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

Wish I Could Be There

Weigle 650b rando and workshop

perfect

bespoke forks for Supa Sport

this is the reason the supa sport has been off the road for so long
new set of bespoke forks
vintage Reynolds blades and butted steerer
ornate lug of unknown origin
some custom bosses for the DA centrepull brakes
these will do away with the original yoke
at the top of the above pic
only the two brake caliper arms will be needed

Dura Ace drop outs

although this lug might seem a bit fancy for a fillet brazed frame

they will be well filed

and painted the same colour as the blades

Viscount red top half, chrome bottom half

with no lining or accents

so hopefully not so noticeable from a distance

Opp-shop Pegoretti

an opp shop is also known in some countries as a thrift shop

when I say Pegoretti, I mean "Pegoretti"

before...

after...

why "Pegoretti"?
well if Dario can doodle on his frames so can I.
rides beautifully
although those turbo saddles are bloody uncomfortable

Bike shed glamour twins

 

can you tell the quality of teaching in a school by the quality of the builds in the teachers' bike shed?

the answer to that rhetorical question is of course 

yes.

the step through is a locally-made, vintage NOS frame and fork set, still with crisp, hand-done box-lining.

the repco MTB has the amazing red fat franks, 62mm wide from memory.

massively heavy on steel rims but massively handsome.

digital filter fuckup courtesy the picasa-tool free app.

 

Moto!

a friend's pristine vintage moto-velo

Speedwell frame with 

Dutch? Italian? British? two-stroke engine. 

a clutch lowers the engine's rubber jockey wheel onto the front tyre.

what looks like a thumb-shifter is actually the throttle
just amazingly lovely

with Abandon

malvern star's marketing team back in '86
could never have known
how prescient the name of their new model

Stephs' bike - update

still well pleased with how this bike came out
with aforementioned saddle
the shimano deer-head derailleur set
later known as deore
the sugino 5-pin, tiny bcd crankset from my viscount
the white 35mm tyres and hammered mudguard
not to mention the suntour ratcheting thumb-shifters
and custom artisanal leather mudflap

it's just a shockingly stylish build

100 points to your house if you can correctly identify the car in the shot above

At the jeweller's

I call him that because he's not really a frame-builder

yet

and he's not just a mechanic

he makes stuff to fix or enhance bikes 

and has the tolerances of a jeweller or horologist

+/- 0.01mm is his definition of

close enough for rock and roll

he's also got a bit of a tool fetish

which I can totally understand

there's nothing better

than having the right tool for the job.

experiments in speed

a beautiful little hymn to steel
and localness

Seat clusters

seat clusters are where the seat stays join the seat tube and sometimes also the top tube

there's a lot of different ways this can be done.

sometimes its integrated into a lug

the cluster also has to incorporate the action of the seat post clamping bolt

a tiny distortion of the seat tube of only fractions of a mm.

makers worried about rip-offs tend to put some kind of embossing in the seat stay cap

their name or logo

really good bikes don't care so much

but it's a lovely detail all the same

these are from Commuter Cycles 5th birthday Show and Shine

Diamond frame, handbuilt in the 50s in Geelong from 531

Centurion, lovely chromed, wrap-around stay caps

Dawes Super Galaxy

F.W. Evans

As the name suggests, with curly stays n'all

Elvin? Elwin? tarck bike

Michalo

lovely resto with complete Superbe Pro group

recently made bike I forgot who by

immaculate Concorde with gold-plated stays

fancy chromed cluster but somehow 

not as lovely as when they wrap to the front of the seat tube.

Frame geometry - Routens and Aerospace Sport

getting curious about things like frame geometry

and in particular head and seat tube angles

next stop is working out fork offset

Ultrasonic bicycle chain cleaning 2

using just soap and water with a small amount of bleach.

residue on chain is easily rinsed off.