smontanaro 

I made one out of a busted Cannondale frame years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't make the base long enough out the back, so it wasn't terribly comfortable. You had to be on the lookout for tipping back at all times. It eventually wound up in the metal scrap pile.

georges1

delbiker1 

A chain ring that was supposed to be new and 38 tooth. It is neither, but 42 tooth, obvious wear on the rings and bolt holes, along with dried grease. Already got the return approved, and the return code.

jdawginsc 

Those are nice Georges! Which of your recent purchases is that going to dress up.

georges1

They will go on the Fausto Coppi Lugano 53 with a Dura Ace 7800 cassette and Conti Grand Prix 4 Seasons since the original tires are Grand prix 3000 and the original tubes will be replaced by with slime tubes.

RCMoeur 

I've made several of those recently (with a bit of help from my son).


The keys for stool-bility are:
1. Spread the rear triangle to about, oh, 225-250 mm OLD or more. That makes them much more laterally stable. Frames made of old gas pipe or swing sets are easy - those made of 4130 or better may require a little muscle, but should still be strong post-cold-setting. Stools made of 753, aluminum, carbon, or other funny stuff should instead be bolted to a flat wood or metal base - or better yet, made into wall hangings.
2. Bend, pop or saw off downward protrusions such as under-BB guides, under-stay cable stops, derailleur hangers, and similar items. Otherwise, you might end up with a chaotic rocking chair.
3. When persuading the rear triangle outward, try to be careful that the bending is symmetrical to avoid leaning towers of cromoly. While this can be compensated for by saddle alignment, it still might look odd.
4. Have fun in creative destruction. What could possibly go wrong?

tiger1964 

Uh, realizing for the first time in over a half century that I've built up a bike without QR hubs, I need to carry a wrench in case of flats. 14mm front, 15mm rear, and two wrenches is unacceptable. So I found on Amazon this:14-15 wrench and it arrived today. I checked, 98 grams I'd prefer not to carry but walking home is worse.

jadmt

Ti-cycles has the drop out adjusters for like $7 for US people.

RCMoeur 

Over half my bikes are nuts - wait, I mean over half of my bikes use nutted hubs. My standard bike tool kit includes a 6" adjustable wrench, which weighs about 100-105 grams depending on the manufacturer, and fits a wide range of fasteners. I've accumulated a cache of older US-made high-quality adjustable wrenches from yard sales and second-hand stores, and ones that get bicycle toolbag duty I either paint a bright color or I place reflective sheeting on the wrench, in case I have to do on-the-road bike work at night and I don't want to leave the tool unseen in the dark.

That stubby wrench looks cool and isn't heavy, but I've had problems with similar compact wrenches in getting enough leverage to loosen very tight axle nuts. Hope it works well for you. When my wife used to bike commute on her nutted-hub cruiser, she had a long-handle 15 mm wrench in her tool bag, as she said otherwise she might not have been able to loosen or tighten the axle nuts.

smontanaro 

I'd prefer a bit more length without the ratchet feature. Or sacrifice a pair of 14mm and 15mm wrenches. Cut to length and welds the closed ends together. You could maybe find a 14/15 cone wrench too. If you found two, you could weld or glue them together for more strength. And wrap some bar tape around it/them for a bit more comfort.

tiger1964 

Good point - I need to "check leverage" before venturing out with this as my only way to remove a wheel roadside.

tiger1964 

Yeah, I'd imagine those might be hard to find; the centers look like they might have been repurposed from shift knobs for a Gilbern.

Last set? A shame, I am restoring a bike for a friend this coming winter, and he has Welsh ancestry and probably would have liked this.

Lattz

these were seriously discounted for having a split freehub body. Actually the seller sold as front wheel and a gratis trash rear (and I guess without knowing how rare these are). As I would have anyway changed the body I couldnt care less if its split.

sbarner 

1980 AMF track bike. From what I have been able to determine, AMF fielded a professional cycling team in 1979 and 1980, with both Beth and Eric Heiden on the roster. In the iconic photo of Beth winning the 1980 Women's World Championship, she is clearly riding an AMF-decaled road bike. This frame was apparently built for one of the members of the Women's Track Team. All the reports from riders and people who were there indicate that the AMF team frames were built by Marinoni in Montreal. The serial number style, location and format indicate that this is indeed a Marinoni, built in 1980. This is supported by the version of the Shimano UFP 10 dropouts that was released in 1980. The frame has an undrilled road fork, which may have been for aerodynamics, as track fork blades are round. I welcome any information that anyone can add, providing you know what you're talking about of course. When it comes to history, conjecture and keyboards don't mix.

52telecaster

A pair of these!

RCMoeur 

My very first bike was branded American Machine and Foundry as well. But not quite as nice as this one...

jadmt

iab

Look like ordinary Campagnolo shifters, but they are gen 1B chrome-plated bronze shifters. I bought a set a few months ago at a swap. When I had circled back to the vendor who sold them to me, there was a rather desperate fellow who heard the vendor had a set. While these things are hens teeth, I sold it for a hefty profit knowing full well it may be years before I see another set. Well low and behold these popped up for a buy it know less than what I paid for the first set. I'm pleased as punch.

Portlandjim

I need 2 more posts to get out of the no photo status. I got 2 new Enduro headset bearings and 4 BB bearings!

sbarner 

AMF's shtick in the bicycle side of their business was decidedly in the lowest end, competing with Huffy, Murray, etc. for the ultra-budget, department store market. When Schwinn was circling the drain in the early 1980s, the three aforementioned companies tried to claim a position in the marketplace as being decidedly better than they actually were. Huffy did this by buying up the US rights to the Raleigh brand and by connecting with the successful 7-11 team and the 1984 Olympics. Huffy was unique among the three in actually making many quality bikes, but under the Raleigh brand, built in facilities completely separate from the factories where Huffys were made. At different times they provided frames built under contract by small-shop framebuilders branded Raleigh or Huffy. Murray tried a copycat move by partnering with Campagnolo to provide Murray-branded bikes in the mid-'80s to be used in the Campagnolo Neutral Support program for major US races and the 1984 LA Olympics. These Murrays were built by Serotta, as were some of the Huffys used at different times by the 7-11 team. It is all quite confusing, as Marinoni also built bikes that were branded as Raleighs for professional riders.

AMF seems to have been first to this game, with their team bikes being used in 1979 and '80 before the company realized that people were not falling for the idea that AMF actually built race-quality bikes, though the movie Breaking Away and the true-life Little 500 race might lead the clueless consumer to think so. The only connection between this bike and your childhood AMF is the similarity in the decals. I think it's safe to say that this frame never saw the inside of any AMF-owned factory.

Without really intending to do so, I now have examples of three different brands of counterfeit racing bikes--meaning bikes that bear the brand of companies that made the lowest-quality bikes, but were built for the best athletes on the planet by expert framebuilders. What is especially ironic is that I live at the Home of the Huffy Throw, and the infamous "Huffy Pile" is a mere 300' from where I am typing this.

smontanaro 

NOS Simplex Tour de France rear derailleur.



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non-fixie 

I love the graphics on that box. Clear, useful, attractive. Sheer perfection.

juvela

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thanks very much for sharing these!

in the image it appears the levers are mounted the wrong way round


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non-fixie 

Besides the box of parts mentioned elsewhere, a couple of other things came my way today.

A Campagnolo Chorus triplized crankset I'd spotted on a local classifieds site. Used and sort of cobbled together, but friendly-priced. I like it, and it will end up on one of my touring bikes:



Also, a Concorde Prelude followed me home today.

Columbus SL, built by Billato:

iab

Could very well be. I only took an image when they arrived. I was excited.