Christmas (evil?) Spirit

...and I’m not even counting my fork-busting crash right after Thanksgiving! Lately I've had a string of cycling-related misfortune which makes me think my holidays are haunted.

   It all started with an ill-fated eBay transaction, which involved a set of Campagnolo brakes I sold back in SEPTEMBER. I received a note from this fellow in China who finally got it in his mind that, after over two months, he should check on his missing package. It had been so long ago that I couldn’t even access the transaction to see if I had entered any kind of tracking number.

   Mind you, the number provided on the customs form only tracks the package until it leaves the U.S., so beyond that, who knows what happens to a shipment. This is exactly what I pointed out to eBay when I questioned why they took the funds out of my Paypal account to reimburse the seller! The person on the line kept saying that I didn’t provide any additional information, and we went in circles with me responding that unless the buyer pays the insane price for international Priority Mail, THERE IS NO TRACKING on a first-class package!

   Incredibly, the day after I made the call to complain about eBay’s policy, the package was returned to my mailbox with an “insufficient address” message attached. The fault was completely with the buyer, who didn’t provide me with the correct information. In hindsight, I don’t know why I bothered, but one more eBay call netted only another frustrating circle of tracking remarks and responses. What more information did eBay need that this wasn’t my fault? The package had the date I sent it, as well as the notice that the address was insufficient, and a record of the (mis)information supplied by the customer could be found via a link on my Paypal page.

   I found it ridiculous that, despite thousands of positive eBay transactions in my history, these money-grubbers were worried about the fees on this single item. Sure, I was glad to have the brakes back in my possession, so at least I wouldn’t be out that money, but eBay still had me losing the $28 on shipping to China!

   I would absolutely love to tell eBay to take a long walk off a short pier, but really, what alternative do I have to get a reasonable return on the bicycle parts I buy and sell? With all the anti-trust laws in place, I find it incredible that no one has stepped up to challenge this obvious online auction monopoly.

   I am glad that, by the time December rolled around, that I was left with only a small number of miles to complete my goal of 5000 for the year, because the way the weather has been, I would have had to ride in wet and/or cold misery, or just quit on the plan completely! We have been able to avoid ice and snow, but there has been a pattern of rain or brutal cold wind that have really left maybe one out of every five days even slightly pleasant.

   It was funny (well, that is probably the wrong word in retrospect) that the 20-mile route I did one morning last week, which ended up officially completing my 5000 total, included the view of a dead body under the Gay Street Bridge in Phoenixville! I’m not sure if the person under the tarp had taken a leap or if something hinky had been going on overnight, but I was quite surprised to make the turn off of the little truss bridge over French Creek and see a couple police cars there and officers picking through the surrounding weeds for any type of evidence. I immediately accelerated away from the area and certainly didn’t take a more than a glance at the tarp-covered scene!

   The weather didn’t cooperate with the annual Cycle Tech Ride with Santa, either, and I was particularly disappointed, because I had a good number of folks lined up for the event. We’re going to try again Sunday evening but with only a handful of us this time – still better than doing it alone, I guess!

   The Vitus 992 build with my friend Brendan was going really well, and with some plans later in the afternoon, he was glad to see that it wasn’t even noon when we had everything done but the cables. This blog’s title should give you an idea how that process went, but we found that the top tube lacked any type of guide for its internal routing. Previously I’ve dealt with this issue with reasonable success, and Brendan has heard/read about my past experiences, so initially we weren’t too concerned.

   Unfortunately, it seemed the previous owner had (we think) sprayed some of that foam insulation into the top tube – perhaps in an attempt to dampen vibration noise? I was able to push a section of housing through so that we could knock material loose and blow/vacuum it out. I could slide the housing through the tube but couldn’t get it to the exit port on the other end.

   We spent over an hour vainly trying to feed the cable through with various methods that had worked for me before. First, since the frame is aluminum, we tried a high-powered magnet, attempting to guide the cable to the opposite hole, but the material still left in the tube kept snagging the wire and impeding our progress. We then tried the vacuum and thread, but again the snag problem, and the thread would just keep doubling up on itself and tangle up in the middle of the top tube.

   We eventually took the Vitus over to Bikesport, where we had some great conversation, since the guys have seen many of Brendan’s bicycles in the past, and it was nice for them to put faces with names. Nick used a tool that is essentially a combination of cables with small magnets on each end which attract/attach to each other when inserted at opposite ends of the tube and then can be pulled through. I have to get myself some of them!

   He left a small section of black housing inside, then gave me a tiny tool which you can screw into the housing liner of the existing cable. The replacement housing is then screwed onto the other end of the tool, and you gently pull everything through the top tube – very cool!

   I guess I’ll choose to take a positive spin on all these negative experiences: I’m not in the poorhouse, I have my health and I’ve learned a few more techniques to use in my shop.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Gearing Up For the Holidays

   I realize that I haven’t written since Thanksgiving, but not a whole lot has been going on, particularly because I’ve put things have been on hold until I sell a few bicycles. I haven’t been doing much riding either, maybe squeezing in 20-30 miles every third day or so, depending on the rain/wind/temperatures we’ve been experiencing. I have had the indoor trainer set up to spin occasionally, just to keep the fitness at a reasonable level.

   I was able to find a decent replacement for the broken fork on my Cannondale SuperSix, and although the new part may not have the same graphic pattern as the original, its colors match up perfectly. I like that this fork has more blue on it, and I don’t think anyone would even know it wasn’t the stock fork unless I told them about my accident!

   I panicked a little when I first tried to assemble the headset, as dealing with a tapered steering tube configuration was a new experience. As you can see from the borrowed image below, from an online manual from Cannondale’s website, the top of the steering tube and bearings are narrower at the top than at the crown of the fork blades.

   When I had pulled the broken fork free, the inner ring of the bottom bearing (marked KP044 in the diagram) had popped loose because some rust had caused it to stick to the bottom race (part QC777). After I cleaned the bearing and polished away the bit of rust, I slid (what I thought was) everything onto the new fork. When I slid the fork into my frame there was obviously too much play in the headset, as though something was missing.

   What I hadn’t realized, because the bottom race had a black finish that matched the color on the top of my damaged fork, was this was a separate piece. I was able to slide an X-Acto knife between the race and the fork crown and gently pry off the part. I tapped the race down onto the new fork using the edge of a wooden block and a hammer, alternating front to back until it set flat on the fork crown.

   I was relieved to find everything functioned perfectly after I slid on the proper spacers in order, tightened the top screw, then clamped down the stem to hold everything together. I actually took a ride over the route I intended to do when I had my crash, taking great care to slow way down before reaching that treacherous intersection where the cinders had caused me to slide. This time my ride finished safely, and the SuperSix functioned as well as it ever has.

   My friend Brendan is heading over this weekend to assemble his Vitus 992, so I will be providing some build details and hopefully some photos next time. Meanwhile, I have been collecting all the necessary parts for Arol’s 979, and have had a mixed bag of luck so far. I came up with a great wheelset that had classic Mavic MA40 rims and the company’s 500/550 hubs. I also found a set of Mavic 820 downtube shift levers that were incorrectly listed as Simplex SLJ levers and was able to purchase them for about half the going price!

   I’ve been a little frustrated by the return on some of the recent sold parts, especially because I remember the premium prices I had paid for similar items earlier this year. I was hoping to have a nice budget cushion to spring for a nicer set of brakes and levers, like the Modolo Master Pro set pictured below (which Mavic copied for their Super Pro 430 set), but I’ll have to be patient for a bargain.

   I was hoping to do our famous Santa Ride on Saturday, but the weather has been rainy and nasty lately, with now some snow thrown into the forecast, which will make for a messy Perkiomen Trail. We may have to squeeze it in whenever things thaw out and (hopefully) dry up.

Go pedal crazy someplace else...

   My title paraphrases Jack Nicholson’s line in As Good As It Gets, and I also created a cycling-related play-on-words by substituting for the word "peddle", but the rest of his quote still applies, as we’re certainly “all stocked up here”. Family issues have left nerves, attitudes, mental states, etc. around our house a bit frayed lately, but everyone has personal problems, so I’ll spare you commentary on that and instead attempt distraction with (mostly) pleasant subjects.

   I am indeed “all stocked up” in my shop, as my rafters are full of finished bicycles. I would think it is an end-of-season lull in selling activity, but while I can always expect a spring increase in repairs/service, the sales pattern has never been predictable. The amount of storage space has also been compromised by a desire to purchase affordable component groups and frames when they become available for future projects.

   While some friends have laughed at what I consider to be disorganized, somehow I’ve accumulated TEN loose wheelsets that are creating a bit of an obstacle course at times when doing my work. Yes, many are earmarked for bicycle assembly, but others just don’t fit into my plans, either because of preferred brand or gearing compatibility, and need to move onto a new home!

   I did have a really nice Italian Fir wheelset that had a Chorus 7-speed freewheel on the rear, and I decided to attempt an upgrade by swapping in an 8-speed hub myself. I had never tried this level of wheel-building, and because I was removing all the spokes and nipples from the existing rim, I found a similar product hanging in the shop to use as a guide to replicate the pattern.

   It took a good amount of time, patience and a little bit of math to loosely fit the 32 spokes into an intricate weave of what was essentially an eight-point star on each side. I don’t have the tensioning or dishing (accurately centers the rim on the hub) tools, so I took the partially-completed wheel to my pals at Bikesport for the final touches.

   A couple customers had also presented me with work which, while quite welcome, hadn’t exactly helped my problem with storage space. Recent acquaintance Nick, who purchase my Olmo Sportsman, is a racer and wanted to upgrade some parts. All went smoothly, and I was happy to exchange my time for the parts returned, including a really nice Ambrosio/Campagnolo wheelset!

   My friend Arol in New Hampshire, for whom I had previously build a Vitus 979, has me once again on the trail for Mavic parts – or at least for the brands the company copied – in order to build a Sean Kelly KAS tribute bicycle. It is going to replicate somewhat the bike I built for Brendan a couple of years ago, then rebuilt with all-Mavic last autumn, except we are going with even more brand/model accurate parts, namely the black Modolo-copy brakes and levers (photo right) and the Cinelli Criterium bars the Irish legend preferred.

   I received the 979 frame to which we are applying this transformation, and it includes many parts that we should be able to sell to make the project less costly, including some Campagnolo Super Record derailleurs. The bike was also equipped with an interesting (yes, another) wheelset built with quality Wolber Super Champion Alpine rims and Hi-E hubs, made by eccentric American designer/engineer/machinist Harlan Meyer (1924-2013).

   Harlan’s complete bicycle from 1971, the Cosmopolitan, had features that are now industry standards today. I wish I had a date for the cool photo below, but I’m guessing from his age in the photo, it was taken in the 1950s.  

   Another addition to my crowded basement is my disabled Cannondale. I was out for a ride last Sunday and came to the bottom of hill, where I was going to make a left-hand turn. I wasn’t going terribly fast, but I didn’t have much time to react when I noticed cinders in the intersection. You certainly don’t want to lay on the brakes too hard, because you will definitely lose maneuverability and slide out, so I gently squeezed the levers, hoping to be able to hold traction.

   Nope – the front started to slide, so I let go of the brake and turned into the slide to regain control and stay upright. Unfortunately, I was out of room on the road and went right into the guardrail lining the low ground on the outside of the turn. It has become second nature to me to stay with the bike in a crash, after the number of times I’ve seen pros do the same thing and have it save their butts!

   Sometimes things slow down in these situations, and I can remember thinking, “Oh this isn’t going to feel good,” and actually standing up on my pedals to get above the metal barrier as much as possible. The front wheel hit, and I did a perfect flip onto the back, perfectly safe in a soft pile of leaves and brush.

   I popped right up and climbed back over the rail to check myself and the equipment out. An oncoming driver and her family, who had seen everything and probably thought I was dead, had looks of shock on their face to see me casually checking the alignment of my front wheel and brake/shift levers. I had torn my right shoe cover, probably catching it on the rail during my flip, but amazingly everything seemed just fine.

   “Are you sure you are okay,” the driver asked a couple of times, as one of her children stared at me in awe through his rolled down window. I replied that I really lucked out landing so softly, and thanked her for stopping.

   Alas, when I reached a climb on my attempt to return home, there was a nasty crack and creaking sound. The weight I put on the front wheel when out of the saddle going up the hill must have been the last straw for the right fork blade, which had obviously buckled during the collision with the guardrail. I was only a couple miles from my son Carrick’s place, so I did a very slow, cautious ride there for a rescue pick-up from Sue.

   I doubt that I am going to find an exact match for my seven-year-old model bicycle with a fairly unique paint job. I have seen some with similar colors, but we’ll see what I can come up with. With my go-to bike with the best gear range out of commission, it’s kind of good timing that the cycling season is winding down, but I’m fortunate to have other bikes to ride and will just have to back off on the altitude for a while.

  

   I’d also like to mention that we had a great time during the Cycle Tech Turkey Trek, even if many hopeful participants were turned away by the temperatures, which hovered around the freezing point when we started off on Saturday morning, November 9th. Everyone had come properly dressed for the cold, the day was sunny without any wind and things warmed up comfortably enough around noon.

   The event extended a bit longer than expected due to some splits in the group, whether it was because of different fitness levels, snack breaks or photo opportunities. The crew also split in half for route choice near Manayunk; some selected the hill up to Umbria Street, and others descended to the canal towpath near Shawmont Station. A few of us even rode a couple blocks up the Manayunk Wall, just far enough to be in view of the really nasty steep part!

   My friend Brendan also met us part way along the route, as he rode from his Philadelphia home out to meet us, and except for a couple folks who had to duck out early because of family commitments later in the day, we all finished up pretty much in sight of one another. That’s a tough thing to do when necks/shoulders start to get stiff and a few butts get sore – people start to push the pace just to get off the bike!

   I’m waiting for one of those miracle autumn days when it warm enough for us all to wear shorts and maybe just a light, long-sleeve jersey, but we’ve always managed to enjoy ourselves on the Turkey Trek. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Delaware's Gorgeous Greenways

   I have been putting in so many miles this year (nearing 5000!) that I’ve been regularly seeking out new places to ride. During a couple drives earlier this year along I-95, I had noticed a newly-developed trail sweeping across the marshlands south of Wilmington, and I had planned to get back to the area with a bike to explore the area.

   On a particularly beautiful day a couple of weeks ago, I left my car in New Castle County’s River Road Park and set off south along Governor Printz Boulevard (U.S. 13) towards the city. I immediately noticed, what would be a continuing occurrence all day long, wide road shoulders marked as bike lanes, which were clean of stones and debris! Unfortunately, after a couple miles of pedaling into the city, I had to take to the sidewalk to avoid the repair work on the bridge over the Brandywine Creek.

   Wilmington isn’t a huge metropolis, and traffic was rather sparse during midday as I zigzagged down Spruce, 4th and Poplar Streets to reach the Riverwalk, right near the train station designed for the Pennsylvania Railroad by Frank Furness.

   The station is still served by Amtrak and Septa passenger trains, but having been through this area before many times, I didn’t hang around too long to see one come through. The Riverwalk is now officially designated part of the Jack A. Markell Trail to honor the man who served as Delaware’s governor from 2009-2017 and strongly supported the path's development. There were many restaurants and offices, as well as the Blue Rocks’ baseball stadium nearby as I followed the route along the Christiana River.

   The wooden planks of the boardwalk rumbled under my tires as I finally entered the more remote areas of the Peterson Wildlife Refuge. From the Dupont Environmental Education Center, the boardwalk bridge sweeps down over the wetlands out towards I-95, where it bends south to cross the river. After a couple miles of cycling, a connection is made with the (former) New Castle Industrial Track Trail.

   I can imagine this 2.5-mile route is a particularly nice place to ride on hot summer days, as it is set low in a tree-shaded trench through suburban neighborhoods, with only a couple road crossings. I made a right-hand turn onto 7th Street when the trail ended, and was heading along another wide on-road bike lane on Route 9, along the Delaware River.

   I picked a particularly great day to ride, as there was almost no wind – a rarity in this very flat terrain! The first few miles were enjoyable, skirting the wetlands along the river and eventually pedaled into some farmlands. The view changed significantly as I crossed Red Lion Creek. Much like my ride into Northeast Philadelphia, I wouldn’t say this area was scenic, but along the state’s chemical coast, there was plenty to see, if you like refineries and tank farms.

   Luckily, it didn’t last long, and I made a turn east toward the pretty little community of Delaware City. Just before reaching the access channel to the marina, I headed right onto the Michael N. Castle Trail which runs west along the bank of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The waterway serves as an important commercial shipping shortcut between its namesake bays, allowing boats travelling between the ports of Baltimore and Philadelphia to avoid the long journey south around the Delmarva Peninsula.

   I only saw a couple of pleasure craft and a push-boat/barge, but the views along the canal were very pleasant, and I always enjoy the company of a few gulls! When in this area, I always think of wonderful trips had on my father’s sailboat, but I also remember the work/money involved in marine maintenance, so I have no unrealistic aspirations to get back into that lifestyle.

   I followed the trail for about 4.5 miles to the St. Georges trailhead, which sits in the shadow of the high U.S. 13 bridge that spans the canal. I then weaved my way through town to reach the highway, which has much of its traffic diverted onto the newer Dupont Highway (Delaware Rt. 1) which parallels a bit to the west. Again, the clean, car-width bike lane/shoulder provided relaxing conditions for travel.

   The road becomes Route 7, and I continued for about six miles, through the communities of Red Lion and Bear, then turned onto Route 273. This probably wasn’t my favorite part of the ride, as traffic picked up on this busy commercial four-lane boulevard, but the wide shoulder was still there, and as long as I paid attention to the cars going in and out of the strip malls and other businesses along the way, it wasn’t too bothersome.

   I actually crossed over the Industrial Track Trail after four miles, but not wanting to repeat parts of the day’s course, I pedaled on into New Castle then veered north on 6th Street to reach Route 9. This was probably the most unpleasant riding I encountered, as the four-lane boulevard was older concrete slab with almost no shoulder and high curbs, but it thankfully lasted only a few hundred yards when an almost empty residential parking lane (at this time of day) began, giving me some welcome breathing room.

   There was another slightly intimidating area at the junction of I-295, but I pushed through and was soon returning to the land of wide-shouldered, Wilmington-area streets. Now on New Castle Avenue, I soon turned on A Street over to Walnut to cross back over the Christiana River and into the downtown area.

   I have to admit that I become ultra-focused when riding in cities, and I don’t really remember if there was a bike lane or sharrows through here, and there was some power line maintenance here that I had to weave around, but traffic wasn’t bad, so I had some freedom to maneuver. It didn’t seem long before I was turning left onto 16th Street and making my way across the Brandywine Creek at the King Street bridge.

   I headed left on Park Drive and rode past the Brandywine Zoo to join the winding, up and down trail that leads into Alapocas Run State Park. At a triangular intersection of trails, I turned right and headed up a nasty steep climb that weaves up the cliff side of the creek gorge. My day’s route hadn’t included much climbing, so I had plenty left and actually enjoyed powering up the narrow path into the thick forest.

   Not that I would have wanted to be coasting out of control anyway down an unfamiliar trail, but I had to take caution on the descents because leaves had been falling and I didn’t want to slide out in any of the turns. I passed a few inconsiderate corporate types who were walking three or four across during their end-of-the-day strolls in the park, but otherwise the variety in scenery and riding conditions was very enjoyable.

   I will warn anyone trying to find their way along this wonderful (roughly) five-mile trail that connects Alapocas, Rockwood and Bringhurst Woods with Bellevue State Park, that you can get misdirected. Paying attention to the East Coast Greenway signs makes the journey fairly simple. There is a brief transition area along Weldin Ridge and Talley Roads, as the trail ducks under I-95, but it is still road-separated, and you are soon heading back into the wooded hills.

   I ended my trail ride at Bellevue Parkway, which became Cauffiel Parkway, which heads downhill towards the Delaware River. I made a right at the bottom, back onto Governor Printz Boulevard to return to my car. There are probably some little tweaks I’d make to this route to eliminate some of the hectic sections, but this was a ride I definitely would like to do again!

   I’m getting to the point again where I need to move some of my completed bikes out before working on others – I only have so much room for storage! I did finish up the Chesini Olimpiade, and was quite pleased with the way the pantografia (engraving) painting turned out, although I was disappointed that the fork engraving wasn’t deep enough to hold paint. Every time I tried to wipe the surrounding area, the rest of the fill would be removed.

   Above are shots of the headtube and the Olympic rings on the drive side seat stay, and following are photos of the built bike, which is now listed among the others I currently have for sale.

   I’ll wrap up with shots of my completed Claude Criquielion tribute bike. The Eddy Merckx Century would have had Mavic components, but my Mavic Mania has calmed considerably after the Vitus 992 travails. I’ve always wanted a bicycle equipped with Campagnolo Corsa Record components, and they are definitely era-appropriate on this machine.

   I did include a Cinelli stem and Criterium bars, a Selle San Marco Rolls saddle and a set of first-generation Look pedals just like the Belgian legend used at that time. I’m looking forward to riding the Merckx during this Saturday’s Tech Turkey Trek – hope to see you there!

The Great Philadelphia Station Hunt

   No, I don’t usually need a reason to go on a bike ride, but this little excursion was planned around a concert ticket purchase and the fact that I hate paying what the online brokers call a “convenience fee”. I don’t find dishing out an extra eight bucks very convenient, and I’m willing to make a trip down to the box office to save myself an extra hit to the wallet!

   Along with my visit to Franklin Music Hall, a stone’s throw from Franklin Square and his namesake bridge, I planned a route to find a few Philadelphia train stations. I’ve mentioned before on this blog my side hobby of “collecting” stations, brought about not only by interest in railroads but my love of architecture. Of course, the major structures like 30th Street Station or Grand Central in NYC are fantastic, but smaller depots also have their own charm, and I have photos of nearly 700 railroad stations that I have visited across the country.

   The Railroad Station Historical Society website is an invaluable resource to see what has been in the vicinity during my travels. The site is organized by state, and the Pennsylvania and New York sections are particularly helpful, as they are organized by county and include photos, addresses and a bit of history on the structures, as well! There were twenty-nine stations listed in Philadelphia, and I was missing six.

   Knowing that the circuit to reach the different destinations was going to be around fifty miles, I drove into Manayunk to eliminate an additional ride distance to and from the city. A good percentage of my ride was going to include bike lanes, and I started off down Ridge Road and then cut across Lehigh Avenue to the Glenwood section of Philadelphia. Just to the south of the intersection at Broad Street sits the Reading Railroad’s North Broad Station – the platforms are still in service in back, but the headhouse now serves as a homeless shelter.

   I headed up Broad Street then turned east on Glenwood Avenue, which eventually turns into Venango Street. At the northeast corner of its intersection with B Street is a former Pennsylvania Railroad freight house. It once was a boxcar transload facility, and the 50,000 square foot building is now Amtrak property.

   Ticket pick-up was my next stop, so I pedaled down B, turned right on Allegheny and left on 6th Street, eventually entering some of the neighborhoods I visited this winter on my City Cycling 4 ride. The Guided By Voices show I want to see is actually at Underground Arts, but use of the Franklin Music Center box office is shared during daytime hours.

   After the purchase, I continued down 6th, passing the Constitution Center and Independence Hall. My Historic Philadelphia rides, if nothing else, have really made me familiar with the surroundings, and I was picking out sites around Washington Square that I had visited previously. I made a right at Carpenter Street to reach a Philadelphia Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad freight station that has been nicely converted into a farmer’s market.

   Reversing direction via Washington Street, I made my way back across the city to reach Penn’s Landing and followed the Delaware River Trail north. The trail is in development above Market Street, so I was on and off segments near the Sugar House Casino, then I was back on the bike lane up Delaware Avenue and Richmond Street.

   The in-street trackage for Philadelphia’s light rail system was being installed in the Port Richmond neighborhood, so I briefly had to take to the sidewalk to get around all of the carnage. I made a right turn on Allegheny Avenue, where a wide and nicely-paved trail paralleled the streets through PhilaPort and the Tioga Marine Terminal. I wouldn’t say the trail was “scenic”, but there definitely was a lot to see, with a dock busy with truck traffic and container ship cranes, plus a few interesting industries along Delaware Avenue.

   I soon crossed Frankford Creek and passed beneath the Betsy Ross Bridge. Here I noticed the path really became a Rails-To-Trails project, as I was riding under the catenary towers that once carried the overhead wires powering the Pennsylvania Railroad’s electric freight engines as they brought trains to and from the Delaware River port area.

A pair of General Electric E44 locomotives pull a freight train in December 1968.

   Now in the Bridesburg section of the city, I made a left on Orthodox Street, and zigzagged over to Torresdale Avenue via Richmond and Bridge Streets. I had gone through my snacks in my jersey back pockets, and the wonderful smells coming from the variety of little restaurants in the Tacony neighborhood were making my stomach grumble. The road conditions were perfect here as the wide avenue had been recently repaved and had a nicely lined bike lane.

   Turning right on Rhawn Street, I spied Holmesburg Junction Station, which really looks like some passenger platforms around an interlocking tower. Splitting here from the Pennsylvania Railroad main line is the Bustleton Branch, now a lightly-used freight line, which runs up along the Pennypack Creek to service a few industries around Northeast Philadelphia Airport.

 

   I made a little detour to see the Frankford Avenue Bridge (also known as the Pennypack Creek Bridge, the Pennypack Bridge, the Holmesburg Bridge, and the King's Highway Bridge), which was erected in 1697 and is the oldest surviving roadway bridge in the United States.

   I was a little amused when my path down Ashburner Street was blocked by fire engine activity, but I found my way over to State Road and continued out along the railroad main line. There was a fairly new road-separated bike trail here, but with plenty of parallel roads, including I-95, for drivers to choose from, traffic was light, so I just stayed in the shoulder for the few miles up to Grant Avenue and Torresdale Station.

   On the return route, I cut back over to the better cycling conditions of Torresdale Avenue, and rode about three miles to a right turn at Tyson Avenue. I was now intersecting many busier roads in this northwesterly direction, and my legs were starting to feel the burn from the constant stops and accelerations at the traffic lights. In the back of my mind I knew that I still had a little climbing ahead of me.

   I was impressed to be in a bike lane most of the return route, and the pedal-friendly conditions continued down Rising Sun Avenue. Sue always says that she dislikes downhills, because the road always has to go back up, and after a brief coast down Adams Avenue, crossing Tacony Creek, I met a nasty little hill up Godfrey Avenue and a longer drag up Stenton Avenue.

   A left turn on Vernon Road led me to the highlight stop on this trip, the charming stone Stenton Station (man, is THAT alliterative!) in the east side of Mt. Airy.

   I swerved along Sprague Street onto Belfield Avenue to reach Johnson Street and pedaled a mile or so until it ended at Wissahickon Avenue. Just a few blocks to the left was the Rittenhouse Lane connection to the Wissahickon Trail. This route paralleled Lincoln Drive all the way down to Ridge Road, just a short sprint to my starting point on this ride.

   A few weeks ago, I purchased a Chesini (kay-SEE-nee) bicycle that someone had badged up as a Colnago Super – I don’t know why someone would do that to a very respectable brand, especially one with engravings that are an obvious giveaway to its true identity! However, I wasn’t complaining too much, because it allowed me to get a pretty good deal on the early-1980s Olimpiade model from one of my “connections” in the Netherlands.

   I can’t say I’m a big fan of the neon pink and black fade, but it is era-appropriate, and after I removed all of the decals and rubbed down the bike to clean off all of the adhesive residue, I turned to touching up some of the bad chipping areas. The enamel fluorescents are a little thin, so I had to apply a white base to the bare spots first, but the color ended up matching really well.

   The bike came with a mix of Campagnolo parts with some Shimano thrown in, so I going to go with the majority that is in place and focus on Campy Gran Sport and Nuovo Record parts. Those modern tires will go, as will the shabby saddle – unfortunate, because it WAS an excellent Selle Italia Turbo many, many years ago. I ordered some Chesini decals from VeloCals, and I’m going to take a crack at filling in the engraving with some contrasting color, too.

   After weeks of trying to find an affordable set of Record brakes for the Casati Fibre, I finally lucked out with a Campagnolo Centaur group that came to me “on the cheap”, with a mismatched pair of Record calipers included. The bike had otherwise been complete and hanging from my rafters, so I was able to put the final touches on it over the weekend.

   The seat post may appear a bit long in the photos, but I didn’t want to cut it down. I’d rather leave it to the new owner to make his own custom fit. I’ll sign off with the Casati pics:

Peaceful shifting...AT LAST!

   I had originally built my Vitus 922 with a complete set of Mavic components, which were hard to find and are becoming rarer and more expensive all the time. As I rode the bicycle more often, I found there were some changes and compromises to be made in order to achieve a better fit and improve the machine’s overall performance.

   The first change was obvious immediately, as I wanted a compact crankset to provide more “climbability”. I had installed modern FSA cranks for the short term, until I could find something more era-appropriate, which came in the form of a Sugino RT set.

   During this swap, I was happy to learn that I could adjust the cage length on Mavic 801 derailleur by sliding the pivot bolt within a slot in the cage plates (see yellow circled area in photo below). By lengthening the cage, I could increase the chain wrap capacity – in other words, take up the extra slack in the chain that occurs when changing between the compact crankset’s 50- and 34-tooth rings.

   I didn’t like the curve of the Mavic handlebars, as I couldn’t find a comfortable position for the brake levers in order to be able to ride from the hoods, yet have the proper reach to brake when in the drops. Here I went a little outside of the box, but because you can only see a bit of the handlebars with tape applied, I decided to cut a little weight and install some Kestrel carbon bars. The product choice was actually a bit old-school, as they were a pristine set from the early 2000s.  

   The major change to the Vitus’ setup was to come with the shifting. I had originally installed a set of Mavic 820 downtube shifters (photo below), but after a decade of the ease and safety of keeping my hands on the bars when changing gears, I decided to change things up – and my preference would be Campagnolo, of course.

   The first issue would be changing the Mavic 801 derailleur, which made me sad, because I loved the industrial look of that component. The 801 had a drop parallelogram design, which required a shorter amount of cable pull to shift cogs than modern brake/shift levers provide. I purchased a Mavic 845 derailleur of the more modern, slant parallelogram variety which more closely follows the profile of the cogs when changing gears. I thought that I was well on my way to fixing the situation.

   The next problem came from the set of Mavic Cosmos wheels, which I loved, but the set unfortunately had a Shimano freehub. This was no problem with the downtube friction shifters, as they would work with any brand of cassette, but Campagnolo and Shimano have different cog and spacing widths, so any change involving indexed shifting was going to be sketchy.

   After some research, I found that the Shimano 7-speed cassettes had similar shifting distances to the Campagnolo 8-speed, and theoretically an extra spacer and cog could be inserted to match up. It ended up being very close, but the shifting was noisy and occasionally slipped in the middle cogs. I substituted a set of Campagnolo wheels and the situation was a little better but not perfect.

   I took a trip to visit my pals at Bikesport for some brainstorming, and it was suggested that the culprit may be the cable pull compatibility. I recalled reading somewhere that the Mavic 845 rear derailleur would work with 8-speed systems, but I couldn’t remember that it specifically mentioned Campagnolo.

   Sure enough, after checking with some old Mavic technical manuals someone had posted online, only Dura-Ace indexed systems were named as compatible. I slipped the shift cable out of the rear derailleur and housing then took the righthand Dura-Ace lever that had been set aside for the Bottecchia 989 to conduct a shifting experiment. I inserted the cable into the shifter and housing then, without having to actually install the lever on the bars, went through the cogs without any problems.

   I was a bit disappointed to have to remove the more stylish Campagnolo shifters, but I was happy to be able to keep my Mavic wheels and, more importantly, the derailleurs. If the Dura-Ace shifters would not have worked, I would have had to consider changing to a complete Campagnolo group. It wouldn’t have been tragic, but I really wanted to maintain the overall “French-ness” of the bicycle.

   There hasn’t been a lot of mention of the Bottecchia 989 build since I bought the frame back in September, but that is mostly because it simply involved collecting parts...and I simply had a hard time finding reasonable prices for everything. The fact of the matter is, as time is going on vintage parts in good condition are getting harder to find, and the cost is reflecting that. It doesn’t help that eBay now has PA sales tax added on. An additional 6-8% is a big hit to my budget when buying $300 frameset and component groups!

   The Bottecchia is being listed at a number that is higher than I would normally prefer, but it is a pro team bike from the ‘90s – a rare find in such condition. I hope, with the appropriate top-end parts installed, it draws in some potential buyers.

   Just to provide a little update on the Masi Nuova Strada project, I have nearly all of the C-Record group ordered, and I’ve installed a few things as they’ve come in. I even threw a few desperate lowball bids at some delta brakes, but nothing stuck.

   I really want to keep the budget within reason, so my plan is now to go with the “Cobalto” brakes Campagnolo substituted when the first-generation deltas were found to be less-than-perfect mechanically. The Cobalto brakes are essentially Super Record with blue script and a blue jewel on the caliper pivot bolt. The color will match up nicely with the frame, and, more importantly, the alternative brakes will cost about 1/3 of the deltas!

   Collection of the needed parts for my Eddy Merckx Hitachi team bicycle is going well, with the expected difficulty being the search for a set of Delta brakes at a reasonable price. My goal is to have the bike ready for the Cycle Tech Turkey Trek in a few weeks.

   All readers are invited to this social ride (relaxed pace) that will start at the Schuylkill River Trail’s Betzwood Park Trailhead, near King of Prussia. We’ll ride into Philadelphia and back, around a 44-mile round trip.