nuovo

Howdy,
I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce
myself.

Hot rods were the rage at my high school, and so
the best bicycle (second to mine of course) on the
parking rack was a Sears -- or was it a Mongomery Wards?! Mine was a Peugeot UO-8, which I purchased from Greg's Greenlake Cyclery in
Seattle. Down tube shifters, cottered cranks, hard
leather saddle, and a back-of-the-seat bag to carry my spare tube
and stuff. It wasn't long after that I was in
another shop on Capital Hill (Seattle) and began to
covet a Colnago frame. Never did buy it, but
in 1983 I did get an '81 Superissimo, which I built
with Super Record, and rode for 21 years. Actually
I replaced the SR gruppo with Record C early in the
90's. A rascal came up to me at the Death Ride
(California "alps" tour near Carson City, Nevada)
and offered me $1000. A weak moment, an affirmative
answer, and it was gone. Had just painted it for
the 6th time over the years, and it looked very
good. Well, I did have the Masi Gran Corsa hanging
in my shop, so I built it up with period CDA/Chorus
stuff that I had and rode it for a year.

Carpel Tunnel has been a tremendous frustration for
me. It has forced me to limit my riding to hills
and rides shorter than 20-30 miles. With that, and
the recommendation of a friend Jorge at Pace
Sportswear, I went to carbon fiber (CF). It does
help.

Since about 1985 I've been painting bicycles also. I prefer painting the modern stuff, especially CF. I
paint everything, but mostly flashy stuff, or space,
or swooshes (very popular right now). Lots of
graphics which I do by hand or on my computer. I do
get a small number of classic frames, but don't see
any pre-1970's work, but that's okay 'cause I'm not
geared for that right now. Maybe sometime in the
distant future.

My old painting name was Cycle Shades, but upon
trying to register it for a website, I discovered
that it was already taken by a cycling sunglasses
company. Hence was born Velochrome. For me it's
part time, and is pure enjoyment -- a creative
outlet. That's all I'll say about
that, as I don't want this to be an advertisement,
but just to give my cycling related background.

Raced road (locally in Arkansas -- River City
Cycling Association, and in Visalia -- Southern
Sierra Cyclists) in the late 1980's, and did one
semi-big ride, which was Little Rock, Arkansas to
Washington DC (10 days/1100 miles). It was a lot of
fun.

My "collection" includes: My everday bike is a Kestrel 4000 with 9-speed Campy Record (mostly) Ergo (CF), then a ca. 1980's Peugeot Triathlon with Campy CDA/Chorus, then a 1974 Raleigh LTD-3 speed, a 1960's Italvega ten speed, a 1991 Klein Pro Attitude Team mountain bike, a Currie electric mountain bike, a Schwinn Pixie Stingray, and a Trek 5200 that's too big for me, so I plan to sell it -- with new paint, a Cannondale touring frame, an older Gary Fisher MB frameset, and an unidentied Japanese bike, which may be a Nishiki Professional but I'm still researching.

Looking forward to hearing what's going on!

Steve Dahlquist
Velochrome Frameset Painting
V 559-592-6367
F 559-592-2585
C 559-967-3318
steve@velochrome.com
22582 Carson Avenue
Exeter, California 93221
www.Velochrome.com

late

Hi,
and welcome. Carpal Tunnel is a nightmare. I use a more upright seating position. This year I am going to try Speciaized's Phat Wrap, and put a layer of shock abosrbing tape over all that.
Always nice to see someone from my generation show up, hope you like it here.

landrover

Welcome,

I'm a newbie 2...Chicagoan who is preparing for some winterbiking along the lakefront.

nuovo

Hi,

That sounds like a good idea. I'll have to try that. That, in addition to my carbon fiber bars, carbon fiber frame/forks/steerer, and Cinelli foam tape. Found some Specialized riding gloves designed for those of us dealing with carpal tunnel, at Performance, and they really help.

Thanks,
Steve Dahlquist
Velochrome Frameset Painting
V 559-592-6367
F 559-592-2585
C 559-967-3318
steve@velochrome.com
22582 Carson Avenue
Exeter, California 93221
www.Velochrome.com

Mtn Mike

Just brutal. I lived in Chi for 3 years and biked all around town, year round, but from november to march, I dreaded riding on the lakefront. If the wind doesn't blow you onto the sidewalk, the water blown from the lake will freeze you. I'm sure it can be done, but it doesn't seem like fun. Oh well, good luck.

landrover

LOL,

Brutal.... indeed!


I set my temperature tolerance to 20 degrees with wind in the single digits...Anything more severe than that means i stay home....