brawlo

Coming in on this. My 3 current rides. I'm 6'5" so they're pretty darn large


Pole Taival

Canyon CF SL

Duratec Custom Track (not my wheels but wish they were)

camjr

It's a 1976 French made Motobecane Grand Touring. Vitus 172 frame. All original apart from the consumables, stem, and saddle. My father purchased it new in 1976, rode it for a while, and hung it from hooks in 1982. It didn't move until I restored it 2 years ago. It's been a labor of love since it was his. Original specs had the Japanese derailleurs and Wienmann brakes, but the Gran Compe brakes were original to the bike (during the cycling boom of the mid '70's, I've learned that many companies slapped whatever they could on the bike to get them out the door). The Suntour V-GTluxe rear derailleur is well respected and functions flawlessly. SR crankset. Pivo randonneur bars and stem (I just swapped it out for the shorter stem in the pic). I've still got the owner's manual that came with the bike, and the frame pump was purchased at the same time as the bike. 27 x 1 1/4" Weinmann wheelset.

I also spin miles on a more modern Fuji Absolute flat bar hybrid, but I love that old Motobecane. The ride is really nice.

Cheers.

tallbikeman

Thanks for the update. I forgot about the Vitus tubing on French bikes. I don't remember Weinmann sidepull brakes but I've owned Weinmann center pull brakes. They are awesome. Dia Comp started making Weinmann pattern centerpulls and I have two bicycles equipped with them to this day. A lot of those old Suntour derailluers were made of steel and all that I've run into these days were perfectly serviceable. They just don't seem to wear out. They work as good as anything available these days. But they usually don't have the longer cages I need to run MTB type gearing and I swap them out. I still use two Suntour front derailleurs on my older bicycles and they are great. So good to have such a nice direct connection to your father. I have a guitar from my dad and I think of him when I play it. The 27" wheel is something I have become more interested in. I have one bike flat bar bike that has 27" wheels and it is as fast as my drop bar bike. I read somewhere there is a built in efficiency of several percentage points for 27" wheels over 700c. I can tell when I'm riding the 27" that it pulls very easily. Glad to hear that you still ride this bike. That is what they need.

tallbikeman

Welcome to a fellow 6'5" bicyclist. I can tell that you are buying the biggest newer style bikes you can find. I do a similar thing. Being cheap I buy older steel framed bicycles and rebuild them. The frame sizes I really like are 66cm-68cm. Since they are old school they don't have sloping top tubes so my seatpost does not stick out as far as yours. I have broken the seatpost tube at the upper lug on a bicycle with the seatpost way out. I've also seen other bicycles that broke there when the seatpost was way out. Of course any MTB is safer to ride with the sloping top tube. I can tell by the pictures you are much more flexible than I to reach those drop bars. My stomach fat and age have been getting in the way of bending that far. There is a small renaissance of builders using the 36" wheel and tire. Those bikes fit us real well and don't look too small. Maybe one day.

cyccommute 

Coronasploring today along the South Platte River. 2004 Specialized S-Works Epic FSR. Best dually ever made in my opinion




Mt. Evans in the background.



Trail could stand some work.

brawlo

I didn't really ride much as a youth besides treating my cheap mountain bike like a BMX with all the jumps and stuff that I did on it. (I found that old bike under my parents house a year or so ago and pulled it out. I had bent the handlebars and the cranks! ) As such, I have no real ties to older style bikes and rediscovered cycling about 12 years ago. I am far more a function over form person and so I would rather prefer a bike that was stiff and compliant where it mattered than something that evoked emotions of yesteryear. Also, big bikes are fairly rare to see on the 2nd hand market. Those bikes do a job and do it extremely well. The Canyon is a spectacular bike to ride when compared to the Felt and Avanti that came before it. The Canyon was the first bike that actually got my front end even close to a standard kind of riding position. For some reason, the vast majority of big bikes come with horrendously short head tubes (even most endurance models are built that way) and put you in an aggressive position whether you want it or not. The track bike, well I am a sprint rider and that bike is just all about business. Long (the longest non-tandem frame Duratec had made apparently - and we really wanted longer) and low and all about speed, that bike has taken me to a 11.8s F200. The mountain bike, yes well I honestly have lusted over the hardtail version of the Dirty Sixer since I saw the first pics of the trial build. Unfortunately the price of the production model is way outside of my budget. I am thinking of increasing my MTB stable with a FS Pole Evolink. That and the hardtail would still come in well under the cost of the Dirty Sixer. But no doubt, if I come across the $$, I wouldn't hesitate to have a Dirty Sixer in my bike shed

camjr

It was spec'd for Wienmann center-pulls but came from the shop with the DiaCompe Gran Compe side-pull brakes - I know my father didn't change any of the components back in the day. No issues with them at all, and it was easier to find new hood covers to fit them.

Cheers,

fietsbob

OK, here is my older Brompton.. from several years ago...

tallbikeman

This is just a real cool looking bicycle. I remember full chrome steel bicycles in the 70's and 80's. This is a real nice find and I'm sure it will ride fine.

tallbikeman

My fastest road bike out in the gravel. 1980's Nishiki 68cm Sebring. Completely rebuilt with an unknown vintage Kabuki fork. Nice fast bicycle.

1970's vintage Schwinn Varsity with 700c x 40mm tires, 10 speed cassette hub. 10x1 which works fine. This bike is heavy but in my flat world its great. Those are Velocity Chukkar rims that I painted up. Because of the relaxed frame/fork angles and its smooth go anywhere ride this bike gets ridden a lot. In the last few years I've taken to wearing cow hide work gloves for cycling and like them much better than no finger cycling gloves. No nose seats on both bicycles.

tallbikeman

Took a while to find this picture of my other heavily used bicycle. This is a 67cm 1980 Schwinn Sports Tourer that has been completely rebuilt. Frame/fork and brakes are original. Velo Orange 36 hole hubs with CR-18 27" x 1 1/4" rims and tires. Aero spokes, ie flattened. 10 X 2 shifting setup. Upright BMX cruiser handlebar and stem. This bicycle is fast and fairly light for its size. The 27" wheels work really well on dirt/gravel roads and even better on pavement. It has a noseless saddle also. Because of the more upright fork angle this bike is somewhat twitchier in its handling compared to the Varsity.

Cpn_Crank

right. Totally surprised the heck out of me too. Even some REAL clydes are riding these speed machines, and most (all) of what I see is quality stuff, quite creative stuff too. I’m in the middle of building my Clyde ride, but I’ll post once I’m done! It’s a 2016 fuji Touring that I converted to a 10 speed (rear) and built a dynamo wheel to power a sine wave headlight. By the way I used a mavic a319 in true Big guy fashion!
ok, here’s a sneak peek...

This is a 2016 nashbar Touring (aka Fuji Touring) accept it is isnt. It’s been powder coated. You can see the Clyde wheel (Mavic a319, hand built).

Why is there a surly cross-check fork on a Nashbar Touring? Front end collision. Good thing the crappy old fork crumpled long ago. Probably better this way

Salmon compound brake pads.

Hand built Mavic a 319 laced to a Shimano dynamo hub with wheel smith butted spokes (built by me)

A Cane Creek 40 to replace the less-than-desirable generic headset

Here it is on 2 wheels (the front is one that I put on just to see the damned thing on 2 wheels). Not to just wait for my Gevenalle shifters, which are delayed from covid.

And here is my daily driver. Going to mod a few things, but this Pack Rat is such a good bike for people like us right off of the shelf!! Best I’ve ever felt on a bicycle (until I finish the Nash.)

hope you enjoyed! More to come!

blue192

sdmc530

blue192 How is your experience with that seat post going?

blue192

That seat post is doing wonders for me. I been using a thudbuster since 2008 and even with degenerative disc disease I can go over cracks and small pot holes without even noticing that much. Big pot holes I still feel though.

daviddavieboy

Here is a repaint of one I have owned for a bit. I should have went over the wheels cause' I broke a spoke the other day and buffed the paint off the inside of the chainstay. Oh well - have airbrush can fix. I posted this already in the C/V forum.

camjr

StarBiker

I am not remotely a large person but I like this bike. For the money I still lean towards the CO OP ADV 3.1.
I like the fact it has rim brakes. But the CO OP has a more relaxed frame geometry.

Cpn_Crank

the ADV 3.1 is well specced, I just searched it to take a look. That is some very relaxed geo if I do say so myself. Honestly, I think ADV 3.1 may be beyond clyde, perhaps for the upper end of that category (the Lower stand over height, the disk brakes, the more upright geo).

I do like that mine has rim brakes, I tried disk one time and I hate it, personally. It has its place for sure, but not in my life haha. but yeah it looks like the adv 3.1 is a fantastic bike. It’s really pretty too

Cpn_Crank

whoah! THAT is a COOL BIKE!!! Everything from the campy shifters, to the color scheme, to the bartape, to the tires (I also notice that stem from conti tubes )

great job here. A true, fast Clyde road bike the way it is meant to be constructed.

StarBiker

My experience with disc brakes is minimal. Even mechanical discs have come along away in the last several years. BB5 are what a lot of people have experienced and they are really not very good. I can't believe they still make them.
What would be to much reach for me would not be for someone taller. That's why I like the ADV. There is a City 3.1 as well. Then there is something like the Salsa Fargo.
To much money. (I have flipped so many bikes it's time to pony up though). I stupidly sold a mint trek Multi Trac 750 in my flipping days. Paid $20. Oh I will find something better, yeah, then I didn't find a cheap bike for two years, and still wasn't as versatile as the 750 would have been..

Cpn_Crank

Yeah dude, I can tell you have put some love into it. A true beauty. What kind of mavics are you using? I couldn’t see in the picture.

above are the Fuji (technically nashbar) touring being redone (I posted above) and the specialized, I will post below

Here’s the specialized

Some zipp bars suited it nicely

tallbikeman

What a beautiful bike. Old school Campy Record maybe? Very very nice. At my present age it would stay in one gear all the time because of the shifter locations. Still a freewheel 5 or 6 speed? You did a great paint job.

tallbikeman

Jim Dandy Very Cool Bike. Love the color and Bianchi brand decals all over it. I'm sure it is fast. Hopefully more spokes less spoke breakage.

Kokiafan

Dura ace 6800 components!
Now has a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt computer.