^^^ that's great that you're back in action after such a serious surgery!

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Valtteri Bottas entering UCI Gravel World Championships ....

valtteri-bottas-f1-gravel-cycling-2024-world-championships

That is funny.

Hey, Merry Christmas to you all.

I don't know who that is but if he's a f1 driver, I am surprise they allow him to race gravel. If he gets hurt just a little, his driving season is over and they invested a lot of money on him

Okay, fellow "old bike" weirdos-
Or, maybe that's fellow old "bike weirdos"... Not sure exactly. SmileWavy


Anywhooo-
Here's some old stuff I pulled out while cleaning and organizing the bike cabinet after end of 2023 and before start of 2024 ride/race season.

Don't need any of this, and since some of it's a little 'vintage', thought it's worth offering up to the collective. Would be interested in putting a couple bucks in my pocket and covering shipping if interested.



Have two Avocet Cyclometers (I always really liked these...) One model 20 and one model 50 (Altimeter).
Not working, so probably best for a static display on that Mercxx, DeTomasso, Vitus or other 80's or early 90's goodness...
Have boxes and instructions for them - along with wire harness for the 50 (for sure), may be able to dig up harness for the 20 somewhere.

A few pumps - well suited to road tires. Not sure they'd be much good on anything with a lot of volume. One blackburn is brand new. Others have had light use.

A pair of early 90's vintage bar ends. Your retro MTB build is pretty much useless without a pair of these!

Some plastic fenders: One touring set from Zefal - and one front MTB fender.

Some old fashioned quill pedal cleats, and a pair of Time adapters for Sidi shoes.

Some empty boxes from patch kits (nostalgia, and all...) And a couple pairs of old-school rim strips.

And finally, a Campy Athena road BB - used, but I think pretty good shape. BC threads, and was for a double chainring.

Oh - and I found a VW scirocco pocket knife. Must have been a dealer item. I think it probably came from my father in law - who was a car salesman.

Anybody interested in any/all - shoot me a DM.
Will ship out of WI.

Happy holidays, folks.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703623633.jpg
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Did a full bleed this morning (Shimano M365 with 180 rotors). Nothing to it after finding a How-To vid on U of Tube by some kid at a bike shop who does a gravity bleed rather than the 'official' tedious method utilizing a syringe and pushing the fluid up from the caliper to the lever. This is the reverse with no syringe and seems to make sense because like he said, most of the dirty fluid is in the caliper and gets expelled first with gravity bleeding. He's done 3000 of them, so how bad can the method be? Anyway, less than 30 minutes all in for me having never worked on hydraulic brakes prior. Brakes feel great.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703761959.jpg

I forgot all about this carbon Alan I build in the 80s. It's been hanging in the carriage house for 20 years. Shimano Dura Ace groupo ?
I had an Italian Masi Gran Criterium from 69 or 70, (pre-Carlsbad move) that I built in high school but a Senior Triathlete bought it about 8 years ago because he wanted to ride something vintage.
After a trip to the cycledrome in Long Beach, this Alan was built as a Fixie (single speed fixed gear bicycle) but after two laps around the block that silliness stopped.
After years on the Masi, the Alan carbon had a smother ride but do to my lack of spin technique, the frame flexed like Stretch Armstrong.
I guess we could call this a barn find?

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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703955979.jpg

Yeah, but be sure not to get ANY fluid on the pads, or they'll squeal until replaced.

For shimano mineral oil brakes I've had great luck with flame. Balance the pads on the kitchen stove burner, turn on the fan and let them cook until the stuff that is bubbling out hardens into a crust. Long time: 15 minutes. Then sand that crust off and pads are like new.

^^^ That's interesting!

Shoes were off, pistons pushed back and a block inserted when I did the gravity bleed.

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The guy selling those deltas is a good dude...

I think riding that big thing in the snow will kick my fat ass within the first three miles.

I love this thing! The seat, bars, and frame angle makes it feel fast. All perfect. The bottom end could float over megan trainor in a bouncy ball pit. :D

I want to buy them, frame them, and hang them in the man cave :D

>>> I love this thing! The seat, bars, and frame angle makes it feel fast. All perfect. The bottom end could float over megan trainor in a bouncy ball pit. <<<

I really like the way that guy mod'ed it. The obvious drop bars and then he went with mostly silver components to give it a retro vibe. Very cool. It's got me thinking of another yet build, but taking that theme a bit further.

>>> I think riding that big thing in the snow will kick my fat ass within the first three miles. <<<

I've found the rotating mass, weight and q-factor (the wide spacing of the pedals) are most noticeable on pavement and gravel roads. It's brutal when you're used to an ultralight road bike. But on singletrack MTB trails, all those negatives seem to magically disappear! It's a blast. You can easily get air and throw it around. Sort of like driving an all-wheel drive car on gravel where your line is not super important - you just kind of stick it wherever and mash the pedal down hard :D




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Here's one for Byron-

(I've been thinking about this fast ripper lately. It has the colors I like. It never occurred for me to wheelie through light singletrack.:D)

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I was checking to see what bike innovations were coming out at this year's CES and came across the Top Secret Hubless E-Bike. The guy riding the bike in their promotional video didn't seem to be too stable on it.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lB913huqk7w?si=_OmZUnc3UeAR2LqT" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://www.topsecretebike.com/?ckattempt=1#projects

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Nice conversion of a vintage Specialized StumpJumper to gravel bike specs:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1705066084.jpg

I've tried that conversion with similar era of mtb, the reach is simply too long and low (compared to my road bike) that made them very uncomfortable to ride, combined with 26" wheel, quick steering,
the bike turned out to be more difficult to ride then need be.
A high-rise, short stem may solve most of the long/low reach problem, but you would still have the handling issue.

Just for kicks, here's a bike from a time before linear-pull brakes.
https://i.imgur.com/aeW3dBP.jpg