jdawginsc 

Space and time are on the same continuum. Setting your clock ahead creates more space!

Measure the empty space between objects and as a percentage of volume you are vastly under-biked...

I have run out of space too...

Lemond1985

Sorry, the Rod Serling tryouts are next door.

bikingshearer 

My end game? To win by dying with the most toys, per the old poster.

So far, I'm losing. By a lot. And I'm running out of time . . . .

nlerner

I’ve bought, rehabbed, ridden, and sold the following Raleigh models (mostly as complete bikes, but a few as F&F):

1932 Sports
1935 Sports
1949 Clubman
1950 Clubman
1950s Record Ace
1951 Clubman
1952 Lenton Sports
1959-60 Raleigh Lenton Grand Prix (3)
1969 Super Course
1970 Super Course
1971 Competition
1971 Professional
1973 Competition
1973 International
1973 Super Course
1973 Professional
1973 RRA
1974 International
1974 Super Tourist
1974 Super Course Mk II
1975 International
1975 Super Course Mk II
1975 Grand Sports
1978 Competition GS
1979 Competition GS
1979 Super Course

I’m likely forgetting a few, including multiples of those above. Mostly, I bought them to ride, not to flip, but then something a bit nicer, a bit less mass produced came along, and the Raleigh had to go. I’ve likely gotten it out of my system at this point as currently it’s just a ‘49 Clubman and a ‘71 Int’l still in my fleet, and I can imagine moving the Clubman on at some point. I guess the point is that the end goal is a work in progress.

Dylansbob 

I"m really tired of having too many bikes. My garage is full, 2 rooms in my basement are full, and there's 3 in my bedroom closet. I'd sold off all but 2 several years ago, but between flips and a growing, overlapping personal collection I'm back up ~20. If the next years market is anything like this past one, I'm hoping to get down to ~5.

Once I do that, I'm going to finally buy what I've wanted for the last 15yrs. Ever since I had worked shipping/recieving for a couple seasons, I've wanted another ti Airborne, to go with my track bike. Preferably something obscure, like a Stratoliner or B29. I'll settle for a Carpe. As long as it's an '04/'05 frame with the "A" headbadge. They don't seem to pop up on the secondary market as often in the past year, but once I have enough money in hand I"ll start posting some "WTB" listings and see what comes up.

panzerwagon 

My end goal you ask? It’s whatever fantasy I’ve conjured in my head that fully explains and justifies the irrational decision-making in my life.

Sorcerer

The end goal, for me is quality. That means that all of the bikes I keep are not just functional, but raceable, tourable and durable.

If I get on it and the bike makes bad sounds I am disappointed.

The bikes I have are not for display. They are for riding.

Perusing the internet for parts and frames is great. I can go to sleep making elaborate plans to build a bike around a single part, a stem or wheelset, for example, and wake up without a care about it the next morning.

I tell myself "you can only ride one bike at a time."

But you can easily ride a couple of them in day!

Just think how many you could ride in a lifetime.

Dfrost 

I’m intrigued that you chose relatively long trail and a large fork bend radius for this fantasy, especially knowing how lovely the ride and handling is on your ‘74 Paramount with its comfy low and longish rake and shortish trail.

Great choice for Mazda’s “Soul Red” as the color choice that we both appreciate.

You can get 32’s under short reach brakes, as you’ve seen on my Marinoni:

RiddleOfSteel

I have long been a fan of the Masi bend / large radius as plenty of bikes have kinked bends (and new bikes having straight blade forks of any material) and I'm just a smooth curve kind of guy. [he's still stalking about bikes, I mean it... -- Ed.] The '74 makes a compelling case because it's a Paramount, primarily, and of course it's a well-done quick radius. In 63.5cm form, it's a pretty perfectly proportioned fame, IMO. On my custom bike idea, I'd have to bump the chainstay length a touch to fit 32s as the seat tube is just a hair too close for such an endeavor. I have a sport touring version hanging around my mind, but haven't gotten to building it yet.

Soul Red is my favorite color on a car, and who better than Mazda ( ) to offer a color like that. Almost bought a '15 Mazda 6 6-speed in that color...well, I considered both a black interior Touring and a 'sand' interior Touring. Wish there wasn't that ceiling-located, transverse-running, reinforcement beam right behind my head (bumped into it on test drives); crummy power seat motor (several I test drove felt like gravel, after just 4-5 years--sad!); and louder-than-desired interior noise (that can be helped).

scarlson 

End goals? I have something to prove. I have unorthodox ideas and beliefs about cycling, synthesized from reading Grant, Jan, Frank Berto, Raymond Henry, and my own automotive and heavy equipment experience. Many of these ideas got roundly poo-poo'd when I first reentered the cycling community back in 2010 after being a car guy for several years. So I need solid documented evidence to back them up. Or find out that I was wrong. Whatever. That's my end goal. And it requires buying more bikes (and encouraging others to buy more bikes), so I can gain more knowledge.

Aim 1, to see if (vintage) Bicycle Quarterly is right. Bicycle Quarterly is basically one guy (Jan) and his friends, who might not want to disagree. As an insular group, it's vulnerable to naysayers. I am a true outsider. I've never even met the guy and I live thousands of miles away. But I know enough to know his work (and the history of midcentury constructeurs) needs independent verification and independent ways of thinking and talking about it.

• Vitus 979 club. Four guys on Vitus 979s to test "planing" and extra light weight (and as a skinny-tire roadie baseline to compare everything else against)
• Trek 61x (fake René Herse) project to test 650b and soft tires, very low trail with a handlebar bag, narrow bars, Simplex Retrofriction, and a suicide front derailleur.
• Jack Taylor tandem to test Le Cyclo mech and low trail on tandems, plus a non-Herse way of doing internal dynamo wiring (ingenious brazed-in conduits).
• Side-by-side tests of VO and old Lefol fenders, and VO and Nitto racks, because I want to know why BQ never mentions or reviews VO products (even though VO fenders were used on the concours-de-machines-winning Weigle). Are they better? Worse? The same?
• René Herse to test the whole package and re-live the late '40s through my own eyes, not through a magazine.
• Plans to build a steel frame of 7/4/7 standard size tubing to further test "planing"

Aim 2, to disprove snooty naysayers' condescending spoutings - cycling doctrine causes people to disagree with the following like they're experts, based on hearsay as far as I can tell, without having tried it, even though my techniques are derived from common practice among non-cycling mechanics.

• Trek 61x project: to prove bronze brazing is feasible without oxygen or acetylene, heavily modified the frame using a $60 MAPP turbo torch exclusively.
• Vitus 979 club: 3 frames spread from 126 to 130, under riders weighing between 155 and 205lbs, with thousands of miles on them, with no failures.
• Holdsworth repairs: ground away a cracked lower head lug and fillet brazed the frame back together. Redid the threads in the BB with a mig welder and taps. I commute and haul loads on this bike for the past five years and it is still holding up.

So far, my projects are giving me some dividends. The Vitus 979 is the most flexible frame I can cheaply get. It does appear to give riders an advantage over a stiffer frame of comparable weight. Riding low-trail and mid-trail tandems back-to-back gives interesting results. The mid-trail tandem is a handful at speed, whereas the low-trail is a handful when maneuvering at a walking pace. Pick your poison. Same for single bikes, but not as pronounced. The Herse has taught me a lot about manufacturing, particularly machining and chainring tooth profiles. There are many interesting details and discoveries that surprise me, and it's exciting. Research and the pursuit of concrete evidence and knowledge. And making it accessible, because cycling should not be bound to rigid, insular doctrine. That's my end goal, and that's why I N+1.

seedsbelize 

Three riders. Two pure roadbikes and an off pavement bike, plus the coupled travel bike. One or two shoe boxes of spare parts, rather than the dozen I have now.

Germany_chris

I'm going to guess that Jan isn't going to test VO fenders because 1: he's big into Japanese components everything he sells is Japanese 2: they compete with his Honjo's

nlerner

There was a very public fight between Jan and Chris K., the then owner of V-O, some years back. It was on the CR or iBOB list, I believe. So no surprise that one doesn’t refer to the other these days.

masi61

Going into a hobby with evolving goals of discovery means that the end game is naturally going to be quite different in actual implementation than one’s predicted end game.

scarlson , I enjoyed reading your post and can appreciate that you are bringing your auto mechanical knowledge uniquely to your cool bike builds. Maybe you could speak to your curiosity about “planing” type frames and what they help you to achieve as a rider...

For me, my disinterest in flexy frames can be blamed on my use of Campagnolo down-tube friction shift levers on a bike with racing type gearing, my interest in standing to climb, an annual ritual of starting the late winter riding season overweight and out of shape & you have a formula for tense shifting moments out on the road. Where standing to climb can prompt auto-shifting or maybe not even permit me to stay in my lowest gear at all. Thank God for indexed shifting, I say.

If you are looking for a wet-noodle, the Teledyne Titan might be good to test your planing theories. Just make sure you can have a drivetrain where you can quickly trim the front derailleur and prevent the rear from shifting itself....

...maybe this is why part of my (early) end game entails exploring the opposite of planing type frames, but instead oversized aluminum for it’s stiffness.

There can be a lot of road testing to be done with a stiff aluminum bike. It is an ongoing “test & tune” type experience to dial in the ride. Punishing aluminum frames can be that way at one fitness level and certain notions about wheels/rims/tire pressures, but then ride fantastically well when I bring my weight down, have at least 1,000 miles under my belt and really thoughtfully set up a nice riding clincher wheelset (or tubular) that can not punish you over bad pavement. I have several Kleins and several Cannondale that were picked up cheap that I have never even ridden yet that deserve a chance. I have a lovely red Klein Stage (size 57) that would be so cool with a set of wooden fenders and an Ultegra 6700/6703 triple drivetrain for example. Just getting this bike to the road test stage would be a major end game move for me. These kind of bikes end up being lifetime type rides that can go many tens of thousands of miles if cared for properly.

Stan Heinricher

Desire for novelty and variety drives most of us. Fortunately for planet earth, bicycle-oriented desires don't cause harm. The overarching theme of this conversation, of course, is taking delight in classic-vintage bicycles, which means enjoying the vibe from riding something old. Finding new parts for your old bike embodies a well-balanced approach to cycling -- and so congratulations!

clongwill

As I read your post, in the back of my cluttered mind was a website that had tons and tons of stories of British frame builders, racers, and just very interesting information. Took awhile to find it but you, and others I hope, should enjoy https://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/. Try not to get too lost in it as there is, as I said, tons and tons of info.

robertorolfo

Good stuff here.

And it's funny that you mention falling asleep while contemplating builds, as I often do the same myself. I found that it's very soothing after I turn the lights out and...

Definitely love making multiple runs to the local store for errands, this way I get to do some back to back comparison rides...

Kilroy1988 

Thanks, but if anyone around here who's interested in such bicycles hasn't been using Classic Lightweights as a reference and inspiration for years already, they aren't trying very hard! 😇

At this point I'm actually collecting original weekly publications such as "Cycling" and "The Bicycle" as well as maintenance manuals and tour guides from 1950s Britain to get my information, because I drained the internet well long ago... I'll have my own blog up soon enough to start sharing unique information I'm gleaning from my research.

Cheers!

-Gregory

steelbikeguy

goals?
good question.....

A. find some shiny bikes that I'd always lusted after.

Raleigh Team


Raleigh International



B. find some shiny bikes that I didn't realize that I lusted after.

Hetchins M.O.



C. meet some great folks and see the shiny (or not) bikes that they think are cool.





I've got a ton of photos like this, but you get the idea!

Steve in Peoria

Chuck M 

Over 30 years ago I tossed a bike I neglected on top of a junk pile. I later somehow found one like it in worse shape on facebook marketplace but didn't pull the trigger on it. I regretted that as much as tossing the first bike. That makes two old bikes I didn't save.

A few months later I found one similar on craigslist that was in nearly mint condition and I paid over twice what it was worth just to have it. Now I search craigslist and facebook marketplace daily. I'm not looking to build a collection. But if I can keep something old from becoming scrap, maybe I'll feel better about the one I tossed on the pile.

DMC707

End goal?

figure out where my love of cycling went and go get it back


mechanically, i have plenty of cool ways to meet the N plus 1 bug just waiting for me to pit them together. But am still in the acute phase of recovering from a left knee replacement and have to regain my range of motion first.

Weather has been a joy with 70 degree temps in November, so i did manage to take my mtb around the block yesterday. It was a joy. So much satisfaction for a mere 1 mile ride

Steel Charlie

I'd kinda like to see the other side of the pandemic

robertorolfo

This is very true, but I was curious about the mindsets and permutations of other members, and most of the responses here have been very interesting.

Do you ever get annoyed by a watch like that while riding? I find that anything with a metal bracelet eventually slides down to the point that a slight bump will have it banging the back of my hand. I can only ever wear tight NATO straps when I ride, and I don't really like that much either (I prefer to go without).

steelbikeguy

There's not much slack in the watchband, so it doesn't move around while riding. The only thing I don't like is that the band leaves a black residue when I've been sweating. For cool days, it's fine. I've got a black analog/digital Casio that I wear in warm weather (shown in the shot with the Raleigh Team).

Steve in Peoria

J.Higgins 

Best answer yet.