Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.ricortes
10-29-12, 09:34 PM
Another older bicyclist warning, in my 60's. Another confession, I don't have anything that would make anyone jealous! Really, I enjoy working on bikes more then riding them and the latest, greatest, oldest, most desirable, are all fine but I get about the same charge out of a entry level bike as I do something more upscale.
281066
Just a Fuji Monterey that I couldn't make up my mind what to do with. I was thinking fixie which accounts for the loud colors, but chickened out. I get off on mindless hours of polishing metal. Wish I had the same enthusiasm for paint.
281075
This is more or less typical of me. My Gitane is an Interclub model. It is a bit rare in that it has the spiderweb dropouts and Reynolds 531 tubes. My son tries to talk me out of it, "That frame is much to large for you, wouldn't you really rather have an $88 Walgreen's mountain bike in your size?"
"No."
I have an odd collection of mountain bikes, all non-suspension models. Couple of Treks, a Diamondback, and the bastard son of the the collection, a Cosaro! Bought it new from The Off Ramp bicycle shop circa 1985. That was a rough year for mountain bikes, didn't know if they wanted to be Motocross bikes w/o a motor or a bicycle. I have a couple of others that I just picked up this 'end of summer' to upgrade my family members and grand kids.<I know, grand kids are technically family members but they are small>
I do get rid of stuff but not too often. I have a Sekai 2400 that I will probably keep until I die, or my son has me put in an old folks home, he really wants that Gitane! I have a Nashbar ~1990 that is OK, not a lot of love there.
My latest acquisition which I have spent hours reading about here is a Hercules
281076
Near as I can tell, it is ~1970ish AMF Hercules based on the Raleigh fender mounting hole on the drop outs. Someone converted it from 3 speed to a 1 speed coaster brake and lost the rest of the superfluous bits. It had one original Dunlap tire and one Goodyear, both on 26" 1 3/8" steel of course. I only returned this to service as opposed to restored for now. There are a few parts I may throw at it like a less bent front fork. So far just cleaned and adjusted, added front side pull brake, Kevlar belted tires, and the obligatory 12 hours of cleaning rust. The Bendix Red Line coaster brake is so old it has "Patent applied for" as opposed to a patent number! I probably should get something right for the bike like a 3 speed coaster brake and put the current one in a museum.
The oddest thing is this bike feels like home. Just secure riding it, reassured when you back pedal and the coaster brakes stop you. I let my son and girlfriend ride it too and they came back with the same smile. Even with the sprung frame, or maybe because of it, it just handles right! You know, it really is a right bike for me. Mountain bikes with 21 speeds! Right! Slow, heavy, and bad handling. If I had to eat up a bunch of ground and comfort wasn't a consideration, of course a vintage 10 speed would do the job. Thing is, a bike light as a 10 speed with a comfortable riding position and easy pedaling is just what is right for me now.
Rick
281066
Just a Fuji Monterey that I couldn't make up my mind what to do with. I was thinking fixie which accounts for the loud colors, but chickened out. I get off on mindless hours of polishing metal. Wish I had the same enthusiasm for paint.
281075
This is more or less typical of me. My Gitane is an Interclub model. It is a bit rare in that it has the spiderweb dropouts and Reynolds 531 tubes. My son tries to talk me out of it, "That frame is much to large for you, wouldn't you really rather have an $88 Walgreen's mountain bike in your size?"
"No."
I have an odd collection of mountain bikes, all non-suspension models. Couple of Treks, a Diamondback, and the bastard son of the the collection, a Cosaro! Bought it new from The Off Ramp bicycle shop circa 1985. That was a rough year for mountain bikes, didn't know if they wanted to be Motocross bikes w/o a motor or a bicycle. I have a couple of others that I just picked up this 'end of summer' to upgrade my family members and grand kids.<I know, grand kids are technically family members but they are small>
I do get rid of stuff but not too often. I have a Sekai 2400 that I will probably keep until I die, or my son has me put in an old folks home, he really wants that Gitane! I have a Nashbar ~1990 that is OK, not a lot of love there.
My latest acquisition which I have spent hours reading about here is a Hercules
281076
Near as I can tell, it is ~1970ish AMF Hercules based on the Raleigh fender mounting hole on the drop outs. Someone converted it from 3 speed to a 1 speed coaster brake and lost the rest of the superfluous bits. It had one original Dunlap tire and one Goodyear, both on 26" 1 3/8" steel of course. I only returned this to service as opposed to restored for now. There are a few parts I may throw at it like a less bent front fork. So far just cleaned and adjusted, added front side pull brake, Kevlar belted tires, and the obligatory 12 hours of cleaning rust. The Bendix Red Line coaster brake is so old it has "Patent applied for" as opposed to a patent number! I probably should get something right for the bike like a 3 speed coaster brake and put the current one in a museum.
The oddest thing is this bike feels like home. Just secure riding it, reassured when you back pedal and the coaster brakes stop you. I let my son and girlfriend ride it too and they came back with the same smile. Even with the sprung frame, or maybe because of it, it just handles right! You know, it really is a right bike for me. Mountain bikes with 21 speeds! Right! Slow, heavy, and bad handling. If I had to eat up a bunch of ground and comfort wasn't a consideration, of course a vintage 10 speed would do the job. Thing is, a bike light as a 10 speed with a comfortable riding position and easy pedaling is just what is right for me now.
Rick