A Water Bottle Cage Decaleur? From Specialites TA?

I know I'm working on a project--or doing my usual late-winter/early- spring maintenance and overhauls--when I'm spending way too much time on eBay.

That's when I start to find all sorts of weird and interesting stuff. To wit:

The seller, in Austria, says it's a French-made, possibly by Specialites TA. I couldn't find any reference to it in TA brochures or catalogues I've located on-line. Given that the cage is French, and looks interesting and well-made, it's easy to understand why the seller might think it's from TA.

The shape of it is echoed, at least somewhat, in the beautiful Nitto R cage.  But the Nitto cage is not made to be used with clamps. Perhaps the cage I saw on eBay isn't, either. That leads me to wonder whether whoever made the cage also made the mechanism that attaches it to the clamps--and, according to the seller, allows it to be easily removed from the clamps.  Or was it made by whoever bought the cage and installed it on his or her bike?

Hmm...Were water-bottle cages being lifted from parked bikes?  I can't think of another reason for a mechanism like that. A decaleur for water bottle cages?  What a concept!

What If He Hadn't Lost That Race?

A couple of days ago, we got a snowstorm that lived up to its advanced billing. Now it's raining, sleeting and snowing at the same time.  The way things are going, the streets will be turned from sledding runs to skating rinks.

The weather's got me to thinking about a story many of you know.   Back in 1927, a certain rider was leading a race in the Dolomites.  In those days, racers usually rode "flip-flop" rear hubs with a different-sized cog on each side.  The fellow was halfway up the notorious Croce d'Aune when he stopped to "flip" his wheel and access his lower gear.  

His fingers frozen, he couldn't loosen the wingnuts holding his wheel in place.  Supposedly, he muttered "Bisogna cambiar qualcossa de drio"--something has to change on the back of the bike--before he finally got the wheel loose.  Meantime, he lost time and his lead.

Now, I am sure this story, like most that are apocryphal, has been embellished or cleaned up, or both.  After all, any invention that changes the world (or the world of cycling, anyway) should have a good story behind it, right?

Well, that tale is widely accepted as the "creation myth", if you will, of the quick release lever.  The racer/inventor in question is, of course, one Tullio Campagnolo.

Not surprisingly, he was at work improving--you guessed it!--the wing nut before, as the folks at Classic Rendezvous so eloquently tell us, "an extremely bad winter" resulted in "Tullio's attention being shifted".

Was a pun intended with the world "shifted"? Signor Campagnolo is also noted, as we all know, for his derailleur designs.  If we can level a criticism against him, it might be that he never managed to make a really good wide-range touring derailleur that did not wholly or partially copy a Japanese design.  

The Gran Turismo is was, in the immortal words of Frank Berto, "Campy's Edsel":  utterly baroque and a functional failure. The first Rally derailleur was, essentially, a Shimano Crane GS built around a Campagnolo Record parallelogram with brass bushings.  (Some believed that Shimano was making it for Campy, but I doubt it.)  It shifted just like a Crane GS, which is to say better than any other European wide-range derailleur of the time, but not quite as well as anything SunTour was making.  

The second generation of Rally was just a Nuovo Record with a long cage.  I never used one, but from all accounts, it didn't shift as well as the first Rally. Moreover, the long cage strained the rest of the derailleur, which meant that the second-generation Rally didn't have the longevity for which Nuovo Records were renowned.  Current Campagnolo wide-range derailleurs are similar in geometry and overall design to those of Shimano.

The "Record Record", on the other hand, elongated the parallelogram in an attempt to avoid what some perceived as the fragility of long-cage derailleurs.  A parallelogram is indeed stronger than a cage, but I never had any long-cage derailleurs that failed as a result of the cage. (My experience includes several SunTour and Shimano models as well as the Huret Duopar and long-cage Jubilee and, for a brief time, a first-generation Rally.)

Here's one more interesting "What if?" component:

Before Campagnolo introduced his side-pull brake in the late 1960's, the Universal Super 51--and its later, shorter-armed iteration, the Super 68--were regarded as the best side-pull brakes.  As they were losing their share of the high-end market, Universal developed their "685", which pulled from both sides.

Supposedly, the force of the brakes squeezed rims the way a pair of vice-grips can crumple a beer can.  Also, the few who used those brakes didn't ride them for very long:  The calipers (the same material, thickness and basic design of the 68s) simply couldn't stand up to the extra torque.  But the final nail in the coffin for those brakes may have been the market:  There were very few sources for the needed "Siamesed" cables.

It's interesting to think of how bikes might be different if today's touring derailleurs and brakes were based on the designs of the "Record Record" and "685", respectively--or if Tullio Campagnolo hadn't such difficulty in loosening a pair of wing nuts during a winter race.

Going (Wing) Nuts

These days, when I hear the word "wingnut", I think of Rush Limbaugh, Fred Phelps, Jerry Falwell and Sean Hannity. 

Now, some of you may have decided to stop reading this post--or my blog--having read that.  But, hey, we have our differences, but we all love cycling, right?

Anyway...I am old enough to remember (There I go again!) when the term "wingnut" actually denoted a specific bicycle part.  And, I actually used a pair on one of my bikes.  You may have used--or still be using--them.

I had a pair that looked something like these on one of my bikes, long ago and far away:

Mine were chromed.  But they were shaped like those and indeed made by Huret in France.  I never saw the bronze version until I went to France.  At first, I thought they were corroded, as it's not unusual to see French people--especially in the countryside--riding bikes as old as they are.  Even if they (I'm talking about the wingnuts now!) were corroded, they would have been lovely.

Actually, I don't think I've seen a bike wingnut (as opposed to a right-wing radio talkshow host) that wasn't lovely.  Maybe it's not possible to make one that isn't attractive.

Of course, with good cheap quick release skewers available, there is little practical reason to use them today.  In my opinion, they should never be used on a rear wheel unless the rider is very light or weak and never rides uphill, into the wind or out-of-saddle.  But, I guess if you have a bike with solid axles and want to make the front wheel easily removable--say, for transport or storage--a pair of wings on the front is a good, and less expensive alternative, to replacing your axle or wheel.

And, of course, you can give your bike a little more style or enhance a "retro" look.  In addition to the Huret, I particularly like these from GB:

and from Gripfast:

I would trust the Gripfast ones because I've used their track nuts, which are solidly made and lushly chromed.  I never had any problems with my Hurets.

If you prefer something more modern, check out the ones from Velo Orange:

They're almost Bauhausian, at least to the extent that a wingnut can be Bauhausian.  Plus, they're made of stainless steel.  The only reservation I'd have about installing GBs on a bike I'd actually ride (as opposed to one that would hang on a wall) is that old alloy can be brittle.  That's a reservation I'd have about almost any old alloy component; it's not a commentary on the item's quality, as GB was making good stuff during the time those nuts were manufactured (1940's-1960's).

Here are some more examples of vintage wingnuts.  Have a good time looking for them on eBay!

 

Easy-On, Easy-Off Carradice Bag

Today I'm going to tell you about one of the DIY projects I did over the past rainy weekend.


Since September, Marianela, my old LeTour III, has sported a Gyes Parkside saddle.  On the whole, I've been happy with it, and given that Brooks prices are rising again, it's a good value.


It's very similar to the Brooks B-66 and -67 saddles:  The dimensions and shape of the leather top are similar, and so are the coiled springs.  Another feature it shares with their English forebears is its bag loops:

They are almost triangular-shaped, with rectangular cutouts for bag straps.  The bag loops on the sportier Brooks and Gyes models are more slit-like.  Also, the bag loops on B-17s, Swallows and the Gyes models inspired by them are integral with the carriage plate that's riveted to the rear of the leather top.  However, on the Parkside the bag loops are inserted between the top plate and the springs, and everything is bolted together.  I believe the B-66, B-67 and Champion Flyer have the same, or at  least a similar arrangement.


I decided that I want to start using one of my Carradice saddlebags--a Nelson Longflap--for commuting.  It can hold lots of papers and books and a layer of clothing, not to mention my lunch--and still have room to spare.  Also, I'd like to use it if I ever start to carry a laptop with me to work because there's plenty of room for it with a sleeve, and even more protection.  Plus, I trust the quality and construction of the Nelson more than most bags of any type on the market.


(I'm sure the Zimbales are excellent bags, as Velouria and other bloggers have said. But Carradice can still be had for considerably less if you order from Wiggle in England. And, I've read good things about Acorn bags, but they're next to impossible to buy.)


But, as much as I love Carradice bags, I found their mounting system troublesome, at least for a commuter bike that's parked outside for long periods of time in a marginal neighborhood (where my main job is).  Peter White--and Carradice, I believe--recommend looping the attachment straps so that they buckle inside the bag.  That makes for a more stable and secure mount, as it allows the top of the bag to sit neaerly flush with the bag loops.  But it doesn't make for easy dismounting.


So what did I do?  Well, I unbolted the springs and bag loops from the rear plate on the Gyes.  And I substituted keyring clamps for the loops:

Notice the tabs at the top of those clamps.  I push them toward the saddle, which opens them.  And when I let go, they close very securely:

I simply looped the regular mounting straps a couple of times through rectangular coupler links.  I screwed down the clamps very tightly after treating the treads with blue Loctite. (I gave the undercarriage bolts the same treatment.)


And, instead of attaching the bottom of the bag to the seatpost with the provided strap, I looped an old toestrap onto the bag and around the front of the rear rack:

I'm still thinking of other ways to make that connection quick-release.  I didn't want to use a clamp like the ones I used on the saddle because I thought the bag could sway too much with the bag mounted on such a small point.  Looping the strap around the front of the rack makes it much more stabe.  Plus, toe straps have a roller and clamp that can be adjusted--or allow the strap to be removed--quickly.  I think it will work well: Today I was surprised at how quickly I could mount and dismount the bag.  And it remained remarkably stable as poor Marianela got bounced over some stretches of streets that were more like the Ho Chi Minh trail.


Oh, one more thing:  I figured out a way to attach a shoulder strap so I could carry the Nelson off my bike:

All of the Carradice bags I've seen--as well as a number of similar bags--have leather tabs like the one you see in the photo.  They're usually at or near the top of the bag, on the corners.  I got two heavy-duty keyrings from a local hardware store and looped them onto those tabs.  Those rings allowed me to clip a padded shoulder strap from EMS onto the bag.


If you want to do something like this with a B-17, you could probably attach those clamps to the seat bag loops with hose clamps.  Or you could attach those clamps to the rails of a saddle that doesn't have bag  loops.  


In a few weeks or months, I'll write a follow-up to let you know how this system is holding up.