It's getting to be a habit for me...
I've stripped another one of my bikes.
My latest "victim" is Vera, my green Miss Mercian mixte.
Like Helene, the last bike I stripped, Vera is going away.
But fear not...she'll come back.
I'm sending her on this trip as a kind of reward, a spa treatment. She's been good to me. Now she's going to get some TLC.
You see, I've been riding her with a shim in the seat lug. I think someone tried to jam a 27.2mm diameter seatpost into the frame, which takes a 27.0. So I'm having that fixed.
Also, the cable guides are going to be replaced with shifter bosses--which can also be used for those bolt-on cable guides used with "brifters", in case I ever decide to install handlebar end shifters. But, for the foreseeable future, I'm going to use down-tube shifters, which I ride on all of my geared bikes.
And, finally, her new finish will make her more like the rest of the family. She won't be painted the "flip-flop" purple/green (#57) of Arielle and Tosca, the Mercians I have now. Nor will she be adorned with the Lilac Polychromatic (#17) paint and Deep Plum Pearl (#56) headtube and seat tube panel I've requested for the Vincitore Special I ordered.
Instead, I'm ordering Mauve Pearl (#53), without any panels or bands: It's hard to do those on a mixte, especially one with twin laterals, without cluttering the frame.
Vera deserves the treatment. Also, I think seeing her renovated will be a kind of appetizer for the Vincitore Special.
I've stripped another one of my bikes.
My latest "victim" is Vera, my green Miss Mercian mixte.
Like Helene, the last bike I stripped, Vera is going away.
But fear not...she'll come back.
I'm sending her on this trip as a kind of reward, a spa treatment. She's been good to me. Now she's going to get some TLC.
You see, I've been riding her with a shim in the seat lug. I think someone tried to jam a 27.2mm diameter seatpost into the frame, which takes a 27.0. So I'm having that fixed.
Also, the cable guides are going to be replaced with shifter bosses--which can also be used for those bolt-on cable guides used with "brifters", in case I ever decide to install handlebar end shifters. But, for the foreseeable future, I'm going to use down-tube shifters, which I ride on all of my geared bikes.
And, finally, her new finish will make her more like the rest of the family. She won't be painted the "flip-flop" purple/green (#57) of Arielle and Tosca, the Mercians I have now. Nor will she be adorned with the Lilac Polychromatic (#17) paint and Deep Plum Pearl (#56) headtube and seat tube panel I've requested for the Vincitore Special I ordered.
Instead, I'm ordering Mauve Pearl (#53), without any panels or bands: It's hard to do those on a mixte, especially one with twin laterals, without cluttering the frame.
Vera deserves the treatment. Also, I think seeing her renovated will be a kind of appetizer for the Vincitore Special.
I really like the twin-lateral Mixtes like this one - pretty bike, and deserving of the TLC. So you're sending it to Mercian? There's something satisfying about having that kind of work done by the same folks who built the bike originally. The shipping cost back and forth hurts a lot, but at least their prices on paint and repairs are quite reasonable.
ReplyDeleteBrooks--Thanks for the compliment. I agree about sending the frame to Mercian: their prices on paint and repair are actually reasonable, especially at current exchange rates. Plus, I figure that getting this "new" frame will whet my appetite, if you will, for the Vincitore Special I've ordered.
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