Here are a few photos that wandered into
the VO e-mail box.David D. has a penchant for taking dumpster or yard sale bikes and transforming them into spectacular city bikes. This example is a low end gas-pipe Peugeot that became a stunning porteur. If David ever wants to change careers he might become a "bike stylist". Yes, those are Mafac's on braze-ons. Very nice.
David also did his thing on a green yard sale Fuji, taking the parts of his recently
wrecked PX-10 to make a budget commuter.Mark has a new Curt Goodrich bike that is a
work of art. I don't the details so I hope Mark provides some in a comment.
Ken has some great photos of his Lyon here.
Sweet bikes David. Did you have the Mafac posts brazed on, or did you find it like that? Also, is that a Nitto Promenade bar (plus custom drilling)? Keep it up! -Andy
ReplyDeleteThe Curt Goodrich is my bike. Curt built the frame, fork, stem, rack, and seatpost taillight. I have had it a bit more than a week and built it up with stuff I've been collecting, modifying, or building for about two years. The bike is going to be tested in an upcoming Bicycle Quarterly and will have a pretty extensive web description at that time. I'm holding off on publishing too many detailed pictures and descriptions until then. It's a mix of old and new stuff, but it was all picked for function. Just a few highlights are 650B wheels with Trimlines (I'm cautiously optimistic about a future 38mm Grand Bois), Mafac Raid center pulls with brazed-on pivots, seattube taillight is battery, chainstay taillight is generator-powered LED (internal wiring). Crank is the truly gorgeous anniversary edition TA from Velo Orange. More pictures of the frame can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/35685161(at)N00/?saved=1 Look for both the ones labeled VK and the earlier ones without paint labeled MVK. At this point, I can't think of any bike I'd rather have than this one. I haven't ridden it much, but the first 20 miles or so have been totally sweet. I'm planning to ride this bike a lot, starting with a 400k on Saturday. It won't look this shiny for long, but even under a layer of dirt, I it will always look good to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that I'm cheap, I just *hate* seeing perfectly nice things be thrown out, and with really minor effort you can make up a bike that's much, much nicer than most of the ones on offer these days. For city bikes, f'Chrissakes there's no "planing" or anything of the sort, especially if you're tawkin' about a big fat rack to carry stuff, so a couple of pounds here or there isn't going to make any difference at all! Plus they can pretty easily get stolen or left out in the rain. Plus the rider might not be totally sober and ain't gonna notice. ;-)
ReplyDeleteFor that porteur bike, I designed a nice tubular fillet-brazed rack, had it made up, and it's at the plater's getting chromed. Let's see if I paid enough attention to the measurements that it'll actually fit and look halfway decent!
Chris,
ReplyDeleteHow getting a run made of the sweet flowing chaingaurd on David's reconstituted porteur. That thing would take any bike up a notch.
--David (M)
I love that porteur! I'd love to get that handlebar/brake combo for my project. What are they? -Josh
ReplyDeleteVery nice work David. Beautiful city bikes indeed. The Goodrich is a beaut as well.
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to send some photos of my city bike - with some nice V touches - for some time now. The problem is when there is enough light to photograph (and even when not) I am riding. Moroever, it still needs a chain guard (the Simplex are nice, but I am going with Wald) and the extra wide constructeur front rack which I am sure many of us are waiting patiently for.
Nice. But none of these bikes are as well equipped as this Osawa. http://tinyurl.com/3dza88
ReplyDeletePerhaps Chris should look into some NOS Miyata Jumbo technica sets and some Flower/X white wall 650a tyres.
James, that Osawa thing is the funkiest mo-chine ever!!!
ReplyDeleteScorsh, I don't know what brand the brake levers are, I just found them. I think Chris would know. The bars are just some sort of modern Nittos. Main problem is, the brake lever bases don't fit into the bars or anywhere close, so I had to have them completely re-made to fit in there. The cast alu that they are made of doesn't lend itself to being machined. The difference is too much to just have the bars reamed out. Not really a big deal in the great scheme of things but something you'd want to be aware of. Nothing good is easy I guess.
How much do these modern city bikes weigh? I have a 50 pound '47 Condor MO-05 (Swiss Army courier issue). It's my downtown DC commuter 'cause it looks great with a suit, and I love the fact I'm getting into great shape with that clunker. I also used to ride a fixie Trek and a 20" BMX, so I love pain. However, I'm curious what these new bikes are like.
ReplyDeletedavid_nj:
ReplyDeleteWhat are those lovely fenders on the Peugeot porteur? Marvelous job - it looks simply terrific.
--Steve Palincsar
We are working on chain guards and full chain cases.
ReplyDeleteEmeeul, a modern city bike weighs as much, or as little, as a modern road bike, 20-25 pounds.
emeeul. I'm curious, what size wheels does your Condor have? A friend wanted me to find him one, So Idid some googling and found a few german sites and a MO O5 dedicated bike shop on the internet but don't recall coming across any mention of the exact wheel size. I was under in the impression that it was one of the extinct 26" wheels, 565 or something.
ReplyDeleteSteve, those are just the original Peugeot stainless steel fenders. I cleaned them up a little, and put some new Honjo fender stays on there. But yup they're just the fenders from a low-end bike boom Pequot, replete with cottered steel cranks and so forth.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to create stuff from junk, rather than add to the world's landfills needlessly. And I'm no Democrat.
David, You're crazy like a fox. I love your comments and photos. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteit is so good to finally see some of your projects. I always wonder what happens to the parts after they leave my hands.
ralph
Chris: A good looking full chain case would be much appreciated. I would probably buy one the day you put it on line.
ReplyDeleteI just crazy for some bar end brake levers (ie David's bike!), that look classy, unlike the modern selection these days.
ReplyDeleteIs that on the 'to do' list Chris???