Two fiddy for an Old Crappy Tenspeed?

It's unbelievable what some people are trying to sell a bike for these days. Yes, there are still supply chain issues with road bikes and that's for good bikes.  While this might be in pristine condition, in my humble opinion, you got to be insane to pay more than $100 for 40+ year old bike.

The Friday Fix: Ross Riviera Conversion

I never measured this frame and after finishing the rebuild I sat on the bike and thought that it felt really good!  For some reason I thought it was going to be too small but in reality it's a great fit for 58 cm (23 inch) frame.  I think the big difference is the fact that the Moose Bars make the riding position more upright then bent over.  It's essentially like a mountain bike.  

Didn't have enough orange cabling so I had to go with white

Went really, really old school on the pedals

Took the grips off the Qball

Avid levers work nicely with these brakes

Right now, this is not a bike for hills with this gearing:  52:15

I have an 18t fixed cog on order so I wont be riding this to work

anytime soon but I am going to have to try it on some rail trails

Sheldon Brown (standard)

42:15 - 75 inches

52:20 70.2 inches
52:19 73.9 inches

Lambert Grand Prix-Fix (Death Fork)

52:18 78.0 inches

52:17 82.6 inches52:16 87.8 inches

Ross Riviera

52:15 93.6 inches

Hopewell Sporting Goods, according to the Interwebs was still in business as of 2002

This bike, even in it's original configuration was never lite

This could be a hard sell!

Putting on the Brakes

After putting the Lambert brakes on the Ross I asked myself why didn't I put them on the Lambert?  Either I wasn't thinking or I was caught up in the whole anodized orange color scheme and if you don't know me by now, I really like Orange. Maybe I have been conditioned like Pavlov's Dog so that when ever I see orange I think of riding and I get excited.

I really like how Orange and Blue look together so I mounted the brakes on the Ross and put the wheels to make sure they have contact with the rims and they do.  Now I just have to figure out whether I can use AVID FR-5 levers with side pulls or do I have to use something else.  Going to hit the LBS today for lunch to get these answers.  The other alternative is to switch bars and use either Gary Bars or Mustache Bars that I have in my box of tricks but I would rather stay with the Moose Bars because they fit in the steering tube and I don't have to buy another stem.

Putting the Lambert brakes on the Death Fork now makes the bike seem more like a Lambert.  Everything on the bike was customed and hand built and the brakes bring it back to hit's hay day of cycling.

Another Old Crappy Ten Speed Fixed Gear Conversion

Courtesy of Velobase.com

I have had this Ross Riviera in my shed for a couple of years but have had the hardest time trying to place it's year of origin.  It has the classic lugs of a 1970s bike, along with bolted stem and shifters located on the stem as well.  The manufacturer labels are surprisingly similar to the 1983 Ross Force 1, the first mountain bike made in America, and I found the Ross Riviera in a 1982 Catalog on Velobase.com that leads me to believe that this is not a 1970s era bicycle, rather 1980s.   

This bike fits the Old Crappy Ten Speed label (OCTS) because that's what it was when I got it.  In fact, I believe the drive train was so rusty that it wouldn't even move.  I had to disassemble the cranks from the inside because I couldn't get the crank off the spindle.  

I ended up putting a 1970s era Sugino Crankset on with a 52t ring.  These cranks are forged steel and super strong.  I am going to have to get an 19t or 20t cog for the rear wheel in order to make it more rideable for New England hills.

Originally I was going to keep the seatpost but it had a lot of surface rust on it and to make the only other seatpost I had was a millimeter too thin so I decided to use a PBR shim.  

None of my existing quill stems would fit but I have had these old Moose Bars laying around that fit perfectly. I will need to get some BMX levers and some colorful lock on grips.

I finally found my Lambert Brakes and they work nicely on the bike, however, I have a change of mind and I am going to put them on Lambert instead and put a new set of brakes on that will look much nicer.  Also, I think I am going to go with an Orange and Blue color pattern.  Orange brake lines, Orange Chain, maybe an Orange saddle.  It won't be that Annoying but it will look cool.

Centurion Ironman Expert Dave Scott

Some pre-restoration pictures

I want to try to preserve the original labeling as much as possible.

I think I am going to use Rustoleum as a primer coat

and Testors gloss as the top coat.

An old Crappy Ten Speed Commuter

First trip to NYC in the New Year by way of the Park City. First thing I noticed between the garage and the station is that the bike racks were moved off the street. Was this done because it was winter and the snow plows would be throwing snow on the bikes when the streets were plowed? Or was it more of an aesthetic move to take all the sexy, flashy station bikes away from the public eye and hide them behind the station building? I think the latter. Of course, now it's an open invitation for vandalism - smooth move Mayor Finch!

This Ross Ten Speed looks like it did when it was probably brought home from the bike shop twenty years ago. Perfect specimen for a fixed gear conversion and reminded me I have a Ross hanging from the ceiling awaiting conversion.

Getting a head start on Earth Day

I got a head start on Earth Day on Sunday, almost a month early in fact. Some neighbors called Sunday morning to say that there was a bike in Pond Brook. Headed down to Pond Brook road with my rubber boots and walked along the base of the old Shepaug Railroad bridge abuttment and dragged the bike out.

Looks like someone just threw it in the river rather than taking it to the dump. Kind of sad that someone would think that way. Must have been kids.

It's a Pacer S/S ladies bike. Seems the bike is known as a Concord Pacer S/S and hails from the early 1980s. When I get it up on the rack I will find the serial number and date it exactly but from what I have read on the interwebs it's just another frame made at the Giant Factory. While I don't have a need for this style of frame and I don't think there is much of a market for them either it does have some nice components that might be able to use on my next project, another Peugeot UO-8 that showed up at the dump last month.

Good tape job

Finished up the Raleigh Super Course MKII this evening and I put on the finishing touches by taping the bars. Let me first say that Bike Nashbar Bar Tape stinks! Now it could be that I just let it sit too long in the cabinet before using it but half the sticky stuff came off on protector tape. You also don't get that little strip of extra tape to wrap the back side of the brakes. So, I won't recommend it.

Taping these bars was pretty except for the brakes. As I mentioned before, since I didn't have that little strip I had to go over the brake, loop back on the other side and then wrap where brake hood meets the bar and then over. Probably should have made a movie on how to do this. There is a gap on the underside doing it this way and it wouldn't be there if I didn't have that little extra strip that you get with the other brands.

Despite the challenges, it came out really well. Now, I need a rode test but it looks like mother nature isn't going to cooperate this week. More frigid temps are expected here in New England and it looks like there is another snow storm coming on Thursday. I was looking back at some of my archived posts and there was one from last January where I went riding at Trumbull when it was 45 degrees!

Still, I think this is going to be a fun bike! Also this evening I decided to take the bottom braket out of the Bridgestone and I couldn't get it out. I applied a copious amount of locktite and it still didn't help. In fact one side of the BB is plastic and it cracked. I have a BB tool that I had connected to a ratchet handle and I had a some pipe on the end of that and yet I still couldn't budge it. So, it looks like I am taking it into the LBS to see if they can get it out. If I can get a longer spindle in there then I will be able to use the Sugino cranks.

The Dump Fairey Cometh and Leaveth

Got back from Florida on Friday and when I pulled into the driveway I was greeted by a motley collection of bikes saved from certain destruction at the town dump. At face value I was thinking that they might all just return to the dump but upon closer inspection there were certainly some parts worth roaching, not to mention a frame or two worth saving.

This early edition comfort bike/29er has some nice goodies on it including the basket which I already transferred over to my son's bike, the chain is still good, pedals are worth saving, I will probably keep the rear derailler and definitely the front fork.

Not much on the Magna worth keeping expect for the rear derailler and the brake pads. Might keep the seat. The ten speed in the back has a good saddle and brake pads, but that's all there is on this one.

Now this last one, however, goofy it seems with the wide seat is an interesting bike. A Spaulding Blade CroMo frame. I thought Spalding made tennis rackets but it looks like they tried their hand at bikes, too, that are still absolutely crappy. Still, it might be worth turning this into a little 26" fixie project somwhere down the road. It has a workable BB and sliding drops. In the meantime, the chain is still good so I will strip it down and see what comes of it.

Old Crappy Ten Speeds: Every bike has a story

Old Crappy Ten Speeds seems to be on the forefront of everyone's minds these days. With the rapid rise of gas this summer, looking for ways to save gas seems to be a big theme and one way to save some gas and get a little exercise at the same time is to ride a bike. So the biking craze, if you can call it that, appears to have once again re-emerged and it seems quite a few people are pulling those old bikes out of the basement or garage and trying to sell them on eBay or Craigslist.

What is an old crappy ten speed? I would categorize it as any road bike with shifters on the down tube or on the stem, made out of steel, and sports 27" wheels. I know Cannondale was making aluminum bikes in the 80's because I recently had a Cannondale SR300, which was aluminum and made in 1985. The cut off point for an old crappy ten speed, in my book, is the 1990s when bike manufacturers started selling bikes with either Shimano STI Levers or Campagnolo Ergolevers and completely moved over to aluminum bikes.

I have seen a few OCTS while riding with my kids on the local rail trails. One of the local bike shops that I frequent told me since June they have seen quite a few OCTS come into the shop for servicing and to get them running again. At one point during the summer I had heard that there was even a shortage on 27 inch tires. Besides for recreation, you really don't see these bikes being used for transportation, at least not in Sub-rural-urbia. I am sure in cities like New Haven, Hartford, and Boston, all manner of OCTS would be seen being ridden by smart people who want to save gas, and I am sure you will see many OCTSs that have been updated to the point that the only original parts is probably just the frameset.

Well, I found an OCTS in action. Situated across form Old Heidelberg, a German Restaurant on Rte 6 in Bethel, CT, is a block of what appears to be efficiency apartments. In the back of one of these apartments is a woman's bike, in pretty good shape, and is never locked up. I pass by it every day on my way to work and the other day I took a picture of it in awe that it has lasted so long without getting stolen.

While the street that the apartments back up to is not busy it is within throwing distance of Rte 6 which is quite busy. There is a BMX track not far from here and I always see kids riding their BMX bikes to and from that park right through here. You would think that some kid would grab it but it's there every day. Maybe it's the style and size of the bike that is just not interesting enough for the local kids to waste their time with, or maybe they don't want to be seen on a girl's bike. I am very impressed with the integrity of the kids in this neighborhood, unlike those who stole Carl's Bike, a heart warming post over on the beat bike blog.

I guess I am just paranoid that I would lock it up. I lock my bike to the rack when I leave the car at work, when I see others who do not. I guess my past experiences have made me overly cautious because I have experienced in the past that no matter how crappy the bike is, someone will find it useful and if it's not secured/locked up it will most likely disappear. Many years ago, I was an exchange student in Germany and borrowed a really cool bike from a friend of my host family.

It was a rusted out jobbie with balloon tires, upright bars, and a three speed. I rode this bike everywhere that I couldn't get to by train. I rode it every day to school and back, to volleyball practice, and to the bar. I never locked it up because it looked like a POS and wouldn't you know it - one night after volleyball practice our regular watering hole is closed so we end up going to a more seedy part of town and when I came out, it was gone!

Last weekend I was at the Bicycle Goodie Shop, which is just up the road from here and as I was coming out I saw someone riding this bike over to the nearby deli! That was the owner of bike! The man looked to be of some direct Asian background and was riding with flip flops, shorts and a tank top. Clearly, this bike is his grocery getter! I don't know if it's the owner's primary source of transportation because it's seems to always be there during work hours. Never-the-less, here is a fine example of a working OCTS!