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!

What was I thinking?

Last week I decided to make over the Ross Riviera but first getting a new stem and putting the Gary Bars on the bike, however, none of the stems I got from the LBS would work with them so I settled for some old school Nitto 3 speed bars flipped.

The mistake I made was putting on a 44t Crank when I installed an 18t fixed gear cog on the rear wheel.  44:18t would be way to light for rail trails and regular road riding, so I put the 52t Sugino crank back on.  A little tedious but the gearing is much better as I have found.

Threw on my Brooks Saddle because I got some fine Italian leather for my Bianchi, as @MMcG recommended.  Also, removed the clipless pedals because I have to ride without them until the knee is back 100%.  I going to try and fit one last big ride in today, the 27 mile Tri-bury Gravel Grinder route but it was way too cold so I chickened out.  

After tomorrow's procedure I hope to be on the trainer by day 2 and thinking about riding the Canton section of the Farmington River Greenway next Monday while the family goes skiing at Ski Sundown.

Pop goes the knee

My knee has been bugging me for the past month and while I have experienced knee pain in the past this seems different.  I don't think it's some internal injury like a meniscus tear because the pain goes away after awhile.  Maybe it's due to over use and by that I mean I have added running to my exercise plan.  After Sunday's ride it was a little sore but after Monday's ride much worse.  I figured a light ride on the roads might do it some good but right out the gate it was painful but I pressed on.  In fact, climbing the third hill out of the river valley that I live in my knee made a little popping sound and then the pain went away!  Hallelujah!  I am still going to keep my appointment Friday with the orthopedist and see what he says.

Riding the Ross Riviera was a blast.  I am always at a loss what to wear when riding on the road.  It was 60 degrees out but I threw on the fleece tights because I figured I would get cold on the descents.  The Ross doesn't have any bottle cages (really old school) so I wore a hydration pack.  The Moose Bars make it feel like an old school mountain bike.

The 52:20 gearing gives me plenty of power in the flats and is a good gear to climb in but 18t would definitely suck.

Sunday's view of Pond Brook

I swung by the Pond Brook Boat Ramp, thinking I would check out the old Shepaug railroad bed the  since the lake was down nearly 10 feet on Sunday only to find the water level back up to the normal level.  Oh well, next time I suppose.

Wednesday's view of Pond Brook

Saturday Morning Single Speed

Now that the power is back, at least in my neighborhood and our personal hell has been taken away, it's time to get some more riding in since the trails are complete crap right now.  Other people throughout my town and the State of Connecticut for that matter, including both my in-laws and my father are still without power.  I wish them a speedy re-energize.  It was high time that I take the Ross Riviera out for a real test ride, something more that an a quick jaunt up and down my road, a ride with some hills to really test the 52:20 gearing.

My goal was to the Town Line and back but I fell short of time and turned around short of it by a half mile.  Along the way there were still many signs that the post Tropical Storm Irene Apocalypse was still on going.  Frankly, I think the power company and the local municipalities got caught with their pants down in the recovery effort and could have done a better job working together in order to remedy the situation.  Hopefully, they will learn from this so that their efforts can be better coordinated and the town can provide quicker services for those in need.

Hanover Rd:  Transformers on the side of the road

Businesses still without power

Staging area for the Tree and Lineman Teams

Give these guys your thanks!

All the fire houses have drinking water.
I filled my water cans at the Hawleyville Firehouse twice this week!

This house is till out of power because their service line was taken out.

Irene induced Labor

The much anticipated arrival of Hurricane Irene meant rain and tropical conditions on Saturday preventing me from mountain biking. So the next best thing of course is to work on bikes. I spent most of my time on the Ross Riviera but I did switch out the pedals on the Lambert, too.   Went out to the hardware store on an errand looking for a specific sized bolt for the rack on the back of the Ross but found the Hardware store was closed.  They closed early because they were sold out of all the hurricane preparedness items.  And all I wanted was a freakin' bolt!

Then I went over to the Bicycle Goodie Shop and they gave me a few things to try I decided to get the largest freewheel cog they had, which was a 20t and I just happened to find a blue KMC singlespeed chain in parts bin while cleaning up the night before. Added my old Blackburn race and voila! I now have a new commuter! I just have to find some nice, used fenders and it will be sweet. Test ride up and down my road was awesome! 52:20 gearing is great!

Between the bands of rain I tested the bike and it was sweet!  The 52:20 gearing is still plenty fast and the bigger tires means I will have more confidence riding Pond Brook Road (dirt) then on my 23c tires.  Just need to find some fenders and it will be rock solid.

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.