Sometimes i do ride a bike ;)

It is not only collecting and searching ebay,..I ride a bike now and then, and today was such a day,..clear sky, sunny, around zero degrees ,..great weather to make a spin..

At first i wanted to take the EASTON but a had a flat front tyre :$ so I took the Custom Seven instead .

The Bike is a Titanium Seven made by Rob van de Mark
It has been kitted with a Thomson Elite Seatpost, Titec Stem, Pace carbon RC36(i think) , Shimano XTR group, Magura Race line with metal cables and Spinergy Wheels

Fat Chance Tioga update

Put the Tioga Disc Drive in the Fat Chance.

I just couldn't wait ;)

I still have to do some adjusting, it is not centered correctly but that will be something for between X-Mas and New Year, when i have some spare time.

I also bought to match the Tioga Disc a NOS set of Tioga Psycho Kevlar tyres.

i do not know yet if i like the amber skin wall over the all black tyres but for now it will do.

For the front wheel I am looking for a old SYNCROS hub, found one on ebay and will let the sniper do it's work.

Amaro Rossellini, probably the best looking bike I have ever seen

Yesterday on Retrobike a fellow spanish member put some pictures up from a local forum.
It was a collection of the best looking bikes from this year and 1 of these gorgeous bikes made me drool ,..my god what a good looking bike,..i want one!

This is a new aim ,..!

It is a Amaro Rossellini, custom build machine and i like the clean Ti look of the bike, the retro look,..the colour scheme, and the details like the wings,..just plain gorgeous

if you want some more info;

http://amarobikes.com/rossellini.html

Tioga Disc Drive

Sometimes you get lucks,..today i was,..

Found myself a Tioga Disc drive.
I thought i had a spare 36 holes rim but it was a 32 holes.

The Serotta finally finished

It has been a long road but I finally got end the end, and build the Serotta as it was ment to be when i started the rebuild.
Today i finally could install the Paul conversion kit and replace the XTR shimano derrialieur by the CNC red Paul Components front mech.
Unfortunately it was 1 week too late, i would have loved to show it on Bikes and Coffee with this Paul front mech.



and this is the result; a Serotta ATX with a as much as possible red Paul Component parts.
And you have to see it in real life, it is beautifull, and that is not because it is mine, but it really is.



some more closeup pictures from the drivetrain;

Bikes and Coffee

Yesterday i joined the first edition of BIKES AND COFFEE in the Netherlands
After a impressive night with my new "playboy material" girlfriend :) followed a catch of the flew i dragged myself out of bed to Den Haag.
I did not know what to find there but when i arrived i was immediately impressed by the location, gorgeous old building, the perfect surrounding for the display of a collection of the most special bikes in the Netherlands
I was invited and asked to bring the Serotta and Defiant and some other bikes but due to my physical state i only brought the Serotta and i kinda regret not bringing the Defiant aswell.

What i liked about the meeting was the diversity of the collection.
I normally am only interested in the old mountainbikes but now a have seen some gorgeous racebikes which made me think,..but naaaah,..i am going to stick with the old mountainbikes for now,..

special attention for the

Zieleman from Melvin


The groovy from Roy


The wooden bike from Jan


and a gorgeous Steve Potts



and something special; a Surly fat tyre


and there were some other gorgeous bikes
pictures here; http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp1/Serotta-atx/Bikes%20and%20Coffee/

Fat Chance update

hi guys,

just a small update on the Fat Chance Yo Eddy project.
I was puting the parts of and on, changing them frequently and i think i know what i am going to do, sort of ;-)
And again i am using the Syncros brand, how surprising ;-) hehehe

From all the seatposts i have i will be using the black post.


And i think I know what is wrong with the allover look of the bike,.. i was discussing this with Martijn, it just did not seem to be right, like it was missing something,..it's the wheelset.
I replaced the ritchey Speedmax by WTB tryres which have a bit more body and it looks a bit better but the solution will have to be, darker rims.
These Campagnolo rims just look to shiney, i guess greyish mavic sub rims will do the job,..and when i am going to replace the rims i guys the hubs will be replaced by some silver or black once now i am at it...



Then there are the other parts
There is now a ringle TiStix seatclamb installed, the ringle Blue Ti-Stix at the wheels will be de-anodized and polished to match the other one, the Syncros Revolutions will get a new biggest ring, also Syncros but one less goldy,..will replace it with the one i have on the Serotta, i guess for both bikes it will work out better.

here some more pictures

Paul Components conversion kit (part 2) and the Syncros Ti Seatpost

I have had to work a lot the last coupe of days so I did not have that much time to keep the Blog up to date, although it has just been a few day since the last post

Since then I bought the long sought for Paul front derri Conversion kit on ebay.
Sometimes you get lucky,..and so did i this time.
I found a conversion kit in the right colour, the same colour as the front derri is.
Because i was not at home at the ending time of the ebay auction i used a sniper to do the work for me so i received an email with the good news a minute after the auction ended, i got it ! YEAH!

It is the middle 2 parts that I was after to make the top pull a down pull derri.
The other two parts are the downpull parts, the parts i already have offcourse so if there is someone i can help our with these parts just drop me a line and we can work something out.
If not, no worries, i love to keep the parts as spares , i know for sure they will be of use sometime.


The second part i got is a Ti Syncros post for the Fat Chance.
I now have 4 different seatposts for the Yo Eddy, in the rare 29,4 mm size.
- Syncros Titanium
- Syncros Alu (Black white decals)
- Syncros Alu (clear black decal)
- Ringle Moby (Blue)
Which one i am going to use, i do not know yet, i guess i will play with the setup,..the seatposts i do not use,..i hitnk i keep them,...i am such a bad seller ;)


And last but not least,..got some new Syncros decals for the Syncros stem and seatpost from Gil, thanks Gil, they look great.

OLD Fat Chance add

Nothing special,..just fun to put it up here

KOGA miyata Ridgerunner E-stay

I know,..i should have not done this, but i just accepted an offer on a Koga Miyata RidgeRunner E-Stay
It is a 1990 version, so an early E-stay frame,.
The reason that i bought this frame has to do that this is a bike of which i had a picture of in my High school agenda because i just adored this bike,..but waaaaaaaay out of my league budget wise,..was very expensive

It is a bike that was ridden by a mountainbike hero Greg Herbold.
I think it would be nice to build it as a replica, like on the picture.



I now know for sure that some of the other bike will have to go,..The Rascal en Easton will have to find a great new home.

De-Anodizing bike parts

Let me first explain wat anodizing (anodising) is;

Anodizing, or anodising, is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts. Anodizing increases corrosion resistance and wear resistance, and provides better adhesion for paint primers and glues than bare metal. Anodic films can also be used for a number of cosmetic effects, either with thick porous coatings that can absorb dyes or with thin transparent coatings that add interference effects to reflected light. Anodizing is also used to prevent galling of threaded components and to make dielectric films for electrolytic capacitors. Anodic films are most commonly applied to protect aluminium alloys.
Anodization changes the microscopic texture of the surface and can change the crystal structure of the metal near the surface. Coatings are often porous, even when thick, so a sealing process is often needed to achieve corrosion resistance. The process is called "anodizing" because the part to be treated forms the anode electrode of an electrical circuit. Anodized aluminium surfaces, for example, are harder than aluminium but have low to moderate wear resistance that can be improved with increasing thickness or by applying suitable sealing substances. Anodic films are generally much stronger and more adherent than most types of paint and metal plating, making them less likely to crack and peel.

I received a Syncros seatpost a couple of weeks ago and this arrived a bit more scuffed then expected, in a condition i do not use for my bikes and therefore i was thinking about de-anodizing the post (and maybe re-anodize in the future) so it looks better then scuffed black.
I've looked around on the internet and found out that putting the item for 5 minutes in caustic soda will do the trick (caustic soda is used to unblock a blocked sink.
Because i did not want to try it on the seatpost to start with i took some old Hope QR's apart and put them in,..
These were scuffed too and i couldn't care less if it went wrong ;)

This is how they looked;



and this is what i used.
Unfortunately is it in Dutch but it is a 2 component soda from the brand HG



You have to put from both bottles even parts in a small box (I use the old Chinese restaurant rice boxes ;) )
enough to put the part under



I put it in,..and after 2 minutes you could see the soda do it's work


After 4 minutes i took it out with a clamp and rinsed it of with cold water.
It turned black but all the red was gone.


I took some stainless steel polish and polished it up,..and the black came right of,..
After that i took some silver polish but i do not know if that made a difference although the cloth became grey using it.
This is how it looked after the polishing, the whole "project" took about 20 minutes,..and the result looks nice
Even the HOPE brandname is still visible



Next up was the seatpost.
Because i did not have to box big enough i used my parents sink and the yellow patch.
I put it in the caustic soda en put it on the post and almost immediately the black came off (purple)


Same process, rinse with water,..and polish,...
Also very satisfied with the result.
Black Syncros decals are on it;s way from Gil_M



I am very pleased with the result , especially if you look at how easy it goes.
BUT PLEASE BE AWARE<>>>THIS SODA IS TOXIC!!!!,..YOU SHOULD WEAR GLOVES DURING THIS PROCESS!!!!
There are also some ovencleaners that might work,..bit "saver" but less strong so my might have to put the parts in longer to get the same result

the Serotta rebuild story

I have mentioned this already a couple of times but hereby i want to tell the complete, but short, story

Back in '95 or so I bought a Serotta ATX at Kapteijn Tweewielers in Amsterdam replacing my PEARSON custom.
It was my pride and joy,..rode the bike all over the place, numerous competitions, al lot of trips to my work.
I equipted the ATX with Spinergy wheels, Cook Bros RSR cranks, Paul rear mech, XTR front Mech, Magura's,USE Seatpost etc,..
During the competitions runs it was an impressive ride, i tried a couple of other bikes but none drove as good as the serotta, fitted like a glove.

After a couple of years i wanted to convert her into a single speed, in the meantime a collected some other bikes so the Serotta wasn't used that much so i wanted give her a second life. Replacing the Pace with the Tange swichblade, brakes by Onza V-brakes


When i made the first testdrive i noticed something strange,..my seatpost slide down,.. :$
After checking what the reason for this was i unfortunately discovered a crack in the seattube


Because i bought the frame new from the dealer with a lifetime quaranty i went back to the dealer.
He told me that this was bad luck, the importer went bankrupt in the meantime so he couldn't do anything for me except throwing the frame away for me.
I didn't accept this and contacted Serotta myself.


Serotta gave me a return number and i could send it back , and after a investigation they could inform me if this crack would be a quaranty issue.
I took the frame apart and made some last pictures because there was a chance that the frame was not going to get shipped back.

After a couple of weeks Serotta made me very happy by informing me that the seattube was going to be replaced under warranty.
Because i had to pay the shipping costs to the factory myself they offered me a paint scheme upgrade, i now could choose a two colour scheme instead of the single colour it used to be.
After making a lot of different colour options i went for Onyx black faded to candy apple read with white logo's.
I was after a slick look but still some retro look and feel.

During the rebuild process Serotta kept me informed by sending me pictures of the replcement.
There are some real welding artists working there,..so impressive!
First the cut the cracked tube out


and they put the new one in


I requested Serotta if they could remove the canti studsand add some discbrake pads but they didn't design this frame for disc and couldn't do that, but the put an extra cable stop on the top tube to make it V-brake compatible.
Hereby a picture after the paint job,..my god,..sooooooo pretty


In the meantime i was starting to buy the new parts, which was not simple i can tell you, the parts i was looking for had to be red, in very good order, and from a specialist brand and time period correct.
Apart from the colour, the quality had to be outstanding.
I have a soft spot for Paul so i wanted to put as much as red paul parts on.
The result is impressive,..if i might say myself,..it is a gorgeous bike, and stepping back on the serotta after such a long time felt like coming home after a long time,..felt great.