Japanese randonneur - refreshed!

[ghettro]

Just added my new carradice saddlebag, some mudguards, bar ends, re-wrapped the bars in harlequin pattern for the fifth time (don't ask) and then took some nice pics Hope you like it.

[slammed]

That is absolutly beautiful, awsome build and great photo's.
huge props!

[hartleymartin]

Lovely, lovely, lovely... Did you go with the Camper Longflap or Nelson Longflap?

[ghettro]

It's the Barley, one of the new ones that is smaller than the nelson. It's probably just the right size for me, I can fit a U lock, wind/rain jacket, tools, spare tube, jeans, t-shirt, wallet, keys phone. Plus I love how you can use the flap or the loops on the top to carry additional stuff. I carried a 1m wide roll of drawings in it back from work the other day

[Lark2004]

[im_no_pro]

Love it. Especially the bar tape, even though I think your crazy for using it (I can see myself trying to wrap that and ending up veeeeeeeeery angry).

[brendan03]

That looks amazing - love the tape. I'll have to find a tutorial that explains that technique.

Whats with the massively looping brake cables? Just an aesthetic choice?

[ghettro]

Thanks for the compliments guys!
re: the bar tape, I started with yellow tape and dark brown to get it the way it is. The last few times I did it, I just used cotton herringbone pattern tape I got from an arts/craft store and used double sided tape to make it easier to wrap - the shellac tends to make it stick to the bar anyway. It took me an average of about 2 hours of just wrapping, then say about 7-8 coats of amber shellac. First coat should go on quite heavy and it's better to leave the first coat to sit for a day. All up it takes a few days to get it from start to finish. I did it 5 times because I kept on fiddling with the brake lever position as well as trying to get the colour right. Here's the guide I used for the harlequin pattern.
http://www.wastedlife.org/bike/harlequin/index.html

Also here is a guide to doing the shellacing:
http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2009/01 ... guide.html

To live with it's quite good, it's very grippy however it has very little cushioning, it's not really a problem when you have a steel fork, quill stem and normal diameter handlebars which all serve to give you some springyness. It's super hard wearing though, doesn't rip like cork, is completely waterproof and doesn't stain. It also develops a bit of a patina with age, after a while you can re-shellac it too.

The brake levers have the cable coming out the top because they are old school non-aero brake levers, anything older than the 80's will typically have these.

[jaseyjase]

very nice indeed bud. How you finding those levers on the bar ends? ive never seen them before, cant imagine how comfortable they would be? But i guess its less movement to reach for the levers in comparison to having to reach on the stem or down tube?

[brendan03]

Nice, thanks for the run down.

The brake levers have the cable coming out the top because they are old school non-aero brake levers, anything older than the 80's will typically have these.

Yeah, i know that, but it looks like you've got 10cm of "extra" slack in the cable. No big deal, was just curious if it was a fashion you preffered of if there was a technical reason for some much cable.

I spose an example of using less (more "standard" to my eye) would be something like:

[ghettro]

Nice, thanks for the run down.

The brake levers have the cable coming out the top because they are old school non-aero brake levers, anything older than the 80's will typically have these.

Yeah, i know that, but it looks like you've got 10cm of "extra" slack in the cable. No big deal, was just curious if it was a fashion you preffered of if there was a technical reason for some much cable.

I spose an example of using less (more "standard" to my eye) would be something like:

oops misinterpreted you, yeah I have them a bit longer because I actually cut them shorter in the past and had them too short once I moved the levers down.

[brookts]

Hope you like it.

tissues anyone?

[ghettro]

very nice indeed bud. How you finding those levers on the bar ends? ive never seen them before, cant imagine how comfortable they would be? But i guess its less movement to reach for the levers in comparison to having to reach on the stem or down tube?

I never really liked having to take my hands off the bars for downtube shifters, particularly on fast descents or on uneven surfaces, also I just liked the style of randonneur/touring bikes which typically have bar end shifters for the reliability and simplicity compared to STI style levers, which were never an option because they would look a bit wrong on this bike.

I find bar ends quite good, particularly when you are in the drops you can shift with your pinky and ring fingers and still have a hold on the bar. I picked up the bar end pods at a swapmeet and put some old 105 downtube shifters in there, I went through about 4 pairs of shifters trying it get it to index with my 7 speed freewheel. All to no avail, I finally figured out that my first generation Shimano 600 rear derailleur has a different leverage ratio to the later indexed derailleurs, so I just stayed with friction shifting. The 105 shifters have quite a good friction mode which is ratcheted, also fitting a narrower SRAM chain meant for 8 speed made it quite a joy to use.

[singlespeedscott]

Very nice indeed. Apollo could only dream that one of their bikes could turn out like that! Would look nice with some "Rando" style bars. I also love the brown B.17 narrow. I wish Brooks would do a team pro in brown, it would look great with the bike fat copper rivets.

[hartleymartin]

Just added my new carradice saddlebag, some mudguards, bar ends, re-wrapped the bars in harlequin pattern for the fifth time (don't ask) and then took some nice pics Hope you like it.

The Winner of the 2009 Sydney Tweed Ride prize for best retro bicycle was tricked out in a similar fashion.

[aaron]

Jesus Christ
That's Brilliant!

[hartleymartin]

Just revisiting this thread. I was given a black road bicycle, and this thread has basically made me decide to go with the silver mudguards.

[bowie]

That's stunning

Beautiful sir

[ghettro]

Just revisiting this thread. I was given a black road bicycle, and this thread has basically made me decide to go with the silver mudguards.

The fenders on there now are just cheapies, I managed to break the rear one in half a few times (repaired it with another old fender). Recently I ordered some polished fluted fenders from Velo-orange, waiting for them in the mail. I'll post some pics once they arrive and I install them.

[ghettro]

My new fenders from Velo-orange just arrived, they are the 48mm fluted aluminium ones. They are absolutely beautiful, are very long and give lots of coverage. The hardware is excellent compared to the cheapy fenders I had prior to this. Here's some pics

[hartleymartin]

Marvellous... Tell me you are NOW going to submit a gallery to cyclofiend?

[munga]

put it up here too man (it's lovely):

http://www.boutiquecycles.com/

[ghettro]

Ok so I've been riding this bike for a while now, I would guess about 3-4000km in the last year or so. I've decided to do a refresh of it because I was never happy with the powdercoat job on the frame and as much as I love the look of MAFAC brakes I have had a few close calls with insufficient braking, the darned things just flex too much!

Anyway I obtained this other bike
http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... te#p345571
earlier in the year which is another Kuwahara made frame, this one is from '82 according to the serial number as well as being made from some kind of Tange butted tubing. The frame is just plain nicer overall, lighter (2160g bare frame), thinner lugs and double eyelets as well as having some nice donor parts - mostly Shimano 600 arabesque stuff which I have always liked.

I had the frame resprayed at star enamelers, then did the lug lining again. Very happy with the paint job and well worth the money. It's chalk and cheese compared to the old frame's powdercoat job. here's some pics





I also picked up some Stronglight 99 cranks with a 48/30 double setup which I proceeded to polish the living daylights out of. Love these cranks, I've been using them for a month or so now. Super low Q-Factor of 135mm and they weigh only 540g (cranks, rings and bolts). The tooth jump is quite large at 18t but the old Shimano 600 derailleur seems to handle it quite well, it shifts reasonably well especially considering that it has no ramps or shift pins on the big ring.




Polished up the Shimano 600 arabesque calipers that came with the airlite frame, these are the replacements for the MAFACs I had earlier.


More pics to come

[randyandy4]

this thread just keeps getting better.
eagerly waiting to see how this next bike turns out.
btw ive seen pics of your first bike on flickr. liked it then, like it even more after reading through the story behind it.

[uncle arthur]

That is beautiful beautiful work - nice to see how much pride you are taking in it.

For anyone else doing restorations, and of relevance here - Loose Screws (online bike store out of the US) stocks all sorts of retro parts, including the gum coloured Weimann Hoods which will become brittle and crack.

I bought a bunch of stuff from them when I restored the Benotto.