Monday, April 27, 2015

Pecan Lane

Quick stop in Lake Waccamaw en route to Charleston for a wedding... glad to get out and experience my Mom's regular 1 hour-ish ride in her neighborhood. She has logged some serious time on the Hint-O-Mint Schwinn since January and is loving the bike.  It is holding up well, my only maintenance on this trip was to add a spedo/odo computer at her request.

Pecan Lane is gorgeous as you'll see.  Unfortunately the weather in Charleston didn't cooperate for a good ride opportunity on Saturday but it was still worth bringing the bikes.

Pecan Lane, Lake Waccamaw, NC

Bob Jackson from the cockpit... haven't removed the old BE shifter boss just yet.

Mom and Erika, love the Spanish Moss...

Mom's fully racked out Schwinn is looking good.  Erika loves her Bianchi which I let linger w/ a blown tube for to long last year.  It is a pretty sweet bike with 8 Speed 105 group.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Bob Jackson?

My interest in this bike started when I spotted it on craigslist over a year ago and recommended it to my friend Joe who was in the market... turns out the guy he bought it from is also a fellow volunteer at Velocity Bike Co-Op.  Small world.  Anyway, Joe builds it up as a fixie but really only uses it sparingly on the trainer indoors last winter and when he moved back in the fall I ended up taking custody of it... whether to sell for him, or to purchase myself hadn't been worked out.  

I figured I should really build it up before making any rash decisions, and fixie wasn't going to work for me so here is the build I've managed to date.  I'm not positive this bike is in fact a Bob Jackson but I can tell you that it is quick, light and rearing to go...  This is probably the most 'lively' bike I've ridden that was close to my size.  

This build is not polished as you'll see, and the photography isn't great (when I don't wrap till after 10PM somethings gotta give)  but I think this build will give me a chance to get a good impression of the bike overall.

Joe was attracted to the plain, single color, no decal look of the frame. It looks massive becuase of a tall headtube but it's about a 61-62cm BB-ST top.  The saddle is a sweet 'Wright' leather unit courtesy of my good friend Erl.

A vintage build deserves vintage Dura-Ace... I'm really pumped about the DT shifters which I've never tried before.  I've never liked the idea of the reach down to the down tube but given the large frame size the distance from saddle to DT shifter bosses seems doable.  I LOVE the simplicity of DT shifter setup...  note the sweet deep-peaked lugwork!

The TA Zephyr rides again, OEM on my 64cm Atlantis, I held onto the crank and it's TA Axix sealed bearing BB... replaced the sealed bearings and it seems to be spinning nicely.  I stripped out the crank puller threads in an unfortunate series of events surrounding my sale and disassembly of the Atlantis but I've grown fairly adept at the hammer method.  The inner ring of the triple is un usable right now.

Seat tube cluster... sweet lugs showing some beausage/rust.  My rear cable hanger is pretty ghetto.

I know all my cables are a mess...  the Mafac 'Racer'' brakes are courtesy of the Velocity Parts bin and I have to say I'm pretty impressed w/ the centerpulls.  I will be replacing the pads w/ some modern salmon compound ones soonish.

6 speed freewheel from the co-op, much improved when paired w/ 6 speed chain!  big range in the horizontal drop outs as you can see.  No braze ons for anything on this frame.

The Pasela 32mm's courtesy of David from the Riv list were clutch in getting me rolling on this frame.  700x32 fits fine, and if I stay w/ 700c wheels on this bike I'll definitely look into some Grand Bois or Compass 700c tires.

This Phil Wood wheel set is 40T front, 48T rear intende for a tandem, but it also happens to have the now rare 120mm rear spacing.  I've never had Phil hubs before so this makes me happy.

Very old Phil rear FW hub, 120mm spacing w/ a 6 speed FW.  I can't reach the highest gear due to the frame interference so I just adjusted the rear derailleur accordingly.  Phil Wood tech guys responded to my question that for $137 (shipping not included) they can respace my hub out as far as 135mm and re-lube everything.  Might happen...

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Back in the Saddle

My out and back route had the dual advantage of being well known to me but not making me do to much of my regular commute mileage.
April.... really?!?

Weather, work travel and other competing priorities have kept my recreational mileage down so far this year.  I've gotten back in the swing of commuting in March and into April when I've been home but until this morning hadn't gotten in a single weekend morning ride beyond the odd short errand ride.

Today's ride was nothing epic but it felt great just to get out with no purpose other than to ride.  Great morning for it to, 65 degrees with the sun coming in for additional warmth as I rode. I picked a classic standby on the Arlington Loop, out and back to 'Mikes Deli @ Lazy Sundae' in Falls Church... just under a round 20 miles via Four Mile Run and Mount Vernon Trails.

I would like to have exercised the Bob Jackson on this route but I need to replace the chain, crank/BB and I have down tube shifters coming in early this week.  Instead of a frustrating, shift-slipping ride on the Jackson I opted for a spirited (for me) fat-tired jaunt on the classy Bombadil.... what a great bike, I really feel like it's dialed in at this point.  Of course I still want to swap the 48cm Noodle's for Dirt Drop bars, but I need to make sure I have reliable alternative transportation before messing with the one really dialed in bike!

2 1/2 hours for 20 miles with a 25 min breakfast/coffee stop in the middle, great way to start the day but it is a chunk of time.  I crave longer rides but continue to struggle fitting it into an already busy schedule.  For today I'll just be extremely satisfying with busting out of the slump of non-riding weekends and start figuring out my next jaunt.

Great new graphic showing the Arlington Loop,  Arlington does a great job publishing info about their bike infrastructure.

$5 at the Deli is pretty darn satisfying... and yes I finished the bacon!