Category Archives: cycling

1980’s Viner City Bike Conversion

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1980's Viner

A few posts back I featured this Viner that I had purchased with the intention to disassemble it and keep the frame on hand for a potential build.  Well, I kept looking at the frame and couldn’t help thinking how much fun it would be to convert the bike to 650c (from 700c) and to build it into a city bike.  A city bike in Portland, Oregon is not the same as a city bike in other cycling hubs across the globe.  We have hills here, we have bridges, shockingly little cycling infrastructure, and hence relatively fast commutes compared to more laid back cities such as Amsterdam.  The ideal city bike in Portland (at least for now) is a bike that is nimble, fast, and lightweight.

Tektro Long Reach Brakes, Terry 650c tires

Tektro Long Reach Brakes, Terry 650c tires

So, I built the bike back up, keeping as many of the original components as would make sense for the build.  However, once I got into the project I could see that the only components that should be kept were the original crankset (Ofmega Mistral with Campagnolo rings), Shimano Italian threaded bottom bracket,  Shimano 105 front derailleur, Atax stem, and Shimano 105 shifters.

During the time I was working on the bike, I heard from a reader who asked me how you can tell a real Viner from a fake one.  Well, I was surprised that anyone would even try to fake a Viner, but apparently this has happened.  After doing some research I found an informative blog that helped to clarify this point:  all real Viner’s have their bottom brackets stamped with the seat tube length ( in cm) on the underside of the BB.  This is how you can be certain that you are riding a real Viner vs. a fake.  This Viner has “49” stamped on the underside of the BB, and it is a 49 cm frame.1980's Viner

The success of converting a bike from 700c to 650c depends on the original frame geometry.  A bike with a lot of BB drop, and with a shallow head tube angle can present more of a challenge than a bike that has a steep head tube and not so much BB drop.  Also, a bike with very little fork rake combined with a slack head tube angle can also present a challenge when converted to 650c.  Unfortunately, this little bike had all of those frame geometry problems.  It’s a small bike that should probably never have been built for 700c tires.  To shorten the top tube a very steep 74 degree seat tube angle was used, combined with a slack 71 degree head tube angle, and very little fork rake at 45 mm.  The result:  a bike with more wheel flop and trail than is ideal in my opinion.  However, converting the bike to 650c IMPROVED the wheel flop and trail numbers substantially – going from a wheel flop factor of 21 to 19 mm and a trail measurement of 69 to 58 mm.  I did this frame a favor by converting it to 650c.  Some vintage Viners (all of which were hand-built) feature very fancy lugs with cutouts.  This frame is simpler, but all of the finish work is outstanding.

Beautiful finish work on the seat lug, Columbus Cromor tubing

Beautiful work on the seat lug, Columbus Cromor tubing

Columbus drop-outs, fully chromed chain stays

Columbus drop outs, fully chromed chainstay

I used a Shimano Deore XT rear derailleur in case the new owner of this bike wants to use index shifting (which works fine with the Shimano 105 downtube shifters and this derailleur) and/or larger cogs in the back.  With the 42/52 rings, lower gearing in the form of larger cogs for city riding can be helpful.  The cassette I installed is 12-30, giving a low gear of 34 inches for this wheel size.  If the new owner wants to convert the bike back to a road bike, all that is needed would be to swap out the bars and levers for road-type equipment and possibly change out the cassette.  Here are some photos of the rest of the build:

Omfega Mistral crankset with Campagnolo rings 42/52

Ofmega Mistral crankset with Campagnolo rings 42/52

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Mavic CXP33 black rims with silver sidewalls

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Nitto Northroad bars with Lizard Skin red white and blue grips and original Atax stem

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Ultegra hubs with 32 holes front and rear

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Ofmega Mistral crankset – considered one of the nicest cranksets ever made

One of the nice things about this Viner is the color of the frame.  It is seemingly black – but also purple/brown in low light.  The black Mavic rims with the silver sidewalls seemed to be just about perfect in highlighting the frame color.  I had fun building up this bike, but I do NOT want to have too much fun test riding it – I have too many bikes in my stable already.

 

1980 Meral 650b Conversion – Long Term Update

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I’ve been riding my “new” 1980 Meral 650b for over a year now.  Only recently has it become my bike of first choice, however.  As with any bike, and especially with a frame-up build combined with a wheel size conversion (700c to 650b), there were a number of challenges and some disappointments.  Here is an overview of the results:

Frame and Fork:

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My favorite aspect of this bike is its beauty and the build quality of the frame and fork.  It’s just an absolutely gorgeous, well put together bike.  The Reynolds 531 tubing feels great and is not punishing, as can happen with stiff aluminum frames (especially smaller frames).  I love the chrome accents and chrome fork, and the lovely sloping fork crown.

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The deep purple color is eye catching and I like the gold lettering of the Meral logos, which goes with the gold-lined chrome lugs.

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The frame geometry is suited for my riding preferences – with a steep seat tube and head tube angle.  It has more stand over height than I really need, and if the frame were taller I would not have had to use a Nitto Technomic stem to get the bars at the height that feels good (slightly higher than the saddle height.)  But, it wasn’t custom built for me, after all, so I’m not complaining.

Tires, Wheels, and Handling:

Panaracer Col de la Vie 650b tires

The Panaracer Col de la Vie 650b tires were extremely disappointing – to the point that I actually stopped riding this bike while I figured out what to do.  They produced a lot of tire noise, and the deep treads picked up rocks like a vacuum cleaner, then spit them into the aluminum fenders, for an even greater cacophony.  The tires felt squishy and ponderous no matter what pressures I tried, and made climbing feel like I was riding through quicksand.  On descents, the bike was noticeably slower than ALL my other bikes, causing me to conclude that the tires had an enormous amount of rolling resistance.  Since the tires come so highly recommended, I delayed changing them out while I tried out other theories to explain the bike’s slowness.  Were the wheel hubs improperly adjusted?  Was the freehub bad?  No, and no.

Velocity Synergy 650b Velocity Synergy 650b Wheelset

In fact, I am really happy with this Velocity Synergy 650b wheelset.  The hubs were adjusted perfectly right out of the box and are very smooth.  I did have to make a small truing adjustment to the front wheel, and that was all.  I ordered this 32 hole set from Rivendell and I think they were well worth the price (about $400 for the pair).

While I pondered what to do about the tires, I also had to contend with a problem that I had never experienced before to this degree:  fork shimmy!  The bike shimmied from the get-go, at high speeds and slow, and would get worse if I rode with just a single bag in back instead of two.  So, I did a lot of reading about fork shimmy and found that it is as mysterious as “planing”, “q-factor” and bottom bracket drop in terms of facts vs. mythology.  For instance, Jobst Brandt has a pretty scientific explanation of fork shimmy.  Here is a quote from his treatise on the matter:

“Shimmy is not related to frame alignment or loose bearings, as is often claimed. Shimmy results from dynamics of front wheel rotation, mass of the handlebars, elasticity of the frame, and where the rider contacts the bicycle. Both perfectly aligned bicycles and ones with wheels out of plane to one another shimmy nearly equally well. It is as likely with properly adjusted bearings as loose ones. The idea that shimmy is caused by loose head bearings or frame misalignment seems to have established currency by repetition, although there is no evidence to link these defects with shimmy.”

He goes on to state that shimmy is caused by the gyroscopic forces of the front wheel, which combined with the tilt of the steering axis, exerts force on the top tube and downtube, causing them to oscillate.  While absorbing this explanation, I read a number of other explanations, but none seemed as true to my mind as this.  Based on that, I concluded that I definitely needed to replace the Panaracer tires because I felt they were contributing to, if not causing, the shimmy problem, with their deep tread pattern.

Compass 650b tires

I finally broke down and ordered these Compass Loup Loup Pass 650b tires.  I ordered the regular model, not the super-light.  Conclusion:  what took me so long!  These are the best tires I have ever ridden, ever.  They are comfortable, fast, quiet, and seem to help spur me up hills.  I have ridden them on gravel, pavement, and over some bad and deep potholes.  They are fabulous!  Now, when I take the Meral out for a spin I find that I end up riding far longer than planned.  They have restored my enjoyment of riding, and have really been the turning point in making this bike my favorite.  And, I have absolutely no more fork shimmy, at any speed.  So, I guess we can add tire tread depth and design as a possible contributor to fork shimmy – let the mythology continue!

Drivetrain:

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The vintage TA triple crankset had a massive wobble so I had to disassemble it, place each chainring between two planks, and smash the hell out of them in my vise.  It took enormous force to get them straightened, but now they are fine.  The rings are 48/40/28.  For this kind of bike, I really need some smaller rings up front, plus I prefer to have a 10 tooth difference between the big and middle rings.  Rather than replace the TA rings, I decided to change the cassette.  First of all, I had to accept the fact that I could not use an 8 speed cassette on this drive train – the Ultegra front derailleur could not handle it.  Instead, I put in a spacer and ended up with this 14-32 7 speed cassette after trying 3 other cassettes that had higher gearing.  I decided to stick with the Ultegra derailleur, though, because after doing much research I realized that it can be very difficult to find any front derailleur that will work with a TA crankset, due to its narrow tread.  So, if it works, don’t fix it.  The bike is geared a bit lower than my other bikes as it is a bit heavier, and I ended up replacing the SLX rear derailleur with the Deore pictured above which seems to work better with the larger cassette cogs.  I am using my Shimano bar end shifters in friction mode and the shifting is fast and precise, with very little trimming needed.  One of my favorite pieces on the bike is this modified Huret downtube clamp which can accept Shimano shifter pods – it looks great and the pods mounted precisely.

Braking System:

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I used vintage Mafac Raid brakes to accomplish the conversion to 650b.  This set was in nice shape and included all the mounting hardware.  Because I was working with what was originally a sport touring bike, made long after these Mafac’s were manufactured, I had to make some modifications to the hardware to make things work.  For the Mafac rear fender mount, I had to reverse the piece, tap out the other side, and mount it backwards in order to make it work with the brake bridge on this bike.  I also “smooshed” the brake hanger and installed a longer seat post bolt to get the hanger to work with this bike.  The brake arms are very long, as you can see, and naturally have a lot more flex due to the long reach.  My Kool Stop replacement pads squealed like crazy for the first month or so of riding, and then finally everything settled down and braking is silent.  However, the front brakes have a squishy feel, which is consistent with my experience with Mafac’s on other bikes I have ridden and restored.  But, they get the job done, and that’s what matters.  I am using Shimano aero levers, which fit comfortably in my hands – I use these for all my bikes with road bars.

Saddle, Rack, Bags, and Fenders:

Cardiff Leather Saddle

The Cardiff saddle, a brand I haven’t tried before, turned out to be a real hit.  It is breaking in nicely.  It has longer seat rails than a Brooks, and a slightly different shape that seems to work well for me.  The saddle is big enough to provide a number of different seating positions depending on where my hands are on the bars.  In short, I will probably not go back to riding Brooks saddles as I find the Cardiff far more comfortable (comfort being a relative term when speaking of bike saddles…).  And, it’s a pretty handsome saddle that goes perfectly with my plum-colored leather mud flap.

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For my rear rack, I had wanted to use the Velo-Orange constructeur rack.  It is very pretty and mounts to the rear fenders, which makes the rack sit down nice and low – ideal for carrying weight in the back.  At the time I was building up the bike, that rack was out of stock, so I decided to try out the Electra Ticino rear rack instead.  While the rack itself is not ugly, per se, it sits up very high, has unadjustable stays, and is very heavy. I sanded the stays to allow for greater adjustment so that I could level the rack (photo above is before I had done this), so that helped a bit.  The Ticino panniers are nice bags, but are also very heavy and suffer from being oddly shaped.  Nonetheless I have continued to use them and they have held up well.

Meral 650b conversion

Here is the bike now, after all these mods, and after a year of riding.  It’s a very striking bike, and now a very comfortable bike after tweaking the components and upgrading the tires.  Today, I meant to go out on just a short ride, but ended up two towns away!  This bike has finally exceeded my expectations.

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1980 Meral at Smith & Bybee Lakes

Small wheeled bicycles: the solution for shorter riders

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1980's ALAN with 24 inch wheels

1980’s ALAN with 24 inch wheels

One of my favorite Georgena Terry witticisms goes something like this:  “if we were all 3 inches tall, we would be riding bicycles with appropriately sized wheels.”  Why the cycling industry has shoved 700c down everyone’s throats has mainly to do with the racing fad we are all now recovering from, and little to do with what is the right sized wheel for a given rider and a given application.

Currently, the cycling industry is going through another fad: wheel and tire size crazes – 650b, 29er, and super fat, to name a few.

When frames are built, the wheel size and tire width must be determined in advance.  A small frame cannot properly contain a large diameter wheelset without serious comprises in the frame geometry.  Placement of the rear brake bridges and length of the fork blades determine how much clearance a frame will have with the wheel size it was built for.  By using long reach brakes, it is possible to convert a frame built for a larger wheel size to a smaller size.   But why is this even necessary in the first place?  Why aren’t bikes for smaller riders automatically built with appropriately sized wheels?

Well, partly this is because Americans have demanded the lowest price possible when it comes to purchasing just about anything.  To achieve this low price, bicycles must be manufactured anywhere but here, where our wages are astronomically high relative to manufacturing-based countries such as China and Taiwan.  We also have labor laws, environmental regulations, and lots of red tape which help to drive up the cost of manufactured goods relative to that of other countries.  While I am glad we protect our workers and the environment, consumers don’t seem to care and we quite happily purchase many of our goods from other countries where such laws do not exist.

These factors contribute to the “one size fits all” wheel diameter phenomenon.  In order to produce bicycles at a price point that the consumer demands, it is much less expensive to equip them all with the same wheel size, regardless of the frame size. The result on a smaller frame is that the head tube angle will be slackened to allow room for the front wheel to clear the downtube and help reduce toe overlap (all manufactured forks have the same rake – so there’s no extra cost there except to cut the steerer to different lengths).  And, on really small frames, there might not be much of a headtube at all, because the manufacturer has determined that the only thing a shorter rider cares about is standover height.  A super slack head tube of 69 degrees with the standard 45mm of fork rake is going to be a handling mess for a road or commuter bike.  The bike will have lots of wheel flop, so arriving at an intersection and slowing down will feel very unstable and it will be hard to keep the bike upright at slow speeds.  Instead, the smaller frame should be designed to accept smaller wheels, allowing for normal rake and trail to allow for good slow and high speed handling, and for an actual head tube which will help to improve the overall comfort of the frame.

Daniel Rebour 1962 catalog Rene Herse

Daniel Rebour 1962 catalog – Rene Herse

All riders should measure their bikes by top tube length, not seat tube length.  If you look at photos and drawings of cyclo-touring bikes from times past you will see that there is very little seatpost showing – these bikes are tall relative to the rider, at least by today’s standards.  And, they often used smaller wheel sizes, which would help to lower the saddle height relative to the ground. By riding a taller frame you can get the stem higher relative to your saddle, and these older bikes had lower bottom bracket heights, making it possible to put your toe down at an intersection, rather than dismounting.  Unfortunately, modern cycling “wisdom” tells everyone to have at least 1″ of clearance between your crotch and the top tube.  Why?  Well, apparently cyclists of the mostly young and male variety often somehow crash land on the top tube, causing serious and sometimes lasting injuries to their private parts.  However, if you are riding in a way that allows you to crash on the top tube, you are probably taking unnecessary risks.  And, it wouldn’t matter whether the top tube is 1 inch below your crotch or 3 inches below your crotch.  This kind of accident would require you to have lost control of the bike while still straddling it, such as attempting jumps and other tricks that our culture has decided is a good thing for young boys to try. A greater standover height can also be achieved by using a lower bottom bracket, so you could still have a tall frame and the “requisite 1 inch clearance” on the top tube if a lower bottom bracket were the norm.

However, worse and more prevalent injuries can be caused by riding bikes with too long top tubes.  Smaller riders often select bikes with short seat tubes only to be confronted with a super long top tube (this is another way the manufacturer crams a 700c wheel into a too small frame).  Riding a bike with a too long top tube can cause neck and lower back pain, arthritis and hip degeneration.  This kind of injury happens over time and can also be exacerbated by doing super long rides even on a bike that fits correctly.

1930's Peugeot Mixte 650b

1930’s Peugeot Mixte 650b

Some smaller riders prefer to ride mixte frames.  These frames are much stronger than typical “women’s frames” because they have a sloping top tube which extends all the way down to the rear dropouts.  This makes for 3 rear stays instead of two, and helps to offset the greater flex of the head tube away from the seat tube under acceleration.  This solves the problem of standover height, but unfortunately does NOT address the problem of having a too long top tube.  Why?  Because mixte frames were produced in smaller runs, there are limited choices as to the headlugs which provide for a predetermined sloping top tube angle, forcing the manufacturers of mixte frames to produce them with relatively long top tubes.  Peter Underwood has an interesting discussion of this topic here.  He also argues that these long top tube lengths on mixte frames were the result of builders wanting their mixtes to conform to their “norm” for top tube length – which was 21 inches (53.3 cm) for custom builders.  The 1930’s Peugeot pictured above has an effective top tube length of 56 cm!!  While this super long length is slightly offset by the upright bars, this is a bike that could only be comfortably ridden by a person at least 5’6″ tall.  The other mixte frames currently in my shop all have effective top tube lengths of 53 cm.  This is way too long for a small rider, generally speaking.  That is one reason I discourage small riders away from non custom mixte frames, unless they are mainly going to do casual riding in an upright position.

The solution is to design a bike frame in a logical way such that the frame dimensions are proportionate to the small riders’ anatomy.  This naturally includes using smaller wheels.  Such a frame can have a nice big head tube, and will be bigger overall, which will produce a much more comfortable frame and riding experience.

Terry Symmetry 51x51 with 26 inch wheels

Terry Symmetry 51×51 with 26 inch wheels

You can find such frames if you are diligent.  The bike shown above is my Terry which I purchased as a frame and fork.  It is not a custom frame but one I picked up on eBay which was a leftover NOS from the 90’s TIG welded with Tange tubing. It has great geometry with no compromises so it handles well in all conditions, and has absolutely no toe overlap.

Unfortunately, buying a new complete bike for a small rider will not be so easy.  There’s no point in trying to find such a bike at your LBS.  The best thing to do is order a bike from a well regarded shop such as Rivendell,  Georgena Terry, or your local custom builder.  These builders automatically design their smaller frames proportionally and with smaller wheel sizes such as 26 inch, 650c or 650b.  One thing I have learned is that I prefer riding frames with steep angles – 73 or 74 on the seat tube, and since I like a low trail bike I prefer a steep head tube angle combined with a lot of fork rake.  As far as I know, no one has researched whether steep angles are more comfortable for smaller riders, but I like the feel of having more of my body closer to the front of the bike.

The vintage line up in smaller frames works best if you can convert a small frame to 650c or 650b, or if you can find a small frame originally built with smaller wheels, such as the ALAN depicted at the top of this post, which was designed for 24 inch wheels.  Until more small riders begin demanding appropriately sized bicycles and wheels, nothing will change.  So, if you do stop in to your LBS, let them know that you could be a good customer if only their suppliers would provide the kind of bike which is safe and comfortable for you to ride.