Daughter's UO-8, Revised
 

I have been fixing up the 16 y/o daughter's UO-8 lately, and thought I'd show the work in progress and ask for some suggestions.

The thread showing the bike as it came to us is here. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-New-quot-UO8?

Daughter rode her bike, kvetched about the seat until we found a Terry that fit, learned to shift the gears and handle the drop bars, climbed some hills, fell a couple of times. She decided that she liked her bike.

The braking was terrible and the tubes blew out at 80 psi. We swapped in salmon KoolStop pads, and finally relaced the Normandy hubs to used Mavic MA40 700C rims.

This summer, she asked for a "basket" so that she could carry her books to school or some groceries from the store. I'd been wanting her to get around by bicycle more anyway, as opposed to taking the bus or calling us for rides. So, I made some changes and currently we have this.

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...BF91C1B97B.jpg

The bike now has a wider handlebar, a Modolo that required hogging out the stem's clamp. Aero levers of uncertain make ("BRS"?), they came from a bin. Inline levers, at her request. A VO porteur rack and fenders. Pedals that aren't heavy steel Lyotards. New cables and housing.

I was warned that the bike wasn't designed for a front rack, but it seems to work just fine. There are plenty of eyelets. The steering with the rack is smooth, stable, a little deliberate.

So, here are my questions.

- I got wide fenders because I'm thinking of wider tires, sort of randonneur like. Is that a good idea? It has 25mm tires at 100 psi now, I was thinking like a 32mm or larger, lower pressure. Any brands to recommend?

- Can you suggest a good lighting system? Something shiny and silver, a bit vintage looking, not too expensive. Front light will be mounted under the rack. Maybe the rear light should be on the fender. Battery? Generator? Doesn't need to be a flame thrower.

- Bar tape ideas? I have some generic black cork laying around, but don't have to use it. The seat needs to stay, though.

- Does the rack look bad, not being flat? I thought it would work better with a slight angle, but I'm not sure I like it.

- Mudflaps. Practical, or precious?

- Anything else you would do here? While staying on the budget side of things? It is just a high school kid's UO-8 after all.

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...BFA2106F7B.jpg

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...BFA9DE203D.jpg

Cool bike! Wish my teenage kids would ride their bikes....I think 32mm tires would work well, and fill out the fenders too. Lots of discussion on brands here on the forums.

Cheers,
Chris

extremely cool bike! and I love that color. I think the rack looks great too. larger tires would give a plush ride but at what cost to easy rolling? what does your daughter want? I'm building an old univega for my 13yo and In order to help her get exited and involved I let her pick out the color and even a name for the bike. I hope topost up a thread as it get s closer to being finished.

My .02

royal

I've read, in Bicycle Quarterly etc, and been told, by my favorite bike shop, that wider tires at lower pressure have no more rolling resistance than narrow tires at high pressure. I briefly rode a 650B randonneur bike with such tires. It felt fast, and very smooth on some rough, old pavement.

Sweet bike! I wish my step daughters would ride! My poor husband! a life long cyclist, car free dad and they flat out refused to learn how to ride a bike until they were in their early teens with friends, instead of learning with dad and all that sweet bonding stuff. Their mom drives them everywhere etc, so when they come to visit we hear nothing but moans about having to bike and gasp ride old vintage bikes! When I was a teenager a bike was absolute freedom and I loved it.
The bike: french bikes are notoriously difficult with separate sizing and compatability issues. Thank goodness you replaced the rims as that would be my first concern for your daughter. Velo Orange sells the mafac brake pads. The Grand Bois 'cypres' are beautiful 32mm 700c tires, just make sure the frame has clearance. They are a bit pricy, but my husband has narrow grand bois tires and LOVES them. I believe soma has a line of supple gumwall tires that cost a bit less.
Mudflaps=yes! You do live in the pacific northwest, you know what is coming, remember(until yesterday I had forgotten), rain, rain and rain? As good and long as those fenders are, mudflaps ad that extra protection and also deflect mud and rain from cyclists riding behind.
Bar tape=a nice brown leather would be nice, black wouldn't really match the lovely tone of the bike. Fizik is synthetic bar tape and they have a honey brown, that once on the handlebars does look like leather and is super nice. fizik has a rainbow of colour choices too.
Lighting=the portland design Danger zone rear light is awesome! For front lights, I do not know about vintage looking unless you get into dynamo lighting etc, but the bike light companies are coming out with brighter and brighter rechargeable battery lights, and the technology is getting cheaper. Get something bright with a long lasting low setting. Lighting is important and if she really gets into riding, well she needs to see in the dark right?
Rack= It looks fine, and I think vintage french bikes were ideal for front racks. I do worry about stuff sliding around too much, might not be as practical as she thinks. A rear rack for panniers would be a good investment.
Lucky girl!

I did that with my son, then 12 y/o. He picked the color, we had it powdercoated, built it up, he named it "Leo" for the lion badge. He loves the bike.

Hint: put tape or zip tie bits of inner tube to everything that will get scratched up when they drop the bike. My son fell 5-6 times in the first weeks. Just stupid low speed or near-stationary stuff, tangled up in toe clips, turned wheel too sharply, wasn't used to the narrow bars. The shiny bits are only slighty scuffed thanks to taping everything up.

what we got under the cover? 911SC?

I rode a (highly modified) UO-8 in high school and into college. It was an excellent ride that I sometimes still miss.
I would have been very impressed by your daughter's bike.
Do try some wider tires, and keep your eyes open on the lighting options. There is a lot out there, and sometimes you can do very well indeed by going back one product cycle or so.

Carrera. Hasn't been driven all year.

Wonderful, wonderful bike. And super glad to hear that you are keeping it in the family.

I know you said vintage-esque for the light...
But I run this on my serious night rides:


I don't normally like supporting Performance, when I can choose my LBS. But damn, this light is wayyyyyy worth the $34.
So bright, and USB rechargeable!
It also has like 5 different settings.

Thanks, Heather. I looked up those tires, they sure look the part, spendy though. How much difference do you think there might be to an inexpensive flat-resistant 32mm tire, like Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 32mm ($27) or Michelin City Tire ($23)? I hear "supple" a lot in relation to the Grand Bois, but don't know what that means.

Indeed. I got soaked riding to work yesterday morning. Forgot about that rain thing.

Brown would be great. But brown tape and black saddle - is that like blue suit and brown shoes, a faux pas? I have to keep the saddle as it is the only one she finds comfortable.

I think we need a peach crate . . . maybe I'll make a pretty little wooden tray to bolt to the porteur rack.

Incidentally, the VO rack came with this interesting springy steering damper thing. Like http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2010...tabilizer.html

I didn't install it, but may try it out if the loaded rack results in floppy steering.

Did you ever find your dream mixte?

It's not a big deal if the tape doesn't match the saddle, but if it matters, go with black tape. Leather is nice but cork or cloth are way cheaper and just as sharp looking. Cloth over cork yields a very comfy bar.

I have the wheel stabilizer spring on my Surly Long Haul Trucker. Works as advertised and you don't really notice it.

I'd go for brown cloth tape from Velox or Newbaum, 32 mm Paselas, and a shorter front rack. Leather and rain don't always mix well. Those frames have low to lowish trail (mine measured in the 30 to 35 mm trail range) and are good for a front load, but that porteur rack is really long. I don't think the small tilt-back is any problem.

Supple in a tire means that even when fully inflated the sidewalls will flex to absorb little road surface diddles. I think the Paselas are more supple than a lot of tires, but not as nice as the Gran Bois series. But much cheaper, and they have a puncture-blocking layer. The GBs do not.

It's just great that she's willing to ride such a nice old bike - she won't get a better ride in most of the modern stuff.

Daughter has ridden the bike a few days now, as have I. The rack affects the handling a bit, in that the bike has a slight tendency to fall into the turns. Put another way, when leaned over, it doesn't straighten up of its own accord, but rather wants to maintain or even tightens the radius. It is only a slight tendency, and daughter hasn't mentioned it. I have noticed this behavior to this degree in other bikes, it isn't terribly out of the ordinary. So far the rack has carried a birthday cake, a bag of groceries, two bike tires and some parts, and a sweater, though not all at once.

Switched to 700C x 32 tires. Those were the widest that would fit under the fenders. They seem only marginally more comfortable, but came with reflective sidewalls which I wanted her to have.

Got a Soma "Torpedo" light, which I haven't mounted yet - daughter thinks it looks cool, asked if she could have twin lights, answer "not at $50 a pop". Wrapped bars in basic black cork. Got some grief at the bike shop about the handlebars being too low and the levers mounted too low on the bars. So, all that is subject to revision, if the rider complains.

I'll grab the bike for errands, it is nice to ride. Even though, with the bike too small for me and the saddle about 2 inches too low, my knees protest if I push it at all. I kind of wish I'd run across a cheap UO-8 in my size. Maybe in the dead of winter, there will be some $70 UO-8s on CL . . .

Just rotate the bars up a smidge, and call it a day. That will help her (shorter than you) feel more comfortable on the drops and will raise up the body position on the hoods a little. The bike looks great! I

Very nice Pug build, hope your daughter enjoys the ride you did for her. I imagine your taking the time and effort will make the bike mean more to her than if you just went out a purchased one, and a really nice C&V bike at that.

Bill

I built this one for my daughter, but she has reached has reached an age when she's no longer interested in riding. I'm holding on to it for her in case she ever comes back to bikes. I did.

http://inlinethumb56.webshots.com/43...600x600Q85.jpg

We tried it fixed, but she didn't like it. I didn't either. This was taken at the Berkeley Kite Festival. That's Mark Reed, of Prism kites and her sponsor checking out my Gitane. He says he used to race..

http://inlinethumb19.webshots.com/44...600x600Q85.jpg

Demo'ing one of Mark's Kites for the crowd. She's lost interest in kite competitions, too. I'm holding onto her kites just in case she changes her mind.

http://inlinethumb22.webshots.com/17...600x600Q85.jpg

Very nice bike. A couple things:

The steering may work fine most of the time, but if she suddenly has to dodge a pothole, it may be a completely different story.

The tires - I understand your concern about safety, but actually reflectors in the spokes work a lot better, AND most of those tires with reflective sidewalls are horribly slow. Hers may not be, of course, as I don't know what make they are.

The Lyotard pedals are very pretty. Yes, rather heavy, but... :)

Heh. Most teens in Copenhagen would KILL for that bike!

She's spoiled, but she's not a killer.

Sweet bike, GB. Love the black lugs and front bottle. What model? PR-10?