79pmooney

The 1979 Peter Mooney. The frame arrived UPS at my apartment mid-May, 1979. Current mileage: 49,875. Scheduled to ride the weekend Cycle Oregon Gravel Grinder next week and the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder 4 1/2 weeks later. Then, if all goes as planned, the gravel gear comes off and it goes back to being a plush road fix gear while my best fix gear gets its fork painted in time for the weeklong Cycle Oregon. The Mooney gets its 2nd re-paint when it (and I) get some downtime.

This gravel setup is its 4th iteration of setup. Originally a late '70s almost racing except a third inner 28 tooth ring and cantilever brakes. Sewups until early '90s. Got SunTour Command shifters, their "Microdrive" crankset and 1980s Shimano canti calipers mid '90s. Two years ago it went gravel worthy triple chainline fix gear. (So I could run true mountain gearing on a not very long Campy horizontal dropout.) Now I have kicked the seat back an inch with handlebars back and up to match. 50-38-24 X 13-28 7-speed FW. Oh, the new forks, 1984, have bosses for LowRiders and the bike has done short unsupported tours.

This bike was conceived as a do everything bike. It's done a lot. With good wheels and gear, still rides like new.

Ben

Spaghetti Legs 

What, no pics?

Few things out there that can beat a good reliable bike. Well done on the milestone! Interesting side note: I met a guy while riding a couple of days ago. We parted ways after riding about 10 miles together. He told me his email which has a 79 in it and I thought as a mnemonic device “like 79 Peter Mooney on bike forums”

jetboy 

heh. my username turns 27 but that is really just how long I have had an internet presence as jetboy - nothing to do a with a bike. after 27 years I am no longer a boy, nor much of a jet.

Insidious C. 

You got your moneys worth out of that bike, Ben.

ThermionicScott 

+1 on needing some pics! Congrats on the milestone, Ben.

Slightspeed

My avatar is 55 years old. It came with my Legnano in 1964. 😉

79pmooney

A little fun ... The only part that has been on that bike almost its entire life is the seatpin off my 1967 Peugeot UO-8. Works perfectly with the QR seatpin brake cable hanger for the cantis. Bike came with a nice Campy pin but it didn't play well with the cable hanger. Lived with it the first two years. Then the UO-8 suffered a sudden death. Pin was promoted. (That galvanized pin still shows no rust or any other issues save a touch of rust at the cut since it was considerably longer than needed. Quality part!) Next oldest part (I think) are the Shimano canti calipers off an early Miyata 610. (Did my first ride on that bike and it was "these brakes belong on my good bike!" So the original Mafacs were demoted to my commuter. The Mafacs were just as good stoppers. The Shimanos are much nicer to work on and look a lot better. Still nice 24 years later.

The bike has had a variety of nice stems from 110 TTT to 130 Cinelli for decades to a 155 custom steel, 140 probably Salsa steel and now a 120 TTT. (Later model with the round off at the quill bolthead. Good design, not so for looks. It was the right length and in the box. Seatposts have been a journey. Avocet that broke bolts twice on rides, making the first into an epic adventure. A Laprade that I managed to set between clicks and ride like that for 10 years until I saw a 2 bolt SunTour MTB post. Rode that shimmed with a pop can for 20 years. Then a Kalloy with my fix gear setup. Now a brand new steel lugged Nitto post! Yeah! A post fully worthy of the frame it is in. And a joy to set up and adjust. And not even very heavy.

And more serious: The reason for this bike was that I needed a bike that was not a racing but rode like one to be my go to for the crazy years after my head injury. I ordered it a week after I rode my last race. While it was being built I was talking to potential employers around the country. Landed a job in Santa Cruz that started a month before it was finished. That was a very stressful period. New job, new city, new state, new life. The only thing I could fall back on that was familiar was riding. Having a bike that felt a lot like my racing bike was a godsend, my link to sanity. And when I had to ride, I had to ride. That winter, one of those rides was in the middle of a Pacific storm. I tested those Mafac cantilevers going down the 2000' 4 mile Alba Road above Santa Cruz in pouring rain and rivers running across the road. Later, I lived on Alameda Island. Climbed Mt Diablo many times and stealth camped a couple of times. Moved to Seattle. Did a ride in a rain so hard the frogs stayed under cover.

Now the bike sees gentlemanly duty, except when I need its big tire abilities for gravel. Well, some of the fix gear ride get a little less leisurely. Two falls ago I rode a century + 25 miles to it and 7 miles from the light rail home.

Yup, he's a keeper. (He. Name's Pete. And no, not from any Peter I ever knew, none of whom every went by Pete.)

Ben

obrentharris 

Now we REALLY need pictures!
I must have just missed you in Santa Cruz. I moved out in '78. I lived in Felton, so Alba Road was my "back way" home from my job in Santa Cruz. Were you part of the Saturday morning ride from The Bicycle Center on Mission Blvd.?
Thanks for stirring up some memories!
Brent

79pmooney

I don't remember where we started but we rode to Watsonville for breakfast. Did a townline sprint coming off a hill on the way there. Do you remember Robert Wright? Had a bike shop in his garage and wrote "Building Bicycle Wheels". I met him on one of those sprints. I went early. The big local hotshot came flying past me on my right, then snapped over to my lane to shed the strong newbie on his wheel. Newbie snapped over too. I ended up leaning my bike and front wheel into his rear skewer so I could push off and stay upright. His skewer cut out 8 consecutive spokes. I rode my super stiff Weinmann Concave wheel to a stop. Robert stopped also and thanked me for not crashing as he was on my wheel and would have been the next of probably a half dozen riders) to go. Went back and got his truck. Had a solid friend the rest of my year in Santa Cruz. Good guy. Hope is doing well.

I'm still photo illiterate and in no hurry to change that. I did photography in high school. B&W, darkroom. Loved it. But it became a passion. Now I have to pick my poisons and I don't think I can pick that back up and do it lightly. Now if Gugie or others want to photograph my bike(s), now that's a different story! (My avatar was taken by Dean of Cycle Oregon.)

Ben

non-fixie 

It's not called "photography" any more these days, Ben. It's just pointing-your-phone-at-the-bike-and-putting-your-thumb-on-the-white-circle ....

ThermionicScott 

Signal boost to @gugie or perhaps his intrepid publicist!

@Andy_K

SurferRosa

My user name turned 30 in March. I'd post a youtube link, but it's probably nsfw.

ThermionicScott 

A classic. "Gigantic" was the answer to a trivia question the other night and of course our team got it.

jetboy 

Its an iconic enough cover to be called art

and makes you probably the same age area I am as we were very impressed at that time.

Rollfast

My avatar is older than Madonna.

She's SIXTY.

obrentharris 

I do remember Robert, a nice guy. I bought one of his wheelbuilding books and still have it. I worked in the same shop where he had previously worked.
Congratulations on 40 years with a fine bike!
Brent