Here is a guest blog from Peter Weigle about the upcoming Classic Rendezvous Cirque du Cyclisme. Hope you can make it.
Hi Chris,
I know you're going to be there..
Here's a reminder for the reader's on your blog about the upcoming Cirque du Cyclisme show in Greensborough N.C.
This years event will be held on June 8th, 9th, & 10th.
This gathering centers around vintage lightweight bicycles, and also honors modern bikes/frames built in the traditional spirit, call KOF's, or keepers of the flame.
The "theme" this year is Pantographing,Drillium & Fancy Lugs, those fascinating flights of cycling fancy.
I have included this photo of a drillium crankset that will be displayed on my 1979 pristine white time trial machine that was inspired by the bikes I saw when I raced in England back in 1973.
Dale Brown the owner of Cycles de Oro bike shop has done a great job bringing many like minded cyclist together to ride, display, and hear seminars by leading experts about classic bicycles. There is a judged show, and also a great swap meet.This is Dale's 10th year for this show.
There are always many very cool bikes displayed here. Racing, cyclotouring, city etc. The number of classic French bikes has grown every year, there will be Alex Singer's, Rene Heres's, Ducheron etc. etc. Not to be missed!
For more info go to, www.classicrendezvous.com/cirque
See you there!
Peter Weigle
What do you think of Peter's brand new Mixte?
What do you think of Peter's brand new Mixte?
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25 comments:
The Mixte is a beaut. Excellent lines. Nice subtle color.
Presumably many of those wonderful components hail from VO?
Almost too pretty to ride. No doubt rides too wonderfully not to.
Is this the same blue as the VO blue? I like the colour very much.
Alf
Alf,
Peter may correct me on this, but I believe it's the Rene Herse Bleu Fonce. The Ahren Rogers mixte is for my wife and I looked at a lot of blues, eventually settling on the lighter, non-metallic Herse blue. The frame should be at the painters now. It might be a month before I have it for pics so you can compare.
Alf,
Peter may correct me on this, but I believe it's the Rene Herse Bleu Fonce. The Ahren Rogers mixte is for my wife and I looked at a lot of blues, eventually settling on the lighter, non-metallic Herse blue. The frame should be at the painters now. It might be a month before I have it for pics so you can compare.
Neil, Your wife is one lucky gal getting that VO/Ahren ladies frame!
The blue on Kendall's bike I call Iris, its slightly metallic and plays nicely with the light. She picked the color and it was not meant to mimic a color found on a vintage machine. She will bring this bike to the Cirque next week.
I look forward to seeing Chris there, and hope some of you might also attend.
The swap and show on Sunday are amazing!!!
Blue fonce was Singer's "house color"
Beautiful. What are the brakes? They look like MAFAC centerpulls, but I don't recognize the attachment hardware for the shoes/pads.
Good eyes,,, brakes are brazed on Mafacs,,,attachment h'ware for pads/shoes is stock.
neil: Great bike for your wife! I trust we shall see plenty of pics here once it is built up.
I wish I could get to the East Coast for the Cirque. Sounds like it will have some wonderful bikes and parts.
Peter: Riv puts the rear braze ons on top of the chain stays on their Glorius - http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc/2007/cc294-davidestes0407.html
Aside from giving your Mixte a cleaner look (itself a great reason), are there any practical or mechanical advantages to mounting the rear brakes underneath the chainstays?
"Aside from giving your Mixte a cleaner look (itself a great reason), are there any practical or mechanical advantages to mounting the rear brakes underneath the chainstays?"
Great question Joel, as there appear to be many ways to do it:
http://www5.pf-x.net/~france1961/50mixte.htm
http://www.reneherse.com/1964pair.html
http://www.jitensha.com/eng/ebisumixte_e.html
I want to see the tiny pump that Peter has to fit on the pump peg.
http://www.jitensha.com/eng/ebisumixte_e.html is my wife's bike. Hiroshi built it up differently in the picture than for us. The bike as delivered has a custom rear rack, a dynamo hub, brooks leather grips, shimano trigger shifters and a small front rack just to mount the headlight. Wiring for the headlight was routed through the rack. The version in the photo is classic and minimalist. The delivered bike is a little flashier, but still beautiful.
"http://www.jitensha.com/eng/ebisumixte_e.html is my wife's bike."
It has traditional canti studs located on the rear of the seat stays. To activate the brakes, the cable has to travel an "s" down the top tube, up the seat tube, and back down to the straddle cable. It looks like the cable travels around a wheel behind the seatpost binder. How does it all work together? Is the power and modulation of the rear brake satisfactory?
Thanks for the links, anonyme. It seems to me there must be at least some subtle differences in braking when the brakes are placed differently. But heck, what do I know about that?
What I do know is that the linked Mixtes are beautiful! The Herse of course. But boy, that Ebisu. I really like those Jitensha Nitto bars. It is my understanding you can only get them from Jitensha.
People would probably think I've truly lost it if I flew from Chicago to Berkeley to get a $35.00 handlebar. But boy, they are a nice design.
Maybe Jitensha will let Chris sell them. They certainly are VO bike appropriate.
I'm sure Jitensha will ship them to you, unless you just want an excuse to fly to CA ;-)
I've ordered from Jitensha before, Hiroshi is pleasant to deal with and shipping was reasonable.
I've ordered those Nitto flat bars from Hiroshi--a very easy transaction via email. Shipping was very prompt.
Joel M, Brake location is kind of "builder's choice." No right or wrong...
I like the clean look that Anonyme mentioned,, having the brake cable run down the toptube is not only unsightly, but it could also snag a skirt. The rider could hit it with his/her foot when stepping through and scratch the paint.
The pump is a teloscoping silca that I converted into a frame fit, I forgot to put it on the bike for the picture.
The Jitensha are pretty cool handlebars, I bought a set (and no I didn't have to fly to Berkeley!). But they're flat and really really wide. The bars that I like the best are steel ones from an old Peugeot mixte -- they are the same shape but they have a little bit of rise/drop, and they really look snazzy. Problem is, they are some bizarre diameter and regular brake levers/grips don't fit onto 'em.
The color is Periwinkle Blue.
Mike Schmidt
Mike,
Didn't he say the color was Iris?
Yes, Iris
():~)
Thanks for your response Peter. Interesting.
Thanks also Anonyme, Neal and David on the flat bars. I think I am going to give them a try.
peter weigle said...
Joel M, Brake location is kind of "builder's choice." No right or wrong...
As I look around at other mixtes, I see that some of them use what I call "traditional" cantilevers, as distinguished from the MAFAC centerpull cantilevers that Peter Weigle chose to use here. I would imagine that the traditional cantilevers could create heel/leg clearance problems if they were mounted in any position other than the seat stays. If this is so, then the choice of centerpulls gives Peter the option of placing the brakes in the "lower" positions on the bike, which looks cleaner and has more direct cable routing. I see no disadvantage to doing it this way, and so wonder why builders would choose to put the brakes any place else?
Anonye,
This bike was inspired by my 1959 Rene Herse ladies bike..
That bike had Herse cantilevers on the seat stays with the down, up and over cable routing. Apparently Herse had a special short canti made for latteral stay placement. He chose not to use them on this 59, maybe because it was a camping model and he thought the reduced leverage might not provide ample braking, or by 1959 maybe there were no more short ones left?
On this new bike I wanted to keep the lines clean and uncluttered, and went for the centerpulls.
By the way, Bicycle Quarterly's next issue will have an article on ladies bikes, and some of the construction details of this bike will be in it. Jan's magazine continues to grow in size and in scope, its a great read!
"By the way, Bicycle Quarterly's next issue will have an article on ladies bikes, and some of the construction details of this bike will be in it. Jan's magazine continues to grow in size and in scope, its a great read!"
Peter, thank you for graciously responding to my questions. I look forward to reading more in BQ.
Justin Miller
(I have been posting to this thread as "anonyme" because I can't figure out how to get signed on - my apologies for not signing my name to my previous posts.)
Justin (and others),
Just check the "Other" option and typein your name in the username box.
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