The last time I wrote about this bike, I had to edit the post saying that the person who had me overhaul it had sold it back to me.
I have been riding this bike off and on since I got it running, but not nearly as regularly as I had wanted to.
The last picture in the previous post showed the bike with the 1953 4-speed Dynamo hub, not yet connected to the gear cable. It took several months to find someone with the correct indicator rods for this hub, so I bought two sets. After I got it hooked up, I found that the full chain case was dented just enough so that it rubbed the cranks when the replacement pie plate (which, by the way, matched the patina on the rest of the bike) was installed. I removed the chain case in early 2017 and have not gotten around to getting the dents out, so I've been using this rusty chain guard as a place holder. I also somehow ended up with two late '50s/early '60s 4-speed shifters, one with its original coloring and one that was polished down to the brass. I like the look of these more than the original 1940s era shifters, so I stopped looking for a period-correct one when I found this one.
The headlight, taillight, and battery unit attached to the bike were part of a package of lighting bits that I bought at some point, and although the headlight is of the longer, late '50s design, it looks fine so I didn't bother looking for an older one. The headlight bucket was green, due to it coming from a Superbe, so I painted it black and rubbed the paint off where there was pre-existing surface rust. I'm not really a patina freak but I thought it would look weird on the bike if I actually painted it properly, so this light looks like it belongs. I have been meaning to wire up the lights, dynamo, and battery unit so that the lights would work and stay on while I'm stopped at a traffic light, but I haven't gotten around to it. I bought a 1940s lamp bracket - the type that mounts to the handlebar clamp and not the headset - but haven't yet removed the 1969 bracket that is attached to the headset. I have been meaning to dial back on the modifications I've done to this bike, but I have yet to remove the handlebars and forged stem from 1971.
Very shortly after I bought the bike back, I got a Minniehaha medium saddle bag for it as well as a Tornade frame pump. The pump works, but I've never used it. The bag holds quite a bit and the small support rack keeps it off the rear fender, but I think I want to install a full-size rack so I can carry panniers.
The bike has been in this configuration for so long that I'm forgetting that I've never written about any of it - but I also bought a used Brooks B66 saddle as well as Schwalbe HS180 tires. The Brooks saddle was initially not broken in to the shape of my butt, but for two weeks in November 2018, I rode it every single day, putting close to 200 miles on it, and the saddle felt more comfortable after the ordeal. The Schwalbe tires are actually 32mm wide instead of the usual 35 or 37, so they are a bit narrow but still feel fine. They stopped making the gumwall Delta Cruiser tires, much to my dismay, so quality gumwall tires in this size (not including the Kenda K40 and Nimbus tires because those are not great) have become much more difficult to find in the US.
I've brought this bike out closer to the front of my stack of ongoing projects because I want to finish it. I'm actually thinking of removing the 4-speed wheel and putting the original 3-speed one back on even though I never got to enjoy the Dynohub. The axle threads are slightly stripped on the left side. I bought a spare parts hub to swap in a new axle, and I've still managed to get the nut just tight enough that it hasn't moved. However, the spring in the hub is just loose enough where I've missed a gear shift twice coming away from a traffic light, nearly spraining my ankle. Getting it into the lowest gear is also a nerve-wracking affair when I'm already headed up a hill, and this is well-known to those who ride these hubs. I just feel like the 4-speed is a bit too finicky for my riding habits and I would take the reduced gear range of the 3-speed hub just for some peace of mind. Also, experience tells me that the Dynohub isn't going to put out very much light anyway, so it might do me better to just run the lights on pure battery power. I don't ride the bike often enough to have to constantly worry about batteries, anyway. The bulbs are also getting harder to find, so not having to worry about that would be nice.
I've thought about selling this bike several times to someone who either has room to keep it or will appreciate it more, but having seen the various quirks with it, I feel like it's worth holding onto. I always run into posts on bike forums where people are trying to remove old registration stickers, and I would like to make a point of keeping the old stickers on this bike.
Speaking of which, I guess I didn't mention this in the previous post, but I've been thinking that this bike got hit by a car in the late '50s. It came to me with a late 1950s shifter, and the fork is bent just enough where I can't tell visually, but it doesn't want to track straight. It handles weird. The front fender was obviously crunched up and then straightened. There are three replacement spokes on the front wheel that look to be very old. Wrinkles in the paint on the downtube indicate that it was bent - whether it bounced back or had to be straightened, I'm not sure, but there was some sort of impact. The entire rear triangle is bent to the right slightly, and I can only tell by looking at the dropouts. The original handlebar was also slightly bent. I feel like all of these things drastically reduces the value that someone else may see in the bike, but I see it as evidence of a past life. So, I'd like to put some of its original parts back on and hold onto it. Even if I don't ride it that much, it's a cool conversation piece and it still rides just fine if I ever want to take it out. It's a cool bike.
No comments:
Post a Comment