Shifters Installed

I installed the stem shifters last night and went for a ride this afternoon. I'm happy to report that despite my poor mechanical skills, everything worked as it should.

I'm happy to be riding on my Brooks saddle again. It is the most comfortable saddle I've ever used.

I need to find a use for the old shifter mount. I've seen photos of people using the bosses to mount a brass bells and similar items.

Preparations

In preparing for the First Annual Fall Forty-Mile Country Path Ramble, I decided to make some changes to my Takara to make the ride a little more comfortable. I cannibalized some parts from my son's Trek, specifically the bars, stem, brake lever, cables, and grips. My son has just about outgrown the Trek. I've got plans for the Trek which I'll discuss sometime in the future.

I'll be dusting off the Brooks and installing it later this evening.

I forgot to buy a cable hanger so I'm stuck with the relector for now.

I've been having problems with my current shifters. Instead of replacing them with the same thing I've come up with another option. I pulled these stem shifters off of a junked bike some time ago. I've never seen a really nice set of stem shifters, probably because they were used mostly on lower end bikes, at least that's what I've read. I thought about pulling the cheap rubber and plastic levers off of the mount and replacing them with something a little more aesthetically pleasing. The mount is nice and shiny.

When I removed the shifter the other day, I noticed that the mount was set up specifically for Shimano shifters. I was hoping that there would just be a generic block similar to a brazed-on downtube shifter boss.

I picked up a pair of used 105 downtube shifters today from a local bike shop. They need some cleaning but they'll look nice after I polish them up a bit.

This is what I'm going for.

These are the shifters that my bike is equipped with now.

Since my bike is equipped with Suntour Symmetric shifters, I don't have the traditional double shifter bosses on both sides of the downtube, just one on the top side of the downtube (see the photo above). Finding Symmetric cable stops is almost impossible. I picked up this Shimano clamp-on cable stop from the same shop that I purchased the shifters from. These stops aren't that easy to find either.

I'll be mounting the shifters tomorrow after I pick up some cables and housing. I'll post the photos when I'm done.

Thanksgiving and Some Random Stuff

While my wife and daughters were busy preparing our Thanksgiving feast, me and my son ( the twelve year old) slipped out for a quick ride. Since we were in a hurry we drove to the our starting point, the southern part of the Trinity Trails. I think this pre-feast ride will be our new tradition. After a short ride we returned home and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. It wasn't long after that someone broke out the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. In this house the Christmas season begins when you're finished eating Thanksgiving dinner.

My son checking out the Trinity River.

Randomness follows:

Courtnee-Globe Experience: Courtnee, aka Sweet Georgia Brown, is the lucky recipient of a free Specialized Globe Live 2 Mixte. Courtnee was contacted by the Globe Project Manager from Specialized and asked to blog for them. I've been following Courtnee's original blog for a while now. She's a nice young lady riding her bike in an area where that's a rarity. If you can, please show her some support by following her new Globe blog.

Courtnee

The Friday Cyclotouriste: This is a blog that I stumbled upon the other day when I was doing a Google search for friction shifters. This guy takes some great photos.

The author's Ebisu equipped with a custom made handlebar bag.

He also has an awesome old Guerciotti.

Bemz: If you need to freshen up that old sofa or chair you picked up at Ikea a few years ago, you can buy a new made to fit slipcover over the internet from Stockholm based Bemz. Here's a link to their blog.

The Indian rope trick: Here's a story I read about a traditional Indian magician who was able pull off a version of the legendary rope trick. His video is the second one below.

My daughter thought this was kind of creepy.

It's Been a While

October 30th was the last time I rode a bike, until this morning. That's the longest stretch I've gone without riding for many, many years. One reason is that I've been working a part time job on weekends. That's taken up much of my free time. I worked a 12 hour shift yesterday and was sound asleep by 8 PM last night. After having a nice breakfast with my wife this morning I had no choice but to get out and ride.

Beard Update: I think I've hit a plateau. I've been growing this thing for a few weeks now but it just doesn't seem to be filling in too well.

I decided to visit a portion of east Fort Worth on my ride today. The east side of Fort Worth is the rough part of town. I wouldn't suggest riding east of I-35 in Fort Worth unless you know where you are going. This is E. Vickery Blvd. heading up to I-35. There was very little traffic in this area other than a few crackheads and homeless people on foot.

This is an old Methodist Church on Missouri Ave. near Annie St.

The silver colored metal covering this portion of the building is interesting but is in need of some serious cleaning.

I don't know...

Still on the east side.

Mr. Redman started restoring and building pipe organs while a student at SMU in 1956. He started this business in1966. Apparently there is still a market out there for pipe organs.

The glass structure leaning out toward the left side of the street is part of the new Omni Hotel.

Starbucks at the Omni Hotel. I stopped for a cup of coffee, but unfortunately there was no bike parking. I locked my bike to one of the chairs while I went inside to order.

Headed toward the Lancaster Ave. Bridge. The bridge has been closed for repairs for several weeks but is scheduled to reopen tomorrow.

Lancaster Ave Bridge. I wish it was always like this.

Just south of Trinity Park

Friction

From the Flickr Group aptly named "Friction":

By Cocorredhot

by Hoontong

By Ciclo Di Cuoio

by Rencooks

Broken Films Cross

Fellow BABBLE member Steve A (DFW Point-To-Point) had the crazy idea to compete in the Broken Films Cross cyclocross race. Since the race was being held in Fort Worth, and there was a good possibility that I could get a photo of Steve puking or worse, I decided to go. My little girl accompanied me and really enjoyed taking photos and video of the carnage occurring in what I'm calling the mud pit. Unfortunately there are no photos of Steve losing his lunch. Steve actually did a pretty darned good job.

Here's Steve hanging tough in the mud pit. There were lots of crashes here at the beginning of the 10:30 AM race. The ground seemed to firm up as the day continued resulting in fewer falls.

This is my daughter capturing the action on video.

The mud was worse than it looks in these photos.

I was really impressed with this guy, first of all because of his cool white beard, and second, because he was the only guy on an old lugged steel framed bike. He was pretty tough.

I think 1x9 is a great setup for this type of event.

Mad Duck Cyclery. These guys are always at the major cycling events.

Cyclocross wasn't the only thing happening at the park this morning.

Racers gathering for the start of the 11:30 AM race.

Me and my daughter took turns filming the race. We didn't bother moving out of the mud pit area since that was one of the more entertaining sections of the course. Unfortunately we didn't stay for the men's 1,2,3 race.

My New Hobby

This is our new Singer 328K sewing machine. I saw it on Craigslist Sunday morning and decided to jump on it. It appears to be in great condition. The lady I bought the machine from said that she received it as a birthday gift in 1962.

We set it up in the girls room until I can get the garage situated. My nine year old daughter has pretty well claimed the machine as her own. I may end up buying another one for myself later.

The cabinet came with the sewing machine.

I found the instruction booklet and some extras in one of the cabinet drawers. I have no idea what most of the attachments are.

I've been practicing sewing straight lines and turning corners. My wife bought me a beginners sewing book from the 50's. I'm going to study it and concentrate on the basics for now.

If any of you are wondering why I'm writing about an old sewing machine on what is essentially a bike blog, it's because I intend to eventually make my own panniers and other assorted bags. Since I've never sewn before, this will take some time.