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.
