Got bored with the site design. Again. In the middle of upgrading to 3.0, I decided to try out something new…
So I went for something more simple and minimal. Wanted a nice typography and single column (for the most part) layout. So that’s what you see here. I know it’s more ‘bloggy’ now, but whatever. I dig it. And I have a lot more room for adding more features later.
There you have it.
Ordered a brand new Salsa Pistola frameset this morning from Queen City Cycles here in Springfield. Putting on a full Shimano 105 group plus Ritchey wheels/hubs, stem and bars. Actually all the parts are being pulled off of a Masi Speciale. I originally wanted a Speciale but unfortunately Masi has sold out of them in my size for the rest of the year. But Queen City had an extra one lying around, so we’re pulling all the parts off of it and putting it on the Salsa.
Hope to have it built and ready to ride next Saturday. Looking forward to a nice long ride next weekend..
Frame: Reynolds 531, Campagnolo forged fork ends and dropouts
Wheels: Campagnolo Record high-flange hubs on “Schwinn-Approved” alloy rims
Bars: Cinelli
Stem: Cinelli
Headset: Campagnolo Strada
Crankset: Campagnolo Record (52×49)
BB: Campagnolo Record
Derailleurs: Campagnolo Nuovo Record rear and Campagnolo Record front
Pedals: Campagnolo Superleggeri w/ Christophe toe clips
Brakes: Campagnolo Gran Sport with Gran Sport levers
Shifters: Campagnolo downtube levers
Saddle: Unicanitor with Campagnolo seatpost
What happens when:
Brad + good beer + too much energy + sudden free time + an amazing vintage bike that needs restoration?
This:
I tore the new Paramount down to the frame (that bottom bracket is REALLY stuck in there) in about 1.5 hours. I had a few sticky pieces, but overall it went pretty smoothly. Especially when you consider this is a 35 year old bike that has never been touched since it was originally assembled. A credit to those builders in Chicago in the 70′s.
I also found out that the bike was originally sold out of a shop in Huntington Beach, CA. Very cool.
Next up: cleaning and degreasing everything, then polishing the chrome parts on the frame and touching up the paint. Then, throwing it all back together again w/ only one or two ‘new’ parts. Otherwise I’m keeping it as original as possible.
You’ll also notice that I now have a workshop, otherwise known as a “man-den.” It’s half of my basement, and I’m stoked that I now have a dedicated space to fixing up bikes. Sadly this will probably lead to at least a few restoration projects a year. More to follow, surely…
I always read on the C&V forum about people finding these crazy deals on vintage bikes.. the type of story that usually starts with “I was in an old lady’s garage..” and end with “.. so I got this NOS Merckx complete bike from the 70′s for 20 bucks.
I was always skeptical about how often this really happens, or if the circumstances are fictitious. Well, yesterday I had my own similar experience. Though it didn’t involve a little old lady’s garage, it did involve a redneck who was missing both his shirt and some of his teeth.
Long story short: I picked up a 1975 Schwinn Paramount P-13 complete bike for..well, let’s just say it was next to nothing. It needs a lot of cleaning, but save for that only the seat and brake hoods actually need replacing. Everything else is in fantastic condition.. components are all Campagnolo Record, with Cinelli stem and bars. I doubt it’s ever been ridden very much. Just grimy from being hung in a garage for years. Some slight surface rust on the chrome but that’s easy enough to take off. No dents, just a few nicks in the paint. Overall, it’s an absolute amazing find.
The frame is one size bigger than I usually go for, so I’ll try it out for a few months once I clean it and make it rideable..and if it doesn’t fit well then I’ll sell it on eBay for something like 10x what I paid for it. Here’s the pics of it at the moment.. I’ll document the cleaning and build-up as it happens slowly over this summer.
Well, I ended up having to cut my trip on the Katy Trail a bit short, though only by about a day and a half. I had no idea what kind of pace I’d set on the trail, and I surprised myself by how fast and far I was traveling.. I ended up doing the entire length of the trail in 2.5 days. I was flying.
The bad part of that was that I hit it a bit too hard and my body is getting even with me now that I’m home. My ankles are swollen to the size of softballs (though my 8-month pregnant sister still has more swollen ankles. Dammit.) and I re-injured my neck, with a pinched nerve that makes my entire right side go numb. It’s not fun riding the bike in such a condition. Plus there was extremely severe weather along the trail almost the entire time I was riding.. dodging lightning strikes and golf ball-sized hail is fun in theory, but not in practice.
So with the combination of pain and weather I cut it a bit short. I could have stayed in a hotel for a couple of days and sat out the weather and then ridden the entire length of the trail across and back, which was my original goal, but I couldn’t afford to sit around in a hotel room any longer than I already had.. both in terms of money and boredom.
But the trip wasn’t a complete wash I guess.. the bike did superbly, no problems whatsoever. Everything else that could have gone wrong, did go wrong though, unfortunately. Even my camera battery died. So here’s pictures from the first couple of days of riding…
