non-fixie 

Note taken.

Had a look at the site. Not cheap. But I saw something which looked like nice porteur bars:




However, the item description left me wondering. Am I getting too old for this?

JaccoW

Maybe but probably not.

I suspect this is high-quality Japanese Engrish when I read some of their other descriptions. If you ever watch Japanese movies or anime you'll recognize the sometimes incomprehensible concepts they use.
Nice bullhorns though.

cudak888 

No, they're just trying to compete with Rivendell

-Kurt

J.Higgins 

This is exactly what I was thinking. As I was browsing the stems on that site, I read one description three times and still couldn't figure out what was being said. There was absolutely nothing that described the stem itself, or entice me to purchase one. I personally cannot justify the unrealistically-high price of their components without some Grant Petersen-esque prose to help me pry open the wallet.

JaccoW

True, but they certainly have some great collaborations. Their Simworks x Panaracer 'Homage' tire is a great looking cream/burgundy skinwall tyre and I have seen some beautiful 90's MTB's with the Cyan/green version. And I don't think anybody else makes brass fenders or rear fender stays as elegant as their Dove stay.

They seem to cater to that part of the (Japanese) bicycle market of unique/weird accoutrements that mostly exists because somebody wanted to have something nobody else had.
And that's alright... I might be one of those.

Same for Fairweather Japan with their Fairweather x Panaracer 'for traveler' tire and it's algae-colored thread or the cream Fairweather x Panaracer 'for cruise' tire.

CMYK for those that like it: by CapsulesGang26

J.Higgins 

I'm with you. Those tires are definitely sweet, and the fenders! Wow!

JaccoW

Check out @DHPflaumer on the forum he has them on his bike with a nice bit of patina.

JaccoW

Short update from a stormy Dutch evening;

Girlfriend was away so I had free reign of the house could sneak in the bike to work on it.

The stainless steel Berthoud fenders were a breeze to mount with most of the holes in the right place by itself though the Honjo fender stay always takes some extra filing and fiddling to mount properly.
The (badly lit) end result is nice though.

A quick step on a personal scale tells me the bike is a mere 16.2kg (35.7lbs) which, considering the size, 1kg front rack, fenders and 2.5+kg (2.5lbs) rear wheel tells me it's pretty damn light!
I will be adding a bit more weight though when I build a 90mm drum brake dynamo front wheel but all in all it should still be lighter than it was originally.



A fun surpise were the Honjo mudflaps.
Though not as big as I expected they should still offer plenty of protection and are, above all, really light.
A single flap is 9 grams (0.317 ounces) and both of them are a mere 37 grams (1.305 ounces) with the included hardware.

JaccoW

And some outside beauty shots.

Getting some decent 'Porteur' vibes here.

cudak888 

Oooh. That looks clean. It's almost eerie not to see any brake calipers or housing running anywhere on top.

Oh, and nice fenderlines too. What fenders?

-Kurt

JaccoW

cudak888 Thanks, they're Gilles Berthoud stainless steel fenders in the 700C 50mm wide long version. (Link)
Added some Honjo mudflaps and their rear fender stay for extra coverage and sturdiness.

The brake and shifter cable run along the bottom of the down tube using stainless steel bolts and clips. They will become more visible when I swap them out for a more contrasting color.

JaccoW

I was bored and I had all these images saved from the short history I did in post #4 so I decided to make an animated gif out of it.

It's fun to see how there is sometimes no more changes than a different paintjob between years and then suddenly there is a lot of experimenting going on once they switch to aluminum, the first year they offered dynamo hubs and when front shocks became common on Dutch commuter bikes.

Anyway, enjoy!

Millstone

Nice.

J.Higgins 

The Netherlands, with the highest amount of bikes per capita has simply got to be bike nirvana.

JaccoW

Plenty of nice bikes around and I could certainly entertain a lot of C&V folks by walking around with a camera in the bike parking at the local train station. Most bikes however are run down singlespeeds and switch hands every few years after which they get a minimal overhaul to be serviceable again. Or three-speeds with half the cables missing.
It's why you can still find the occasional 70+ year old bike running around. They are simple, easy to work on machines.

But if you like practical bicycles that stand the test of time and exposure to the elements, the Netherlands is where it is at. And plenty of nicer bikes like Koga, Van Nicholas, Elian cycles and for the more common daily riders there is Veloretti and Van Moof.

Millstone

Yes,...

google "van hulsteijn racefiets" and see what you can do with a bit of imagination and some steel tubes.

I'd love to ride/own one, unfortunately the designer of these moved (IIRC) from Arnhem to... somewhere? A few years ago. So I dont know if they still are sold.

Edit: He went to Amsterdam. No idea if he (or his "firm"?) still makes those bikes. Because you know, artists...

Nevertheless, nice stuff.

socalbike

Incredible bike that id never heard of before this, looks like a really sweet cruiser.

JaccoW

I tried to get some more information about the tubing in this frame from Koga but they didn't have anything anymore. Seems like some of that information was never explicitly saved when they stopped working together back in 2010.

Miyata on the other hand could tell me a bit more.
I contacted them on Facebook and they told me the following: (summarized)
If I had to warrant a guess it might just be the main triangle that is made from FM-1 tubing (as is most often the case on non-performance bikes) but unless I can find a large x-ray machine we'll never know.

Still, more information about the history of this bike is nice and I thank Miyata for their efforts.

cudak888 

That's some fantastic stuff there. Never seen butting combined withrifling, though I've never really looked into Miyata's stuff that much. Ought to make a heck of a stiff tube.

Any chance any local universities might have that X-ray machine? Not even sure that type of butting and rifling is possible on seatstays, but it would be interesting just to get a peek at the main triangle.

-Kurt

JaccoW

Well, I live in a city with a large port and the customs officials have a large X-ray machine that they put trucks through. But perhaps something smaller would make more sense.
Might be worth looking into.

JaccoW

Reading about lug lining using paint pens a while ago I thought this bike could do with some fine detailing as well while I save up some more money and wait for parts to come in.
Went to the hobby store and got a gold Sharpie pen and got to work.

Before:



After:








Not bad if I say so myself.

I also managed to score a classic unused Carradice Junior saddlebag (9 Liter model) that I think would look great on this bike and offer some room to store the eventual chain lock I will be using with this bike.

cudak888 

Beautiful. I've seen so many attempts at homebrew lug lining look like a dog's dinner, but this has that delicate, thin perfection that looks like factory - if not better.

What witchcraft did you use to pull off this feat, Jacco?

-Kurt

JaccoW

Thanks.

Edding 780 0.8mm gloss paint marker and some cotton swabs with alcohol for any spillover. But most of these were just straight from the pen.
As is common with these things they tend to clog up after a single bike but I'll try to clean it up and touch up some small parts later.

And now let's see if this holds up a bit.

JaccoW

Managed to score a second-hand Lepper Tourer saddle in black. Always nice to score a good deal on project parts.

Another nice bit is a Koga-branded AXA frame lock with fairly matching black and blue plastic covers. Pictures of that one later.

cudak888 

That will be very nice and complementary to the upgrades - the rest of the build is so nice that it surpassed that brown Mattress Royale long ago

-Kurt