Your favourite piece of VINTAGE BICYCLE equipment?

Many of us ride vintage bicycles or bicycles with some vintage parts on them. What is your favourite vintage part and why do you like it so much?

I really like my vintage tubular wheels and my vintage Shimano 600 pedals with toeclips and straps. I can use those pedals with a variety of shoes including hiking boots if I fdon't want to use my shoes and cleats.

You?

Cheers

https://picasaweb.google.com/1022344...PGe_9qChb-vSQ#

On Friday, June 13, 2014 12:30:33 PM UTC+1, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
Many of us ride vintage bicycles or bicycles with some vintage parts on them. What is your favourite vintage part and why do you like it so much?

My Utopia Kranich is a copy of a bike first designed in 1935 and in production first with Locomotief and then with Gazelle from 1936 for over 30 years, and revived by Utopia in the 1980s. The Utopia version is deliberately updated in the spirit of the original (deluxe comfort and unshakeable strength) with relaxed geometry, balloon tyres, and tubes newly developed by Columbus specifically for the Kranich. The components are the best available today: Exal rims, Sapim spokes, Rohloff and SON hubs, Cane Creek headset; I have a Shimano bottom bracket and Stronglight cranks on mine, and a Brooks saddle, of course. The whole thing is thus a vintage bike with all the sealed-bearing durability of the best modern components.

The one true vintage component I fitted was a pair of Phillips block pedals, because they are wider under my number 12 boots than anything you can buy today. I loved those pedals, on which Trever J, who used to come here, advised me. Unfortunately, one of those irreplaceable pedals broke off in an incident at speed at night in a lane where a tractor had that day broken off a piece of road I expected to be there over a big drop. See the pedals, including the broken axle, at http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/...59283#msg59283 where there is also a fuller description of the incident which trashed those very agreeable pedals.

If anyone has wide vintage block pedals for sale, mention it here please. (Don't write to fiultra -- it's a dummy account, a spam trap; I never go there.)

Andre Jute

On 6/13/2014 7:30 AM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
Many of us ride vintage bicycles or bicycles with some vintage parts on them.
What is your favourite vintage part and why do you like it so much?

I really like my vintage tubular wheels and my vintage Shimano 600 pedals
with toeclips and straps. I can use those pedals with a variety of shoes
including hiking boots if I fdon't want to use my shoes and cleats.

You?

Well, these will all be re-runs - things we've discussed thoroughly befo

I agree completely about the pedals with toe clips and straps.

My Soubitez roller (AKA bottom bracket) dynamos have worked wonderfully
for decades. They're now driving nice LED headlamps. They're probably
my favorite vintage part.

Oh, and I love handlebar bags. I think many people consider them
"vintage" or "retro."

On a different but related topic, which is finding such part: I've
visited this place
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kraynicks-bike-shop-pittsburgh
and it's amazing. Mountains of obscure parts crammed into at least
three floors of a tiny shop. The proprietors seem to know everything
there is to know about vintage bikes.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Friday, June 13, 2014 8:46:35 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/13/2014 7:30 AM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:

Many of us ride vintage bicycles or bicycles with some vintage parts on them.

What is your favourite vintage part and why do you like it so much?



I really like my vintage tubular wheels and my vintage Shimano 600 pedals

with toeclips and straps. I can use those pedals with a variety of shoes

including hiking boots if I fdon't want to use my shoes and cleats.



You?



Well, these will all be re-runs - things we've discussed thoroughly befo



I agree completely about the pedals with toe clips and straps.



My Soubitez roller (AKA bottom bracket) dynamos have worked wonderfully

for decades. They're now driving nice LED headlamps. They're probably

my favorite vintage part.



Oh, and I love handlebar bags. I think many people consider them

"vintage" or "retro."



On a different but related topic, which is finding such part: I've

visited this place

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kraynicks-bike-shop-pittsburgh

and it's amazing. Mountains of obscure parts crammed into at least

three floors of a tiny shop. The proprietors seem to know everything

there is to know about vintage bikes.

The free bike repair stations are an amazing perk, let alone the parts. Personally, I've spent the last five years getting rid of old stuff and carting it off to the Community Cycling Center. http://www.communitycyclingcenter..org/

The only vintage parts I currently use are saddles -- Cinelli Unicanitor from '76 on my track bike and an Ideal 2002 from about '78 on my commuter bike. I used to ride a Turbo from the early '80s, but I wore the cover off it. All of those were great saddles. Otherwise, I'm down to a reasonably modern fleet that can be maintained and repaired with current production parts and minimal effort. Not much room for retro.

-- Jay Beattie.

Per Andre Jute:
If anyone has wide vintage block pedals for sale

If you cannot find anything, maybe a set of magnesium BMX pedals.

Not vintage, but they have the width (most are about 3.75") and have all
the traction anybody could hope for.

Only fault I find with them is that the traction studs want to locate
themselves into any ridges on the sole of hiking shoes.
--
Pete Cresswell

Per (PeteCresswell):
Only fault I find with them is that the traction studs want to locate
themselves into any ridges on the sole of hiking shoes.

Oh yeah: and if you manage to flip the crank hard enough with one foot
on the ground, you get an interesting pattern tattooed on to the unlucky
calf. I think "Shinburger" is the generic term-of-art.
--
Pete Cresswell

On 6/13/2014 1:27 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, June 13, 2014 8:46:35 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/13/2014 7:30 AM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:

Many of us ride vintage bicycles or bicycles with some vintage parts on them.

What is your favourite vintage part and why do you like it so much?



I really like my vintage tubular wheels and my vintage Shimano 600 pedals

with toeclips and straps. I can use those pedals with a variety of shoes

including hiking boots if I fdon't want to use my shoes and cleats.



You?



Well, these will all be re-runs - things we've discussed thoroughly befo



I agree completely about the pedals with toe clips and straps.



My Soubitez roller (AKA bottom bracket) dynamos have worked wonderfully

for decades. They're now driving nice LED headlamps. They're probably

my favorite vintage part.



Oh, and I love handlebar bags. I think many people consider them

"vintage" or "retro."



On a different but related topic, which is finding such part: I've

visited this place

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kraynicks-bike-shop-pittsburgh

and it's amazing. Mountains of obscure parts crammed into at least

three floors of a tiny shop. The proprietors seem to know everything

there is to know about vintage bikes.

The free bike repair stations are an amazing perk, let alone the parts. Personally, I've spent the last five years getting rid of old stuff and carting it off to the Community Cycling Center. http://www.communitycyclingcenter.org/

The only vintage parts I currently use are saddles -- Cinelli Unicanitor from '76 on my track bike and an Ideal 2002 from about '78 on my commuter bike. I used to ride a Turbo from the early '80s, but I wore the cover off it. All of those were great saddles. Otherwise, I'm down to a reasonably modern fleet that can be maintained and repaired with current production parts and minimal effort. Not much room for retro.

I keep the old Bianchi Volpe in working order. I put it on the trainer
over the past winter. I've put so many miles on this bike that I'm
hesitant to donate it to charity.

On Friday, June 13, 2014 6:27:55 PM UTC+1, jbeattie wrote:

Otherwise, I'm down to a reasonably modern fleet that can be maintained and repaired with current production parts and minimal effort. Not much room for retro.

That's what I like best about my bike, retro looks with modern near-zero maintenance. Even those genie vintage pedals I modernized by washing out the factory grease and pumping them full of modern Phil stuff.

Andre Jute

On Friday, June 13, 2014 6:46:06 PM UTC+1, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Andre Jute:

If anyone has wide vintage block pedals for sale



If you cannot find anything, maybe a set of magnesium BMX pedals.



Not vintage, but they have the width (most are about 3.75") and have all

the traction anybody could hope for.

Thanks, Pete. I looked into those once, and the consensus was that the pins would turn my shins into "shinsburger". Alos, I couldn't quite see how they could be made to suit the style of my bike. At the moment I'm back to the VP-191, which are in my opinion the finest utility pedals, but a bit narrow for me. If I get desperate, I might have to glue rubber on those BMX jobs..

Andre Jute