Moved to a small town that’s a lot more bike friendly than the suburban hellscape I previously lived in, and only have one car now. My wife works in the next city over so she gets the car, and I’ve spent my unemployed time fixing up my neglected relic and turned it into a daily driver. I needed a new derailer, brake housings and bar tape. Got that done and am gonna put some new tires once I start getting some paychecks. Tires are fine for now, but are very narrow and we have a lot of dirt roads and paths and I want some wider tires. Added a bag to the top bar that has a clear slot for a phone so I can nav around while I’m still learning the lay of the land. Also got an under saddle bag for a spare tube, a tire lever and a c02 cart. Got my hand pump attached to the same mount as my bottle. This month I’ve put 60 miles on it after not riding for at least 4 years and while my cheeks were killing me the first week I’m feeling great now. I thought riding down small roads would be nerve racking, but the roads are so empty people pass with plenty of room and are generally very courteous.
Lugged steel frames, my beloved. Lugged frames are so nice to look at. Great bike. Glad you’re riding it.
i have a 1970s custom Bianchi with the full Campagnolo setup. it’s the best ride. i put lots of commuting miles on it but now my job is 20 miles from my house so it’s not an option anymore
your ride s a beauty
Thank you. You still get to ride for fun right?
for sure!
That is a beautiful classic. I have an old columbus with Gipiemme parts…
nice, i’m jealous :)
i always had to use a 29" MTB hard tail for commuting I used to have to jump gutters a few times because of cars trying to kill me and cut through parks etc because …well, shit cycling infrastructure all around me
One time some idiot leant out the passenger window and yelled “get a car ya cheap cunt!” i gave him the finger in a friendly greeting and they tried to come after me, so i rode up on the traffic island, across the stroad, up the gutter across a carpark and down another street to get away as they were enraged by my friendly greeting and yelling “we’ll get u ya cunt!” as they were stuck in traffic but revving loudly
Niiice!
Is it a 10 gear?
Close, it’s a 12 speed
Hah ! I have a Miyata one twelve myself! (So 2x6 speeds) with the same gear shifters too 😁! IIRC from 1986.
I ride a miyata 912 from '82, maybe? Seems like it will last forever.
Mine started rattling in the pedal part some years ago, thought that after like 35 years it surely needed replacing something. Shop said they just tightened it up, no need for anything to be changed. Fantastic.
Here’s an ugly garage shot 😁
I had some hair that somehow made its way into the hub ratcheting mechanism, and in cleaning that out, I lost a single ball bearing. I had to buy like a 1000 pack of ball bearings just to replace the one. Other than that, the chain, and bar tape, everything is original.
I did recently decide that I might as well do a complete tear down over winter while I wasn’t riding it, so it’s currently in pieces that I probably need to reassemble now that it’s spring.
Man … people must have much nicer roads than I do around me, to have a no-suspension bike as a daily driver.
Our roads are shit also. Sometimes you just gotta ride what you got
Sometimes you just gotta ride what you got
Heh, yeah… Got my current bike for $10 at a garage sale, and I’ve done tons of repairs to it over the years, so I guess I understand. It still has suspension, though, even if that suspension is pretty squeaky!
Suspension is overrated. IMO you definitely don’t need it unless you’re off-pavement, and even then (e.g. on gravel or even singletrack without a ton of rocks or tree roots) a rigid frame is often good enough.
If you’re that worried about it, get an old rigid mountain bike with 26"x1.5" street tires (which have more compliance than skinny high-pressure road bike tires). That’s my daily driver, and its comfort is just fine.
If you’re that worried about it, get an old rigid mountain bike with 26"x1.5" street tires (which have more compliance than skinny high-pressure road bike tires).
But tires with more compliance also have more rolling resistance, so they’re pretty crap for going long distances on pavement.
That’s why my commuter bike has skinny tires and suspension. Let the suspension provide compliance over the endless bumps and cracks, while still having efficient skinny tires pumped up to 80psi. Then the bike can be fast and efficient without beating you to death over every little bump.
Great bike, beautiful colour. I will always have a soft spot for the downtube shifters as my first “adult” bike had them and it’s how I learned to shift. Sadly my current bike has modern brifters which work excellent but… not quite the same
Same, I went from twist shifters on my shitty Walmart bikes to a downtube shifters on my first real bike. I had a Nishiki with stem shifters that I thought I would like but I never got the feel for them, so I went back to downtube
I think part of the reason they’re so fun is because they’re friction shifters (vs indexed). You get to FEEL the cable moving the derailleur instead of just a click.
I have downtube shifters on a similar bike, and I like them, but I also have a modern friction shifter on the handlebars of a different bike, and it is incredible. The bike is 1x10, and if can go from top gear to granny gear in a single rotation of the pedals. Since it uses a skinnier chain, there’s less adjustment i have to do to keep it noiseless on a gear.
People who have only used indexed shifters are really missing out.
