simple things that give flame to our obsessions.

Old version

The Miyata has a few issues, but I’ve solved a lot of them in the past year, getting rid of the front rack and basket (too much trail to handle well), and adding the awesomely great Compass 1.75″ tires. They are like Hetres for a 26er, but with useful tread. I even harlequined the hell out of the boscos. OK – there are a few other things that need changing, like the crappy VO crankset, slippy MKS pedals, and plain old Brooks B17, and I may have the frame powder coated some day, but I’ll leave that for a while and keep enjoying the retro color scheme. I also needed lights for the perfectly good unused Shimano dyno hub. Enter the Luxos B:

New hotness

Another problem with said bike in that it had ugly black fenders. Those had to go even though they were perfectly adequate (well – not really – they were too short to keep the front splashes off my feet in really big puddles). I picked up some NOS 26″ hammered Honjos last year intending them for this bike but uninstalled due to time commitments.

Bad ass fenders

I took it for the inaugural ride today and had no rattles, log-jams, or other inconveniences. It is still living up to a favorite! This will be my winter ride. I may even use it on a brevet if the main bike is in repair…

Rear view

Oh yeah – the bell is totally divine! Multiple timbres and tons of decay, while not being too intrusive/obnoxious.

Nice foreground to a vodka yacht (Serene)

Pretty!

This frame is 25 years old, but it’s starting to have a new life. I’m guessing it will go at least another quarter century if these fenders do their job in rainy Seattle…

Diamond Tape Session

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

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Tags

bleriot, bosco, city chickens, cycling, diamond bar wrap, diamond wrap, harlequin, harlequin wrap, Miyata, saluki

Diamond Tape Session, a set on Flickr.

This afternoon, four mad-rad RBW list members got together for a bar taping fest in a Seattle garage (yes, it was raining). Amazingly, all members arrived on their bikes and carrying nothing more than bar tape, and the willingness to be made a fool of by cotton tape, they learned the fine art of the harlequin bar wrap.

We had a good time, and in the end there were 3 new diamond’d up cockpits on a Saluki, Bleriot, and Bosco’d Miyata Ridge Runner Team. Special thanks to Rob Harrison for his garage, and his family’s patience! For those that missed this round, there will be more. I will host one in a few months at my place.

Pics prove it happened in the rain with chickens…

Bosco Bars

02 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

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Tags

albatross, bosco, dirt drop, Grant Petersen, Miyata, nitto, rivendell

Bosco, a set on Flickr.

I’ve added a new bar to the mix. This went on a bike it was seemingly designed for. I have an ’88 Miyata mountain bike that is long and low, and was built as a downhill racing bike for the mighty Greg Herbold. I had used Nitto Albatross bars on it for a few years, and they were almost perfect, but I felt that I couldn’t get low enough as I used a “dirt drop” stem to get them up high enough for upright commute duty. The Grant Petersen designed Boscos do a great job of giving two extreme positions that is really the beauty of a good drop bar. If I hold the flat center position, I get a stretched out, low profile, and If I want upright, the swept back portion is high and mighty long. So far, so good.

Two considerations in going with this bar. I put a 13 cm stem on it to get it far enough forward so the back of the bars don’t impale my legs. It also helps stretch me out. I also had to really crank the stem down on the bar to keep it from moving. This bar has some serious leverage!

Miyata Commuter Update

09 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

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Tags

bar tape, bike, commuter, cork grips, diamond wrap, harlequin, Miyata

Sackville Shopsack in Medium Wald Basket

Miyata Commute, a set on Flickr.

This is the latest setup on my Miyata commuter. I finished up the Albatross bars with cork, did a diamond wrap, and twined and shellac’d the setup. I love the thumbshifters I’m using now. I used to have bar-ends on these bars, but they were just too long to make it usable. This is a really comfortable setup for me, although it’s definitely a slower ride when compared to the Hilsen.

Resurrected MTBs

25 Friday Mar 2011

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling, Uncategorized

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Tags

80s, commuter, Grant Peterson, Jamis, lugs, Miyata, MTB, resurrect, RidgeRunner Team, rivendell, schwalbe, steel, Stumpjumper

I saw an article in one of Grant Peterson’s Rivendell Readers last year talking about the great old steel lugged mountain bikes of the 80s. I have a ’91 Stumpjumper Pro, and a ’96 Kona AA (aluminum), and always liked the Stumpy better – it’s on my restoration project list. It just felt more right for me than the Kona, and I think it was mainly due to a combination of its steel construction, good components (SunTour XC Pro), and it being my first MTB. The Kona always felt stiff, dead, and a bit unwieldy.

I have a friend who wanted to get back into biking. He was planning on picking up a new bike and indicated he had an older mountain bike from his school days. I took a look at it, and fell in love with the bike – it was an ’80s Jamis lugged bike, and I was inspired to try to resurrect it. After he picked up some new parts for the bike, I built it up for him in a few days. It turned out to be a good commuter for him. Originally his bars were too low for his back, but we got him a “dirt drop” stem and boosted them up quite a bit. He’s nice and comfy with the high bars, and is now even eyeing changing them to the Albatross bars to get even more upright.

: Rebuilt for commuting

After enjoying this build, I decided to find a nice lugged MTB that I could resurrect for myself – I figured it would be a great winter commuter. I ended up looking at a number of Bridgestones, an ’84 Stumpy, and an ’88 Miyata. The last one really worked for me based on price, condition, and parts. It was all XT, and the frame pump mount and clean, beautiful brake-less seat stays (u-brakes) made it a no-brainer. It was very similar to my friend’s Jamis, but had a bit of extra clearance so I could easily fit Schwalbe Big Apples. Wow – comfy!