Sunday morning ride with The Louisville Bicycle Club

I met with the Louisville Bicycle Club this morning at the Heine Brothers on Bardstown Road. Weather was great for a 25 mile ride up River road and through Indian Hills. Perry Finley was ride captain and rode sweep - at the tail end so no one gets dropped or someone if needs mechanical help. Well by the end of the ride I was riding sweep with Perry up in front just far enough so as not to lose sight of me. All in all a great time with some great folks. Thanks LBC!

Mark's new Trek

Beth's Univega Ital Sport

I absolutely needed a third bike, as no upstanding bike-shop-groupie would be caught dead with just two bikes. So when this full campy Univega Ital Sport came in, in a harder to find 48cm frame size, I couldn't pass it up.

Some changes were made to make the Univega suit my preferences. We installed Tektro aero levers, as the Campy levers were difficult for my smaller hand size. Double sided MKS pedals replace the chunkier stock pedals. Brooks honey bartape and matching Brooks B17S saddle improve the overall look and feel.


This bike rides very fast and is very responsive. Now I can attempt to keep up with my husband on faster longer rides.




-Beth

A Busy Spring Day at VicsClassicBikes

8:30am - Hour of cleaning
9:30am - Mark Meinhart and I take a Seminary Architectural Spring Bike Tour (date)
12:30 - Mark Brittles stops by to pick up his Trek 500 with interrupter brake levers & grip king pedals (see blog post)
1:30 - Pizza at Papalino's, the one and only Vic Classic Bikes' endorsed pizza
2pm - A couple of hours of work on the blog, facebook, craigslist posts
4pm - Time for some real fun. Drew brings Beth some shorts, Mark M is back after a nap (needed it after a ride with Vic this morning) and we break out the Jack Taylor Tandem.
Madness - the good bicycle kind - ensues.

Architecture Ride with Mark

As the weather warms up, we're getting back into group rides on Sunday mornings. Yesterday afternoon, Mark, a veteran architect, asked if the ride was on for this morning and I agreed. We left the shop at 9:30 Sunday morning for an architectural tour of the Louisville seminaries, and had a great time. Join us next Sunday!

New Bicycle Quarterly In stock!

Spring 2011 issues in stock now! Bicycle Quarterly is a magazine for discerning cyclists, who enjoy their bikes, whether on a weekend ride, randonneuring, racing or touring the countryside. In Bicycle Quarterly you find professionally written articles about a variety of topics rarely covered in "mainstream" cycling press. (Some back issues of Bicycle Quarterly in stock, too)

Stocked for Spring

We're stocked for Spring with a full Brooks display and 24 new Bern Helmets. All Brooks saddles are 15% off retail.

Humble Schwinn Collegiate Becomes a Vic's Classic

I remember seeing ads for the 1984 Collegiate and thinking it was a cool bike. It featured a lugged CroMoly frame built by Giant with integrated fenders & chain guard. A 3 speed Sturmey Archer coaster brake hub was laced to chrome plated steel rims. The Collegiate also had a cup & spindle bottom bracket, custom alloy crank with pressed on 1/8th drive steel chain ring, rubber block pedals, a steel seat pin, economy steel caliper front brake & lever, and cheap plastic Sturmey Archer shifter.

Now lets do it my way.

First I stripped the bike down to the bare frame, retaining the frame, fork, fenders, chain guard, handlebars, stem, and the Sturmey Archer 3 speed coaster brake hub.

I replaced the headset with a new Tange Levin unit. I upgraded the original cup and spindle crank bearing to a SKF sealed unit - the new standard for premium crank bearings.

The drive train now consists of a Pake track crank and 1/2 link Pintle chain. A new nimbus unit replaces the cheap plastic SA shifter.


The steel seat pin is replaced with a Uno alloy pillar to support a Brooks B67 saddle and Brooks tool bag in Honey. A Jim Blackburn rack on the rear makes the bike a little more useful.

Lighting is provided by an Schmidt E6 on the front and a Spannigna Pixeo fender mount unit on the rear. Both lights are powered by the Sanyo H27 dyno hub.


Wiring is routed internally. The front wire runs through the right side fork blade. The rear wire enters the downtube just below the lower head lug, runs through the bottom bracket shell and into the left side chain stay, and exits through the rear fender. It then runs along the inside of the fender, sealed inside a silicone bead, to the tail light. (see images below - wire circled in red)

Then on to the wheels. Keeping only the SA coaster brake 3-speed rear hub, I've added a Sanyo dyno front hub and laced both hubs to Sun CR18 double walled alloy rims using 14 guage straight stainless steel spokes and brass nipples. Finally a set of ColDeLaVie tires by Panasonic provide a soft cushy ride.

This is not your father's old 3 speed. $1,200.

The Jack Taylor Tandem

The Jack Taylor tandem was handbuilt by the Taylor brothers in a workshop in England. Every bike they made was a classic and this tandem would be the highlight of any collection.

A steal at any price, $4,500.

Vic's Raleigh Fixie

This is my 1972 Raleigh Gran Prix fixed gear conversion. It has gone through several modifications since the initial build. I liked Paul's components and have been eager to use more of them in a build. Now in addition to the Paule's Racer brake and Love lever this bike features Paul's Crank and Hubs, Velocity B43 rims (wheels built by me and approved by the famous Perry) , Nitto Lugged Stem, Nitto riser bar, Ouri grips. with a half dozen fine bicycles to choose from (including 2 Rivendells and a Heron) this has become my favorite and most ridden bike.