steal bikes

SEGWAY

2009-04-22T20:59:00.006+01:00

Not been doing much with this blog. Life's been ...busy....

Still bikey bikey though. Not done loads and loaads of fixie-ing.A few spins here and there,it's a great training tool and superb for nipping to the village and stuff.

The last post mentioned a CX race Alan and I were intending doing . That came and went . I was going to do it on my old DB . In the end I didnt get it done on time. It's still in the garage. It's on the way . The frame is stripped ,I've body fillered the hole , as you do,and it's ready for paint. I have 99% of all the parts I need to finish it. At the minute I'm thinking 'multi purpose RV metro chic'. A slicked up bomber ,that with a change of tyres can also be MTB'd. It is a superb MTB after all.

We did the 'cross race BTW. I was on one of the demo cannondales ,the carbon Rize. Alan was on the 'dale carbon Rush. Had a great time .Check it out HERE.Have a browse around ,there's a mad video up there too.

Been doing quite a bit of MTB over the last few months . Some good rides. Been trying to put a different spin ,ahem , on the usual Sunday thing. Just jazzing it up a bit. I've upped the mileage a few times by hoofing it up from ours up to our local trails in Rivington and instead of the same old same old ,we've done some exploring and thrown in a couple of new bits. All good.

A typical ride can be found HERE.Come along . All welcome.

So ,maybe it's the springtime sun on my back ,or maybe its the velodrome trip we did the other week,HERE,but I'm getting some fixie again.

In the last month I've had a few short blasts ,no more than 6 or 7 miles in a trip and I've really enjoyed it. I'm a lot happier bobbing along on it.Stopping the thing isnt quite so scary. Just today I went into town and hardly touched the brake on the way in,even controlling my descent down the local 'col' with my spindly legs. A workout both ways.

Next thing coming up ?.....

We'll see.

MID LIFE CxRISIS

2008-12-26T17:22:00.004Z

I've been talking about cyclocross for the last few months.Nostalgia trip. My mate Alan and I did a few races on our MTBs back at the end of the 80s.Last Saturday I sent him a link to an event near us.Not for any particular reason ,something to browse,y'know.

Anyway . On Sunday morning we went out MTBing.As we met he greeted me with " yea,signed up for that".

I'm like " what ? !"

So that's that . We've signed up for a cyclocross race. Feb 7th . 2 hrs + 1 lap.

I dont think any amount of training will make me much fitter than I already am ,but I went out on Christmas Eve for a local blast.Typical CX circuit . Mud ,lots of it ,and tight twisty tracks through the trees. I wont say I didnt enjoy it ,cos I did . But it was damned hard towards the end. I set my alarm to do 1 hr ,flat out .

I was fairly having a go . Time was ticking away . Slowly . I was convinced ,utterly ,that the alarm had gone off and I hadnt heard it ,or I hadnt set it properly . I stopped to check it.

55 mins.

So that's were I'm up to. I'll do some 'training' ,and see how it goes.

Bike selection . I'll keep you posted. I'm thinking of resurecting my dead Diamondback Axis.Singlespeed .Flat bars. The narrowest tyres I can get.

We'll see.That's a hole in the toptube right there.

PAIN RELIEF

2008-12-02T23:00:00.007Z

'BEFORE' SHOT

CRACKED EARLY GUSSET. MX 1000.

Not strictly fixed wheel ,but I have a bad back and I need some sugar.The cold doesnt help.

This is my bike . It's not some borrowed nostalgia from the unremembered 80s. I ,well ,mum and dad ,bought it in 1983 from Cooke Bros in Atherton.It was my 2nd BMX. An early christmas 83 present.

In those days BMXs evolved. Originally the wheels were spoked 'pro-class'. I swapped them for some black skyways. Later I re-swapped them for some Arayas. Even much later I picked up a burner with these black Tuffs on.Etc etc. I had white skyways on at one point.You get the idea. Different stems ,bars ,grips ,pedals.

At some point in its evolution,still the 80s, I stripped the stickers off and sprayed it . Green. As mad as that was , I did however have the forethought to not sand the chrome. I just tacked it, primed it and painted it. At some other point in it's 'evolution ' the green was tatty so I took that off and it was naked chrome ,stickerless. The green paint had actually protected the chrome.I hadnt painted the forks and theyre a little bit pitted.It must've been early 90s by now. It remained that way throughout the 90s . I used it on and off when I took our little lad to the track or the 'park to rip up the ramps.Grr.I had a shedload ,literally ,of BMXs around this time so it didnt always make the cut ,but it was always there . I happened upon some generic ammaco stickers in a bike shop in London in 2001 and those have been on it since then. Not absolutely cricket ,but...

Last week EnnuiBay- ing I just happened to do a search for 'ammaco' .I dunno why . It's the type of thing I do from time to time. Sometimes it might be 'whiskeytown' ,or 'ftw' ,or 'girvin' .That type of thing. This time I put 'ammaco'.I scrolled down the dozen or so items and to my delight some guy has rejigged up some stickers . Just for me. Ace. Not 'ace ' ,that was the cheaper one , 'pro' then.Yay.

Click.20 odd quid .Paypal.Postman.Clack.Wife overjoyed at my obvious pleasure.

So ,last night I de-gunked/de-stickered it with some industrial strength work type solvent.Harmful to aquatic organisms apparently . Hmm. And then I stuck on the new/old stickers on. It looks ace .Well ,'pro'. I reckon some new tyres and it'll be dead good.

It was in the back of the car this morning ,as on the way home I was returning it to my mum. She's old school. At work I had the opportunity to photograph it in the snow.

Snow is a bit of an 80s thing too.

So that's the story of that ,except , I forgot to mention in 1984 we were jumping down the terraced steps in Wigan Mesnes Park.Riding the first one and bunnyhopping onto the downslope of the next.Suddenly another icon of the 80s turned up.The parkie.That last bastion of empire. He said " Oi ! "The teenager of today would have bottled the twat.

We pegged it . In our haste I overjumped off the second terrace and 'flat bottomed it'. It must be a 15 footer. I fell off hard,bent the renthal seatpost and scratched the copy CW bars and ,wait for it ,snapped the bottom of the downtube gusset. It was a common problem .They changed the gussets for 84. That's how I know it was an 83. I got it early,before christmas,around September 83 I think.That said ,it couldve been for the 84 model year. I also ripped my Mountain Equipment 'bubble coat'.It was probably hair gel I slipped on.And those Miami Vice boaters werent too grippy either.

We were so hardcore.

Oh ,then there's the scar on my elbow.I was 15 when I did it . It was still a scab in college.What happened was......

I love that bike.

So why do I have a bad back?It's a bit better today. That'll be the warm fuzzy glow of nostalgia.

SHADE

2008-11-30T17:18:00.002Z

LEARN TO LOVE THE RUST.EMBRACE THE RUST.

Not much two wheeled action this week. My back's been bad since I was painting my mum's ceiling last weekend. It was really sore until the middle of this week ,but is a lot better now. The sub-zero conditions put me off going out.It should be settled down by next week.
It rained in the week. Rust changes colour depending on whether it is wet or dry.
Does anyone else have a colour changing bike?

OK.

THIS WEEKS STEALING

2008-11-23T22:05:00.004Z

Only a few little 'stolen ' moments this week.

Nipped out on tuesday night for a quick tour d'locale.Just blowing off the cobwebs.It was very cold and a bit breezy ,but even wearing anti-cycling clothes ,just some monster gloves , it was OK .

On Friday I threw the bike in the car and hoofed the last little bit into work . Next to nothing really.

I bought 'Cycling plus' magazine.

I dug out all the bits to build up my super old Diamondback Axis into a singlespeed cyclocross type bike.

I went into my LBS ( Alans) to 'chase the threads' on the BB.I'm missing some ducktape for that hole under the toptube.

Clickbought some repro stickers for my old BMX . The one I bought in 84. ( * )Another fairly easy 'project ' there. Hmm. Ammaco freestyle Pro , by the way.

Thinking about bikes and bike-related stuff.

The

whole

bloody

time.

Constantly.

* 83 ? 84 ? Errrr. I was 14 . It was 83

STUNT

2008-11-06T21:12:00.002Z

"FORWARDS"

This is me just hoofing about on 'steal'.

It's also up on 'youtube'.

Still the same old thing.Swapped the pedals for DXs(so no skids) and put on some flat bars.Bit easier on the wrists.

Camera and dialogue by Danny.

Post production and death defying stunts by me.

OK .

HISTORY REPEATING

2008-11-06T20:35:00.006Z

The word is about that something's evolving.
It doesnt know if it's coming or going.

A few weeks ago in my haste to create "Steal-V1.1" from my brother's old racer I forgot to take a definitive 'before' pic.
In a classic 'turn up for the books' ,my father-in-law,Joe ,came round with his old racer ,dug out from in the garage.
It's only exactly * like 'steal' was before I accosted it with nitromors and a selection of abrasive power tools.

So , I say " Joe . If you want ,for exactly zero £££s initial outlay I could easily convert this perfectly good classic 12 spd into something resembling that rusty old thing over there.No problem ".

So ,he says ".....!...."

The revolution is here.

* Taller headtube+ alloys ,but .....

'Steal ' is rusting up just nice BTW.

OK . TIM

DANNY'S BSA FIXIE PROJECT

2008-11-01T21:44:00.004Z

Danny has a mate who works in the local scrapyard.Obvious opportunity for a pun there.

Here's one for that's ripe for.....,wait for it,.....

RE - CYCLING

Fairly filthy.Right out of the skip.A good dousing with white spirit cuts through the grime.

Bit on the small side ,but ,hey,it's all there.

Well ,it was for about half an hour.

There's gold in them thar skips....

1st PROPER RIDE

2008-10-26T18:33:00.003Z

Went out today on a proper fixed spin. The first one since Alan at work welded up the cassette body.Fixed it.

First impressions are good.The fun started straight off.2 mins from our house there's a fairly steep downhill called 'Soughers Lane'. I've suffered on it many a time,but never going down!

At the bottom is a busy 'A' road requiring a stop.So I'm bobbing along thinking-

"It's OK this fixed wheel malarkey"....

Well,I'm still here .So I made it. But let's just say it was a bit tasty.It was a good job I fitted a front brake anyway.

I'm heading up to Haigh Hall.A normally uneventful roadie spin I've done a million times on a million bikes. Nothing to report on the way up.Usual dance.Sunday morning roadworks ,everyone's half asleep. Luckily I'm wide awake.I'm not sure on the letter of the law but ,basically,if a bike was to 'keep left' you'd spend more time stopped.Maybe it's because the world and his granny all have big american style UPVs* but there is never enough room curbside.Cut down bars or not.Anyway . Rant over . I rode on the crown of the road past a stationary line of cars a good 1/4 mile long.I'm not sure if it was 'legal' or not ,but I'm here to tell the tale.A handshake of carbon monoxide ,and away.

BACK OF HAIGH HALL PLANTATION GATES.RAINING

From Wigan centre to Haigh Hall is uphill pretty much the whole way.The first drag is a steady slog that's over in a few minutes. The trouble is a steady slog doesnt lend itself to the fixie.So,a bit of a trackstand from the lights and I stand up and hammer.To my surprise it fairly flirts up. Nice one.

On the edge of the plantation I drop into Haigh Park. It's raining.It's autumnal. Leaves are on the floor . They are wet. Brill.Not exactly confidence inspiring after the last near death downhill.Maybe it's the 'fixed thing'but it felt OK.Soon the road kicks up sharply ,more hammering.Up up and away.Lively.

The road leads into the plantation.No cars allowed here.Just a mile or so from the hall now,and all uphill.Again,no time to slog.I'm kinda getting the hang of this.

I have a minute on the canal bridge chatting to a lad on a mountainbike.He cant beleive it.

MESSENGER BAG AND SKINNY LATTE OUT OF SHOT.

As we're chatting a group of 4 roadie club cyclists fly past,heading up.They have a couple of minutes lead on me but on my whippet of a bonkers bike they dont stand a chance.Haha.

Just as I'm rounding the corner of the hall,such a pretty house, theyre just climbing the short steep climb up to the stable cafe.Spurned on and feeling pleased that I've caught them I attack the hill,not really expecting to get up in one.But I do.How good is this stripped out piece of plain gauge high tensile with crappy bits and 10,000 mile wheels?It might be a different tale if I had 80miles in my legs,but up to now ,it's doing OK.

I have a brew in the cafe planning my route home.I'm not sure about dropping down through the woods.Wet leaves all over the place and dogs on rollerskates,kids chasing sticks,that sort of thing.

Ah ,but what the hell.I've just been telling the mountainbike lad how surprisingly grippy road tyres are.Besides.I can try some extended fixie skids on the wet ,downhill ,leaf strewn tarmac.

NEEEEEEEEEYOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW.

Up out of the woods theres a nice little push to the gates.More hammering .I think if it was a bit steeper or a bit longer i'd have got off. A bit wobbly at the top.And it's trying to rain again.

I decide to divert through the town and call into Alans bike shop.Now open Sundays. No rest for the wicked.The rest of Wigan is open.The capitalist wheel must also be fixed.I almost felt like a punk bike messenger weaving through the shoppers. I even went on the footpath . Cheeky monkey.

I dont hang about tooo long in Alans but when I come out it's now stopped raining but it's not half gone cold and it's blowing a gale up Wallgate.Right in my face.

Time for the TT tuck.I crank right past my mums and onto the dual carriageway.Uphill back home from here.

Past the motorway I have one last little downhill to build up some momentum for the last big hill .Which was the first big hill. My final fit ,my bellyache. Soughers lane.

Well ,I'm here .It cant really be avoided.The traffic just dropped nice for me turning in at the bottom . I got on top of the gear and powered up the whole way,cranking on the bar ends.Obviously I was blowing a bit at the top ,but it's in the bag.

As a 'tester' it was a good ride. I was nt too sure how the gearing would be ( 42x15). I thought it might be a bit tall. For any bigger hills ,or a longer spin it might be,so I'll see about a sprocket swap and take it a bit farther afield.The pedal swap was a good call too. SPDs are definitely better for 'proper ' cycling. All in all though ,a good spin . Enjoyed it.No alarms and no surprises.

HAIGH HALL PLANTATIONS

*Utterly Pointless Vehicles.

STEAL ONE

2008-10-23T17:35:00.000+01:00

Another day another bike another blog.

I've done the trendy thing and gone and done myself a 'fixie'.I'll let you know how it goes.

Up to now it goes like this......

I was at work in our fine metropolis of Manchester.Over the preceding week or so ,my mate Danny and I had seen a fair number of urban fixies.And not all the ubiquitous nazi punk bike messengers so popular these days.Ordinary people too.Well ,ordinary ish.They are cyclists.'Ordinary ' would be an oxymoron.We hatch a plot to bike in ourselves.I've done it before, many times.Drive the first 20 mile or so ,park out of town ,and hoof the last 4 or 5 miles in,saving the planet one revolution at a time.Who are we kidding?We're saving a buck or two on parking that goes towards a coffee in town.

This day in particular we were in the Ramada,overlooking the busy city street ,Portland St,admiring the beautiful archtecture of the 'Britannia',formerly a warehouse,marvelling the three distinct styles ,and in no rush to go back to work.It's difficult to choose a favourite style between the French renaissance and Elizabethan. It beats plastisol steel clad.The cut and thrust of construction ,eh?

Anyway ,in between sips of Earl Grey,I say " Let's not return to this life of toil and servitude 'til such time that we survey below ,a perambulating bicyclist of the fixed wheel persuasion"

"Capital idea old bean" Says master Daniel,expecting a much extended intermission from our travails.

Imagine our dismay whereupon not more than one minute hence a fixie comes trundling past.The full NJS.
Hmm.

Back to the grindstone then.

So I get to thinking.I've done a fair amount of 'hardcore commuting ' over the years.A racing bike is a helluva weapon for cutting your way through the urban jungle ,and what better than a slimmed down ,stripped out ,lightweight ,for the full visceral.

Then I have the 'per-ching' eureka moment.

In my mums/dads garage I have at my disposal a perfect 'donor' bike.It's a C.'90 ish ,fairly low to middlin spec Raleigh 12 speed.It was technically my brother's bike . He inherited it from somewhere .I 'restored' it a bit about 5 yrs ago.It got put away .It never moved again.

My mind is roving.Raving.Racing.Dominated with images of plus fours and cut down handlebars.Fixated,one might say.

On the way home I 'divert 'to my mums.Armed with only a few tools I very quickly turn a 100% complete ,fairly vintage ,fairly mint ,12 speed ,into a stripped down ,slimmed out ,full ,well ,fairly visceral ,singlespeed.At this point I realise I havent taken a definitive'before' pic.

SOMETHING LIKE THIS

Considering the common or garden variety of the bike I am surprised at its lithe feel in my hands.I suppose if one unbolts enough heavy steel components it will reduce the weight somewhat.The tyres are flat and due to the absence of a suitable pump there's only one thing for it.

I throw it in the back of the RV and take it home.

My lovely wife is overjoyed to see me with yet another bike in tow and is more than happy for me to be spending another evening in the shed fettling yet another hunk of junk.There are none so blind as those that cannot see.

Version 1.0

In standard trim it has heavy steel rims.Letting the side down somewhat.In my 'shed' after 20+ years I have a 'collection ' of junk,sorry,old bike bits ,that just needs a rummage through.It's a bit like a lucky dip.Dive in ,root around ,and see what you can come up with.I 'dig out',almost literally , a 'spare' set of 700C s ,in alloy,on a 7 spd cassette with only about 10,000 miles in em.And some handlebars.And some more handlebars.And a saddle.And and and...

NJS SADDLE.FROM MY KEIRIN DAYS.KICKING ABOUT

WHITE /FLOURO/PURPLE. PRE NITROMORS NIGHTRIDE.FREE

And so it goes.

And so it went.

So I have this cobbled collection of bits,a 'donor' singlespeed,and some mad ideas.At this point let's call it a work in progress.

Fast forward to the weekend.I have an idea for the 'look' of the bike in my head.Formed mostly over many cups of coffee and ,inspired by the minimalist aesthetic,I settle on 'urban "rat look"punk'.

So, the angle grinder comes out.Along with a rotary sander,and some paint stripper.Finish off with an inspirational bit of stencil.It works on many levels.Bike /art.Art/bike

TRADEMARK STENCIL .TECH III LEVER.RISERS CUT.

Version 1.2.

STENCILLED.DIFFERENT BARS.

POST STRIP.PRE STENCIL .FREE .SON

And that's how it has been for the last few weeks . A couple of handlebar/stem swaps and the odd change of pedals.It's been out for the odd spin.A different thing than riding a bike with gears.Keep up the momentum uphill,spinning out downhill.But I knew that. And it's still singlespeed.Freewheeling.

VERSION1.2 OR SOMETHING.NIGHTRIDE.FREE

Version 2.0 then.

After more coffee I have another mini eureka.In my 'collection' I remember I have a knackered MTB wheel.Standard shimano cassette hub.I reckon remove and weld up the spare cassette body(not a new idea) and not only will it 'fix' up my 700c hub ,it will 'fix' any compatible cassette hub and give me adjustable chainline with a choice of sprockets from the cassette.

The welder at work who only has 50 years experience advises against it and is not convinced .But he tacks it ,N S E W ,anyway.

"Dont come running to me if you break your neck".

So that is where we're at.I got home .First things first. Kettle on.

GREASE/BLOOD EDITED OUT FOR CLARITY

Swap 'free' for 'fix'.
Not too difficult.Axle out.10mm allen key.Bish bosh.

Fixed.

FIXED.C/W BMX CHAINTUG BODGED ON TO SUIT.

And so it begins.I rode fixed just once ,at the velodrome ,so I knew what to expect.And I've seen those cool urbanites locking up the back wheel through the streets of S.F. speeding downtown for a skinny latte.

How hard can it be?

Well.I think I've pulled my right quad. It's dropping off. Doing those 'easy' skids.Ha ha.

Had some fun trackstanding and threw in a bit of fakie backwards riding.Oh ,and the classic sat on the handlebars riding forwards and attempting backward forwards( ie ,pedalling backwards ,sat on the bars ,travelling in reverse relative to the bike,but facing the way you're going.Try that after a few bottles of Asahi ! ).

I'll keep you posted.

NICE BITS.SUNTOUR XCIIs.ONLY BOUGHT COMPONENTS.MKS TOE-CLIPS.

NO PAINT.NO LACQUER = RUST.

42X15. IS THAT 'TALL'? I'm not sure.Dont get me going on that.

Right then . That's it. Up to now it's cost £7 for a pair of toeclips.Everything else was 'in stock',although,technically ,I took 2 new tubes out of my saddlebag that were new,I had a new chain that I bought for another bike ages ago that I'd never used,and the bar ends and grab on copies were 2 quid each from Tesco ,again intended for another bike.But ,hey.All in all ,a cheap exercise that has rekindled my roadbike thingy. Ace.

I'm toying with the idea of brazing in some proper track dropouts,and it could do with some track nuts/threaded spindles,although it's working ,so why meddle?

Me? Meddle?

Tim . The Muddy Fox Courier.I like bikes,me.

That courier has slidy dropouts . Hmmm.Back of the Pike......