Retiring the Ross

I arrive with a heavy heart to report the news that my rusty-but-trusty workhorse has finally kicked the bucket. Final photos have been taken with it sitting on the kitchen table in an effort to give it a proper send-off. 

Summer Jams

Here in Michigan, and I'm assuming in other places as well, we're having a very peculiar winter. Usually, by this time of the year, I would have to wear a balaclava under my helmet just to ride my bike. However, this year, our winter has been both too cold to ride at one time, and so warm that I hardly needed a jacket this past weekend. We seem to have settled between the 30-40 F range for the most part, which is still unseasonably warm. For the first time in my life, I felt a type of winter melancholy creep in the moment the trees became bare despite the mildness and my usual ability to enjoy Michigan's wide range of weather.

I'm Still Here

Well, it seems like even the overload of schoolwork and lack of time for anything else still can't put my bike projects on pause. I have come to realize that these are the things that keep me from going insane during this stressful time. The only true reason why I have not been posting lately is that everything I have been doing and the associated posts are still in progress. There is much that has been done and much to be completed still, but I just can't seem to sit down and finish any one of them. 

Nonetheless, there is one thing that I have managed to complete: I have turned the old, bent fork of my '79 Ross Gran Tour into some sort of handheld weapon by taping up the threads and plugging the end ... I now keep it next to my bed, ready to use in the off chance that I may have to try and fail to defend myself. It would probably be more effective than the Nerf gun, in any case. 

Anyway, the point of this post was to say that I am still here and still building things. Your patience will be rewarded and soon there will be plenty of eye candy. 

1979 Ross Professional Gran Tour 1-Year Review: Not Really Professional, Grand, nor Touring but Still Quite Alright!

So I've had the bike for a year now and it's been almost as long since I last looked at the "before" photos. After being given a year to "develop our relationship," the Ross now looks and feels like a totally different bike to me.

I remember taking the bike for a ride shortly after getting it, learning how it felt as it was. It was my first road bike and I had only ridden a road bike once before. I used to think that the frame was super stiff and although it is a little stiffer than my bendy Raleigh frames due to the molten-salt-bath brazing method, it's not all that different. I think the feeling was in part because old saddle put pressure in all the wrong places.

The Best of Luck

Within a week of completing the Wrench-A-Thon, all three of my bikes fell victim to some rather unfortunate events.

First, one of the nuts on the rear axle of the '58 Sports got stripped.  This is the 1979 wheel and hub it's using, so the right side nut is two pieces rather than one.  I guess I tightened the nut down too hard thinking it would prevent the wheel from slipping forward, as this had been a constant problem ever since I repainted the bike.  The nut actually gave out while I was at work so I had to walk the bike the whole way home.  I ended up replacing the 1979 right side axle nuts with the one-piece 1958 one for the time being.  I think I should order some new ones just to be safe.

Wrench-A-Thon Part 2: 1979 Ross Gran Tour

I have completed my mission to finally make the Ross safer.  After months of hacking around and throwing things together, I got tired of almost-dying every time I hopped on.  I cleaned the disgusting, oily, muddy winter mess with WD-40, degreaser, and a Super Soaker and slowly replaced components one at a time.  I received the beater back from the shop today due to something I did not have the tool for, but I'll get to that later.

Snow Ridin'

Some people may be aware that much of the U.S, notably the eastern half, has just received a little more snow than it was hoping for (this headline though).  After most of the winter went by without snow, here we are in Ann Arbor / Detroit with more or less a foot in most places.  That isn't "too much" by my standards, but it certainly increased the level of both fun and inconvenience at the same time.

A little late aren't we, December?

As if anyone needed proof, I don't take it easy on my Raleigh Sports.  I mean, I take care of it and I want it to live a long life (heck, it's already 56 years old) but I use it for what it was made for.  A few weeks ago, during finals week, I found that the old pre-architecture studio had resurfaced its drawing tables so they had a pile of vinyl that was about to go in the trash.  I rolled it all up and brought it home to use as work mats for my bikes.  That whole roll weighed about 25 pounds, not including the textbooks in the basket.  The old Raleigh handled it just fine, although the "ladies'" step-through frame flexed and sprang noticeably side-to-side just as it does when I come home with a heavy load of groceries.  That's the major reason why I chose a "men's" frame Superbe as my third bike.

It Might Be Done, Part 2: '79 Ross Gran Tour

A little over a week ago, I finished adding the components to my road bike and took it for a ride.  Everything worked very nicely for what it was.  I knew that even though the bike was now fully functional, it was not done yet.  I still had to work out the issue with the winter tires.  

So, days after the ride, or maybe even the morning after, I saw that the rear summer tire was about to let go in multiple places.  Alrighty, then ...

It Might Be Finished: '79 Ross Gran Tour

Last time I posted about the beater Ross, I had replaced the pedals and was excited about some tires I'd found that were more suited to the winter.  Shortly after, it started snowing without warning so I tried to stick the winter tires on.  The front one fit with no problem, but the rear tire was too wide! It suddenly occurred to me that the Ross probably came with 27 x 1-1/4" tires, but the previous owner changed to 700 x 38c wheels, or in other words, 28" tires.  The road tire that is on there right now is just skinny enough to fit between the chain stays near the bottom bracket, but the hybrid tire with the extra tread on the sides could not fit.

Because of this, I have decided to trim the corner treads off.

More New News: '79 Ross Gran Tour

I've officially started spending money to make my beater better.  I'm not just talking about a seat and chain, which were necessary changes, but pedals and new brake levers.  The original weighted pedals were too "square" for me, rolling around under my flat shoes each time I started at a green light. They were also slightly crushed from owners, me included, turning too sharply with the inner pedal down.  They actually still worked fine, though. Before buying new pedals, I made sure the old pedal threads hadn't corroded to the aluminum cranks and much to my amazement, the pedals came right out.  I bought BMX pedals for their flatness and width; they're perfect for the flat-bottomed shoes I always wear.

The brake and shifter cables also came in the mail, but the brake levers won't be arriving until December.  Until then, I'll be hoping that my single rear brake is adequate.

The Frankenbike: '79 Ross Gran Tour

As you might be able to tell if you scroll down, this bike has been gaining momentum, both in my mind and in real life.  Also, "frankenbike" is an oft-overused term that describe bikes that are not stock, but I actually received the Ross as a dead bike, resurrecting it with other parts that were dead to begin with.  My goal was not to make a nice bike out of what would have been expensive parts, but to just make the darn thing work.  I spent the last few days digging through the various shops and piles of long-abandoned bikes around town for free junk parts that might work on the Ross since the parts I got it with were getting very bad, very quickly.  I found a front and rear derailleur, a wide side-pull brake, and a few cables.  Thinking that today would be a slow day at work, I rode the Ross with a backpack full of "new" parts to tinker with in the nice shop while I waited for something to do. I first stopped by the hardware store to pick up a few bolts as well as a new chain that was surprisingly cheap (I was not looking for a premium part, anyway).

I'd never done this before and previously disliked fiddling with derailleur bikes (as opposed to internal gear hubs), so the whole thing was a learning process.  Above, the new rear derailleur has been installed.  The old one, which I'd never actually looked at before, was caked with dirt.  I couldn't tell if it started malfunctioning because of the rusted, tired spring or because it was full of dirt.  My hands were too dirty to take a picture of that at the time.

You Lose Some, You Gain Some: '79 Ross Gran Tour

I last posted about my beater road bike fairly recently when the brake cable snapped.  Well, a couple days ago, I picked up a pair of junk fenders for free and used the chance to see if I could start working on the brakes.  I found out that the front brake lever assembly had corroded together so there was no hope of getting it to work for cheap - quickly, at least.

1979 Ross Professional Gran Tour, shortly after I got it running almost two months ago. 

The Continuing Journey Through Bikeland

It seems like bikes are my only break from school, which isn't actually a bad thing.  I can not only enjoy my bikes during school without setting aside extra time, but cycling is actually always faster in Ann Arbor than taking the bus.  Lately, the Ross Gran Tour has been doing a whole lot of sitting around while my old Raleigh Sports has been doing most of the "waking me up and carrying me to class every day" business.  This also isn't a bad thing.

I decided to ride the Ross to class a few days ago and I had to slam on the brakes for a pedestrian.  The front brake cable snapped inside the lever, but luckily I was barely doing 3 mph to begin with. Man, the cables on my Raleigh are far older and still put up with my hard squeezing every day just fine.  Shows the quality, I guess.  Making my way home with next to zero braking power, I contemplated converting the ailing bike to a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed coaster brake hub, or even fixed-gear, for maximum durability and minimum maintenance.  It probably won't happen.  Either way, the Ross will be sitting once again until I get around to dealing with the brake cable.

1979 Ross Gran Tour - Updates

I have very quickly gotten very used to riding my "new" bike after a week.  I've gotten a little more accustomed to the super stiff frame and crouched-over riding position, but that didn't happen before I ordered a new spring saddle for it.  More on that later in this post.  I'd even go so far as to say that I've been riding the old Raleigh even less than I would like to, the main reason being that I live on the top of a pretty long, steep hill and most of my classes are on top of another hill.

This bike looks kind of nice from far away and I love the clean lines of a classic ten-speed, but lean up close and you'll see that the paint is actually pretty badly chipped (therefore rusted) and it appears that somebody rode through a puddle of paint years ago.  These grassy photos were taken during a slightly longer ride I took in Gallup Park a few days after getting the bike.  At that time, I was still getting used to it.

1979 Ross Professional Gran Tour and Then Some

In the previous post, I briefly mentioned how lugging 45 pounds of steel up the hills between the University of Michigan campuses was quite literally a pain in the butt.  I love my Raleigh Sports so much and the ride quality is unlike any other, but I don't really want to keep arriving to class all sweaty and out of breath.  I wanted something lighter for daily commuting, but I didn't want to retire the old 3-speed entirely.  Also, I can't say that the energy and time invested in keeping my 50+ year old bike in nice shape hasn't been worth it, but there is always a nagging possibility in my mind that something could happen to it.  It's nearly bulletproof, but I don't want to beat it up.  I wouldn't like to be hit by a car while riding it, and other students' bikes scratching it up at a rack is always likely.

Enter the 1979 Ross Professional Gran Tour.  Described as being "neither professional, grand, nor touring" by someone on an online forum, it is now my daily driver/beater.