HK

It's Friday in 32 minutes here......


Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Aaaaand it's Friday!!!

This one is a bit different from the previous bikes I've shown.
It's meant built for relatively short rides, at reasonably high speed.

There are a few details I find interesting:

A Shinolo cassette with variable spacing

A narrow-wide 12T pulley

The saddle has aluminum rails

The chain ring is a 56T from a pro team, so the TA Specialites branding is printed on the inside, to not get in conflict with the respective sponsor, whom couldn't provide rings big enough


The Shinolo cassette is simply CrampAndNoGo compatible sprockets from Miche, with spacers that are getting thinner as they get closer to the center of the hub.
That sounds like a disaster on steroids, but it actually works rather smooth. As in very smooth!

That 12T arrow-wide pulley is best regard our small and yellow friends, but surprisingly well machined. Being small and yellow, sadly meant that they had also mounted open ceramic bearings
The good news is that replacing those bearings with standard 689-2RS bearings was easy.

The saddle is something of its own. Back in the early nineties, I made a carbon saddle with hollow aluminum rails (it was crazy light!). I have never seen aluminum rails elsewhere, well, till that one. Ok, they're solid cast aluminum, but still.


Ok, so the usual BOM looks a bit different today:

Cannondale CAAD4 SilkRoad, carbon fork!
Renn Hexalite disc, tubular, rear wheel
Shimano 25th. anniversary hub, Ambrosio rim, front wheel
Shimano Dura Ace 7800 brakes
Shimano Dura Ace 7800 BB and crank set
Shimano Dura Ace 7700 brake-shifter combo
Shimano Dura Ace 7700 rear derailleur
Shimano Tiagra Front derailleur (yes, it's a piece of junk, but I'm out of 31.8mm braze on clamps)
Kalloy seat post (also a piece of junk, to be replaced ASAP)
Selle Italia Century, 100 years anniversary saddle. May or may not stay, TBD
Continental GP4000 tubular rear tire, Tufo C S33 PRO24 up front.
Gebhardt 39T inner chain ring
TA Specialites 56T outer chain ring
KMC 9-93 chain (also nothing to write home to mom about)

The good news?
It's low, fast, fun, and due to the suspension, relatively comfortable.
Setting up the shifting was a bit of a challenge, due to the 56T, but I figured it was a matter of finding the right spacing of the chain rings.

TL:DR

It's stupid fast, good fun, yes the bizarre mix of components works!

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Clean! Super clean

Do they still make roadies with the headshok?

Picked up a 2 color persons for the Biltmore

Not a fakie like my other 2 color seats. Real deal

No, they haven't made road bikes with Headshok since 2001. The one above is the last iteration.
When it was made, it was already considered a hopeless design. Throw in that it was brutally expensive, and that it requires service (something roadies don't seem to grasp the concept of), and you have the result:
I've seen 2 of them in real life, the one I own, and the one the Mrs. rides. They were made in very low numbers, as they couldn't sell them, and that was the end of that era.
Interesting enough, the market have recently figured that suspension on a road bike isn't such a horrific idea, but they seem to be back at square one.
The next SilkRoad frame I get my hands on, will get rear suspension as well!

Clean is a requirement with all those bikes, else it ends up a complete nightmare to keep them all running.



Forgive my ignorance, but what's the difference between a real and a fake two color seat?
It's a real cool bike though. It's such a pity we live so far apart. We could have had a lot of fun!

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

The new one is a true vintage aftermarket seat. The ones on my slingshot and swing bike were sewn together from boat seat cover material
$100 or less for the fakie, $250 for the real deal and it’s far from perfect

Crashing gets real expensive that way!
Do you have a similar photo of the fake?

$250, that's more than the carbon titanium vintage Flite saddles go for


Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Here’s a screen snip. The colored seats went the way of suspended roadies. Personally I like them both. The seats and the roadies that is. My old wrists like a lil cush. A muscle bike without a two color seat just doesn’t cut it my opinion.


Guy that made this practiced first on his swing bike. After I bought the seat I bought the swing bike

Hence my wish to make a full suspension road bike.
So on the original ones, the stripes are bonded onto the base material, on the fakes they're sewn in stripes?
Mr. Amateur here thinks the fake looks better


Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Agreed but I had to have one real one. If I don’t destroy it it will go up in value. If I do sofuginwut

I wish you were over the pond. Seem to recall you posting a three wheel bent. I’d love to try one

I recently sold my three wheel recumbent, but should you drop by, I'm sure the Mrs. will let you try hers, which probably also fits your size a lot better. I'm 6'3", she's like 5'5".
Those are loads of fun, I just had to chose between the recumbent, and like 5 road bikes.

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Love to get me a lowracer

The two wheeled ones are crap. Gotta get a three wheeler, with the two in front and full suspension.

Magura:)

_________________
DIY all the way

Way back in 1985, this toy was made.

This is one of first generation, of aluminum race frames made by Cannondale.
They began making touring frames in 1983, and took the step into racing two years later.
Back then the stiffness of the Cannondale frames was way out of the ordinary, to a degree that they did lab tests against named competitors, something that is unheard today.

The bike is pretty much original throughout, counting out the saddle.
Even for today's standard, this bike is stiff, but at 24.5 lbs it's obviously fairly heavy, compared to a top aluminum bike from say 2005.

Anyhow, it's good fun to ride, the tolerance for poor conditions is amazing. 6x2 is just pretty damned reliable, compared to anything we've seen the last two or three decades.

The two scans, are from the 1985 Cannondale catalogue.

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Love the color! Very sharp!

Been dreaming of roadie brakes on the front of my slingshot. I blame you know who!

The first banana bike in my collection. Not the fanciest but a lovable bike nonetheless.

I found it while out on my fatty one winter. Kids had chucked it off a bridge and threw rocks at it



Wasn’t much there but I knew in time I could make it rideable. Wrong bars, fork was toast. Wheels were junk



Unsure of the ice I fished it up with a hook on a rope. Some passers by saw me struggle to free it from the ice and helped me pull it free. Then it swung beneath the bridge and came unhooked. A few more trys and I pulled it to freedom.

Took me a year and a half to find a cheap girls bike with a fork that fit the long head tube.

It has a couple of rare features. Messinger long john seat and sissy bar (see in the pic it comes up under the seat not behind it) found on the bike plus one of two Rollfast top drag sprockets I own. Two of the coolest items in muscle bike collecting my opinion.



The Lester wheels are heavy AF but look cool as hell. On the canal path it’s fine. Rolls well. Fat bike feel from the rolling mass. I’m running it naked this year. Better for wheelies over puddles!

Considering a powder coat job this winter, purple of course!

You my friend, need to start making closeups, that shows what you're talking about, when writing stuff like:

"two Rollfast top drag sprockets I own"

Cool bike though. Here we never find stuff like that. The "use and throw away" society has been running for too long for that here.

It would look ace in purple, and have the wheels done in pearl white.

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

But but but then I has to wash things

I did find a picture of one ring when I got it. The missus got herself a ring for our anniversary and I got one too



I bought a second one 3 years ago for my Huffy. They are worth a lot more now. Seemed to become desirable very quickly. They bring $200 now

Ok, so now that you've cleaned it anyway, what's the story?
Why are those to me fairly basic looking stamped chain rings so special?
It's a stamped steel ring, no?
Should be dirt cheap....

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

I got my last one for $40. Not many around. This is one from eBay recently

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-Rol ... 2597062530

Vintage muscle is insane. Here’s a colored persons seat like mine only much nicer and suspended. The vintage box is marked $12.95!

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Antique-vintage ... +seat.TRS0

If you wanna play you gotta pay

That's simply crazy!!!!!
Those were toys back in the day.

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Collectors gotta collect..wish I still had my Marvel comic collection.

_________________
'Merica's Finest City

Well, personally I'm not really a collector, but just a rider with a bike for every purpose imaginable.
As a kid I too cad a comic collection, though it was as pedestrian as Donald Duck.

You also have a few bikes, don't you?

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

Well, sure, but I didn't collect them, I built them up from the frames.
So I have several strange-looking bikes that fit me perfectly. But I too can only ride them one at a time.

_________________
'Merica's Finest City

Most of mine are built up from the frames as well. That's the only way to get what you want
You should post some of yours here.

Magura

_________________
DIY all the way

show them Ray. Surprised there wasn’t others chiming in on this

Any comics you kick yourself for not having? Anything the value when stupid on?