On yer bike!

[Salv]

VERY nice stuff. Love all the Italian kit!! I currently have a mountain bike with sliks on for road work. I know I'm making work for myself (one way to get fit eh!!), but whenever I'm doing my road work, all the 'racing snakes' in their branded kit whizzzzz by.

I'm peddling away in an old holey pair of Ron Hills and a knackered Helly Hansen top [huh] (I know, not exactly Mr Head-Turner!! but its functional).

I am humming & haa'ing over getting a basic entry racer...we'll see..[huh]

(lovely little thread this BTW and all the web links are very useful).

...

Oh, yes, get yourself a proper road bike Paddy, and keep the off-road bike for off-road. The difference will amaze you. Good, reliable, well built road bikes start at about £400 - Ribble Cycles in Preston sell this one for £399 - possibly the best value bike you can get at the moment.

If you don't want to spend that sort of money Dawes and Claud Butler make reasonable entry-level road bikes for about £300, but they have hi-tensile steel forks which will not have the bounce or resilience of steel alloy or carbon fibre. I wouldn't recommend spending less than £300 though.

Claud Butler San Remo - 14-speed £300

or the same bike in a 21-speed version for £340

Dawes Comp Giro for £300

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Paddy, how is road riding with those shock absorbers? I've seen so many people riding such bikes on the road, and it always looked like half the energy you put into the thing is being absorbed by the shock absorbers! Maybe not.

I'll get a photo of my bike (an early-ish Cannondale Aluminium number I picked up second hand - the only way i'll ever be able to afford such a beast) sometime.

bk

 

[Salv]

I went for a ride with some friends a couple of months ago out to Shere on the edge of the North Downs in Surrey. We had to ride over a fairly steep ridge to get to the village, and one of the guys was on a mountain bike with front suspension and he said afterwards that his front wheel kept lifting off the ground as he was climbing. He'd push down on the bars, which would press down on the forks, and they'd bounce right back and lift the front wheel.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

that's exactly what i've seen.

And when the bike has rear suspension also, the whole frame is bucking around . . . That reminds me: I haven't played buckaroo for ages!

bk

 

[PADDY]

Repro racing kit...

The link Salv gave was great, but the earliest repros they do is the mid 50's. Anywhere else doing earlier stuff?[huh]

 

[Salv]

The link Salv gave was great, but the earliest repros they do is the mid 50's. Anywhere else doing earlier stuff?[huh]

There used to be a company called Trad Tex who made older repros - I linked to them earlier in the thread - but their website has gone. I haven't found anyone else yet, but I'll let you know if anything turns up.

 

[Salv]

Oh, the pink Bianchi jersey Mike linked to earlier in the thread is still available
https://store.bianchiusa.com/index....facturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26

Bianchi USA have a few more woolen jerseys but they would all probably be too modern for you Paddy - https://store.bianchiusa.com/index....ategory_id=87&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26

 

[Salv]

Rapha make some very nice, albeit very expensive, classic-styled kit.
e.g. the Tri-Colour jersey:

...the Rapha/Condor jersey:

...Criterium gloves:

...plus lots more on their site.

Paul Smith has designed a jersey and a couple of caps for them to commemorate the start of the TdeF in London:

 

[Speedster]

Wilier (www.wilier.it) also has a wool jersey:

and an old style cotton sweatshirt:

A couple of years ago they even had a very classic looking race bike in celebration of a jubilee or something, but i cannot find a picture of it.

 

[Speedster]

Lovely little films Mike - well found!

I'm trying to get a classic looking Bianchi fixie through the Cycle To Work scheme. I've applied for my voucher, but the only drawback is that I have to buy the bike from Halfords. However, I've spoken to the Halfords C2W department and they reckon they can get one for me. It looks like this

...and there are more details here. That stem is going to have to be turned upside down though, and I'll have to fit a front brake to make it road-legal, but it has a nice old-fashioned look to it. There was a version in a dull green last year, and I'll see if I can get one of those, but if not the chrome will do me nicely.

In fact, you can see the green here, with the stem in its proper position.

Very cool bike Salv. Did you get it yet? After i saw it i tried to see if it was available here in Denmark, which it wasn't Maybe a good thing though as i basically want one of these:

The danish Schr??der bicycle, which is still made and sold here in Copenhagen.

Today a lot of them offcourse are aluminium and carbon fibre but they still have steel frames.

 

[Salv]

Wilier (www.wilier.it) also has a wool jersey:

That's fantastic, what a great colour! I phoned Wilier's UK distributor to see if they're available here, and they are, but they cost £109.95 which is just a little too much for me. The sweatshirt, also fantastic, is £144.95.

Very cool bike Salv. Did you get it yet?

I collected it last Saturday, but I have to make it road legal before I use it. I've fitted a front brake, and I got brake levers today, but I'm waiting for a new set of handlebars to be delivered. The supplied track bars have short arms, a shallow drop and are too narrow, so I want to replace them with road bars. Once it's set up I'll get some pictures - it's very pretty!

After i saw it i tried to see if it was available here in Denmark, which it wasn't Maybe a good thing though as i basically want one of these:

...

...

The danish Schr??der bicycle, which is still made and sold here in Copenhagen.

Today a lot of them offcourse are aluminium and carbon fibre but they still have steel frames.

Classic styling there, very nice indeed. And I like the looks of that Colnago in the background in the second picture.

 

[Speedster]

Salv, i called the danish Wilier distributor today. They do not have the wool jersery:rage: , but they have the sweatshirt It's DKK 899.- (£ 81.-), but if you are a member it's only Dkk 854.05 (£ 77.-): http://www.bikebuster.com/shop/nf_info.cfm/varenr/140743

A little surprised that the Bianchi was not available over here afterall. A lot of the bike messengers/couriers are riding one-speed trackbikes (with no frontbrake, although also required by law here) and being a big bicycle nation there are a lot of niche bikes on the market here...

The nice thing about the Schr??der bikes are that they have always looked like that. That red/white paint scheme has been their trademark for decades. And almost all the big danish riders have at one stage during their career been riding a Schr??der bike.

I didn't even notice the Colnago at first. Your'e right it does look nice. But there is something wrong with the size. It looks almost like a scale model, if you compare it with the shovel, broom, gasflask and cooler.

Looking forward to seeing pictures of your Bianchi.

 

[Speedster]

By the way, here are a few of the danish bike builders:

Cykelmageren: http://www.mybikes.dk/
S??greni: http://www.sogreni.dk/Contact.php
Pedersen: http://www.pedersenbicycle.dk/
Nihola: http://www.nihola.info/da/
Christiania Bikes: http://www.christianiabikes.com/

 

[Salv]

I hadn't thought to compare the Colnago to the other objects in the background - I just thought it looked so small because of the framing of the photo. Weird.

Anyway ... some interesting looking bikes in those links. The Pedersen's have a small cult following in the UK, and the traditional roadsters are still popular, but it's very rare to see anything like those bikes with the boxes on front, unless they're being used to deliver groceries.

There's still a healthy hand-built industry here though, mainly for racing or touring bikes. A couple of examples: Mercian still make beautiful, traditional lugged tourers and racers with this sort of hand-finished detail:

Bob Jackson builds some very exotic frames, such as the Custom Super Legend

My first proper racing frame was a custom job, built by a member of my old cycling club, who built the frames in his garage. It was a double width garage with the workshop in the back corner, and with at least a dozen of his bikes hanging from the ceiling - low-profile TT bikes, a tandem, a fixed, various road bikes, a mountain bike, a couple of tourers - with no space for cars.

 

[Salv]

Bianchi Pista

I'm still waiting for the road bars, but here are a few photos before it becomes street legal:

Basic, uncluttered, track bike:

Front view:

Bianchi etched stem and seatpin:

 

[Speedster]

I guess there is only one thing to say to that bike, Salv: WAAUW :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Speedster]

There's still a healthy hand-built industry here though, mainly for racing or touring bikes. A couple of examples: Mercian still make beautiful, traditional lugged tourers and racers with this sort of hand-finished detail:

Bob Jackson builds some very exotic frames, such as the Custom Super Legend

I think that i have just found a new object for my "must-have" list; a frame from either Mercian or Bob Jackson. That is beautiful work.

 

[Salv]

I guess there is only one thing to say to that bike, Salv: WAAUW :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Yep, she's pretty isn't she? I'll post some photos of my Bianchi road bike for comparison later if the rain stops.

I think that i have just found a new object for my "must-have" list; a frame from either Mercian or Bob Jackson. That is beautiful work.

I love spending other peoples money...

 

[Mike1973]

Le Tour photos - London - Canterbury

After taking in some of the Prologue in London on Saturday, we then parked up on the side of the A26 just outside Tonbridge on Saturday night.

Parking by the side of a busy main road for the night wasn't much fun. As well as the traffic noise we were expecting the law to shift us on at any time, so not a good nights sleep Soon forgotten about in the morning though, had a great day!
(When the Policewomen assigned to our part of the route was dropped off in the morning, she walked straight over to us... I could see her trying to figure out if we were allowed to park there or not... My first words were - 'Fancy a cuppa? ' )

 

[Salv]

Great photos Mike, especially that virtually unobstructed shot of Dave Millar in the middle of the road. Nice Bianchi photo as well

Some friends of mine rode the sportive, along the race route, the weekend before and had a fine old time, even with the rain and even though one of them, Kate, had three punctures. I'd gone out with them on a 100k audax from Finchley the rainy weekend before that, and Kate had three punctures on that ride as well. She has new tyres now...