VAR crank puller

since learning that TA and Stronglight 

require their own tools I've 

been on the hunt.

thanks to Hilary Stone, I'm now the proud owner of a dual TA/British crank tool and

VAR is something of a legendary brand in bike tools 

so I'm happy on both fronts.

the tool itself is reassuringly heavy, 

with beautiful, crisp threads.

Dubbin fetish

almost as much as I love leather saddles

I love Joseph Lyddy's Dubbin

it took this gorgeous Lamplugh spring leather saddle from this

to this 

in a matter of minutes

the top pic is how she arrived

about 10min after the second pic was taken

she looked like the first pic again

probably used about 10 separate applications before she kept

the lustre you see above.

a hairdryer on low is excellent for melting the Dubbin into the leather

Saddle from my favourite French charity

for my niece's beautiful Shogun commuter

(must take some up to date pics)

new drivetrain for Jo

New randonneur (or randonneuse) bling

recently collected parts
where will they go?
on Jo Routens or something new...?

Herse book arrives!

it arrived yesterday

complete with a dent in the side of the box

!

after all JH's palaver about his custom-made foam corners

and box testing

I was a bit concerned

corners were fine

ah, those famous corners...

but what about the edges?

phew!

and a lovely book it is too.

TA water bottle holder

not only period correct and all that

but dashedly clever too.

I thought I couldn't have a bidon cage on my down tube

because of the competition from the Simplex Competition

in other words

the lever wouldn't work, would hit against the bottle

but look

sneaky indent in water bottle fits lever prefectly

Routens Randonneuse with white Grand Bois Hetres

just as the 

search engine optimised heading

says

replaced the old red pair after a rear brake block got diagonal

and chewed through the side-wall

!

that's problem with panniers

can't keep an eye on things.

white looks much better on this frame.

what's the difference
between a
randonneur and a randonneuse anyway?
one's a bloke and the other's a sheila?

Hooray! Jubilee!

the glorious inconsistencies of a Jo Routens head tube badge

a fruitful couple of hours on illustrator
led to this.
routens had a few different typefaces and logos in their time.
this one is based on the headtube decal
on my own bike.

one thing's for sure
they could make bikes
but they weren't typographers:
main text is britannic bold
sort of.
heavily modified.
roundel text is eurostile
(manually extended and emboldened)
which by itself prob dates the bike to the 70s.

the "j" of jo had to be constructed from scratch.

remaking this logo reminded me how
people once upon a time had to draw such things
using pencil and ruler.
which in the hands of amateurs
leads to the glorious inconsistencies you get here.

if they had illustrator back then
this font would have been far more perfect
and far less interesting

The most beautiful thing I've seen in a while.

an internet mate

has just come into a lovely piece of old scrap

he has a few other nice bikes too.

go look at his blog

they're the biggest bike pics on the net

M. Routens - side on

with Viscount/Lamber ring

fave decals 3 - jo Routens

nuff said

DC cantis go salmon

sometimes fleabay is not worth the trouble
these lovely brake blocks by kool stop
needed old Mafac brake block holders
fleabay said 20 bucks plus shipping from the old world
ask around locally
one pair = free
the other pair = one dollar

Vive le Tour!

it's not long to go now
but it will be nothing like this:
riders stopping off at bistrots to scavenge bottle of beer and wine for the ride
sharing an ice-cream with your team-mate
riders getting off their bikes to refill water-bottles

a short film by the likes of Louis Malle and Georges Delerue

oh and the bikes...

Rodée main selon a D. Rebour

finally an Ideale TB90 on my bike.
the sensation after 100km
is of there being nothing under your bum at all
just air.

Superfrench drivetrain

jubilee and stronglight loveliness
with some Suntour Winner Pro loveliness tucked away in there

and simplex loveliness too

with the addition of a lower range rear cluster
I have returned to the 48T Stronglight big ring
from the Viscount 52T.
the smaller ring also means I can access higher gears on the rear
when on the small ring.

Hetre roads

this is a hetre tyre

it is for these types of roads

Hetre roads

this is a hetre tyre
with this tyre, you can ride comfortably on the following roads.

Jubilee

Woodpile

supermassive pic