As you will soon find out my good Karma is now official all gone. I was taking my newly acquired Dave Moulton Fuso Lux out for a spin at our local hammerfest when I found out a riding buddy of mine told me he had an old steel bike laying around. After discussing it I went over after the ride to take a look. The bike was hanging in the rafters of his garage/barn/workshop. The bike he handed down was a beautiful Dave Moulton made John Howard. The bike was obviously too small for me (58 c-t when I ride a 62 c-t) but I remembered my buddy's 40th birthday soon (he now lives in CT, me in CA). Also, it turns out my riding buddy didn't want any money for the bike - he would rather it be used.

This is what it looked like when I picked it up (pretty nice):







The paint is not original but it was re-painted by Joe Bell. As you can see the original Campy was all but replaced by 8 speed Dura-Ace (the left shifter was broken). I could not, in good faith, send my buddy a nice steel ride with Dura-Ace (sorry Shimano fans). The original items still remaining on the bike were the Super Record brakes, the front wheel, stem and bars.

edit: we had to use a sugino BB as the dura-ace one wouldn't work with the crank and I couldn't find a C-Record BB in short order.

So I had a few campy parts laying around and with some Craigslist finds and bartering I came up with nice birthday present. I changed the crank to c-record, Athena rear, c-record post, Athena or C-Record front D, C-Record sifters, Turbo seat (I couldn't find a white one), Victory levers, new tape, cables and housing.

Here is the end product. We got it boxed up and sent across the country and it arrived on his birthday as a surprise. One more nice steel bike, back on the road.

Nice!

I used to have those Campy shifters... man they sucked. Index never stayed adjusted and friction wouldn't hold in place.

They are friction shifters, not index.

Wow, you are a great friend, my birthday is in November...so you still have time. I wonder if the internal cable routing was added at the repaint. Looks great.

I was wondering the same thing. Moulton used three cable braze-ons, Tesch used two on the top tube. Otherwise, the bike is straight out of the Moulton play book.

https://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/20...or-dave-t.html

Gosh that's pretty. Great job!

How the heck did a high-end machine like that end up hanging in the garage anyways? That's a rare and pretty exotic machine to just "get set aside".....????

That's a beautiful bike! Hats off to you for such a nice gift to a friend!

I don't think so, you found and saved an old bike (and a very nice one at that). You refurbished
said old bike, and sent same to a friend as a birthday present.
and you think your good karma is gone?
you have so much good karma that your dangerous!

Marty

Um, I have a Schwinn Varsity I picked up at the dump for you

I think the cable routing is original. I can ask the original owner but I think it was only repainted. My Fuso has an internal rear brake cable, albiet, not as nice as this one.

Guy

With friends like you, who needs Santa Claus?

Speaking as the proud new owner of that John Howard, I can say Guy Gadois is definitely one of the good ones. The bike is a work of art, poetry in motion, and not only do I get to ride it, I also now get to troll eBay and CL for bits and bobs to enhance its awesomeness.

GB

Can anyone confirm if other Moulton John Howard's have an internal or external rear brake cables? This one is internal.