Realsteel95

As much as 2020 has not been a great year due to the pandemic, it got me back into riding and C&V bikes. I rode the length of Rhode Island from the border of Mass down to the ocean on my 86 Centurion Iron Man and I picked up a Zeus Competition in August that I am working on. With most of the things I usually do hindered by the pandemic, it gave me time to work on and gain more knowledge about bikes.

SurferRosa

2020 was productive. I rode quite a bit, flipped five bikes, bought a new vintage wheelset for the Bertoni, dressed up my Miyata with a Chorus crank and Brooks Pro...



And added a sixth bike to the stable, a '72 Torpado.


.

rccardr 

Rode a lot.
Enjoyed more time with Mrs. Doc and my grandkids.
Rode more.
And then took a ride.
Bought and set up a high end indoor trainer, complete with Ironman.
Bought this as a bare frame in February, had it resprayed by Jack at Franklin Frames, built it up with DA 7400 and a panto'd crankset by Steven Needles:


Bought this back from Neal Lerner and did a top to bottom rehab:


And then took another ride.

top506

Sold 5, acquired 3.

Brought a dead Ironman back to life:




and rode like a teenager again.






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Sir_Name 

I rode a lot this year and dropped a good amount of weight. Working from home and spending most lunch hours on Zwift has my fitness at its best maybe ever, and still improving. The Zwift setup is a freebie 198* aluminum Trek 1000 with 6 speed indexed Shimano on a Kinetic Rock and Roll wheel-on trainer. This year has seen a fair bit of wrenching on C&V bikes as well.

Mr. 66

Very busy year for me the highlights would be the 2 SBDU Raliegh one was kept the other was sold. A Schwinn Prologue rolled through.
Still waiting for transfers from H. Lloyd for my '77 repaint.

'79 SBDU

CV-6 

After many years of searching, I got my unicorn. A 753 Lejeune. And it is everything I expected.

20200723_121954 by L Travers, on Flickr

SurferRosa

Love your minimal housing length treatment. Elegant.

BFisher

C&V-wise, 2020 was a great year. Lots to be appreciative of, lots of great stuff posted here. Favorite thread of 2020 might be @northbend "Empty Road Ahead."

I came home one day to this:


I wasn't really expected to wait months to open it. When I did the first thing I saw was this:


I sat stunned for a few minutes as I slowly revealed the gift. Turned out like this once the drooling slowed down:


I also three-speeded my '73 Super Course, and the build was and is a huge success.


I had plenty of great rides. Made great deals here on the forum. I stayed healthy and safe. And, it was really nice to read about and see photos of all the great builds and rides that you all have done this year.

Happy riding!
Brian

gaucho777 

Excellent! Congrats, Lynn. I know that was a long search. Glad you found a grail in 2020.

non-fixie 

2020 was an 'interesting' year so far. Bike-wise it was a bit of a challenge. No Retroronde, no Anjou Vélo Vintage and no L'Eroica. But mrs non-fixie and I did manage to sneak in a couple of trips between lock-downs.

To the French Provence in late June:



And to the Italian flower riviera in late September:



Bike acquisition was at an all-time low too. But the Olympia Sport I did acquire turned out to be rather nice, though:



Given the circumstances, I think we did alright.

cb400bill

With over 4100 miles in, I’ve done more riding in 2020 than ever before. I sold a bike to a fellow C&Ver but not before riding it with another C&Ver.

My Voyageur with S Montanaro’s lovely ItalVega. I bonked hard on this ride.


I did some trading and ended up with a Trek 710. Did a few Metric Century rides on it.

Nice July day to ride 72 miles to our area covered bridge and back.



And then in August I took the Trek on a 70 mile gravel ride on our local Rail to Trail. Bike is still covered with trail dust.

chainwhip

I'm 180 degrees opposite.

Steel frame = +100
STIs = +100
D/T Shift levers = hard pass

Favorite threads :
C&V ...
Retro roadies- old frames with STI's or Ergos
Let's see your Lemond!

Favorite BF Bike of the Year:

"Originally Posted by upthywazzoo
Haven't posted in a while. I had been riding an '89 Schwinn Paramount that I adored, but a couple years ago it was stolen out of my garage. Some time later, an eBay search alert popped up for "Lemond Zurich" and it happened to be my favorite colorway/year for any of the Trek-built frames AND signed by the man himself. Initially built it up in silver with 7800 and aluminum rims and then rebuilt it last year with new everything and a Columbus Minimal fork painted to match (because it's extra af). Awesome ride, and hopefully I can keep it forever."


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iab

Thinking about 2020, despite everything, my circle of cycling and vintage enthusiasts became much more robust. Maybe just more checking in? Doing more favors because there is nothing better to do? More deliberation in making connections? All of it? I don't know, but I'd call it a pretty damn good year in hindsight.

For example, while perusing Richard Byrne's flickr a couple tree years ago, I came across pictures of Ercole Baldini's hour record bike (52 or 56, I'm not sure which). And as best to my knowledge and my vintage buddies, the hubs on that bike were one offs made by FB for that bike only. I thought they looked cool (except for the rear, that just looked like it would fail looking at it funny). I made drawings (my rear was in the same style as the front) and sent them to one of my vintage connections and having nothing better to do, he machined a set for me. I have another friend who is a distributor for Grand Bois. Right before covid, I had him get me some GB rims and tires. Good timing on my part. Then, another local guy, BF member (on the 41 mostly), started a wheel-building business 10+ years ago. I was one of his first customers and I finally got around to dropping off the hubs, rims and Stella spokes I got at a swap. I can build my own, but Rob is better and is very reasonably priced, why do it myself.

I picked them up last week. Good looking wheels. Definitely a highlight of the year.

Wheels by iabisdb, on Flickr


The Baldini hubs from Richard Byrne's flickr.

Fiorenzo Magni Museum Exhibit by Speedplay Vintage Bicycle Component Museum, on Flickr

Fiorenzo Magni Museum Exhibit by Speedplay Vintage Bicycle Component Museum, on Flickr


The new hubs on Mafac_Brakes' flickr.

Baldini Hour Record pattern 9.5mm x 8mm, 32 spoke, solid axle Double-Fixed hub set by Mafac_Brakes, on Flickr

jamesdak 

For me this year has been about knee pain and swelling that kept me from hardly riding at all for about 7 months straight. Finally got going again but still couldn't get the inflammation in check until I finally got so Cortisone shots. Just a band aid to keep me going for awhile but I least I'm no longer hobbling along like a cripple.

Good bike year though. Finally got a "grail" bike, Team Z Lemond.



And got the amazingly good Duell built up with modern components and have been marveling how how well it rides out on the road.




And then the latest unplanned purchase today that is about to become the best of the year. A frame made by a builder whose work i have admired for years and with a paintjob by another "artist" whom I've also enjoyed for years. I didn't know who painted it until after I bought it so that revelation from the seller was quite the pleasant surprise.

I also had a total blast this year with a fairly rough Colnago I bought locally (don't meet a buyer at dusk with old man eyes!) but that was a blast to tear all down and rebuild. I took a crudely performing old Italian that had a nice ride into one of my most sublime working machines. So happy with it now even if it does look crappy up close. Oh, and finally getting the Superbe tubulars for the Opus III. Been wanting those for it since the buy years ago.

And.... crap I guess it was a busy year. I had a lot of paint fixed on the Evans bike and then rebuilt it with some sweet Dura Ace 9 speed parts. This one two has been such a joy to get to know out on the road.

bocobiking

Bought this 1990 Tommasini Super Prestige. Built it up with Campy Racing T drivetrain after stripping off the Chorus 8 speed it came with (too high gearing, 130mm hub in 126 dropouts, single pivot calipers).

embankmentlb

Purchased this 3rensho in 2020 after looking for many many years. I just love everything about this bike.

Ivory88

That is absolutely stunning!

JaccoW

I picked up way too many bikes, started way too many projects and spent way too much money on bikes. But I definitely had fun doing it. There was quite a bit of riding with two separate weeks of riding through my home country. One in August in the blistering heat with a friend, the other on my own in the miserable cold, windy weather of November. And a nice weekend with my girlfriend and a friend.

It made me realize some personal things and one of them being that while I do enjoy the more inwards oriented life in a close-knit group of friends and neighbours, the fact of the matter is different groups and environments energise me. I'm ready to change some things in my life and I hope to do it in a constructive way and not burn all my ships like I might be tempted to do.

As for specific bike projects;

• I finished the 1996 Koga-Miyata SilverAce and have been riding it as my daily commuter,
• Picked up a 1977 Gazelle Tandem.
• Got my hands on a 66cm 1993 Koga-Miyata WorldTraveller to probably replace the role that my 1980's Batavus Randonneur GL fills.
• Finally turned the 1976 Gazelle Grand Tourist into the sort of bike I always wanted it to be.
• Started digitizing the Koga-Miyata brochures I got from Senior2 on the 'WereldFietser' forum together with the 1995 Koga-Miyata AdventureLady mixte that used to belong to his wife. I plan to turn that into something nice too.

Koga-Miyata SilverAce


Gazelle Tandem


Koga-Miyata WorldTraveller


Batavus Randonneur GL


Gazelle Grand Tourist


Koga-Miyata AdventureLady

plonz 

2020 became the year I now cycle 100% carbon free. My Specialized Tarmac hadn't seen action in several years so I off-loaded it over the summer. Sadly, I let the wheels with White Industries hubs go with it.

alexihnen 

Well, before 2020 I didn't collect old bikes. Now I do. I've learned a lot, discovered what kind of bikes I really enjoy, met some great people, and haven't made too many costly mistakes along the way. I'm excited to move on to the next phase of collecting. When I started I couldn't really understand why someone might move along a bike they cherished, why they might trade a bike, or sell something without getting the maximum price. I'm getting there. 2021 will clearly be a year of finishing builds and clearing out parts boxes.

merziac

Well this was probably the best of, 2020 Strawberry and while not technically C+V it is skinny tube 531 lugged steel, vintage Brooks, clamp, post, skewers, brake pad holders, chrome steel quill stem, classic bars, Campy HS, pedals, clips, straps and all the C+V mojo I could muster despite full modern drivetrain.

The consensus was mostly favorable so I'm putting it here.




https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ou-decide.html

merziac

@alexihnen

Tx!

Was getting ready to ask about the DiNucci in your sidebar, couldn't find a thread, still have it, pics?

SurferRosa

Wow!

RobbieTunes

Don't jump in with both feet....



OK, go ahead.