I can think of a dozen good reasons why you would want to buy a wooden bike (ride quality, superb stiffness, environmentally friendly, etc.). My reason to buy one was different though.
My parents run a custom wooden furniture building company for as long as I can remember, called DW Meubel. When I was a child I spend countless hours in the workshop, looking at furniture being built and building my own (mostly silly) things. Although I never really got any good at it, I did develop a passion for wood craftsmanship during my childhood. That is why, when I first came across a Renovo wooden frame online, I knew I had to have one some day.
Whilst I am very passionate about the things my dad builds, he isn't exactly thrilled about the bicycles I build. That said, he was very excited when he saw the Renovo wooden frame for the first time. In the picture below you can see him holding the frame in the workshop. Maybe we should combine our skills and try and build a wooden frame together some day.
Recently I picked up a rather special Pearson Weka time trial frame. The frame was made by a builder from New
Zealand called Pearson, who is not in business any more. The design is based on the mountain bike frame, built by the same company.
The wheels that came with the frame are
'Elite-Shape', which I believe was a Russian (USSR) company that also
made kevlar disc wheels. The wheels look quite fascinating and have seen
very little use. According the previous owner Jan Svorada took these
with him for the USSR.
I already managed to find an ITM Dual CX handlebar that looks very nice with the frame. The seatpost and the saddle on the pictures are just two items I had
lying around. The frame requires a 27.0mm seatpost and the only one I
had available was a Suntour Superb Pro. The saddle is an Ultra Pro, made
in France. I believe it is the same as the ones made for Corima.
I just finished uploading pictures of all the Eddy Merckx frames I have sold over the years onto my Flickr account. These include MX-leader, Corsa, Corsa Extra, Strada, Pista, Lo Pro and many more models. Go ahead and take a look:
[url]https://www.flickr.com/photos/quality_vintage_bikes/collections/72157633199178136/[/url]
Here are a couple of teasers:
I just finished uploading pictures of all the Colnago Master frames I
have sold over the years onto my Flickr account. Any self-respecting Colnago (Master) enthusiast should really check it out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quality_vintage_bikes/sets/72157633198472249/
I will be adding more pics of other Colnago models and more information about the frames in the coming days.
Here are a couple of teasers:
You may have already seen these wheels on the latest build of my Renovo R1 bike, but for some reason I forgot the take some pictures of the wheels on their own up until now.
The wheels feature H Plus Son's beautiful 23mm wide polished Archetype rims, ultra smooth Dura Ace 25th anniversary hubs and snowflake spoke lacing.
In case you are wondering if low tubular rim with tan tubulars look good on every bike, the answer is yes!
I
got a chance to buy a pair of Tune Mig Mag / Ambrosio Montreal tubulars
wheels with Vittoria Corsa Evo CX tires glued on (prototypes from
Rabobank) that I plan to use in a couple of races I have planned for
this spring. This will be my first hands on experience with tubular
tires, so I am really looking forward to it.
Here are some pics of the bike in it's new setup. Enjoy!
Sanomagic makes very special bike frames, but not nearly as nice as Renovo. What sets them apart from Renovo though is that they do all wooden bike, including forks, stems, handlebars, saddles and ... wheels! I might need to get a pair of these wheels someday.
I am a sucker for wooden bike an this Owen bike styled like a Softride Rocket is no exeception. All it need is a Gilles Berthoud Galibier saddle and it would be perfect!
Just came across this very special saddle made of wood. According to the guy who purchased it is anything but comfortable, but he reckoned it was due to the shape and not due to the fact it is wood. The shape looks a lot like a Selle Italia SLR, the one with padding, whereas they probably should have gone with the shape of the SLR C64, the carbon version.
I ended up keeping the ALAN Alu Cross after all. I decided to stick to
my initial plan to make this a budget build and so I sold off all the
other bikes and parts I purchased for this project. All but the groupset
that came off the Diamant cross bike. You can see the end result below.
I did my first 50 km off road ride last weekend and everything worked like a charm. With the Edco headset from the Diamant the fork has somehow become super stiff.
Since I purchased the Colnago CX bike I used it on several occasions, mainly on
mountainbike courses. Riding it has been a real blast, on and off road.
The 6 speed drivetrain functions much smoother than I imagined it would
and the bike itself is fast as hell.
One thing is bit frustrating
about the bike, namely the fact that it is a one of kind vintage bike
in great condition. Why this is a problem? Because every time I crash (a
couple of times so far) I keep asking myself why I am using such a
lovely bike for this kind of riding. Although I didn't pay very much for
the bike, it is worth a lot more than what I paid for it. That is
why I decided to go sell off the Colnago and try to find something a bit more suitable.
In the meantime I got my hands on a very nice red anodized ALAN aluminium CX bike, a retro lugged one of course. I have done a hand full of rides on it so far and the flexing front fork really keeps bugging me. That is why I kept looking out for another option and that resulted in a very nice Colnago Master mountainbike that was delivered on my doorstep this week.
It is a second generation wit straight forks, a full Shimano Deore DX groupset and some ITM bits.
Last weekend I got busy with the paint stripper. First up was the fork. I
left the stuff on overnight, but nothing had happened when I checked
the next day. Two days later still nothing. Thank god for that, because
after I applied the paint stripper, I got a once in a lifetime
opportunity to buy the coolest CX bike I have ever laid eyes on: Roger
de Vlaeminck's custom built Colnago cyclo cross bike.
As
far as I know Colnago only built steel CX bike for professional
cyclists. This frame seems to be based on the Colnago Super. The bike
features a beautifully drilled and pantographed Campagnolo Nuovo Record
parts group, a custom drilled 3TTT stem, Mafac brakes, Mavic Monthlery
rims and a Selle Royal saddle. Aside from the saddle, the whole bike in
great condition. Given its age (the rear derailleur is stamped 'patent
76') I would say that is pretty unique.
I plan to keep the bike
as original as possible. Unfortunately the seatpost is too short for me,
so I will be keeping my eyes open for a longer one. The saddle and
pedals will also be replaced. Currently the bike is equipped with
Challenge Grifo XS tubulars. I am going to give the tubulars a try, but I
will probably lace in some clincher rims.
