here's my rig....stock LHT, lovin' it!

28's seem to offer the nicest blend of performance, ride, and fit (if you are running fenders)... had a fun time building up the new rain bike as with my mismatched 32 / 28 combo my rear clearance is just a little tight when I was using the existing hardware for the Bluemels. Thankfully, I have longer fender rods which should make everything skippy.

Mind you, the frame was made for 26 by 1 1/4 EA1's and not 700c tyres so I expected some little fit issues and will be putting on a set of 28's or a narrow running 32 cross tyre like the Kendas I have on my hybrid.

Always nice to see another Nashbar rider out there!

She is almost ready for the spring commute...

#12



I will wrap and shellac the bars once I get my position dialed in.

I am enjoying watching the progress on your old Raleigh. It makes me want to start working on my 48 Rudge. It has a dynohub, but I am having a hell of time finding reasonably priced light that will fit the Rudge light bracket. I may try to fabricate a bracket attachment for a Onward dyno light I picked up.

I am going to lace up a Dynahub for the front and re-lace the bike's original 1954 hub to a new rear wheel and plan on using a modern 3 watt headlight for purely practical reasons as the bike will be a daily driver and designated rain bike.

Finding some retro styled lights would be nice.

Which water bottle is that?

i dont own a 'proper' commuter type bike[no racks, no panniers, no fenders] so i generally think bikes with these things are 'for grandpa' even tho i am more than aware of their function.

that said, after looking at this picture i am going to be finding some white fenders and p-cliping them to my vicini[^up there somewheres].

looks great.

This is a Novara Randonee I picked up on CL for $175. The front derailer is giving me some problems, but otherwise it's good to go. Got some cheap-o Double M Wave panniers ($16 at Meijer's) that work great for carrying my uniform and bike stuff.

On the to do list is to fix the front derailer issue, get some fenders, and an AirZound.

My new bike! Specialized Sirrus. Transferred front and rear lights over from my K2 Crush, added on a seat bag, an $11 Schwinn computer, and had the LBS swap out the pedals for some aluminum one and a frame pump.

looking back through this thread...

found this tough looking machine. love it.

I like it!
Love the chainstay length.
Anyone catch when this bike was made?

That's a mid-80s Huffeigh (from the time that Raleigh withdrew from the U.S. but Huffy sourced bikes in Japan and Taiwan and put the Raleigh name on them).

Nice day to test the new wheels... will have to mount the rack tomorrow.

My current commuter has quite a history as to how it came into being. It started out as a 20+ year old single speed ladies frame bike and some parts that we acquired when I was just a wee lad. From there, parts were added until a serious break in the frame necessitated me to switch to a recently acquired from (several minutes prior to discovering the break). Then, parts were transferred over, and more parts were added. Then, I broke down and bought a new set of wheels to accommodate newer tires (this was necessitated by winter roads... turns out 3 Speed 26 x 1 3/8 wheels don't have much of anything useful for studs). This is the result (there... that is condensed from my massive novel and history that probably nobody wants to read through at the moment).

So, in a way, this is a bike that has been years in the making.

Edit: As an aside, until I took these photos, I had no idea that those white patches were so reflective.

Interesting Signature. You go to church much?

The Portage touring / expedition bike was first made in '85 for the US market and they sport 650B wheels which was very unusual for that era as the 650B was all but obsolete on this side of the pond.

Rack, bell, block generator. 20T cog on the rear (48T in front) so the normal gear is a little low, but low gear is now low enough for going up hills. Next upgrade will be the biggest thing which is to fit some alloy wheels.

Yup. Or I try to anyway.


THAT is a beautiful bike! I assume those are the old 3 speed 26 x 1 3/8 wheels? If so, are you going to be going for a similar size when getting alloy wheels? And I am curious as to approximately what year that bike dates back to.

They're 27" oddly enough for a 3 speed. And I'm looking for a decent older set of 27 inchers to replace the stock steel rims. The year is 1972.

I like the white tires with that green paint. The paint looks to be in very nice shape.

+1 - I love those Columbia Tourists, very cool bike and looks great in the green/white scheme!

That is a really sharp looking bike... just switched to a 48:20 on my old 3 speed to give me a better all round gearing as upping the wheel size to 700:35 increased the gearing to where 3rd was only good for descending.

Our gearing is almost identical, yours is approx 49/65/87.

It is always a bit of a compromise with 3 speeds but these old bikes tended to be geared rather high and designed for lower cadence pedaling... if you can spin along at 90 rpm that bike will cruise along at a nice 23 mph.

CR18 rims are probably the best choice out there for vintage rebuilds... they are better than most rims that cost twice as much and look like they belong.

Here's mine, which are both Schwinn road bikes. The red and white one has studded snow tires and is only used when there's snow on the roads or in the forcast. I use the silver one for everything else when the roads are clear.

1989 Bianchi Brava in 'road mode'. I usually have 700x28c tires and only one bottle cage with the pump mount on the seat tube. I also usually have platform pedals and the stem raised about 2 inches. I've also got Celeste Bianchi seat. that matches the bar tape.



And my girlfriend's commuter. I put some Tektro economy brakes which were only $40, but work great!