Recent rides in NE Victoria

Victor's new ring

Because I'm going here in the next week, I've needed to bench the 53t ring that works on the
relative flat of town
and go down to a relatively small SR 47t
courtesy of a lovely ebayer from England
this SR ring is just the ticket.
using the small cog a lot more these days as a result

Love my drivetrain

even its shadow
riding home along Darebin Ck trail
with new front panniers
and new folding 32mm (1.25") tyres

Is this the worst seat cluster ever?

there are lots of beautiful ways of designing a seat cluster
it's one of the places you can see the quality and sensitivity of a frame builder's approach to their craft
not here
this is the definition of agricultural
Ginat are the culprits

DIY mudguard

a quite innovative use for a palm leaf
seen in Byron Bay NSW
1000% more effective that one of these

high flange makes a comeback

spied on a bike in the city

looks like a mid-range wheelset

but def my choice if I had to ride a 'new' bike

Drillium

i've always thought that there was a big bit of 

toomuch metal on the 1st gen DA chainrings

so i drilliumed them a bit

please don't look too closely

or you'll see how close I came to fucking up.

who else loves drillium?

i think it's like tattoos:

once you've done it once

you'll never be able to stop

and will probably start doing it in all kinds of

inappropriate places

PS - good riddance tony abbot you sorry-arsed shitwaffle

Circlejerk of Entitlement, or dickheads on bikes

This peloton is made up a bunch of priviledged white men who can't imagine that they don't deserve the power they have. A peloton of horror AFAIC.

Cycling really is the new Golf.

morning ride

rode this morning from my place
via Yarra Boulevard
amid all the bibshort monkeys on their crabon machines
to C'wood then back along
Queens Pde
which is here
for a coffee

my favourite PSAs in Melbourne are
on the bins themselves
all featuring the crappest
grumpy animals yelling at you

coming up from Darebin Creek ravine
almost native bushland
a magic time of morning

this was my steed

a stripped-down Victor
much more a racing machine now

without his rear packrack

Bianchi home delivery ride

so last weekend I finally finished the Bianchi and
had to deliver it to its new owner
150km away

so early one Sunday morning I met my good bike friend Vit
and like all good explorers
caught the train half way...

it was a perfect autumn day...

with lots to see and reasons to stop

as we were trying to keep of the main highway

we came across lots of gravel

the Bianchi with 25mm tyres being exactly the wrong bike for the job

this section above was

while picturesque

quite boringly corrugated

this section wasn't so bad

coffee break

at your usual country town mixed business

at about this point I was so hungry I could have eaten some antiques actually

headwind was constant

note to self and others:

never ride west out of Melbourne

at one point we swapped shoes and bikes

Vit wore my new Puma tourers on the Bianchi

and I wore his Shimano SPDs on the Raleigh Super Tourer

my feelings about my first experience with clipless stuff is a whole 'nother post

handmade house and vintage Peugeot

more gravel which Bianchi handled OK

had some smooth channels compared to the corrugations of earlier

still

normally a job for >38mm tyres

last big rise

on the home straight

but close to bonking

a welcome downhill run
by now
although we didn't know it yet
our arms and legs were seriously sunburnt

handover to the delighted new owner
and a well deserved chicken curry
scoffed down like a caveman

final spec list:

frame and fork Bianchi Super Corsa (Superleggera?) lugged steel, Columbus (SL?) tubing

wheels Ukai 25mm double wall rims, Shimano 105 hubs

brakes Dia Compe aero brake levers, Shimano 105 sidepull calipers

crankset Suntour Superbe (1st gen)

pedals unknown

saddle Italian-made, Unicantor-type suede, plastic shell

seat post generic

chain rings Campagnolo Super Record 47t & 42t (144bcd)

bars and stem Cinelli stem, Cinelli Giro D'Italia bars

derailleur Suntour Superbe Pro front and rear

freewheel Suntour Pro Compe Ultra 6 speed (14-28t)

tyres Veloflex Master 25 Kevlar folding clinchers (700 x 25C)

an interesting 'new' bike shop

actually dunno how old it is but Andy is really friendly and was surprised that I knew what a Legnano was.

Here is one of his Legnanos

It's so original that he wants to use shit, old cables
even though they stretch and that's the last thing you want in a cable.
but I like his taste. otherwise they are agents for Lynskey
which, while they are certainly a wanker's bike
the Audi of steel bikes currently?
they are, after all, steel not plastic, so there's that
as the kids say.
And thy also have their own house brand, "Champione"
which are made with Columbus Zona and are fucking light

but check out these fillets...

 a track bike made by Colossi (?) in awesome stainless steel

Victor gets an upgrade

i've retired Positron
in favour of this lovely Suntour shifter that I've had spare for a while
and its companion rear mech
the equally lovely V-GT
the shifting is delightfully precise

Bianchi change to gearing

since this bike is for someone
who's been of the bike for a while
and he lives in the country with lots of hills
and headwinds
I thought it prudent
not to mention compassionate
to put easier gearing on it.
took the 47 tooth Super Record ring off Victor
and the 12-24 freewheel off Jo 650b
but I must say now
the bike does look a little weird

Bianchi finished

gritty urban setting
finally finished
not bad for a throwtogether

V and B

A visit to Kawaguchi city

if you can call it a city because it pretty much seamlessly
luglessly?
connects to the rest of Tokyo
but it is home to one very special place that I know of

this is the Toei Bike Factory
as you can see they are churning out frames at the rate of about
one per week
which means there is a two year wait
which is not outrageous
for a custom-made frame
from what I gather

the place is not big
this is it
all you can see. one room.
three guys working today
and two guys not in
sick? passed away? not sure

this one is one of the Bluebird series

reproduced recently for their 50th anniversary

that's not a Cyclo rear derailleur but

a lighter-weight version of that design made by Toei