Bikes of Bygone Days, Part 2

   I normally enjoy riding down at the shore, but the wind here has been really whipping up, pretty much wrecking the benefit of the pancake-flat terrain! Of course, it is the first rule of cycling that the wind will always be worse on the return leg of your route.
   I'm excited about the start of the Tour de France this weekend, but it's time to continue our look back at some of my past bicycles...

   The 1989 Cannondale ST400 was purchased at Genesis Cycles (still a great shop) in Easton when I knew that it was time to upgrade from that heavy steel Ross frame. The Cannondale had that cool oversized tubing, a relaxed fit and plenty of gears for climbing. I loved the blue color and always kept the bike spotless!

   I rode a couple criterium races on that great bike and my first 1000 mile summer, which seems like a comparatively small achievement now. I particularly recall two 50+ mile rides during vacation in western New York State, one on the hilly roads around Letchworth State Park and another in the beautiful Finger Lakes region, one of my favorite areas of the country.

   I also rode my farthest (at that point in time) one-trip distance on the Cannondale, a 67-mile ride from Philadelphia to Mays Landing, New Jersey, to benefit the American Cancer Society. Incredibly, I averaged over 20 mph on that ride, being lucky to hook up with a group of cyclists who rode regularly together and formed a fantastic paceline to share the work along the way!

   That bicycle was wrecked beyond repair in 2008 when a driver made an abrupt right hand turn into me. I was able to salvage a bit of the bike and my memories of it by turning its frame into wheel aligning tools (see article here).

   I purchased a 2008 Trek 1.5 Triple after my beloved blue Cannondale was totaled. It had perfect gearing for the larger hills and a really comfortable fit, which is why I had it hooked up to my windtrainer during the winter months.
   When I bought my new Cannondale and converted it to compact gearing, it became my "big hill ride" and the Trek's role changed. I added cyclocross tires to this bike for cycling on rougher, unpaved trails.

   This was a 1991 Diamondback Centurion Expert TG that had belonged to my younger brother. I rescued it from the floor of my parents’ garage and used it for the bike mechanic classes that I took at Bikesport in Trappe, PA. During the classes the bike was completely taken apart and overhauled, including repacking the bearings in the bottom bracket and wheel hubs! Considering that my brother did very little maintenance, it ran like a dream after I worked on it.

   One thing that caught my attention right away when riding it was the big honking chainrings, pretty much a setup for criterium racing at high speeds, definitely not for the hilly terrain around Royersford. I was stunned to think that Mark was on this bike when we rode up to my uncle’s place in the Poconos, and I remember he was climbing with a mushy rear wheel (more on the flat tires later) up one of the steepest roads as well! When I mentioned this to him, he winked and flexed his muscles at me – yeah, he was just being funny, but I was really impressed, and quickly found the need to change to a smaller set for more comfortable spinning.

   I’m usually not a big fan of the splash graphic bar tape, but I thought this black and white version looked pretty good with the marbleized paint around the front fork/head tube and rear stays on the bicycle. Besides, I was able to purchase two sets of this top-rate Cinelli tape super cheap! The bike also had white brake lever covers, which I never understood because they get cruddy, so I replaced those with a black pair. I also added a new saddle and some Look pedals.

   Logos on the bike said “Avenir Equipped”, and I have no idea what that actually meant because the components were mostly Shimano. It also had a set of Mavic wheels, which are usually high quality, but developed a tendency to flat. Frequent pinch flats were solved by a little extra shot of pressure in the tires, but there was a problem with the machining of the nipple holes inside the rim, which had sharp edges that also caused occasional punctures. I took a needle file to those trouble spots and had the rim tape replaced, which seemed to finally solve the problem. However, I was so frustrated with this process, and knew the wheels had some value, so I sold them and bought a new pair of Vuelta rims with bladed spokes of a lower count.

   I used this bike mainly at the shore or on flatter routes, but when I was looking to raise some funds for a Colnago purchase, I planned to sell the bike. I wasn’t happy with the way the Bontrager rims on my Trek would flex when I turned the bike at high speeds, so I switched them out for the Vuelta wheels when I eventually listed the Diamondback on eBay.

   I enjoyed the high-end performance of the 2001 Colnago Dream Lux, an aircraft aluminum speedster with full Campagnolo components. I’ve discussed this bicycle and its role in my current collection of bicycles in a blog entry earlier this spring (see article here).

   My final "bike of the past" is the Motobécane Mirage, a repaint of a mid-1970s road machine. I converted the bike to a cyclocross setup to take advantage of the numerous unpaved rail trails in this area of the country. It was a sturdy steel bike (a bit too heavy, leading to my decision on its sale) with some quirky vintage details. You can read about this refurbish job, beginning with the “Start up” article on this page.