Shellacked bartape

I've used cloth bar tape and shellac on several of my bikes now
and it has been great.

The cloth tape on the VA Sport above was originally bright red.

Durable, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.
I don't care that it's not completely period-correct.

This tape was bright yellow before shellacking.

I also found that the shellac is strong enough to hold the tape in place without the need for

electrical tape or twine to bind it off at the end.

I especially like how it wears.
侘寂
or wabi sabi the Japanese call it.

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.

Oh the places you'll go, again the Prom

Wilson's Prom again
southernmost point in the Australian mainland
stunning at all times of day
6am is pretty good though
different day

goowarn
clickit

Oh the places you'll go

in this case the Darby Saddle
on Wilson's Promontory
time - about 6am

Mullum Mullum

is the name of a creek and a tollway tunnel in eastern Melbourne.
here is the bike track that was built around the tunnel
in the distance beneath the gumleaf-bedecked, architectural folly feature
is the tunnel entrance
pretty big pic if you clic

the tunnel was built to save the creek

a magical place to ride on a cool summer's morning

Rando power station

new dyno hub wheel
and lights for Jo
fitted and wired up

one day soon however
those wires will disappear inside the frame
and narry a cable tie will be seen

Shogun girls' MTB

an opp-shop find
lots of nice details for a budget bike
like biopace chainrings
exage hubs and araya rims
and Shimano 200EX long cage rear derailleur
love the cable routing through the down tube brace most of all.

a nice, relatively light bike

Aussie Viscount ad

courtesty of one of the guys here.

Coffee pays for new dynamo wheel

by buying one of these...

 and thereby avoiding having to pay one of these...

I was able to purchase this.

try it.

avoid cafes altogether and see how much you save in a year.

Son 28 dynamo hub

Stamps

from a good friend

Diagonale

 what can I say?  perfect.

the lovely tubes

saw this in Brunny and had to stop
a really nice, unusual Dutch mixte
with lovely curves

the thing that really gets me though is the integrated rear rack

patina looks
accelerated
by human hand
but still somehow aesthetically appealing
not sure how much rust protection it's giving
but obviously the owner's not precious
which is an attitude I'm kind of jealous of

divine chain guard

never seen a twin top tube follow that kind of curve.

just lovely.

wish the other bike wasn't chained to it.

Supa Sport finished

finally done
frame bands, tubing spec decal
and chain-stay aerospaces.
complete as it will ever be


big pictures natch
click on them

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

How to stop a handlebar bag from wobbling

jam your toolbag onto the decaleur
especially good if you have an Ideale saddle
with no bag loops

in the past I kept me toolbag strapped to the inside of the seatstays
on top of the rear mudguard
this was fine but it made it hard to see
what gear I was in
and I occasionally hit it with my heel.

here it stays out of the way until needed.
mightn't work with rear opening handlebar bags
like Velo Orange and Giles Berthoud

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?