Cycling UK Forum

How weird my old thread revived (middle of thread is successful final outcome of quest)...

I'll add that I'm back in pursuit of a ca. 1979 Wester Ross frame I first 'almost bought' ca. 2011 (was bought before I had the chance), again in 2021 (seller got distracted with other affairs), now maybe again (same seller as 2021, frame hasn't been used since he bought it in 2011 & he even forgot where/when he got it!)...

Even though I don't need any more bikes - but since the opportunity to find again that 'cute girl in college I should've befriended' later in life (or for me to be as handsome and worthy as I'd imagined myself then) seldom appears in life, I'll substitute a bike.

Lately I'm having a lot of trouble with everything wanting to change 'phenology' (the timing and sequence of nature events - not that obscure a word I think; but I'm an ecologist) to 'phrenology (the 19th c. quackery that one's intelligence can be measured by the topography of lumpiness on one's head).

Worse yet on my all-locked-down work computer the $#@! 'autocorrect' (sic) gets turned back on ('auto' of course) whenever I try to turn it off, changing this and other words & punctuation from what I wanted to say to what I did not.

A few years back I had Kevin Sayles at Woordup build me a frame; I was looking for a sort of 'late 70s lime green' colo(u)r, he found some paint that seemed like it was close but was really more of a metallic gold.

Different, and unexpected, but unique and I like it. Anyway, I was posting about it here and the best reply on the color was:

[b][i]"That is indeed a nearly extinct type of 1970's gold paint. My dad had a 1979 Ford Cortina in that exact shade."[/i][/b]

If this link works, you can see the 'target colo(u)rs here and a link to Kevin's pictures of building the frame linked in post.
OK maybe:
[url]viewtopic.php?p=993934#p993934[/url]

Here's more pictures of said frame, finished:
https://rjl.us/velo/woodrup/2019Woodrup.htm

Another bike I have is 'berry' with purple & blue splotches & green lug lining... And some orthodox blue, green, gray, white & red, etc. ones.

(and I can't seem to get the markup to take on these posts today...)

Here in the land of conspiracy theories, one of them anyway: years ago; 15 maybe 20 or 25 now (my, time flies!), I used to say, facetiously of course, that [b]space aliens must be secretly pumping some sort of gas into the atmosphere above americaland to drive us crazy,[/b] as that was the only [i]possible [/i]explanation for why they're behaving so irrationally & self-destructively. Then I started saying it must be escaping now to other countries because they're starting to act as weird. Now it seems like the [i]least [/i]outlandish conspiracy theory compared to the 'main' ones!

It's all like one of those frightening (formerly seen as cheesy) horror stories where people start getting taken over by [space aliens, demons, plants, mushrooms, robots] and one guy figures it out, but can't convince others who also one by one get taken over ([i]usually there's some dramatic scene wherein a former confidant who almost believed gets taken over unbeknownst to the protagonist, then soon thereafter uses that trust to try to 'get' the protagonist[/i]) until one day protagonist wakes up also subsumed.

[b]Seriously, every day I'm thankful that I'm not yet subsumed[/b] (or so I believe); others I knew and was friends with for years have gradually been lost - seriously - old friends who were smart, independent thinking people; lawyers (that's barristers I guess), teachers, professors...

It is as weird, frightening, and apparently unstoppable as those horror stories, but real.

I saw the headline and wondered myself .. then realized I haven't done any bike work in my kitchen in a long time.

So dug out this old photo, back in 2005 when I was working and Denali Nat'l Park in Alaska (here in underling employee cabin housing) of my newly built surly LHT touring rig with Suntour & other '1983 technology'. Here with Nokian Hakkapeliittas for winter riding. Not the best photo, but it was in the kitchen...

After several tours I replaced the frame with a nice Sayles/Woodrup custom!

Note all the CDs stacked in window.

Not fully clear what and [i]enabling [/i]book is (maybe something like that all-too overused 'newspeak' word 'impactful' I see all over), but I'll add my 2c/2p here nonetheless!

Anyway, for liberating, emancipating, empowering books!, I like 'wheels of choice' by the late great Tim Hughes, and anything else he wrote (including CTC gazette et al. articles). I think I've waxed aboot it previously here.

Furthermore, old CTC gazettes & RSF journals are great (I've got a lot going back 100+ years for CTC & early 60s for RSF; thousands of pages of 'curious and forgotten lore').

And Johnny Helms cartoons, and 'the best of bicycling' (1970; on this I have also waxed here I think). And Frank Patterson books, and 'bicycle camping' by Diana Armstrong (1981), and 'bicycle camping and touring' by Peter Tobey (ed.), (1974... And dozens of others.

Including the more recent books 'The Rough-Stuff archive'(2019; I haven't managed to snag the 2nd ed because too cheap to pay transoceanic post), and 'Fat Tire Flyer' by Charlie Kelly (2014), and 'Home is Elsewhere ' by Heinz Stucke (and see also 'The world beneath my bicycle wheels' by Walter Stolle (1978) for an earlier 'on the road for years and years' author.

[b]After the internet[/b], thank goodness [i][b]we still have books[/b][/i], many jolly good. No conspiracies, and even the ads are good!

Honk if you miss the 20th century,

//

Surprised nobody's mentioned it, but maybe it's at least in part by people speak-typing into their I-phones which then hears and so spells everything wrong?

I'm not sure, have never used one, but judging on the tiny scant typo-chock emails I get from friends who before the i-phone explosion used to type decent emails (letters before that), I imagine this is about the most they can manage these days. Not even sure it exists, but empirical evidence leads me to no other conclusion.

On the other hand, most businesses can't seem to write even a basic polite clear concise business letter anymore either; worse yet many don't seem to consider it important.

'Language changes, you can't hold it back, man' they say - to which I'd reply clarity in communication is always the main goal and poor writing has always been a mark of confusion.

A couple other observations:
1) that seat ('saddle') is designed for a hardass... Perhaps putin would have one of Great Soviet Concrete, but comparatively anyway,
2) it's just like the US Government to have the taxpayers buy a bike that'll probably never get used for a rich guy to give to another rich guy, then stiff the artist who built it for most of the actual cost,
3) I like Bilenky even more since he's got an orange Cat,
4) I didn't know he was a former popstar .. nor do I know the notekillers though,
5) I can also see the US Government imagining that Sram stuff is US made since its HQ is here (most Americans have no idea where anything is made nor where it goes when dumped, flushed, or tossed). And too bad they couldn't use True-Temper tubing (though guess at full price and proper pre-order some could have been found). Or they could have gone more 'UK-US' and used Reynolds tubes, a Lion bell, Brooks of course, etc. Maybe under some sort of 'together we are [almost] complete' sloagan.
6) The gearing looks super easy... I wonder if that's based on Boris' preference, or yet more 'duh gee boss, I dunno' US intel...
7) the paint scheme makes it look like not a $4500 bike, nor a $1500 bike, but a $139.99 wal-mart bike!
7.5) Will have to remember which Birmingham builder he studied with...

[quote="Mick F"]
I notice the wheels.
If you have the same spoke-count front and rear, you either have too few at the rear, or too many at the front ...
[/quote]

[color=#8000BF]Or, like me, you're a 40/40 freak who digs symmetry![/color]
[color=#008080][size=85](reluctantly building a 40/36 set because of a 36° dynamo hub)[/size][/color]

Here in americaland, I say yes, it is, or at least the drivers are making the cyclists more at-risk... And likewise even driving is more dangerous.

Like too many other things driving here is taken as a right, an 'expression' of machismo or territoriality, and any attempt at responsibility or driving as though others are at stake is taken as an excuse for aggression under some paranoid concept of 'interference in my rights'.

One must always beware of men driving pickup trucks, especially if flying flags (here in hillbilly central - which includes most of the country - trumpist and anti-democratic flags are still 'in'..., buy the other day in my tiny village of 1500 souls, riding on the side of a traffic-free lane in the 3 block 'downtown' a lady in a minivan came up behind, beeped her horn, then passed (~safely I might add so what's the problem ma'am?) then yelled as passing 'get on the sidewalk'!'. (I think 'sidewalk' = 'pavement' in UK, but I get really confused as all transit surfaces seem to have opposite names here vs. there!)

Speed limits here have been increased and most non-crash traffic violations seem to go unenforced, and of course automobiles are getting (here) larger, faster, more insulated from the 'real' world by hi-fi surround sound (who has that many ears anyway??), internet, TV, programmable ass-cushioning leather seats (really, who'd ever have such a fancy chair in their home??), and it even seems smaller 'greenhouses' (the windows that let you see the actual world you might be crashing into, running over, scraping against, cutting off, killing or maiming, or shouting and/or beeping at). Thank goodness for the dirty tiny video cameras on the boot (or as we say, 'trunk'!), I guess!

Anyway, having been a cyclist commuting & touring in & through small & big towns(and the rural countryside) for 40+ years I definitely see it, feel it, and probably cycle less because of it (and definitely drive less also). Have I mentioned our too expensive to afford medical help in this country!?

I dream of a world in which, among other things, skill/machismo, whatever, would be perceived by how /small/ a vehicle one could drive (or ride) to get the things done. For one thing, trikes would have to become popular here, as I don't think flying a huge 'trupm 202x, he won, really - I believe!!' flag would be very easy on a 2-wheeler, especially also burdened with a 30-can box of bud light, several huge bottles of pepsi, and a microwave pizza...

Hmm, I'm getting ideas for my penal colony when I seize power...

Hey, I finally got a reply - best case scenario under the circumstances at least... weird it took so long [months and 3 or so attempts] to get the response, which would have been good to know via web page... now I can see my silver lions as 'rare and extinct', but at least brass still around..
------------------
Hi RJL,

We suspended manufacture of the Urban bells because of the currently high metal prices for nickel silver. It's a combination of the low Brexit pound and market conditions.

I'm not sure when this situation will end. Have you considered one of the Classic brass bells?

Best regards, John Beirne

***********************************************
Lion Bellworks
British made retro bicycle bells
Web: http://www.lionbellworks.co.uk
Email: sales@lionbellworks.co.uk

Well dang... I went through the rigamaroll to get that 'post' (I avoid facebook and all that not, and /just/ because the design is awful!) and thought at least that's a sign. In my opinion a company's private website ought to have the most current info of course; their copyright says 2018 but nothing very recent on thgeir 'news' page.

I've been trying to email them repeatedly over several months with no reply; previous emails a few years back were answered as I recall. Would be nice if this is all because they are having difficiulty getting the silver material and their email is broken, but easy enough to fix the former and put a post on the website of the former.

I managed to find a used silcer one via the poster, above, but maybe I ought to try and order a couple brass ones from LBW in case (or as experiment). I like the Japanese Crane ones too which are pretty similar in all ways, but would be a shame if they disappeared. I have 4 english bikes (counting new Stanforth Skyelander frame almost reasy to ship) & a trike, and two need English bells!

Will report back if I find out more.

I've been wanting to buy a few more of their bells, 1 brass & 2 silver, but they've been out of stock of silver ones for a long time, and emails asking when they might be available again have gone unanswered for months (previously they were decent at answering).

I'm in the us and there's no dealer here, so I've ordered direct in the past. I need a few more for English framed bikes, and silver would be the best colour match (and I like their sound the best!).

Anybody know?

There's always the Japanese Crane bells as backup but for my Woodrup & Stanforth English seems best...

I really like these on the one bike I have them on: http://rjl.us/velo/trek830-1.htm (some pix linked from top of page). Those on now are the Kalloy ones (full spec with part numbers also on that page there). These are sold under various names - Velo Orange, etc. and are usually fairly cheap as is the stem. Made in Taiwan (I think if Kalloy as 'the Taiwanese Nitto'). They've been more than durable, stiff, and tough enough for me (& I am more gorilla than gazelle).

I like them (and/or the geometry of ths bike with them) because I get a good high riding position for commuting. I usually ride on the flat edge toward me, maybe similar to the tops of a drop bar, and as you see have the shifters & brake levers on the forward area; usually only ride there when needing to brake or shift (though I think I usually shift whlile riding on the rear flats area as it's close enough to do that with my thumbs or fingers (can't remember it's so automatic). The sides are good for climbing, or exrea sturdy control (like last night riding over re-frozen lumpy slush in the dark).

Not sure if related or not, but of all my bikes this is my favorite to ride - in fact I have to leave work here and I get to ride it home! Might be related to the geometry of the bike, not sure. Man, what a great bike, I always say to myself when admiring it.

As I have the feeling of duty to this good 35-year oid frame to give it a fix-up this year, in addition to a good powdercoat and new wheels, I'm going to swap the bars for the Nitto equivalent, B825 (and Nitto Dirt Drop MT-10 stem), which I've just bought at a fair price (even with post to the US) from planet x: https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBNIB825/ ... -handlebar (hey, they've gone up to £50 from ~30 a few weeks ago!).

I've got the new Nitto stuff and though haven't put them on I compared a little and see the Nittos 1) have a little less f-r difference than the Kalloy, and 2) a slightly more 'paralel' edge angle. It's really hard to tell the 'real' shape of bars by photos on the web!

I'm also buikding up a new custom Woodrup touring frame and putting Nitto B135 Randonneurs on that. I was looking at it last night wondering what it's be like with butterflys, but for now that'd be too 'modern' looking for me on a touring bike... probably just my hangups talking there.

Anyway, well woth a try - I'd suggest a rough stuff, commuting, or (ahm) touring bike as good candidates because of the upright position and good edges for sure-grip.

I use Grab-On grips ('Maxi' size, don't use any othert brand or non-brand of this sort of foam grip as only this one durable and long-lasting), covered in cloth tape; gives me just the right padding and bar diameter. Other than that or just tape, there's not much possible for 'grips' becaiuse of the ofdd shape.

One nore thing - there's no top, bottom, front, or back to these things, each installation gives a little different position.

I think these look best with a dirt drop stem (All I know about are quill stems so threadless, ??).

I put mine the way I did because it gices a little rise on the rear flats and having the opening forward and the smaller bar area there worked for my 1980s mtb brake & shift levers. It all feels just right!

Here's one picture from my abovementioned 'all about' page showing my setup (before I covered the grips with tape):


Excuse the many typos; the autocheck seems to be on the fritz on my broswer at the monmnet... plus I am a trrrible typist... This is not a wisecrack signature, I'm serious!