ollo_ollo

This began as a story of how buying 2 bikes led to riding Cino-2019. But a 3rd bike got involved. I'll get to that, 1st the 2 bikes:

PX10 I got was on Portland CL, maybe you saw it? Seller had taken time to source missing parts with good stuff: Vintage Brooks B5n, 1st gen Phil hubs/Super Champion Gentleman rims, Velo Orange Belville bar, Early Compass tires. Correct derailleurs, although the rear had a Motobecane sticker and sticker was missing from the front. Later model Simplex retrofriction shifters. It was a nice bike at a realistic price.

When home, I rode it and felt it needed some changes. Didn't like the narrow, no rise bars or the very narrow pedals that lacked about 3/4" to fit my wide, duck feet. The saddle was a pre-drilled for lacing model. Drive side was torn thru all along the row with bottom leather missing. Other side was beginning to the do same. Was an ideal candidate for butchering into a swallowesque gem. I marked & cut the saddle & set aside for later finishing. Replaced it with a used Vetta SL. Swapped the pedals for the steel Lyotards from the Gitane Grand Sport Mixte I gave my granddaughter. Replaced the tiny bar with a nice stem/bar/levers set off eBay and recabled the bike. Now it was ready to ride.

About this time I saw Bike # 2 on the Bend CL. It was a 91 Trek 520. No phone #, and no response to my e-mail, but ad remained up. Been having problems with many of my emails going directly into people's Spam or trash folders, so worked a bit & found sellers address. Mailed him a note & got a call few days later.

It was a familiar story, Cyclist got wife a new bike so they could do rides together. Wife did not ride the bike. Fast forward 28 years. No evidence it had been ridden. 2 microscopic chips on the top tube, no wear on braking surfaces. He had tried 1 more time, put new Continental Contact tires on and bought a new Specialized saddle. Now he just wanted to get rid of it. Glad to help out.

I only have pics of the Trek after I added some fenders to spiff it up a bit. I have a Technomic stem to raise the bar but haven't installed it yet.

Needed work done on both my cars. The place I use is exactly 20 miles from my home. I spread the work over several weeks. I would drop the car off, bicycle home, then ride back and P.U. car a few days later when the work was done. Nearly whole ride is on shoulder of State Hwy 22 and I-5. Going in Westbound, there is 1 long, steep uphill of about 2 1/2 miles, with a shorter, steeper descent of about 1 1/2 mile. It's the reverse Eastbound on my ride home. I'll put pics up now & tell the rest later in another post.

edit: Lost all the above while uploading 5 more pics. A missing security tag warning appeared then everything went away. Got disgusted & went for a ride, got back, had dinner & wonder of wonders, its back now with some of the pics. Ain't technology grand?

ollo_ollo

Keep having problems loading pics. Going to re-size them smaller so they load faster.

ollo_ollo

more pics

ollo_ollo

Pics

ollo_ollo

So about the 3rd bike...Since I had 2 new bikes, and had done some changes on both, I rode them to get to & from the place was fixing my cars. Despite being a heavier bike, I expected the Trek would have the fastest time because it could handle the hill with ease.

The PX10 weighed in at 23 pounds 2 oz which includes the pump. The 520 is chunky & comes in at 28 pounds with the new fenders.

Best time for the Trek over 20 miles was 95 minutes. An average speed of 12.63 mph. Best time for the PX10 over the same route, with nearly identical weather, was 72 minutes. An average speed of 16.67 mph.

I think there were 3 factors in PX10's faster time. 1. Uphill was much less work with the Trek's granny, but I was going very slow. I hadn't expected to make it up the hill on the PX10, so I really attacked it and maintained a fairly good speed all the way to the top. 2. Downhill: I had ridden the Trek first and was unfamiliar with the road, so was cautious descending & rode the brakes to keep my speed down. The PX10 really gained speed quickly downhill, maybe it was the hubs? Plus I scarcely braked, being now familiar with the road. 3. Tires: There really was a noticeable difference in the feel of those Compass tires. Lively is how I would describe it. It felt like they were helping out when climbing and descending they were very stable. Reassuring.

Maybe I could ride the Cino. I decided to go for it and register. But with so many saying how hard a ride it was, I decided to take the Stronglight 99 triple off my Grand Jubile. Its 30-36-47 could really help. I pulled the 99, put it on the PX10, then found the BB spindle was too short. The small ring didn't clear the frame. Grrrr. I also noticed I had been turning a 45 tooth small ring on the PX10, not a 48. So that was part of why I climbed faster than on my other bikes that had 48 tooth small ring. Does make a difference.

What to do? I did have a light Motobecane Grand Record that had good tire clearance and another bike had a 50-34 compact crank. Time to try another transplant. Swap went well and I mounted the new Paselaa Gravel Kings with no problems. There was better than expected tire/brake clearance.

Took the bike out on a 6 mile circuit near home that has a 2 mile gravel stretch. Tires are pretty good on gravel, also feel pretty lively on pavement. I like them. Pics to follow.

ollo_ollo

Here's the pics, Amputees that lost their crankarms will just hang out for a while.

Lascauxcaveman 

When in doubt, go for whatever gives you the lower gearing. (But not that Trek; it's too new).

FWIW - I don't think that Cino route is all that hard, but it is 60+ miles the first day and almost 60 the next day and each day with significant climbing, so it's more than just an average weekend riding for most people. And mostly gravel, so the next most important thing after gearing is riding on a fatter tire that you'd choose for your average pavement sprints.

I did it on my Grandis with 700c x 32mm Paselas last time and that was more than adequate for 95% of the ride. For the rougher 5%, I'd step up to 35mm or 38mm tires, and I may do that this year, having found bikes that accommodate them easily enough.

ollo_ollo

On the Grand Record, I can't fit anything bigger than these 32's. Rides & handles well in everything but the deepest gravel, so will just try to avoid or keep speed down when there's too much loose stuff. Really, really like the Compass tires with the PX10 ride & handling, but would be stupid to go to far out on dirt/gravel roads on old tires that have only 50% tread at best and one has to work hard getting up steep hills with the high gearing.

I like the light weight Grand Record(still have to weigh it with the Gravel Kings). For a deep reserve, I can always take the fenders off my 84 Expedition Touring or the true last resort is my 66 Super Sport with its triple crank upgrade, but both are much heavier rigs. Don

gugie 

I told a friend of mine that the granny gear on one of my bikes was 30". He replied that his granny gear was 2 feet.

Tim the Caveman gives good advice. I'm bringing my Pimp Gran(d) Sport(s), sub-30" granny, 33.333 tires.

scarlson 

Reminds me of the Aussie friend who told me that his bike had two gears: "pedalin' and walkin'."

I never even considered snail mail as a way to get around Craigslist reticence. That's a good trick to file away.

Geez, snail mail and you have a radial arm saw in your shop, what a blast from the past!

ollo_ollo

Actually have several RAS & one is a 12" Red Star, Queen of them all! Don

ollo_ollo

Meant to post update earlier this week, but my dog Gus had a run in with one of our local critters at sunup a few days ago. I was fixing my breakfast when the fracas started. Went out & found Gus under my Shed, fighting something. Barking/growling/howling...dirt & dust flying. My new little female pup was racing around the shed barking, but staying well clear of the fight. To dark under there to get a good look, but it was either a grey fox or weird looking feral cat. Gus was to into it to be called off, so I grabbed a 6' windfall limb to whack & poke under the shed. Got Gus out & grabbed him...critter took off. Gus looked terrible with blood all over head, chest & shoulders, but after clean-up nothing to serious, just lots of small bite wounds. He's back to normal today, loved all the extra attention.

So I've worked at getting my old body ready for Cino, riding daily on one of 5 local routes. 10, 12. 15, 20 & 22 miles. All have some steep hills and all but 1 route features 2 miles or more of gravel with hills. Been riding the Grand Record and PX10 on gravel routes and the Trek on the long freeway route. Can't find time to do longer rides. Counting on some kind of interval training effect.

Still liked the PX10 ride best, so tried 1 more time to make the Stronglight 99 triple work. By making spacers, I removed 1 ring but kept the same bolts/bushings. Still had a clearance issue. With no hesitation, I slightly flattened the chainstay to clear that 30 tooth ring. A 32 tooth freewheel from another bike gives me a 25.4" low vs the Grand Record's 34". Lots of other parts changes, replaced the neat theft deterrent skewers with standard quick release as I would likely lose that special allen wrench just when needed! Took a saddle bag & a bar mount bottle holder off my Grand Jubile, a Brooks Team Pro was the most comfortable of all I tried plus it looks good!

During one PX10 ride, I started hearing noise from the rear DR & found a tooth broken off the jockey wheel. The other jockey wheel was cracked worse & finished breaking during disassembly. New Gravel Kings were mounted and a Presta valve hose exchanged for the Shrader that came in the pump. (wouldn't that have been a nice surprise?)

On the ride I'll try to stay hydrated, eat well at the rest stops, watch my speed on descents and above all, have fun. Don

SurferRosa

Huh. Interesting frame. Never seen a GR quite like this...

ollo_ollo

1985 GR, Columbus SL frame & fork. Frame only weighed 3.8 pounds. Original spec was Campagnolo Triomphe. Got mine as a bare frame, built with good stuff, but not to original spec. Also, bike was originally white. The paint/decals were trashed, and moto decal graphics were pretty ugly compared to the elegance of earlier models. I had this set made up by cyclomondo of Australia. He even had the early Script "Motobecane" used prior their changing to the block lettering. I like the look better with all script.

Bike now is a "FrankenCino" version as is the PX10

mhespenheide 

That wine-red grand record Motobecane with Campagnolo is gorgeous, right down to the lettering. Fantastic job on resurrecting it. Fillet brazed?

ollo_ollo

Yes.