Monthly Archives: April 2017

Bum Deal

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I haven’t written much about bicycle saddles, and there is a reason for that:  saddle preference is a matter having little to do with “cycling lore” and much more to do with your body, the bike you are riding, and your riding style.  Just because I like a particular saddle on a particular bike does not mean anyone else will feel the same way.  That simple fact must be maddening for saddle manufacturers, which may explain the vast array of saddle choices available in the marketplace.

Leather saddles have survived the test of time, and are enjoying a resurgence of popularity today.  I ride on a couple of leather saddles on a regular basis.  However, there have been a few leather saddles that I have simply had to remove from my bike due to the astounding discomfort I experienced.  Over time, I have developed my own technique for breaking in leather saddles, which is probably true of many cyclists who prefer leather over other materials.  Daniel Rebour had his proprietary break-in technique as well. I also ride regularly on some leather and non leather covered plastic base saddles, which I have found to be on par with the comfort offered by some leather saddles.  Comfort being a relative term.

WTB Deva saddle with cro-mo rails

One of the plastic base saddles that I find very comfortable is this WTB Deva saddle with cro-mo rails, shown above as mounted on my 1972 Mercian. Bearing a strong resemblance to an ironing board, it is a saddle that many riders would probably eschew.  But, actual comfort is counter-intuitive when it comes to bicycle saddles.  Thick padding decreases comfort.  Wide and heavy saddles with large suspension springs may not necessarily be comfortable either.  I discovered this WTB Deva saddle only because it arrived on a frame and fork I had purchased a while back.  I was going to donate that well-worn saddle to the Community Cycling Center, but decided to try it out first on one of my bikes.  I was amazed at the comfort the saddle provided – it supported my bum in all the right areas, and was equally comfortable on a bike with low handlebars as well as a bike with a more upright riding position.  I tried riding the saddle with jeans, and after experiencing no discomfort, decided to purchase several of these saddles to keep on hand in case I wanted to install them on some of the bikes I ride regularly.  One thing I have learned about cycling components is that if you like an item now, buy several, as you may never find that model again.

One saddle that I could never make peace with is this beautiful Brooks Team Pro saddle.  I have never ridden on a more uncomfortable saddle, and I’ve ridden on a lot.  This Brooks would not break in, even after years and miles of use.  It has been treated, lubricated, left in the sun for days, pushed and pulled, but the saddle has never relented.

Here is the Brooks Team Pro on my old Davidson.  On this journey, about a decade ago, I decided to explore the cranberry bogs of Bandon, Oregon.  Unfortunately, the saddle became so unacceptable on my little tour, that I cut it short and headed home.  Bad, bad, saddle.

But, there have been several Brooks saddles that I have loved, two of which were used on my Cannondale T2000 for many years – a Brooks Champion Flyer and a Brooks B-17.  Both saddles broke in easily and provided many miles of service.

Because of the inconsistency in Brooks saddles I have used, I currently ride Cardiff leather saddles.  Shown above is the Cardiff on my Meral (left) and the Cardiff on my Panasonic (right).  These saddles resemble the Brooks B-17 saddles, but have a slightly different shape, as well as longer saddle rails.  This model is the “Mercia” which is 10 mm wider at the back than its Brooks B-17 counterpart.  As with all leather saddles, each one is different, even though the same model. The darker saddle on the left is actually far more comfortable than the saddle on the right.  Why?  It could simply be that the saddle mounted on my Meral is more optimized for a less upright riding position than that of my Panasonic winter bike.

From my own experience, Ideale leather saddles seem to have it all over Brooks and other competitors.  The saddles shown above are just a few examples of the many models manufactured by Tron and Berthet – a company founded back in 1890 and which went out of business 100 years later.  Too bad.  These are probably the nicest leather saddles ever made.  Below is an advertisement dating to the 1960’s.  Each time I have ridden an Ideale saddle on one of my restorations, I have been pleasantly surprised by the comfort Ideale saddles provide.

1969 Tron & Berthet brochure

Shake, Rattle and Roll

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My 1990’s Terry Symmetry is a great commuting bicycle.  It handles well and can keep up with the faster bikes on my regular commute.  But recently I had been hearing an annoying rattle on the front end of the bike.

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Diagnosing bicycle noises while riding brings to mind Dante’s Inferno.  As one’s thoughts spiral through endless ideas and related solutions, the bicycle itself seems drawn further toward complete annihilation, into the concentric circles of hell.  After decades of riding, I have hopefully learned to pay more attention to the occasional odd and unexpected sounds coming from the bike I am riding.  It’s almost always a good idea NOT to ignore them.  Like most cyclists, I love and expect a certain silence from my bike.  Encountering dry, squeaky chains, rattling fenders, and loose fitting luggage on other cyclists’ bikes weighs on my conscience:  should I point out that their rear wheel is out of true or that a little bit of chain lube is in order?  But that’s a question for another day.

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Front end rattles can be as difficult to nail down as noises coming from the center or back of the bike.  In my case, because I had used an unusual mounting system for my fenders, my first thought was that the cantilevered portion of the front fender was bouncing around more than usual.  After holding my hand over the front portion of the fender and hearing no change to the rattling noise, I realized that this wasn’t the problem.  So, I continued my diagnosis while riding by holding my hand over different parts of the front end, to no avail.  Nothing stopped the strange rattling noise.

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As it turned out, the culprit was a broken fender nut on the Bluemels “over the top” fenders that I had mounted on this bike.  I had used all the original hardware on the stays, and paid no attention to how rusted the eyebolts looked.  Finally, one of those rusted eyebolt nuts cracked, and that caused all the rattling.  I didn’t really figure this out until I had:  checked the fork for lack of play (there was none), checked the brake mount for a loose bolt (none), and checked the torque settings on the stem’s handlebar bolt and on the stem itself.  All were in order.  A process of elimination led me to the fenders.  I removed them and discovered the problem right away when one of the nuts fell apart in my hand.  I replaced all the hardware, and then decided to re-mount the fenders using these Velo Orange fender brackets, which are designed for bikes which lack fender eyelets (a sad truth of my 1990’s Terry).  I had been using P-clamps to mount the fenders to the fork.

The Velo Orange brackets, shown above, really clean up the front of the bike, but make front wheel removal more time consuming and finicky.  Fortunately, the rear drop outs of this bike have fender eyelets, so no brackets are needed on the back end of the bike.  I’m glad I took the time to resolve this issue.  A loose fender could have caused a crash.

The Case of the Mysterious Mark

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1941 Goeland fork

There is usually some sleuthing involved when it comes to restoring vintage bicycles.  While that is definitely one of the satisfying elements of the restoration process, there also can be dead ends leading to unsolvable mysteries.  The 1941 Goeland fork depicted above has an interesting hand drawn signature on the steerer tube.  I haven’t been able to really isolate the letters, except for the “e” and the “g” at the end of the scribe.  This kind of mark is unusual.  I have seen stamped marks on frames, forks and components, such as the builder’s marks on a 1929 Griffon that I restored a while back, shown below.

Builder’s mark on 1929 Griffon.

The little bug-like mark is, I believe, the builder’s mark, and the “9” is a mark that was on each of the components of this 1929 Griffon, which I took to be a date code.

1941 French freewheel with engraving.

The 1941 Goeland’s freewheel also has a mark that I can’t quite make out.  The freewheel has no other manufacturer’s marks or codes, just this elegant engraving on the cover plate, unlike the 1947 freewheel (from my 1947 Camille Daudon) show below, which has marks, plus a strange engraved signature on the back side of the freewheel, but no indication of the manufacturer.

Engraving at the bottom.

Or, should it go this way?

Deciphering these marks can be challenging.  Even standard marks can be hard to make out.  While I was working the wheelset of the 1941 Goeland, I needed to remove a broken nipple and rusted spoke.  Even though there is a clear manufacturer’s mark on the nipple, I still can’t make it out.

And that’s after enlisting my little magnifying glass – a relic from my parent’s gem collecting days.

The 1941 Goeland seems to be bursting with mysterious signatures.  The above photo is the bike’s hand-made spoke protector.  It has a beautifully engraved mark, shown above.  With time, and a little more patience, and perhaps some help from technology and readers of this blog, I hope to solve these mysteries.

UPDATE 4/26/17:

Reader Bruno (see comments below) has supplied the following information:  The spoke protector is a “Le Pratique”, made by Lefol, and the Daudon freewheel is a J Moyne with an unusual hand drawn engraving.  Here’s a vintage Moyne advert for reference: