Death of a Porn Star

While I am mainly a low brow, knuckle dragging mountain biker; as of late I have developed a passion for older model road bikes, the latest being the circa 1980s Bianchi Piaggio.  This bike was extremely sexy, 531 Chromoly Steel and coolest blue I have ever seen.  I added mustache bars, barcons, new tires, saddle and a 52t chain ring to turn it into a fabulous Rail Trail bike.  The 61 cm frame was perfect for me and it was dream to ride.  It just exuded sex appeal of a classic bike.  

Only ridden a couple of times, lovingly on rail trails, the Bianchi Piaggio has left the quite life of sub-rural-urbia and has moved to the big city where it be used and abused (in a good way)!  I am not a roadie so having a road bike in my stable is kind of apropos, however given my current situation gravel grinders is the type of riding I will be doing for awhile, so my hope is to find an older model hybrid or cyclocross that I can convert into another Monster Cross, this would be with gears though.  I found a Cannondale SX800 on eBay but the bidding went beyond my price range.  Ideally, that's what I want but those frames and in the right color are hard to come by.

Also departing the stable is this Ross Singlespeed aka Old Crappy Ten Speed Conversion.  The mustache bars on this bike rocked and the 52:20t freewheel gearing meant it would fly.  It's nice to know that both these bikes will cruising the bike lanes of Manhattan pretty soon.  Fare-thee-well bikes!  Fare-thee-well!

New Meats - Vittoria Zaffiro

I slipped on some new Italian Rubber, Vittoria Zaffiro tires, that I picked up at Devil's Gear this past week.  They went on really easy and I pumped them up to 80 psi and went for a little roll in the drive and OMG, so smooth!  Of course, some 23c tires at 120 psi would be smoking but I will save that for the next project.

Also figured the 46t up front was too light for riding rail trails so I put on a 52t and this dog wants to hunt!

On Sunday, I am headed back to the Farmington River Valley, only this time I am going to do the loop right.  Collinsville to Canton Railtrail, then down 177 to Unionville, and back up to Collinsville on the Farmington River Trail.  This time I have a bell and I am going to shoot some video, too.  Of course it's supposed to be really cold so I will be dressed to the nines in snivel gear.

A walk of shame was potentially in the offing

It's a good thing I didn't get a flat tire on my ride Sunday because while I had everything needed to change a tire, my tubes have presta valves and the frame pump that I brought along was for a schrader valve.  Doh!  So, it looks like I will loose the trunk and put everything into a hydration pack.

It looks like I am headed back to the area for another tour.  This time I will be a little more prepared by ensuring that I have a bell on my bike, the right pump, and a map of the area with my intended route planned out.

I am also going to bring the helmet cam and mount it to the bike and take some moving footage.

Post Op, my first ride

I have been slowing working myself up on the trainer but today, three weeks post the knee operation, I decided to try riding.  I took the Bianchi down to the Farmington River Trail while my kids were skiing at Ski Sundown with their Grand Father.  That place is incredible!  We haven't had any snow this winter and they are 100% open with a 3 foot base and spring like conditions.  They know how to make snow!

I have been drooling over the Farmington Trail for years because of its rich history in manufacturing and what it still offers today for industrial sightseeing.  Not to mention the Farmington River, it's probably Connecticut's premier trout fishery and unless it's frozen over you will find people fishing in it year round.

I have ridden the Bianchi on the Trainer for about two hours now, and except for a few driveway circuits this is the first time really riding it.  A couple changes are necessary, I feel.  Definitely a bigger front ring and the rear derailleur needs a little adjusting but riding with the mustache bars are excellent and in fact, I think all my future rebuilds are going to go route in the future.  One thing for sure, it's fun to ride and solid as a rock.

The first 20 minutes on the bike from the junction north of Collinsville, where I parked down to the center of town my knee was still a little stiff.  This is the first time in 6 years that I am riding a bike with flats and it felt weird, especially wearing shoes with cleats.  If this were Saturday, I might have been wearing my sneakers or my orange Crocs (probably would have looked like Bozo) but Sunday was much cooler and I have come to learn that dressing for a road ride is a lot different that mountain.

I was surely tempted to stop for a pint of something yummy despite the cold but I had only a narrow window to ride so I passed it up. Maybe next time.  Of all the places to visit, however, Collinsville is the one.

This old Railroad bridge still stands, enclosed by old factories that harnessed the power of the Farmington River that industrialized America a couple of centuries ago.  

I kind of messed up on my route.  At first I was going to ride the new trail from Collinsville to Canton, then take Rte 177 down to Avon and come back up the Farmington Trail but I was afraid that it might take me longer than I imagined so instead I rode down the Farmington to Avon and then decided at the last second to follow the course in reverse but I am not used to following courses on my Garmin and missed critical turn.  Why didn't I bring a map, doh!

I ended up on a road with a bit of climbing, something that I was actually trying to avoid because I knew that only 177 would be flat (or at least flatter) than this route.  Some friendly firemen along the way gave me some directions so I knew I wasn't going to be late because I was at least headed back to Collinsville.  I got back to the car still had a half hour to kill.  

So I did the Collinsville to Canton run.  There wasn't a lot of information readily available on the conditions and how much was done and not done, in other words I threw caution to the wind and took my chances and it was worth while.  The trail is paved all the way to Canton and it's recent so it's really smooth.  The one thing I forgot, and I am usually Mister Boy scout and bring everything, is a bell.  There are so many walkers, doggers, roller bladers, joggers, and people enjoying the unusually warm weather on these trails that I got hoarse from yelling out warnings.

While I didn't do the intended loop per-say I was able to ride all the rail beds.  Next week I think I will be doing it again, only this time I will do the loop in a clockwise fashion. 

Pedaling to Nowhere

What luck, first the new bike and now the trainer.  After learning the good news from the Orthopedist in that I should be able to start pedaling two days after the surgery (yet to come) I bought my first trainer.  I only spent around $100 and to quote popular cliche, "you get what you pay for."  Damn, it is loud!  I think I might have to try headphones next or ever pedal with the iPod but the beauty of pedaling in the mancave/garage is that I have satellite radio and can listen to Howard Stern, Liquid Metal, a football game, or a bevvy of other channels. 

DIY Bike Thong

The unit I got is from Gavin.  Never heard of them before but apparently they make bike parts, too.  I liked this one because it was a package deal and came with a wheel holder and a tensioner.  There was a spare skewer but I used one of me.  It took just a few minutes to set up and off I was pedaling like a gerbil in the Habitrail exercise wheel.

A little encouragement - the light at the end of the tunnel

There are 4 hand positions on the Mustache bars.  They are really comfortable and I plan on getting more for the next build, which will probably be a make over on the Ross once I get a stem that fits.  I worked out today with the car out of the garage but I think I can do with it in.  Which will be good when it's really cold and snowy out this winter.

1980s Edoardo Bianchi Piaggio

I am still kicking myself for letting that mint 1981 Dawes Galaxy slip through my fingers. My original intention was to put these mustache bars on it, the barcons and red bar tape making an outstanding touring bike.  Instead, I sold it to some guy upstate that probably sold it to some college student.  So, I am making up for that blunder with this 1980 Bianchi Piaggio.

At least that is what I think it is after researching it on the web,  early 80s because model year 84 of this bike is red and all the examples I have seen with chain stays and the fork ends in chrome point to 1980.  Rather that convert it to a fixie, which what I usually would do, I decided to keep this geared so that I can use it on the trainer plus it will be fun to ride on the rail trails and with my boys.

The build was with just about everything on hand, except for the bar tape.  Levers are Cane Creek, not sure where I got them but they work nicely, in fact it's the one nice thing where the cables come out of the top to use with mustache bars.

At some point, I may get some more yellow cable housing for the front brake but for the time being it will stay orange because I ran out of yellow.  Just need to figure out what do about the pedals and get some dry weather to take it out for a spin.

Nothing beats a Brooks Saddle on a classic bike.  Below is what it looked like when I brought it home on Tuesday.  I knew this was a diamond in the rough.

Bianchi Comfort Irony

While my boys enjoyed themselves at the Jungle Gym at Railroad Park I noticed a Bianchi Comfort bike locked to the railing in front of the old train station.

Naturally, I had to check it out.  I think this is a 2001 Bianchi Avenue according to Bikepedia.  I have always like Bianchis and this kind of bike would make an excellent commuter.

Not two minutes later, I get a shot of this guy riding past also riding a Bianchi Avenue.  This one is a little newer, 2002 model, in British racing green.  What a coincidence!

Bare Beaver!

Don't tell me you thought I would actually post something untowardly? I disassembled the bottom bracket on the Bianchi this evening and found that the bearings looked nice and shiny but had absolutely no grease on them. Had a little help from Harpoon's Octoberfest Beer, too.

Close up, sorry for the blur, it wasn't because of the beer, honest! As you can see ballbearings are pretty dry.

So, I lubed them up with some Phil Wood and put it all back together. In order to accomplish this little feat, I picked up some tools from the Bicycle Goodie Shop in Bethel. I got a really big cone wrench for removing this plate but it wouldn't budge. I was, however, able to take off the other side with that tool from the first picture.

We'll see how it performs tomorrow when I try to ride 30 miles round trip to work. Now that I am getting fixed riding down, which by the way, I am loving it totally, it's time to had some distance.

It ain't no Pista but ...

... it's my Bianchi Classica Fixed Gear on Craigslist. I might even be able to sell this and move onto my next project, another SS/Fixed Gear commuter, which is a larger frame with drop bars. I traded my Magellan Explorist for a Rolf 700c wheelset. It's geared but I have a spacer kit and single Shimano styled cogs that I can use till I get find a good deal on a track wheelset. All I need for this next bike is a new set of tires, tubes, bar tape, new brake cables, and aero brake covers (forget what they are called).

It's not a 59 cm, rather 58 cm. The allure of my next MonsterCross project has motivated me into selling this bike and hopefully with the proceeds I will be able to get a decent 29er frame for the build. The other carrot of my motivation is this ad on the Long Island CList: Kona Jake the Snake 59 cm. Man, I want this bike! If I can get between $4 and $5 hundy for the Bianchi I could get it.

It won't surfice my MonsterCross needs but I have always wanted this type of bike from Kona. Not sure what the allure is but that bike speaks to me! Sent the seller an email to see if would be willing to meet in Port Jeff. Take the ferry without a bike. Buy it, ride around Port Jeff for a bit and then take the ferry home with the bike. Could be fun.

The Friday Fix

It just dawned on me that I haven't posted about my new (to me) but older model Bianchi Classica single speed/fixie commuter bike I built a couple of months ago. I thought I would make it the feature of this week's Friday Fix, granted it's not a mountain bike but I have it configured more like a cycle cross bike, so that's close enough.

I picked this bike up on the side of the road after someone try to sell it at tag sale for $10 and there were no takers. It is a Bianchi Classica and I think it made in the early 1990's. It doesn't have the engraved CLASSICA at the start of the seat stays as the first production year model did, in fact I thought I read somewhere that this bike was the first of the Bianchis to be mass produced in Japan.

The addition of this bike to the stable prompted the sale of the Cannondale. That was a sweet bike but just too small for me. This bike, with the longer stem feels just right for me, although the seat tube measurement was smaller than the Cannondale's. It was fun stripping down the bike, though. I was able to pass on the cables to a buddy who was refurbishing an old mountain bike and needed specific suntour cables that you can't buy any more. The drop bars went to the Cannondale and the pedals were pretty cool.

Back in March, I purchased a 700c Alex Rim flip flop wheel that I was going to put on the Cannondale but you might recall, the rear drops on that bike were true vertical drops and I just couldn't get the enough chain tension with this wheel. For the longest time I kept scouring Ebay and Craigslist for a 700c front wheel but never found anything. Just when I was about to breakdown and buy a new wheel from NYC bikes when I found someone on Crankfire.com that was willing to trade a 700c steel fir wheel set for a pair of Crank Brothers' Candies.

I got a pair of Bullhorns from Profile Designs and the levers are Cane Creek 200TT, both of which, along with the cork tape I bought at Pricepoint. This was the first time putting tape on bars. In fact, I do have a post about bar taping in which I use the Bianchi as an example, called How to Tape Your Bars. I started out by first using electrical tape to keep the brake housings underneath the bars and then wound the tape onto the bars. I was able to tuck the ends in on themselves for a very professional look.

I played switcheroo with the pedals. I decided to put my CB Acids on the Fixation, thus moving the Candies over to the Bianchi. I am going to try riding clipless but it seems most fixie riders use toe clips or no clips at all. I think that may be so that if they have to loose contact with the pedals in an emergency it's a no brainer. Clipless might be another story so I will try it for awhile and see how it works. I can always go back.

The last couple of things I need are better brake pads, fenders although running the 700x42 tires might not fit with conventional fenders, so I might have to get creative, and the last thing is good mirror. So far, little jaunts around the neighborhood, the bike feels really nice. The 42:16 gear ratio feels really nice on asphalt and I can't wait to tackle the Route 25 climb into Brookfield with that gearing.

Can't wait to start riding this to work!