She Rolls...
It was not a particularly fun task, and I do not exaggerate one iota when I say that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this new bike. Literally on all counts. There were incompatibilities galore, and I've gone down to 7 speeds on the rear cassette, with my 11T sprocket offline. Sawing and power grinding were involved in getting this bike to roll.
It looks like what I've gotten my hands on is some kind of precursor to cyclocross bikes. The mechanic told me its from 1960, and the cantilever brakes combined with a tight frame (little pedal clearance in the front), light tubing, and lack of excess braze ons for rack mounting tells me its a race bike not a true tourer. Regardless, she's beautiful, and she's what I could find in the time I had on the budget I have, so she's coming to turkey with me.
At the Arch de Triomph, feeling, well, triumphant.
Huge thanks are in order to Mike, who's been putting me up, and to Murat (pictured below) who lives at the bike squat and has provided me with all the tools I needed, as well as A+ tasty food and turkish coffee pretty much everytime I've gone over to work. I've also had the chance to put some help into his evolving tall tandem; I hope to get to ride it before I skip town.
_______________________________________________________________________
Expatriate games:
Take a minute, if you've got one, to keep an eye on what other eastvan kids are doing over here in ye olde worlde:
Tim Wyatt, the Ten Speed Cowboy:
http://tenspeedcowboy.net
Mike Kushnir, host extraordinaire (also maker of many good breakfasts)
http://twilightcity.wordpress.com
6 comments:
Wow, great shots of you and Leuze at l'Arc. To quote Bill & Ted, "a truly trimphant" moment. Gorgeous bike...sometimes ya gotta Leuze to win!
Luv, Atomik
Lady Luck's smiling on you, Sim. We miss you. Mom
easy on the puns there, dad! =)
just for the record, the traffic circle around the arc de triomphe is the busiest one in the world, with TWELVE LANES. so busy and so chaotic, in fact, that insurance companies don't investigate accidents that happen there because it's just not worth their time to see who, in fact, was at fault. so going around it and then doing a bike hoist is a pretty, um, triumphant. particularly after the events of the previous week.
Nice job on the bike, bro. Clamp those quick releases in tight.
yo simon;
shitty about your bike. oh well, it's not really a trip to europe without getting ripped off and noticing the kindness of strangers-- you'll be telling your grandkids the stories for years (if you can remember all their names, much less their moms'.)
I have friends in France, Marseille... Firenze and Roma in Italia. Let me know when I can hook you up with them, they are all good for putting up a weary traveller, especially sur la bicyclette.
take it easy my friend, love reading your pieces.
le jackal
Post a Comment