Viscount Aerospace Victor headtube internal shot

art or gastroenterology?

Family portrait

was sweeping out the back verandah

or patio, if you prefer

and had to move all the bikes.

so time for a group photo.

I counted 11.

Renovated saddle bag

Steph's bike - toe overlap

toe overlap is a bugger

but it's also easily avoided

e.g. stop pedalling when you need to turn the front wheel sharply.

still

it's a good thing to avoid.

toe clips help.

these VO clips needed bending

but now everything's ticketyboo.

for some reason the left crank comes closer than the right

?

Steph's bike - leather mudflap

homemade leather mudflap

ground clearance

leather off-cut from Leffler's Warehouse

$1.00/sq. foot

secured with two 10mm allen bolts

 soft focus poster for your bedroom wall

Mecca for the bike nerd

A convincing argument for the artist as hero

not just because he uses bikes in his artworks
but because he just got out after 81 days of detention
by the Chinese Government
and he's still willing to stick it up them.
will he become the Chinese Mandela?
we can only hope.


Ai Wei Wei.

stowage

Steph's bike - new shifters and levers

shimano silver canti brake levers from hard rubbish.
suntour accushift levers from fleabay.
gear changes are now faster and quieter.

velo orange 'kraton' grips

there was a little ratchet problem with the bike's original set-up
it just wouldn't stay on the third rear cog.
problem solved with friction.
the beauty of these is if you have any problems with gear changes when riding
you can usually solve them without having to stop
let alone get off the bike or heaven forbid
enter a bike shop.

anyone want a pair of these in good nick?
from now on I know to steer clear of integrated shifter/brake combos

Steph's bike 3

steph's metro now has the deer-head derailleur

which was the precursor to the

deore, which became shimano's top-of-the-line

mtb gear system

it has partially resolved a sticky gear problem with the old

SIS/Altus rear derailleur

but part of the problem is in the indexing ratchet of the shifter.

so that will have to go.

been finding in my research that 

early mtb indexed shifters 

even of the deore group

-supposed quality-

were notoriously prone to not working properly.

and the integrated shifter/brake assemblies are also unreliable, 

expensive and rare (because so few survived in working order?)

anyways
a bit of soft focus for you to enjoy
inspired by the clement weather

Velo Orange half clips

velo orange deep half clips are nice

but a bit too open to be effective

so I recommend bending them back somewhat

this gives a better "wrap" around the toe 

for security and lift

and also can reduce toe-everlap

with the front wheel.

Ostrich pannier

Excellent equipment of Pack and

Carrying Gear for All Cyclists At Heart

Ostrich

The Big Bicycling

this is what it says on the leather patch

classic japanese product blurb

big enough for everything 

yes some heel strike

but only if you pedal with a totally flat foot

beautiful

completely repairable

if and when they ever need it.

will find out soon how waterproof

although that's not a major concern.

 

Stronglight 104 crankset with drilled rings

Peugeot Super Vitus racing forks

eBay sellers and their packaging - an occasional series

classic brown jiffy
with label collage

Cute little bike from hard rubbish