Ride Lugged » bikes/bits

A Bike of Interest

5DollarBud — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:22:44 +0000

The time has come to sell my Swedish cykel. Originally sourced from the Swedish Craigslist equivilent (blocket.se), and then resourcefully added to, and turned into a fixed-gear with Casey’s help during a marathon g-chat session.

The frame is a 57cm lugged DBS (Den Beste Sykkel – “The Best Bike”) which is a well known Norwegian bike maker. This frame however is an “Internazionale,” an early 80’s made in Italy limited edition. The frame was made by Daccordi and has Daccordi dropouts.

The components are as follows:

Handlebar: TTT Grand Prix
Stem: TTT
Brakes: Campagnolo single pivot (front & back)
Brake levers: Shimano 105
Cranks: Shimano (42t)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Dura Ace
Front Wheel: Campagnolo hub, MA40 rim
Rear Wheel: Surly flip-flop hub, Mavic Opensport rim (Handbuilt new in June 2009, at Cykel City Stockholm)
Cog: Surly (16t)
Saddle: Avocet Racing
Tires: Michelin Erilium 2
Pedals: Crank Brothers Mallet

Please Note: Bike includes Kryptonite New York City U-lock w/3 keys.

This bike is available for immediate pickup or delivery in the greater Stockholm area, price: 2800kr.

More Pics Here & here!

Pass this post to your friends!

Mission Bicycle

starmer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:05:05 +0000

I like this concept. I wonder how well they sell though.

Mission Bicycle Company

Cleaning out the Drafts: whats efficiency got to do got to do with it?

Johnson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:15:53 +0000

Originally written Feb 4, 2008

In 1903 the Wright brothers flew for a few seconds in a heavier than air craft of their own design. They worked outside of typical aeronautics thought, reworking and recalculating established thought. The wooden propeller they developed, hand hewn from laminated wood, was 83% efficient. Modern Propellers, the most advanced among them, are a mere 2 percent more efficient. The Wrights had no computer models, no expensive wind tunnel testing facilities. They were just bike mechanics from Ohio with some spare time on their hands.

In the early days of the century, racers looked down on 3 speed hubs and derailleurs with pulleys. It was thought that the bend in the chain and the rotation of the pulley wheel added friction (with requisite loss of efficiency) to the chain. 3 speed hubs, with their complex internal workings, were indeed less efficient than derailleurs, although they certainly had advantages including a straight chain-line, sealed against the elements, no derailleur to snap off. Fortunately this paranoia of friction had some good outcomes: the invention of the quick release (to change cogs in the back by flipping from one fixed gear to another) and time. Time for the tourists to perfect and explore the concept of multispeed shifting without the undue influence of racing. Racers in those days prized simplicity and low friction over all other factors. They were willing to sacrifice ease of use, smooth shifting, and even low weight in this quest for the cleanest, slickest (friction-wise) and more durable gear changing equipment. This often lead to ridiculous shiftering systems like the Campagnolo Paris Roubaix, the Vittoria Margeita, and the Egg Super Champion. In fact, there were numberous durable, low friction derailluers on the market, being used by tourists daily. These cyclotouriste derailleurs saw a range of conditions, and endured incredible distances. The Cyclo Standard was used on four and seven thousand mile tours, with only oiling and adjustments needed.

Interestingly, hub gears have regressed in efficiency over the years: pre WWII Sachs 3 speed hubs, lubricated with oil have an efficiency of around 95% averaged across the 3 speeds. Contemporary hubs are about 3 percent less efficient. Oddly, the Rolhoff, with its precision machining, is only 88% efficient on average. (Berto, The Dancing Chain: 351-352) This is mainly because of the sheer number of planetary gears it contains.

Tourists, from say, 1900-1985, knew another established fact of efficiency that has been lost to contemporary cyclists: Bigger cogs are more efficient. The current trend towards eleven and twelve tooth rear sprockets not only prematurely wears chains down (and cassettes and chainrings by default) but also has an adverse effect on efficiency. 12 tooth cogs are 2-3 percent less effiencent than 14 tooth cogs. This is why the old french tourists ran 14-16 tooth cogs as thier smallest cogs in the back. The current micro-drive rage has come to its logical conclusion in the world of the BMX drivetrain. Eight tooth cogs and 22 tooth sprockets are the norm on contemporary bikes, and the resulting strains on the chains is seen in the ridiculously overbuilt chains that are needed to withstand the added stress.

Cleaning out the drafts: Dingleberry remover

He who should know better — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:04:27 +0000

I’d better get this out of the way since I said I would and the Ridelugged overlord took the time to give me an account. No napkin drawings for Johnson, but

this is just too good

voice of reason — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:40:32 +0000

a website of Casey’s favorite material and its, lets say, issues:

plus they found someone who did one better than my broken and repaired record rear mech:

Bikes save lives….

JINX — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:33:02 +0000

I was reading some news on the BBC site and found this interesting piece on a bicycle ambulance.
Dig it….

Bicycle Ambulance

a new frame for our retrogrouches

voice of reason — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:53:38 +0000

the apex of synergy between classic and high-tech!!

check it out at velo orange and velo news.
(unfortunately they opted out of the extra set of seatstays of the true mixte.)

The STASH

JINX — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:57:01 +0000

Recently I saw this post on Retro-Bike and am not sure if you, the readers of all things lugged, have also seen this. Apparently this guy has the ultimate collection of all things 90’s and mountain bike.

Ultimate Collection?

Here’s a teaser pic.

The Safety bike revisited

JINX — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:04:21 +0000

Sometimes when you work in a shop too long, ideas can be thought to be good ones. Like the day an employee decided he was gonna leave his bike in the work area in a stand overnight, and well into the next day as well. When two childish shop employees went about their daily ritual of building up comfort bikes and found the employee bike blatantly parked in a work stand…, well, they put the large box of chaingaurds and reflectors to good use.

The best part was when the offending employee came in to install some tape on the bars so he could go for a quick ride…., it took him over an hour to remove all the newly installed safety features.

I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun putting reflectors on a bike.

Hang ‘em high

JINX — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:44:57 +0000

So as I sit in a flu-induced funk surrounded by achiness and tiredness, fueled by Pandora and Soy Nuts…?, I figured, “Why not post something on RideLugged!?!”
So recently I decided I was gonna do something about all my bikes laying around amongst each other with pedals sticking in spokes and handlebars mingling like drunken high schoolers. It seemed like such a lowly existence for something that obviously consumes my life. I treat them worse when not riding them! I decided to start poking around the interwebs for bike storage solutions and I found some really interesting ideas and methods, but no one method had all the features I was looking for. I took a little bit from each of the ideas I had found to my liking and started drawing out some plans. Using the space in my workshop to the utmost meant hanging the bikes on a vertical holder with two per rack. Since all the bikes I was trying to store are different in size and style, this meant using some customizing and guesstimation at it’s best. I did some super scientific measurements and ended up with the plan I wanted. Surprisingly, it would cost the same for me to build three racks that would hold six bikes and all my accessories as it would to buy ONE vertical gravity rack with no place to hang helmets or put gloves, seat covers, water bottles, etc. . That sealed the deal. I went to the local superstore where you can’t find anything due to the overwhelming stock and nonsensical placement of said stock. I managed to build and stain and install my three custom bike racks in three days. I can hang up my bikes on their own special rack and there is a stainless basket for accessories between the lower arms. On the sides of the lower arms are two hooks for the helmets. My bikes have never been happier and I can freely move about my workshop now without bikes falling on me. Check out the finished product.

The overview of the three racks…

A close up view of the road rack…

A close up of the basket and helmet hooks…

So for $75 US dollars I purchased the lumber, stain, baskets, hooks, jig saw blades, brushes, and wood screws to build all three racks.