This is a cute lil' commuter / townie bike I built up in the winter of 2011 for my girlfriend. I found an old Bridgestone MB-2 frame, a high-quality lugged rigid mountain bike from the early 1990's. It had a lot of scratches and small dents so I gave it a new coat of paint and a built-in top tube protector made of shellacked hemp twine. Read more after the jump…
This bike was a Centurion Pro Tour originally, a high-quality Japanese-made touring bike from 1978. One of Centurion's top-of-the-line models, the Pro Tour had some cool features rarely seen on a production bike: brazed-on centerpull brake calipers and a fully chromed frame. Later iterations of the Pro Tour (from 1980-1984) had more common cantilever brakes, making the early editions quite rare.
I won this Pro Tour on eBay recently, and it arrived in fairly dismal condition. The paint had numerous scratches and rust, and the parts were a haphazard mix of original components and later replacements. I decided to strip the paint off to reveal the original chrome underneath, and while I was at it, to convert the bike to 650B wheels instead of using the original 27" ones that came with it. I also made many more changes and additions – read on to learn more…
I recently finished restoring this classic French randonneur bicycle, a Mercier from the early 1950's. It's equipped with 650B wheels and a number of rare components only seen on French bicycles of the 1940's – 50's.
I acquired the bike from a French seller on eBay, and comprehensively restored it to the original drivetrain, while also making period-correct tweaks to the wheels, handlebars, and saddle to make it more comfortable to ride. Read on to learn all about it!
This is the Surly Traveler's Check that I built up as a touring bike to replace the Surly Long Haul Trucker I was using as my previous touring bike. I wanted to see if a 700c-wheeled tourer would feel "faster" and would also be a better all-purpose bike. The Traveler's Check is a version of the Surly Cross Check that has S&S couplers that allow you to dismantle the bike and pack it into a small bag for airline and train travel.
The Traveler's Check build is a combination of parts I was using on the Long Haul Trucker along with improvements based on lessons learned. It's all come together into a very handsome package that rides wonderfully.
Read on for more details and pictures!
The post has been long overdue. Above is my Zunow Z-1 road bike, equipped with a Sugino 75 road group. It has a 53.5cm seat tube, making it slightly large in size for me, but I have the fit dialed in quite well. An earlier build of this bike (sporting tri-spokes, LOL!) was featured on the Chari & Co. blog two winters ago, and it's taken a quite a while longer to "finish" it.
The Zunow Z-1, made by Takeru Kageyama, was their top-of-the-line road bike, made with their proprietary lugs and Tritec / Ditchex tube set. The drop-outs are Campagnolo, although Zunows were also made using SunTour dropouts as well as their own Zunow-branded ones.
The rear triangle is atypical for the Z-1 series; they usually have a more typical seat stay arrangement with a bi-plane style brake bridge. My Z-1 has wishbone style seat stays with a gentle curve in the stays. The chain stays are curved too, and the entire rear is chromed. Wishbone rear stays are more commonly seen in their DiPicce and Lepton models.
Read on for more…
Here’s a Pake “Rum Runner” single speed that I built for a friend of mine. It’s a 56cm frame with a KHS track fork, an Surly wheelset with flip-flop rear hub, front and rear brakes, and riser bars. The tires were the stock Avocet 700x32c skinwall slicks came from my RB-T, which should deliver a comfortable ride on broken urban pavement. Simple!
Sparton is a Chilean brand that was briefly imported into the USA from 2007-2010. They were initially sold via eBay for under $200 for a frame and fork. At first a handmade, lugged steel track frame at such a low price made a big splash in the fixed gear scene, but then a number of negative reviews came out. Most of the issues were concerned with the fit and finish, unsurprising considering the low price and 3rd world origin. They operated a retail store in South Carolina briefly, but now the store, website, and owner have all disappeared.
This particular example was bought used (frame & fork) from a girl who had been riding it for the last three years. It was marked 53×53 (the size of the frame) on the bottom bracket, and had the Sparton logo cast into the seat stay end caps.
It was notably heavier than other track frames I’ve seen, leading me to believe it was made from cheap hi-tensile steel as opposed to lighter and stronger cromoly steel. The only issue I noticed was that the seat stay bridge had been placed too low, preventing the rear wheel from being mounted all the way into the rear fork-ends. An amateurish but not serious mistake by the builder.
I built it up with a set of Alex wheels, a Sugino ALPS 144BCD crank which I think is identical to a Suntour Cyclone, stock WTB saddle from my Surly Long Haul Trucker, and the original Bridgestone tires that had come on my RB-1. It was purchased by a young art student from Paris.
Picture gallery after the jump…