Confusion Alley

[HC]

Tom is sportin' wood because of the length of his "Real RBR Members" string.

Did you know he was looking ALL over for a good frame for a winter bike and
happened to look up on the garage ceiling and lo and behold there was an
Italian Bianchi 25" frame? No, it's true! All this time he had one sitting
right in front of him. Well, looking around he discovered his spare
cyclocross wheels. They have on some green Vitoria Tigre Cross tires which
work pretty well anywhere. And an 8-speed 12-28 Ultegra cassette that fit
it.

"Hmm, that old Campy seatpost fits in though the saddle will be about 1/2"
lower than my street bikes. That's OK since most of them feel a tiny bit
high anyway. And you have a touch more control if you're a little lower in
the saddle," he said effeminately.

"I have a lot of saddles so that's not a problem. Hey! There's a Nashbar
Compact crank that I picked up for a song and an Italian bottom bracket in
Isis drive. I don't know where the heck I got some of those "medium reach"
Ultegra brakes (probably from Rivendell knowing me) but they fit perfectly,"
he brayed like a donkey in heat.

"I wonder, there's too many scratches on the red paint to take a steel bike
out in the winter so I'll have to paint it. Do I paint it Celeste green or
that light blue that you see on some Bianchis which is in fact the true
color of Celeste (Sky Blue)?" he beamed poetically.

"Now, what the heck will shift an Ultegra 8-speed cassette? I switched a
couple of bikes over to barend shifters to keep in practice for the
cyclocross bike. And now I find that I pretty much prefer them to the 5
times more expensive STI Shifters which are only slightly more handy. So I
could put an older Ultegra derailleur and barends on it. Hmm, must make up
mind....." he mused in a Viagra haze wondering what Laurence Malone would
do.

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

On Jan 4, 3:45 pm, "HC" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Tom is sportin' wood because of the length of his "Real RBR Members" string.
>
> Did you know he was looking ALL over for a good frame for a winter bike and
> happened to look up on the garage ceiling and lo and behold there was an
> Italian Bianchi 25" frame? No, it's true! All this time he had one sitting
> right in front of him. Well, looking around he discovered his spare
> cyclocross wheels. They have on some green Vitoria Tigre Cross tires which
> work pretty well anywhere. And an 8-speed 12-28 Ultegra cassette that fit
> it.
>
> "Hmm, that old Campy seatpost fits in though the saddle will be about 1/2"
> lower than my street bikes. That's OK since most of them feel a tiny bit
> high anyway. And you have a touch more control if you're a little lower in
> the saddle," he said effeminately.
>
> "I have a lot of saddles so that's not a problem. Hey! There's a Nashbar
> Compact crank that I picked up for a song and an Italian bottom bracket in
> Isis drive. I don't know where the heck I got some of those "medium reach"
> Ultegra brakes (probably from Rivendell knowing me) but they fit perfectly,"
> he brayed like a donkey in heat.
>
> "I wonder, there's too many scratches on the red paint to take a steel bike
> out in the winter so I'll have to paint it. Do I paint it Celeste green or
> that light blue that you see on some Bianchis which is in fact the true
> color of Celeste (Sky Blue)?" he beamed poetically.
>
> "Now, what the heck will shift an Ultegra 8-speed cassette? I switched a
> couple of bikes over to barend shifters to keep in practice for the
> cyclocross bike. And now I find that I pretty much prefer them to the 5
> times more expensive STI Shifters which are only slightly more handy. So I
> could put an older Ultegra derailleur and barends on it. Hmm, must make up
> mind....." he mused in a Viagra haze wondering what Laurence Malone would
> do

Dumbass: I think Tom's post was entirely sincere. It reflects my
absurd organization system, but I routinely forget what bikes and
frames I have in which states in my pile of parts. Here is an
incomplete list of frames in The Pile. Note that none of these are
bikes I ride right now; just frames awaiting a project:

late-1970s Motobecane Grand Touring
late-1980s/early-90s Pinarello road frame
early-80s Japanese Bianchi

There's a Peugeot (probably a UO-8) sitting in my back yard under a
plastic tarp. I literally cannot remember what frames are in the other
shed, but I'm pretty sure there's a MTB frame that's too big for me,
and another one that's way too small. Somewhere is most of a Phillips
3-speed. There's an Auto-Mini awaiting a new rear tire.

I have forgotten at least as many bikes as I remembered. Last week I
walked into my work area, looked at my partly disassembled CX bike,
and had no idea why it was taken apart (though I knew that I had
abandoned a previous attempt to ride it because of some problem or
another).

Brakes? Drivetrain? Tires? I make "discoveries" all the time in my
piles of ****. And I've been at this for about six years, not decades
like TK. More than once I have started a project or bought a part only
to realize I already had something that would do.

Random parts sitting around? I have Record-9 brifters and derailers
sitting in a little bucket, waiting to go on either the CX bike or the
road bike once I choose (current theory: CX bike needs Veloce, road
bike gets Record).

 

[HC]

It's like he's Mr. Rogers with shaved legs.


"Ryan Cousineau" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Jan 4, 3:45 pm, "HC" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Dumbass: I think Tom's post was entirely sincere.

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Dumbass: I think Tom's post was entirely sincere. It reflects my
> absurd organization system, but I routinely forget what bikes and
> frames I have in which states in my pile of parts. Here is an
> incomplete list of frames in The Pile. Note that none of these are
> bikes I ride right now; just frames awaiting a project:
>
> late-1970s Motobecane Grand Touring
> late-1980s/early-90s Pinarello road frame
> early-80s Japanese Bianchi

I just counted the fully assembled and useable bikes and right now I have 13
and three ready to put together when I get around to it. I haven't put the
winter rain beater together yet because I can't find what I've done with the
new set of fenders I know I have.

> There's a Peugeot (probably a UO-8) sitting in my back yard under a
> plastic tarp.

I also have a Raleigh Kodiak sitting there. Originally I was going to
replace my converted Atala CX-to-Touring bike with the Kodiak but the Atala
is such a fine piece of equipment that the Kodiak can't really compare
though it probably is a better long distance touring bike.

> Brakes? Drivetrain? Tires? I make "discoveries" all the time in my
> piles of ****. And I've been at this for about six years, not decades
> like TK. More than once I have started a project or bought a part only
> to realize I already had something that would do.

I was looking around a little while ago and discovered I have a complete
Ultegra triple group except for the STI shifters. Surprise, surprise. I
wonder when I bought that stuff?

> Random parts sitting around? I have Record-9 brifters and derailers
> sitting in a little bucket, waiting to go on either the CX bike or the
> road bike once I choose (current theory: CX bike needs Veloce, road
> bike gets Record).

I have some 8-speed Record levers and if I had an 8-speed Campy 12-28 I'd
put that on the winter rain bike.