TWICE IN A LIFETIME!

Back in Dec. we had a gentleman come into the Chain Reaction and donated a new Cannondale bike. That takes someone special to help out an organization like ours without expecting anything for it. Well, it happened again this week. The same person came in and donated a MASI Speciale CX Uno with only 100 miles on it. When you hear of people shooting up theaters, churches and families you wonder if where our world is going. Then someone does something like this and it renews you faith in people.

The pictures show the box it was shipped in, a quick wash job, then lots of parts and pieces. Last but not least, the owner’s manual!

This bike will be sold on Craig’s List or word of mouth to raise money for tools, small parts or just the everyday operations of the shop. What it will do is assure we can continue to provide bikes for others.

Columbia Mountain Tandem

I stared the rebuild several years back but got distracted by life. The first picture is not my bike but it shows what the Columbia Mountain Tandem started out as.

 Last year I started over on it. I re-sanded it and primed sanded and re-primed till smooth. Then painted it a bright orange. The rims were pro built with all heavy duty parts using the original hubs so I could keep the drum brake

The Tandem was built on a Columbia frame. New parts are custom made heavy duty wheel set with drum brake on back. Michelin Country Rock 26 X 1.75 tires. Odyssey front brake with Tektro levers. Grips, thumb shifter, bars, stems, cables and housings, seat post, seat, seat clamps and pedals. It has the original drive train completely cleaned and repacked. Frame measurement front and rear is 19.5 inches. It has reflectors front and back and a bell! This not a hardcore Mt. bike but more of a good around town bike that can get off into the gravel without problems.

This bike rides like a limousine, smooth and comfortable. The tandem is the only bike I have for sale. I would like to sell it to make room for the perfect number of bikes….one more! I am asking $400. It was on Craig’s list for $450. Let me know if you have any interest in it. Call Steve at 574-834-4094

The Raleigh

Picked up this Raleigh Mixte from the shop this spring. It was a left over from Goshen College bike sale. I thought it might be my only chance to get a mixte that was my size. After getting another one this has just sat. Today I started getting it ready to paint. Heat gun did quick work of the transfers and stickers. One was a registration from Wichita, Kansas. Got ½ of the frame sanded and the forks sanded, primed and painted. I always paint the forks first to see if I like the color. Not real sure if I like it yet or not. It is red but looks a little weak. It will be finished with left over parts from other bikes I have rebuilt and some of the originals. Then back to the Chain Reaction Bike Shop for someone else to be able to get on the road. Might be a cash bike if it turns out good enough, if not the it will be a work-to-own bike.

This is not an English Raleigh but a Taiwan made for you purist.  

Shop Update

I posted on May 29^th about a Schwinn donation we got at the shop and that I took it home to work on. Well I’m glad I did. Our shop has been broken into again. Not once but twice last week! That makes six times in the last 10 months. It takes a special type of person to break into a non for profit bike shop that is there to help others. Anyone that comes in and needs a bike gets one. We teach others how to maintain their bikes and help them fix any bike they bring in. These last times they took tools and bikes. Without tools we can’t help anyone. Kathy has replaced what we had to have and dealt with the Police and paper work. She was called into the shop at 5:30 AM on Thurs. and again that night at 12:30 AM by the Police when they found the break-ins. People don’t always see Kathy in the shop so they don’t realize what all she does. She runs the recycling project that takes lots of scheduling, manning, seeing to the equipment and paper work. She runs the behind the scene business for the bike shop of ordering what we need, banking, taxes and a lot more I don’t even know about, this is in her spare time from her very busy personal life. If you happen to see a young lady around the shop with a clip board that’s her, be sure to tell her thanks. Thanks Kathy!

Bike The Drive

Susie and I went to Palatine to visit with our daughter and her family this last weekend. We also went in to Chicago to ride the “Bike the Drive”. The Police shut down the Lake Shore Drive from 57^th St. to Bryn Mawr Ave. The ride takes you past Grant Park where the Post-Ride Festival is held, past Navy Pier, the Chicago River, the harbor and many other sites and buildings that you don’t have time to look at when diving in a car.  The ride was set up and ran very well especially when you consider there were over 20,000 riders. The bike traffic wasn’t too bad and food and water was not a problem. There was a breakfast after the ride of pancakes, eggs, sausages, juice and yogurt. They had lots of vender tents set up and live music. The also had a free bike valet service so you could walk around and enjoy the area. Walking through the bike parking area was like going into a candy store for me. There was just about every brand of bike I’ve seen before, but no Follis. Some of the old bikes were all original, others were rebuilt to look like new and others were altered and changed into fixies or other contraptions. I hate seeing that knowing that the good parts removed from these quality rides probably end up in the trash.

Schwinn Black Phantom

We had an unusual donation made this week, a Schwinn “Black Phantom”. I looked it over, made a few notes on it and went home. Susie and I went out to dinner that night and were talking about it and I talked myself into going back and getting it. I was looking at it before I left earlier and was afraid if the wrong person started cleaning on it we might lose some of the detail of it. We normally clean the bikes as much as we can to make them shine. It would be better not cleaned too well compared to over cleaned and losing any pin striping or logos and lettering.

 It was made on Friday Feb. 25^th, 1955. Schwinn has some good records! I do believe that it has replacement fenders on it and is missing the tank and rear rack. I took off the gray tape from the handlebar grips and they were fine. Something that is puzzling to me is that the head badge is engraved with “B.F. Goodrich” and on the chain guard where it should say Schwinn it say’s B F G with Bf Goodrich written again under that. This could make it a little rarer or not. Also it has a badge mounted on the head tube that say’s “Good Saint Christopher Patron of Travelers”. The missing seat was originally tan with chrome springs. It is in better than most bikes of this age. I am looking forward to digging into the history of this bike as well as the bearings and such.

I AM SO PUMPED!!

I AM SO PUMPED!! I have a few pictures from my bicycle ride with Russ (Wooly) Kann to N.Y. in 1977. My memories of it are fading with age and that is sad. I was looking on Google Earth and I was able to find all the spots in the pictures. I was able to follow our trip from Warsaw, IN to Hicksville, OH to Grand Rapids, OH the first day (130 mi). That is where we planned to spend the night at Mary Jane Thurston State Park, but it wasn’t built yet. So we went into Grand Rapids and the local town Marshal let us camp in the town park on the Maumee River. We took our bath in the river and set up camp. It was a great first day. The only bad thing was that my Mother had been worried about me getting sun burned and gave me something that was new, sun screen. Well I put it on once and rode all day without reapplying. Wooly (Russ) and I both got burned pretty badly. I have pictures the next day with a tee shirt wrapped around my head until we got somewhere to get hats. No helmets back then. After that we went across OH into PA. We ran into a problem in PA. Wooly had good maps for secondary roads until we started getting into the mountainous areas of PA. We stopped at a town hall and asked about maps for smaller roads and they just laughed at us. The smaller roads were what they called loop roads. They went so far off the major roads the looped back down and joined the same road farther down. So we had to ride the major roads in the mountains along with the trucks. Not the best thing but we survived. We didn’t have computers on our bike back then so I don’t know how fast we went down those mountains but I know my eyes were watering after some of those runs. We could keep up with the cars going down some of the hills. Around Oil City PA we turned north and went in to NY State. The one picture is of me looking up at a sign for Peek & Peak Ski Area. Lots of hills. Sometime while in NY Wooly started having trouble with his Achilles tendon and the decision to turn back was made. We made it to Cleveland OH and tried to get back home by bus but they wouldn’t take our bikes. We tried to rent a car but we didn’t have credit cards. (1977 remember) We had enough cash but couldn’t cover the deposit and they wouldn’t take checks from two nuts on bikes. So we rode across the most dangerous bridge ever and on to Elyria OH where we called a friend and waited for a ride back home. Wooly couldn’t ride any further. We had no flats! And I was riding sew-ups (tubular tires). The next ride we did was to KY and I switched to clinchers and had two flats before I got out of our county. I have to appreciate our new technologies letting me relive my trip.  

Today was another good day at the Chain Reaction Bike Shop. These four fine gentlemen from the Waterford Mennonite Church Stopped by the Chain Reaction Bike Shop today. (Sat. April 28th.)They said they were ready to help us out and the sure did. They completely went through our wheel inventory and resorted and labeled everything and even repaired some of the racks. On their way out they picked up the trash in the parking lot. Thanks to all of you for taking time out of your Saturday to help us.

The Chain reaction is pretty busy now that it is spring, more kids and more bikes going out. We always need more bikes donated to keep our inventory up. For every six or eight average or poor bikes we get one better ride.  If anyone around my area can donate a bike I will be glad to pick it up. If you’re looking for a bike stop in a look us over. We even have an old bike that would look great in a garden setting.

Almost done!

The Batavus made it to the trainer today for a little shake down ride. I found a skip on one gear only of the rear cluster. It could be the chain but more likely it is worn teeth on that gear. I have some slight adjustments and paint touch up to do and it will be on the road.

Pedals for the Batavus

Today I was repacking the bearings on the new old stock pedals for the Batavus. I started looking around and found a pair of older pedals they were dirty, a little rusty and needing rebuilt. The new pedals are 3 grams lighter, already clean, lots of plastic and made in China. But the old ones were made in France……no question…..got to go with the French made Lyotard Pedals, they just look right!

And those little ball bearings are sure a lot harder to pick up and work with than they were forty years ago.

Back to the "OLD BAT"

Started back to work today on the old Batavus. Put the crank in after a little grinding on the axle and lots of thread chasing. I used a new used chain I had from one of my better bikes. The chain wheels are 52 / 40 tooth. Not as low as I wanted but will work OK. I also ran shifter cables. The bike had full length covered cables when I got it but I have changed to bare cable where I could. With the long cage derailleur it shifts crisp and sharp, I love the old friction shifters. Still need to repack and adjust the new pedals that I have had for a couple years. You would think that new pedals would be ready to go but nope. That’s why your better bike shops go through a new bike before selling it.

There are lots of theories out there about rotating weight compared to static weight of a bike. Any weight loss of the bike or the rider means less work to get the same results. But rotating weight reduction means quicker acceleration and some claim better hill climbing. I’m not too concerned about the weight of this build but I have reduced the rotating weight by just over three pounds (1362.9 grams). This was done by using lighter wheels, tires, crank, pedals and chain. So far only new parts have been tires/tubes, cables, and seat. I did buy a new set of fenders but they may go on my Trek 4300. The bars and stem are off the Nishiki. Wheels are off the Fuji. The crank has been pieced together from the Chain Reaction parts bins. Lots of small parts from my parts & junk drawers. Still need to polish the rusted seat post, mount the seat and pedals.  More later........