The Imperfectionist – My Repco Traveller :

on a test ride

Repco is a long standing name in this country, mostly known nowadays for its automotive products, and as far as cycling goes they once had a range of 10-speed bikes ranging from this model right up to superlight and triathlete chro-moly racing bikes. Of course the exotic models are much more rare, though there are plenty of Travellers still getting around.  The Traveller was the basic “pressed steel everything” model, and exists today in name as a vastly different freewheeling single speed commuter – a cheap, aluminium framed, department store bike selling for around $100.

This bike was bought for twenty bucks with a straight 58cm frame, a lot of component rust, and without me initially knowing what I would do with it …

a nice touch

So then, thinking how to approach a rebuild, given that I already have both a ten speed light roadbike and a heavy-ish commuter that I’m reasonably happy with. Keeping things simple I have opted for a five speed by removing the front deraiileur and small ring, sacrificing low gear but retaining simplicity and some flexibility.

wall flower

I have to confess, I like my gears, I can only ride single speed for so long before I start to pine for them. I’m not greedy about it, I mean, an uphill gear, a neutral gear, and a downhill / tailwind gear and I’m pretty happy. A few more than this is a bonus but only until overkill is reached …

With my resto’s,  a lot depends on the parts that I have on hand… and my ‘semi – conservation’ style may not appeal to the perfectionists … I like to keep some character or imperfection here and there.

These are roughly the steps involved in this case :

Frame : Basic lugged hi-tensile “1020″ steel, some surface rust, some scrapes on the paint and decals though the overall condition is not bad. Finish is a slightly metallic black with silver lettering on the decals which have started going opaque. I personally dislike new paint jobs on original frames, as uniform “perfect” paintwork lacks character and the bike can easily become prettily anonymous.

another person’s take on the humble traveller – as a commuter

Removed all fittings and bearings for overhaul or replacement, and to access, clean and inspect the frame. Fish-oiled the inside of tubes, steel wool and phosphoric acid converter on the rust spots, lined the lugs gold (always nice on black) and touch-up the worst scratches by hand, including the silver decal lettering where scraped off.. Clear coat the paint areas to regain some lustre and conserve the finish.

Wheels : Original Femco steel rims, very rusty chrome on the front one, replaced with a Shimano/Araya overhauled steel 27″ Q.R. Nutted rear cleaned up nicely with some TLC and I fitted new gumwall tyres.

Stem : Heavy chromed steel stem swapped for Nitto Dynamic 10 alloy 100mm – a beautiful looking stem makes such a difference. I overhauled the original headset as it was reasonable.

synthetic cork is comfy but lacks the looks of leather

Bars : Unappealing rusty chromed drop bars replaced by the unused steel drop bars from my Malvern 2-star coaster braked bike. These have an old-fashioned deep drop and an unusual dappled finish, courtesy of some brutal rust removal and clear coat. I had some Serfas brand spongy black bar tape which I twined on the inner end and fitted with home made “shellacked wine cork”  bar end plugs. These give a bit of character and don’t cost.

Luckily the frame is relatively large so the bar drop relative to the seat height is not too bad for me, though I am stretched out a bit.

Cranks and bottom bracket :  Removed the bolts holding on the small chain ring and guard, keeping the original 52T chain wheel and crank. Replaced the original square BB with a slightly shorter used square tapered to help with the chain line. Tried to get the chain wheel as close to the chain stay as possible so I could use first gear 28T cog with the large ring. It works well without chattering. New SunTour 5-speed chain fitted. MKS Sylvan pedals fitted to replace steel rat-traps.

team pro – hard, but a free pedalling shape

Saddle and seatpost :  I kept the original chromed 25.6mm seatpost. I find the variation in seat post width really amazing on older bikes e.g. 25.4, 25.6, 25.8 then into 26′s and 27′s, unlike say, with 1″ quill stems, there are so many slight variations  … and you really need a snug fit with these. The saddle was a throwaway plastic  item on base model bikes of this vintage, and a Brooks is always called for, of course ! I happened to have a spare team pro model on hand. These are as hard as rock to begin with, but even then, they are still more comfortable than plastic…

Brakes :  As I have no suitable light replacements, the heavy steel callipers have been retained for the time being, fitted with new basic Jagwire road pads. New cable inners fitted. Recycled Dia-compe alloy road levers of a similar vintage with the “suicide” levers removed.

Derailleur :  Original Shimano “Skylark” rear derailleur replaced with a better quality used Shimano. (The models were all named after various birds at one time ).

living green

A Quick Ride :

The bike is heavy-ish, but fairly comfortable, and much more stable than my smaller, lighter Cecil Walker.

Sure, it would be better if a little lighter – alloy cranks, brakes, wheels and bars would have helped here. The 5 gears work well on the flat, but are a little limiting on steeper hills.

The ride is rough, but I think softer tyres would help here. More testing to do … well, someone has to do it !

night ride

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Watch Out, There’s Mamils About :

a small gathering of mamils

Riding past Speers Point Park on Sunday, wondering how come, if two thirds of our population are overweight or obese, there are so many Middle Aged Men In Lycra ( MAMILs) about on their road bikes ?

some mawils ? too …

And women too – were they all attempting to reduce the burden of medical bills on our society by getting fit ? That’s got to be a good thing …

I would add, however, that some men just shouldn’t wear the clingy stuff until their tummies shrink a bit more …

Apparently, it was all in aid of “Loop the Lake” an annual cycling event for Lake Macquarie, the largest (I think) saltwater lake anywhere … ( is it 85km around? ). Not too many photo ops. for me though, as there weren’t many classic bikes to be seen on this day. All modern roadie stuff as you might expect.

your typical mamil apparatus

As we rolled on by, I wondered about those riders who ride everywhere on the road when there are perfectly good cycle paths in parallel. I suppose it’s faster ? Guess that makes me a MIMIC ( Mildly Indifferent Man In Cotton ) as I prefer relative peace to the cut-and-thrust of the main road, unless I have no other choice.

Though the cycle paths can also be obstacle courses sometimes, the views are usually better ..

the slow lane …

 

And so it was then, that we joined the families on a day of slow cycling to the art gallery bazaar, and back again.

plenty of parking at the gallery …

fellow commuters

busking

See Ya then, on the path well travelled !

 

 

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A Fisherman’s Friend – The Road Chief :

Here’s my latest classic 27″ wheeled acquisition, for your enjoyment :

note the later huffy cheapo upright saddle

 

I love hard rubbish season – it’s full of surprises …… this is a typical converted “fisherman’s bike” of the ten speed era, before the ubiquitous MTB took over, lovingly equipped with zip tied and taped drain pipe rod holders, and with the drop bars up-ended no less, in that dawn of time style invented by the men who bought (or were sold) sports bikes when they should have had uprights.

 

PVC fishing rod holders – they are so practical you’ve gotta love them

 

Single speed, three speed, ten speed sporties — Hey, come to think of it, aren’t there lots of guys still doing that sporty image thing, buying today in carbon fibre 22-speed ?  (lol)

 

I don’t think many carbon frames will outlast this salt water special, at least not with the same amount of abuse and neglect…

 

features rusty  front sports fender and rear zefal plastic MTB mud flapper

 

I’ve concluded that any road bike brand that sounds like a macho truck name and is fitted with ‘suicide’ brake levers is most likely a heavyweight clunker, e.g. Road Chief, Road King, Road Master, etc.  - but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun riding (or messing around ) with it !

 

these old style non-original platform pedals can be overhauled 

 

Probably use this one for parts, it’s so far gone, and of low quality components, but who knows ?

The bottom bracket is shot, but the old style pedals will be just about perfect for my classic ladies Speedwell once they have been de-rusted and overhauled – as they still have most of their yummy diamond tread intact.

 

Happy Cycling !

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Night Riding – The Brighter the Light :

The darker the shadow …

….  or so goes the melancholy song sung by the Australian singer Stephen Cummings.

 

When one lives in a mostly hot place, as I do in summer, sometimes the only time to have a pleasant long ride is at night.

I use both dynamo and battery lights and mostly ride in suburban back streets with patchy lighting, in well lit city streets for short distances and for long distances on unlit bush cycle paths. One would think that the unlit areas need the brightest lighting, but in reality I find that less light is needed, for example, on the very dark Fernleigh Track than for areas with patchy street lighting or city streets with car traffic.

 

swansea rsl from the bridge

The reason why appears to be that the eyes become adjusted to the relative darkness and can perceive the headlight’s beam faintly enough to see at a further distance than when it is washed out by patchy light/dark ambient lighting in the suburbs or by dazzling distractions in the city. Rabbits, small tree branches, the occasional dangling spider web and light-less walkers (rare) are the only likely dark obstacles to passage on the track at night, and there aren’t many sharp corners either.

 

two horizons, swansea channel

I recently tried an experiment with a helmet mounted headlight to see if that would improve my city and suburban riding ease, and it did work well there, however in uniformly dark areas like the Fernleigh Track, I found myself wanting to turn it off. Why ?

 

fernleigh – dark maybe, but not as dark as it looks !

The beauty of riding the Fernleigh Track at night is the sense of peace, quietness and alone-ness, with just  an adequate envelope of light around yourself and the bike, in my case adjusted for speed variation via the 3 brightness levels on the Cygolite 170 lumen that I use on my Road King bike for night commuting ). Oncoming riders with super bright LEDs in your face can be extremely disorienting and I don’t want to be another of those. For the same reason I don’t ever use the “epileptic” fast flicker modes (if I may be so unkind), as they are that annoying to me it’s like asking to be run over ( lol ).

 

the lezyne with bar clamp on the cecil walker

Listening to frogs and crickets  in the dark while the wind rustles by is one of the joys of this ride that can be spoiled by visual overload. With the helmet mounted Lezyne Power Drive (400 lumen – usb) light running as well, I felt as though I was ‘roo spotting or something !  Also, the particles of moisture in the air were lighting up in the beam causing an obscuring and unpleasant bright fog in front …. sigh.

 

stockton shared path – a beautiful ride, but tricky at night

Where the helmet mount does excel though, is on winding paths like the Stockton Hunter River side where one can then see around dark corners before taking them, avoiding the need to quickly wriggle the bars to get a peek around, as well as for pot-hole spotting on suburban streets in the darkness between street lights.

 

lezyne helmet mount with velcro strap is in the “loaded” kit

As an aside, there is a certain poetry in the dynamo lighting systems that automatically brighten up as one travels faster, and modern dynamo hubs like the one on my Gazelle have very little pedalling resistance compared with my 1950′s Millers for example. And, of course, they are virtually maintenance free. I merely take a good head torch on long dark rides on this bike in case e.g. puncture repairs are needed.

 

dyno-power!

Also, while the modern single LEDs are very bright they often seem to concentrate in a narrow beam, perhaps by design and perhaps because of the tiny reflector area and the pinpoint LED source. My halogen B&M Lumotec gives much more light spread to the sides. Sadly you can’t easily swap bikes with these, but if you have only one “night bike”, it may be the way to go.

Incidentally, the main reason that I bought the Lezyne was because the retro Soma “Torpedo” that I fitted is not sufficiently bright for a potentially faster bike like my Cecil Walker, although it does look beautiful. It’s more suited to lower speeds, as one might have guessed !

 

the soma torpedo AA headlamp is beautiful and clever – but not at speed – the lezyne micro drive usb rear is on the seat post

 

If you buy one of the Lezyne lights, try and get it with the “loaded” kit that comes in a padded hard case with the light, q.r. bar mount, helmet mount, usb cable and an extra battery – and also lash out on a couple of extra quick release bar mounts for your other bikes. Almost essential, if you have several bikes as I do. The bar clamp allows a small amount of side to side “parallax” type adjustment that is very handy too.  This should be the last light that I buy for a long time.

 

the excellent “loaded” kit, with the spare battery and its protective cylinder

I also have the Lezyne “micro drive” USB rechargeable tail lamp, its brightness is excellent, and I really like the slow pulsing mode that has no flicker. The mount is a simple silicone strap that so far has caused no problems, but it would be worthwhile getting spares of these too, methinks !

 

There are plenty of customer reviews for the Lezyne on the Wiggle UK site.

 

bench seat, swansea channel

Happy Riding !

 

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Needless … and Pins :

I’ve spent a fair amount of time and money (but no more than a cheap bike shop model might cost) bringing my old Road King up to speed as a practical commuter – guards, saddle, bars, rack, lights, pedals, etc.

on a multi mode commute

I didn’t mind doing this because the basic bike was in such good condition for an almost 30 year old ride, even though some cycling forum threads cruelly describe Road Kings as low end clunkers fit for the rubbish  tip ! Tsk tsk …

I take the different view, however, that a well set up straight framed and properly maintained bike like this is well worth keeping and improving upon if you can accept its few basic limitations – which are mainly the weight of the steel frame, wheels, and also of other components along with the slightly clunky drive train (mostly things that can be improved).  I even think it has quite a bit of classic style – so there !

Just don’t pay too much for one if you are thinking of buying it – I’ve noticed “buy it now” prices rocketing on ebay lately for this sort of thing :

a repco traveller – a similar low-end ’80s 10speed

I have almost always disliked cotter pins as they can be imprecise and fiddly things that have a tendency to wear out and loosen prematurely, which is a hindrance on a long distance commuter when you’re “pressing on” or pedalling hard. Maybe they are OK on “high end” classic bikes where the components are more accurately machined, but not on this old Woolworths beastie. These steel cranks and chain wheels are quite heavy as well as looking inaccurately made :

cheap pressed and riveted steel crank-set

For the sake of originality on a genuine collectable classic bike I wouldn’t change  the cottered bottom end unless I really had to, but this bike arguably isn’t one of those. Anyway, you can always hold onto the original parts for the future if they are in working condition or repairable.

with mks sylvan alloy pedals

So it wasn’t a difficult decision to replace the cottered crankset with the square tapered one from an old Ricardo 12 speed MTB – a Tracer brand that has also done some brief service on other bikes. It has alloy cranks with steel rings, and surprisingly fitted in and worked without even needing the derailleur stops adjusted !

You may need to adjust the height of the front derailleur to fit the new ring size however. As long as the new crank axle is the right width and you have non-indexed friction shifters this kind of mod. is easy. The down side in my case is a slight reduction of top gear chain wheel teeth from 52 to 48 without a corresponding drop in low gearing – they have the same sized 40T lower chain ring – oh well, it was a freebie I suppose.

old and new (size difference exaggerated by perspective)

It doesn’t look too much different to the old set either, and the alloy cranks seem to visually match the newer pedals as well. Most better quality bikes in ’84 were beginning to have this type of crank/axle set-up anyway.

it’s a gradual process of improvement

Hopefully there will now be no more squeaking and creaking…

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Remnants of Oswald :

ahhh, going green again…

Everything’s gone green again after days of rain, courtesy of the leftovers from tropical cyclone Oswald up north. I’m riding around on the pink “turbo” mixte to check out the effects …

wild and moody – at swansea heads

back from the beach

 

alternative header shot, marks point

Feeling mellow, so let’s change the blog header…

Here’s some recent bike miscellany :

loop framed rat-bike, belmont

cecil basks in the previous week’s heat

cecil at stockton

in the tunnel

Happy Riding !

 

 

 

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A Few Accessories for the Gazelle Toer Populair :

it’s built for comfort

The review I wrote on this bike a while back has been one of my most viewed blog posts and continues to be read almost daily. I am pleased that it has been helpful to some, as I more or less bought the bike off the catalogue without much independent advice.

While there’s really not much that needs adding to this bike ( as it’s quite comprehensively fitted out as standard ) here’s a few suggested additions and improvements I have made or considered over the last two years :

Brooks Leather Washer Grips :

the short side

This was the first alteration and has been mentioned in the original review. The grips are great, though you will need gloves in cold weather due to the metal end caps conducting heat away. After a while the leather washers shrink a little and the grips need re-tightening, an easy job ! The padded leather originals were my least liked aspect of this bike.

MKS3000R Platform Pedals:

oops – wide angle distortion

The original Union pedals were starting to get some play in the bearings and they are not adjustable – while they were still quite useable, these serviceable MKS pedals are a definite improvement.

Basil Catania Collapsable Mesh Basket:

that bottom piece holds it all together

I like the look and foldaway feature of this basket. Has a tendency to slight surface rust, which is easily cured with rust converter or fish-oil sparingly dabbed on the spots with a paint brush. When lightly loaded this basket on only one occasion dis-assembled itself, losing the contents on the road after I hit a large bump. The basket is attached with zip ties and adhesive foam rubber to protect the frame paint. I use this basket almost every ride.

Brooks B66 Black Saddle and Millbrook Saddle Bag:

me likee

I think that the black B66 looks much better on this bike than the aged brown B67 original, though they are almost the same saddle in riding terms. If you have another bike that needs a Brooks ( and who doesn’t  ? ) It’s a great excuse to do a swap. Of course the other advantage is that the black B66 perfectly matches the Millbrook saddle bag.

The Milbrook is a vinyl bag with leather trim and is a very useful size for small items, valuables and tools. The bag rests on the Gazelle’s rack, and as I rarely use this rack I don’t miss the lost space. It’s well made too, and nicely padded inside. There’s a larger “Glenbrook” bag, also modelled on a traditional brooks bag that is a little wider. I believe that “all leather” versions of these bags were – or are – available in limited edition, but the price is very high. I love this bag and it’s reasonably priced for a Brooks.

A word of caution with the original “aged” saddle – use any leather dressing very, very sparingly, as the aged saddles will sag quite easily if it’s overdone.

the original, for comparison

Zefal Spy Mirror:

at least partially useful

I like this little mirror because it visually balances the large bell when mounted on the right side, however to get a good view requires taking the right hand off the bars. Not exactly a safety feature !

Nevertheless the idea of a motorbike style stalk mounted mirror doesn’t appeal to me either…

Wireless Cycle Computer:

0-15 km/h ?- not sure what’s going on here ..

This computer’s speedo/odo doesn’t work under 15km/h … go figure ! The most expensive bike clock I have purchased to date – but it does have a nice look about it. I would buy a wired one next time !

Lastly, if you do a lot of night riding in unlit areas, an additional battery light could be a worthwhile thing – or at least a torch for use when you are stopped. Otherwise the standard lights are fine.

Happy Cycling !

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Adventures with Cecil :

A cool wind change has dropped the temperature – now’s my chance to take CW for a longer ride, to Newcastle and back in a morning. I can only do hermit-like bike restoration for so long before I have to get out and about  in the world :

a bush break at whitebridge

And some fun in the tunnel on the way in :

exiting hyperspace

Newcastle is full of bikes and riders in holiday mode – the young girl’s step-through was a refurbished classic small 10-speed. Very cool.

the yacht club at wickham – bike central ?

 

school holidays means a ride to town – at throsby creek

There’s plenty to see along the harbour : it’s always the same, but different.

the harbour – ever changing

And I’m getting used to that “flip of the toe clip”, but they can still catch me out. You won’t see me wearing those clipless thingys though – at least I can choose my own shoes with these, not some daggy pseudo-runners.

thanks mr christophe

what-the ?

Can anyone tell me what the above eccentric looking quasi-recumbent bike is ? Spotted leaving the tunnel … it may be home made.

whose is that nutcase ?

Tunnel’s so bright I gotta wear shades ! But so cool and breezy heading home.

cecil in the tunnel

The Brooks hammered copper rivets do shine up very nicely after a 3-hour bum polishing ! ( Makes note to do that more often ).

home and shiny

The End

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Feeling Mixt-e Motions :

 

Well, actually, not yet, ’cause I haven’t really ridden it properly, I just couldn’t resist the pun …

swoopy, huh ?

I probably could have / should have re-painted this one while I was at it, as it’s not really collectable, but then I would have used a different colour, wouldn’t I ? And spoil the overall pink effect, probably …

The bike has been overhauled as a 3-speed, using my well worn Shimano 3s hub and somewhat battered Araya rim, because Cecil stole the 5-speed for himself, so let’s see what we can make of the remains.

These are the other parts alterations :

half a “mo”, guv

Tange moustache bars with reverse Dia Compe levers replace the original randonneur style drop bars. I used Berthoud leather bar tape with twined end supports ( more about that in another post ). Plenty of hand position options without the deeper drop, and I had already bought the levers and bars for a different bike restoration that didn’t work out. I’m really not a great fan of road drop bars, sorry to say.

hands free …

Velo Orange hammered alloy guards (fenders). These come with lots of fitting parts, and are reasonably easy to install.  Extra washer spacers were used to fit the 3-speed hub to this 125mm OLD frame.

the brooks “champion flyer” is simply a sprung b17 saddle

Longer 25.8 mm alloy micro style seat post with Brooks sprung B17 “Flyer” saddle – I’m collecting quite a few Brooks now – they are surely the best saddles of all – in my humble opinion, at least.  The pedals from my Gazelle may be temporary ( I replaced them with MKS3000r a while back).

my diy head badge

Everything has been dismantled cleaned and re-greased, the new chain is 1/8″ single speed, running on the smaller 42T front cog with a 20T rear cog. I’ll be keeping the large front cog just in case it doesn’t stay this way forever. And new cables too, I also had to shorten the hub gear inner cable to fit the frame design. The trigger and bell are on the quill stem to free up the handlebars.

pink flash

OK, so who wants a ride then ?

but it’s too hot to ride now…

See Ya !

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Forty Degees Celsius :

here comes the sun

That’s the forecast maximum temperature here today, so it’s time to get riding early, taking Cecil for a speedy spin The heat is coming from the inland heart, so it’s dry and draining, but not like the sweaty sea-breeze humidity more usual at this time of year.

And Cecil’s configuration is settled – for the moment – with the fitment of the original alloy front wheel and a salvaged steel rear one. I have decided to postpone a new rear alloy rim until I get a feel for how much I will use the bike.

Unlike some of my other bikes, Cecil wants to just go and go, having a more loose and temperamental feel. It doesn’t like being parked ( no kickstand either ) and wants to run off from where ever I leave it, like an edgy racehorse  …

 

It likes to go fast too, and seems to turn just by thought, rather than by any physical effort. The B17 “titanium” saddle was quite unnoticeably comfortable from new, at least on the c. two hour rides I have so far done on it, I’m impressed.

The whole bike has a very free-running nature, though I still have some derailleur fine tuning to do. The steel rear wheel hub was actually 125mm ( not 120mm ) over the locknut width, so I cut 5mm off the axle and the hollow locknut spacer with a hacksaw, leaving the locknut on the axle in case the threads needed help afterward. This has properly centred the rear wheel in the frame, but of course requires re-setting all of the derailleur stops ! The steel wheel adds to the weight and well negates the minuscule titanium saddle advantage, but who’s that serious about such things anyhow ? It’s still the lightest bike I own and I’m not a boy racer …

fill that bottle… it’s hot out there

The smallest cog is now quite close to the dropouts and is giving some adjustment trouble that I haven’t been able to sort yet. I could do with some gel grips on the levers too, as they become hard to hold after a while, and the drops have the most comfortable grip position for me, so I change hand positions quite often, unlike the all-day easy grip of my swept back roadster bars…

pavement eater

For those wanting for a good non-gumwall 27 X 1 & 1/4″ tyre, have a look at the Bontrager “select K”. they ride pretty well and are a modern looking semi-slick kevlar design that works well on older bikes too.

smooth and grippy 27s

gotta find some shade…

Finally, what is perhaps the best thing about riding a well made old steel framed road bike ?

You can go relatively fast, but don’t feel obliged to wear all that lycra advertising – I mean really, when you, the rider, have to pay good money to buy gear that overtly advertises corporate brand names ?

Why doesn’t some clever person make lycra that looks like normal clothes ? Perhaps a safari suit and tie, for example ?

Just kidding, but that’s the modern world for you !

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