I’ll find more pictures. I thought I had a post about this bike… I do now.
I captured back the original Privateer saddle and put a vintage black Unicanitor on Max’s RoadLite. It’s 32g heavier than the stock Privateer Comp saddle, but bigger changes are coming for this bike when the spokes arrive for its 650b wheelset.
On a whim I signed up for a 9am guided Historical Society bike ride around Mill Valley, and also actually showed up.
Highly recommended on both counts.
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My friend asked how often we cleaned our bikes. I said maybe twice a year? I’ll hose it off sometimes I guess.
After the ride, I went home, gave her a Yakima millstone I’ve had for years, and cleaned my bike*. I also straightened up the rack*.
I didn’t clean my bike so OCD strangers would think I wasn’t “a poor,” or without taste, or a garbage person. Those fuckers make me want to ride the dirtiest bike I can stand. Don’t confuse OCD for integrity. Don’t conflate a different brand of OCD from yours with a moral failing.
(more…)Camping at a big bike event
1. The Adventuremobile Parade
Our campsite was at Action Corner where all the traffic got routed to parking or camping or wherever.
Bike runs drives and stops but the shifting isn’t great. Halfway through the build I thought it wasn’t even possible with this crank but I took a break and then it was all fine.
Gearing is a 3×1, Jimmy Warren style from the old Riv Reader. Will at Rivendell builds “triple singlespeeds” this way.
I was really lucky to find an $8 17y Surly cog at Community yesterday.
Jimmy said to use an old derailleur, and when I tried with a singlespeed tensioner, sure enough no good. I ran the H and L screws all the way in, and used the “road” end off a double-ended brake cable to set the pulley wheels under the cog. I recall people swap the “guide” pulley for the, uh, other pulley but I haven’t yet.
Brakes brake great! I had to true the rear wheel for the XT parallel-push not to drag, but… true wheel! Avid SD in the front. Kooka levers from the Cannondale as donated. I love the minimal shape, but I was worried they wouldn’t pull enough cable. 35mm from the anchor to the pivot is the lower limit of V-brake cable pull. The opposite: they’re awesome.
Kooka!
The pedals are from the junk drawer. Someone gave me some mixed pedals with cages in various states of wreckage. I sawed on cage to match another one and mounted them on the best bodies to make fake Suntour “track” pedals like Bridgestone(?) spec’d back in the ‘80s. They match the wear and color of the bike, and someone could have conceivably done the same thing 30 years ago, not in 2025.
Build pics:
Crizzle called this PW PROTO 1 which is very funny for those who know. Then he gave me a 1 1/4” King headset, black on black sotto voce, like the nicest headset that exists.
Hilariously I was so stoked to find a 1 1/4” fork with a long enough steerer that… I bought a 700c (Rodriguez tandem?) fork instead of a 26”. Right there in the description, 100% my fault. Then I missed out on a 26” Pepperoni fork.
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Direct, human, well composed photos are exactly to my taste. As is the coffee here.
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It can always be deeper.
Something I do pretty regularly and for sure pretty recently… is make a small project a BIG project.
(more…)Well lookit this. I’ve wanted a three speed fixed gear Sturmey Archer ASC for about 25 years, ever since I read about them on Sheldon Brown’s site.
In Memoriam from all Biketinkers.
$5 for 3 stickers. Venmo @biketinker and include your mailing address.
Venmo $5 for 3 stickers to @biketinker – I’ll add some kind of sticker gallery here of new and old stickers.
I sold off most of my stock of stickers and patches recently to clear the way for new and weirder designs.
Main changes are adding the Biketinker name, and not being constrained by a bicycle theme. And I use “Sticky Brand” for production, not that old donkey brand.
My friend booked a campsite in December, but had to reschedule… for the most beautiful post-time-change couple days in Bay Area memory.
First principles: What bike? Fitz or Stooge?
My friend says SAME DAMN BIKE, and he’s not entirely wrong.
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I had seen these Bruce Gordon show bikes before, at NAHBS, at Bruce’s shop gallery, and in David DiFalco’s storage space.
They’re still marvelous.
UPDATE: I gave this camera back to my friend for display. While it could be fixed, a $120 repair isn’t practical for a sub-$50 camera.
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The slow churn of this guy’s legs easing up through the crosswalk, then weaving across and onto the sidewalk caused a double-take. “Whoa. Fixed.”
The colored rear tire has 2001/2026vibes. Style never goes out of style.
