BigJonny

Hey All,

My wife says that I am the only dog allowed in the house. . . .

So, here is the puppy that I restored a few weeks ago. . .

Ride hard, ride safe.

J.




1984 Motobécane Mirage Sport

LesterOfPuppets

Very nice!

Points off for seatpost, saddle and poor bidon insertion.

DougRNS

Those valve stems...

indyfabz

I'm baaaack!

LesterOfPuppets

60mm stems on lowpro rims wouldn't be my first choice.

I think brake cables are supposed to go behind the bars too, but I don't take points off for these sorts of things.

- and those probably aren't even 60mm, but 48 or whatever looks crazy long on those rims.

rjones28 

You left?

rjones28 

They kind of look like 48s. 48mm is the shortest P/V road tube we carry these days.

datlas 

How was the ride??

LesterOfPuppets

I remember when it dawned on me that going forward I was going to have to make an effort NOT to get the long stems. Must've been '97 or so, I grabbed a tube, checked Presta, yep, 21-25, yep, I'm good to go. Get it home and find out I got some deep disher valve (probably 48mm), and had to ride around with a paper bag on my head for a couple of months til I replaced it.

Up until then I figured long ass valve were something you had to special order, or ask if they had any in back...

seedsbelize 

Unless you're well plugged into the system, those kids will just sell you the longest ones because "Who isn't riding aero crabon rims?" and you don't check, because you are unaware that they exist that long until you go to mount them. Thankfully I wasn't out on the road when I found out. I was able to exchange them with the older gentleman who owns the shop.
The brake cable thing, for me, is a simple matter of going behind in case I want a bar bag. Personal preference IMO.

seedsbelize 

Here in rural Yucatan, we've never heard of aero crabon rims, so all the valve stems are short. Frankly, we're barely aware that rims come in sizes other than 26" and 28" (as in roadsters with rod brakes).

MoAlpha

Well, after a few weeks of hard work, I'm climbing with the groups and passing some riders on the uphills, but I'm not holding wheels on the flats when they heat it up to much above about 23 mph. I think there are intervals and squats in my future and being old is just slow.

datlas 

Fixed, possibly.

MoAlpha

Thanks, pal.

datlas 

Today's ride was wet. Not pouring rain but sprinkly through part of the ride and the roads were wet. It was still good and 100% fun.

I did notice a couple of riders' brakes were really quite loud once we got wet. They were running disc brakes. Is that normal for disc brakes to be annoyingly loud/whiny in the wet?

rjones28 

wut

rjones28 

kudos

MoAlpha

Yes, it’s a feature to warn riders behind that you’re actually slowing, not just pumping the levers.

WhyFi

It's not uncommon. The same wet grit that eats rims can make discs squeal, though the stopping isn't really impaired. It's a trade-off that I'll take.

WhyFi

Besides, it's works nicely in lieu of a bell when passing and droping people on the MUP.

WhyFi

One of the guys that I ride with has crabon wheels with textured brake tracks - those things are noisy all of the time. I can always tell where he is when we're heading in to a turn.

Now that I think about it, I can ID most of the guys in my small group by the sounds their bikes make, whether it's the brakes, freehub sound, BB crick, a cable rattle (I assume) over broken pavement, etc.

DougRNS

You drope the hamer?
#IAmDoingItWrong

WhyFi

Dial it up, Doug.

datlas 

I joked to them that it seemed like an anti-stealth feature which could cut both ways. Get it? Disc brake? Cut? Ok I won't quit my day job. Yet.

MoAlpha

Yep, sort of a whistle. You can tell when I’m hot, because I unzip a few inches of jersey and my “If found, please return me to...” dog tag clinks against the zipper. I keep forgetting what the hell it is.