steelbikeguy

The route goes a bit north and then west. It crosses Rt 40, where you find this sign....




Of course, Rt 40 tends to be busy, so we skirt a bit further west and sneak in from the north. Here we see some of the Thursday morning traffic at Tanners Orchard. Yes, they even get charter buses showing up.




At Tanners, I tend to park my bike by this planter. The flowers complement the color of the Hetchins, so I felt compelled to take a quick photo.




Inside of Tanners, the bakery was calling me! I've already had a donut and fritter this season, so I went for the blueberry muffin!





(... continued in next post...)

steelbikeguy

On the ride back, the route passes through a wind turbine farm. The wind was blowing and the turbines were turning silently.




The route includes a new-to-us segment! This is the road designated E400, and it includes a short wooded area as it dips down to a creek. This is at the edge of the wooded hills that separate the corn fields and the river valley.




Berchtold road takes us back down to the river valley, but not before passing by someone's collection of vintage motorgraders. They've been there for years without any discernible movement. Might be a good opportunity for someone here??




As noted, this is harvest season, so farm equipment and grain trucks are busy and may be on the roads. On the narrow roads that we ride on, they definitely have right of way!



That's the end of the report.
Everything seems to be in place for Saturday, so I expect to see at least a handful of you there!


Steve in Peoria

mpetry912 

Great photos Steve ! Glad to see "big red" is getting ridden properly

/markp

steelbikeguy

The wider/lower gearing has made it more versatile, so it's getting more use. I think it has around 1000 miles so far this year!

On a local ride where the Peoria folks meet the Bloomington/Normal folks (such as JulesCW), I was riding the Hetchins. I had parked it at the rest stop, and another cyclist walks up and asks "Is that a Magnum Opus?". I was quite surprised, but he was from England (near Derby, IIRC) and was very familiar with Hetchins. The bike has been a great conversation starter.

Steve in Peoria
(just rode it 54 miles this morning)

smontanaro 

Anybody riding tubulars? I made a last minute decision to ride my Griffon. I'll bring a spare, obviously, but there is always the remote chance of a second flat. I can squeeze a second spare on my person somehow (or maybe stashed in someone's bag). If I don't need you bring a spare spare though, in just as happy to only bring one.

steelbikeguy

I'm not, and I'm guessing that no one else will be either.

I was kinda hoping to see the bike you built with Mr. Fattic... is it on the road yet?

Steve in Peoria

smontanaro 

Oh, it's on the road. I have about 800 miles on it. I felt like I ought to ride a vintage bike though, given the name of the ride. I can bring the Special.

76SLT 

It should be a lot of fun, but I'm not going to make it this year. I've been dealing with spine issues and don't want to overdue it until I know what's up. Looking forward to lots of pictures. Have fun and ride safe.

JulesCW 

Very sorry to hear that -- you were missed. All the best with the spine issues.

steelbikeguy

Another Vintage Ride to Tanners Orchard has come and gone, and this one rates fairly highly!
Good weather was a distinct factor, but in my mind, this year was marked by excellent attendance, especially by those from outside of central Illinois. We had three people travel from the Chicagoland area, and one came all the way from Kentucky!

A quick summary of the attendees and their bikes...

... the local folks:
Ken brought his Raleigh Team
Jason brought his red w/white Centurion Ironman
Steve H. brought his Spectrum built by Tom Kellog
I brought my Hetchins Magnum Opus

... the semi-local folks from the Bloomington/Normal area:
Bob has upgraded to a Paramount PDG Series 5
Julian brought a white Proteus
Dale was on his red Waterford
Brian brought a Miyata 312

... the Chicagoland group:
George from Skokie on a green Waterford
Skip brought his Monti Special, that he built at Doug Fattic's class
Dan brought his brown Raleigh Pro

...and Michael traveled from Kentucky with his impressive green Freschi Supreme!
I ran into Michael last year at the Hilly Hundred ride in Indiana. We chatted and eventually realized we were both on Bike Forums. Michael said he had seen the posts about my vintage ride and would like to attend sometime. Who knew that he really meant it?

Since the day started with everyone unloading their bikes and getting acquainted, let me offer some photos of folks chatting.

Ken and Michael posed in their wool jerseys, although Ken did change to a synthetic jersey for the ride. It was rather warm for wool... for most of us.



The bikes were parked against the swimming pool wall, all adhering to the informal standard of "drive side out".



Michael and George chat in the foreground, while Jason, Ken, and Skip are over by the bikes.



On the far left are Dale, Brian, and Bob. Michael and George are center, with Skip, Jason, and Ken on the right.



Julian chats with Dan



Michael, Dale, and George chatting.



Next.... pics of the bikes!

Steve in Peoria

spclark 

Great start to the after-event reporting Steve, thanks!

I was thinking about how beautiful the weather was for your ride yesterday! It was superb up where I am as well, wishing only that I'd gotten my MB re-gearing project done a week sooner so that I could have been out riding it instead of installing a new VeloOrange BB cassette. (Be nice today so I'll be out riding before I have to mow the lawn....)

Chillicothe's a 4-1/2 hour drive for me (closer than Kentucky!) so maybe, just maybe I can look forward to joining you for your Orchard Ride next year too!

steelbikeguy

In no particular order... other than the approximate sequence that the photos were taken... let me share pics of the bikes.
Here's Michael's Freschi Supreme. IIRC, the frame was restored at Franklin Frames in Ohio. Really impressive!













Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Bob's Paramount PDG Series 3.
Bob upgraded from a Trek 400, and it's a substantial up grade!





and it appears to be the same model (and maybe the very same bike??) as featured in this 1991 article in Bicycle Guide:



Steve in Peoria

beech333

One of these years, I need to make it to this ride, especially since it is looking more likely that we will be moving back to the Peoria area.

Sadly, I was in the area yesterday, but far too late. I opted for a vintage woodworking tool sale in the morning, where I scored some practically giveaway deals to use on my other hobby.

purpurite

That's it, I've decided to build a vintage bike for next year's ride. Needs more Chicago area representation.

steelbikeguy

Next is Julian's Proteus!
If I got the story right, it was updated with some braze-ons and repainted at some point, and then it didn't get a lot of miles. A shame.. but it does look good and it is getting some love now.
Proteus is one of those small frame shops that are not widely known. I remember them because they sold frame building kits back in the 70's. No idea how many actually were built by enthusiastic hobbyists.
There's a good bit of history on Proteus on the Classic Rendezvous site.
https://classicrendezvous.com/countr...n/usa/proteus/
















Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Maybe you guys can charter a bus?

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Or maybe join us for the Meet in the Middle ride? It's not a vintage ride per se, but attracts some of the same folks. ..assuming you'd be in town anyway, of course.

Steve in Peoria

JulesCW 

I bought it from a friend of the original owner, who was selling it on behalf of his widow. The story was he'd had it made by Proteus as a custom in the late 1970's, and rode it a lot. In 1997 he took it to Tom Kellog at Spectrum Cycles, who did some modifications and repainted it. At that time many of the components were also updated. I bought it in 2021 -- its clean condition is what makes me surmise it saw little use post 1997. I do know the original owner had several other more modern bike, so perhaps this one only saw occasional good weather duty after the upgrades -- that's what it sees now. It is a nice ride -- one of my only bikes with down tube shifters -- they're soooo far away on my big frames -- but those retro-friction Campys are wonderful, and so they will stay.

I grew up a few miles from the Proteus shop in College Park, MD and wandered in a few times to dream and compare what they had on display to my third-hand Schwinn Continental... so when i finally did acquire one it was kind of cool to have one of the kid me's dreams realized... and, yes, it is a far cry from that beat-up old Continental!

steelbikeguy

Moving from one big bike to the next... Steve H's Spectrum, built by Tom Kellog.
That stealth gray paint job is trying to be subtle, but it's hiding some incredible lug work!
For those that equate thinned lugs and sharp edges with craftsmanship, this is a great example.















Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Brian's recently acquired Miyata 312.
I do like the white contrasting head tube and fork!

I don't know what the special virtues of this Miyata are... I assume it has great tubing, good angles, and rides wonderfully? Or it might just be one of the somewhat generic Japanese bikes of the era that were good values, performed fine, and never made you regret the purchase? Hopefully Brian will offer some details. He did mention that he has his eyes on another Miyata that a friend has, so the brand loyalty is entrenched.





Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Jason's Centurion Ironman

As background, I've been riding with Jason for probably 10 years. He's roughly Julian's height, so you see that the Centurion is too small for him. He just got this from Brian last year, and it's bigger than the bikes that he already had. I've been a fan of Centurion's use of the white contrasting head and seat tube, so I've enjoyed having Jason bring it along for rides. I consider it to be one of those competent Japanese bikes of the era, and can't imagine anyone having a real criticism of it.

I've done the harlequin bar wrap on my Borthwick bike, using traditional cotton tape. This was the first time I'd seen Jason's version of this, done with padded tape. It could be better, but it's a good effort with some tape that didn't make it easy. Visually, I like it.





Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

George's green Waterford

It's always good to see a local builder represented, and Waterford certainly fits that category!
As usual the color was the first thing I noticed, and I do like this green. Perhaps someone can tell me what this shade is? ... or why it seems familiar?
I see a Reynolds 853 decal on the seat tube behind the bottle, along with what appears to be a 2200 label. I think this is a fairly standard road model?? Gotta love the 853 tubing!










Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

a slight diversion, or a back story, depending ....

The green of George's Waterford did remind me of some older paint schemes, and by chance, it's similar to the Fiorelli that Michael was riding when I met him on the Hilly Hundred ride (in Bloomington, IN) ride last year.

Here are the pics that I grabbed at that time....
Please note the size of the freewheel, and then consider that this is a very hilly ride! Impressive!




Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Ken's SBDU T.I. Raleigh Team

This is one of Ken's favorite bikes, and one that he only pulls out for special events. They were built by an elite group within Raleigh and were handcrafted individually. Maybe roughly analogous to Waterford's relationship to Schwinn?? .. but these were used for top level races.
Disclaimer: I've got one too.





Steve in Peoria