The Salem Bike Club does a spring ride each year around the central Willamette Valley called the Monster Cookie Metric Century. I’ve never ridden it before but I am pretty familiar with the roads in this area and it is a good place to ride. This year I thought that I would give it a try. It has been raining for days around here but the forecast said that conditions would likely improve for the day of the event. I really wanted to get the Raleigh Competition out on a real ride to see what it could do, but I was also prepared with a fully fendered 1984 Holdsworth in case the forecast called for ..read more

So, after acquiring this frame a couple of months ago as described in a previous post, I have finally decided to get started putting it together. The lingering question was just what to do with it? It’s not a high dollar classic or a particularly sought after brand, and not really very collectible so it had to be a good rider. It should also be reasonably light and a bike that is nice to look at, so my main goal for this Raleigh is just that, for it be a nice looking bike that is fun to ride. If I were going to reconstruct this bike to bring it back to the parts spec it was originally built ..read more

Frame #WG000 2409 Timing is everything and the proof is in this acquisition of a lovely Raleigh frame and fork. It was offered by an acquaintance of mine but only for pick up in southern California, and it just so happened that I would be in that area in a couple of days. I contacted him and it was all set! Even though he had several interested parties he said that he would hold it for me, and at a ridiculously low price! This individual has been a luminary in the San Diego cycling scene for decades and I had the priviledge of meeting him for the first time several years ago. We have been fri ..read more

Legacy marques and small builders show their wares This was a new event for me to attend. I had been to the Hand-built bicycle show (NAHBS) in Oregon on several previous occasions, but that show like much of the rest of Portland events has died because of recent local events and perhaps some internal issues. I am reluctant to go into the city at all anymore with the myriad problems that Portland is experiencing but I had pre-scouted this location and thought that it didn’t look too bad so I decided to give it a shot. The event of August 25-27 was held in what appeared to be an old industrial ..read more

44th annual Covered Bridges Bicycle Tour I rode this event last year and enjoyed it enough to return and ride it again. This time would ride the 44 mile route which included 3 covered bridges along with a few extra miles I added in to get to a 50 mile distance. The weather was expected to be in the upper 90’s and I wanted to get back in before the heat came on! I’ve been riding the Bianchi L’Eroica again recently and it seemed like a good choice to use for this event. It has modern performance combined with an old school look and is a joy to ride. You can learn more about this build here. Gilk ..read more

1954 Urago Debutante The notion of a debutante, that of one whom “after a period of maturation and refinement is being presented to society“, is a good analogy for this bike. Though in this case even as the subject is a bit more mature, she is still “coming out” after her restoration! As noted in a previous post about refinishing this frame I am a little underwhelmed at the result of my painting effort. It was however an attempt to get some experience using professional painting material and equipment, so in that regard the experiment was a success! With that in mind I know that this will nev ..read more

It is sometimes a tough call to decide on how to finish an old bicycle frame. You can choose almost any kind of treatment from a “rat bike” to a museum quality finish and get a satisfying result within that theme. In general I usually prefer to keep things as original as I can and to be honest I don’t mind quite a bit of authentic patina, but this one was going to be different. In the case of this frame a prior owner used brushed on paint to cover small chips in the finish which could have led to rust, and although the frame was preserved it looked pretty bad due to the mismatched colors. San ..read more

The making of a parts bike Over the years I’ve been slowly accumulating bicycle parts. Not through a conscious effort but more as the by-product of working on older bikes as a hobby. You might buy a bike as a project and not use all of the components that came with it, trading some parts out for others and throwing the rest in a bin. I never imagined that some of these leftover bits and pieces would actually get used on a bike again! These extra items might be an off brand, lower quality or simply a component that was not well regarded. The question of what to do with some of these orphaned pa ..read more

Riding 60+ miles on a 60 year old bike! The Covered Bridges Bicycle Tour is a cycling event held by the Mid Valley Bicycle Club outside of Albany Oregon in the Willamette Valley. This will be the clubs 43rd year of holding of this event in rural Linn County. There are several different routes available on this ride with distances of 20 to 100 miles. For several reasons I chose to ride a metric century option. Summertime in the Willamette Valley can be quite warm so I wanted a route that would finish before it got too hot. Also, I have not been riding many events this year so it would be best ..read more

The making of a parts bike Over the years I’ve been slowly accumulating bicycle parts. Not through a conscious effort but more as the by-product of working on older bikes as a hobby. You might buy a bike as a project and not use all of the components that came with it, trading some parts out for others and throwing the rest in a bin. I never imagined that some of these leftover bits and pieces would actually get used on a bike again! These extra items might be an off brand, lower quality or simply a component that was not well regarded. The question of what to do with some of these orphaned pa ..read more