I hope you are enjoying a holiday.
Since today is Christmas, I thought I'd share some images of the most Christmas-like object I own:
Yes, I've been doing some work on the Mercian King of Mercia I bought a few weeks ago. For one thing, the sew-up wheels are gone: I actually sold them on Craigslist. In their place are a set of wheels with classic Campagnolo Record hubs with modern Mavic rims and DT spokes:
One reason I decided to use those hubs is that the rear one allowed me to employ an old trick:
The rear dropouts are spaced for 126 mm, as were most road bikes of the KoM's era (1984). I rearranged the spacing on it so that both sides are even. The good news is that I have a wheel with no dish. The bad (depending on your point of view) news is that the right side spacing will allow me to use only 5-speed or Ultra (narrow)-6 freewheels---which is what I'd planned to use anyway.
And it allowed me to use the lightweight Open Pro rim. It's actually a very strong rim for its weight, as Mavic rims tend to be. Also, for a rim as narrow as it is, it can accommodate fairly wide tires--like the 700X32 C Paselas that adorn them now.
Probably the next most-significant change I made was in the derailleurs. Getting a Rally derailleur was nice, but I actually like this one better:
I saw more than a few otherwise-all-Campy bikes equipped with Cyclone derailleurs from the mid-'70's to the mid-80's, so I don't feel as if I'm committing some sort of sacrilege. With that change, I also swapped out the Campy shifters for ratcheted SunTour levers.
One more Campy part went from this bike to my parts box: the pedals. They don't seem to have been ridden much at all, so I wrapped them carefully and am saving them for "future reference." The MKS platform pedals--my current favorites--bear enough resemblance to classic platform pedals like the Lyotard Berthet (#23) or the ones SR made that they don't look out of place on this bike.
The fellow who bought the sew-up wheels also took the deep-drop Cinelli bars that came with the bike. (What such deep drops--or sew-ups--were doing on a touring bike, I'll never know.) And I sold the stem--which had too long of an extension--on eBay. In their place, I installed another favorite--Nitto Noodle bars with an NP (formerly Pearl) stem. The Noodles bear enough resemblance to randonneur -style bars that I can justify (to myself, anyway) them on a bike like this.
If you saw my original post about this bike, you probably noticed three other changes:
The brake cable housings were cracked. I like to replace cables on secondhand bikes anyway. As luck would have it, I found these gold braided housings on eBay.
And I had to remove the leather sleeves that were stitched on to the handlebars in order to remove the brake levers. Perhaps I will re-stitch them onto the new bars some day, but for now, I wrapped them with Tressostar brown and green cloth tape. I also replaced the original Campagnolo gum rubber hoods, which were dried and cracks, with new items from Rustines.
Finally, I replaced the Avocet saddle with--what else?--a Brooks Professional.
This will give you a taste of things to come:
This bell bracket came from Velo Orange and will sport one of those lovely brass Japanese ringers. And, of course, I will add bottle cages, a pump and a front rack for a bag.
Funny, isn't it, that a bike--which can be ridden all year round--can look as much like a Christmas ornament as anything that's hung on a Fraser fir.
Since today is Christmas, I thought I'd share some images of the most Christmas-like object I own:
Yes, I've been doing some work on the Mercian King of Mercia I bought a few weeks ago. For one thing, the sew-up wheels are gone: I actually sold them on Craigslist. In their place are a set of wheels with classic Campagnolo Record hubs with modern Mavic rims and DT spokes:
One reason I decided to use those hubs is that the rear one allowed me to employ an old trick:
The rear dropouts are spaced for 126 mm, as were most road bikes of the KoM's era (1984). I rearranged the spacing on it so that both sides are even. The good news is that I have a wheel with no dish. The bad (depending on your point of view) news is that the right side spacing will allow me to use only 5-speed or Ultra (narrow)-6 freewheels---which is what I'd planned to use anyway.
And it allowed me to use the lightweight Open Pro rim. It's actually a very strong rim for its weight, as Mavic rims tend to be. Also, for a rim as narrow as it is, it can accommodate fairly wide tires--like the 700X32 C Paselas that adorn them now.
Probably the next most-significant change I made was in the derailleurs. Getting a Rally derailleur was nice, but I actually like this one better:
I saw more than a few otherwise-all-Campy bikes equipped with Cyclone derailleurs from the mid-'70's to the mid-80's, so I don't feel as if I'm committing some sort of sacrilege. With that change, I also swapped out the Campy shifters for ratcheted SunTour levers.
One more Campy part went from this bike to my parts box: the pedals. They don't seem to have been ridden much at all, so I wrapped them carefully and am saving them for "future reference." The MKS platform pedals--my current favorites--bear enough resemblance to classic platform pedals like the Lyotard Berthet (#23) or the ones SR made that they don't look out of place on this bike.
The fellow who bought the sew-up wheels also took the deep-drop Cinelli bars that came with the bike. (What such deep drops--or sew-ups--were doing on a touring bike, I'll never know.) And I sold the stem--which had too long of an extension--on eBay. In their place, I installed another favorite--Nitto Noodle bars with an NP (formerly Pearl) stem. The Noodles bear enough resemblance to randonneur -style bars that I can justify (to myself, anyway) them on a bike like this.
If you saw my original post about this bike, you probably noticed three other changes:
The brake cable housings were cracked. I like to replace cables on secondhand bikes anyway. As luck would have it, I found these gold braided housings on eBay.
And I had to remove the leather sleeves that were stitched on to the handlebars in order to remove the brake levers. Perhaps I will re-stitch them onto the new bars some day, but for now, I wrapped them with Tressostar brown and green cloth tape. I also replaced the original Campagnolo gum rubber hoods, which were dried and cracks, with new items from Rustines.
Finally, I replaced the Avocet saddle with--what else?--a Brooks Professional.
This will give you a taste of things to come:
This bell bracket came from Velo Orange and will sport one of those lovely brass Japanese ringers. And, of course, I will add bottle cages, a pump and a front rack for a bag.
Funny, isn't it, that a bike--which can be ridden all year round--can look as much like a Christmas ornament as anything that's hung on a Fraser fir.
