Category Archives: townie bike

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.

 

A Town Ride on a Townie

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With the temperatures dropping into the 70’s and overcast skies, today seemed like the perfect day for a town loop – out to Oak’s Park via 26th to Bybee, and then back into town via the Springwater Trail.  From my house, that’s about a 16 mile trip – perfect for the Panasonic MC 7500 that I had built into a low-maintenance errand/winter/do-it-all bike – a “townie”.

Panasonic MC 7500Thanks to the fatter tires on this bike, I can take the gravel shortcuts I know, and spend some time away from traffic.  On the way to Oaks Park there’s a great viewpoint of Oaks Bottom – a Portland wildlife refuge, minutes away from downtown.

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You can see the wetlands of Oaks Bottom in the photo above, along with the carnival rides beyond at Oaks Park.

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If you’re not in the mood for the festivities at Oaks Park, you can head to the Willamette River side of the park, where it’s a little quieter.006The river was nice today – not overly crowded with boats.  It was a gentle summer day, and it felt good to be outside on a ride.

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Heading back toward town on Springwater Trail, I was enthralled by this beautiful ring of lavender wildflowers outlining the wetlands.  I didn’t see a lot of birds – just a few Great Blue Herons.

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And I did see this skinny little fawn, along with her older brother or uncle (who was too shy to be photographed).  I hope she gets enough to eat today.

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There are many hiking trails along the path, both on the river side and on the wetlands side.  Bald eagles and other rare birds draw lots of birders.  The last time I hiked here I saw two Lincoln’s Sparrows scrapping around in the brush, as well as several bald eagles and all kinds of water fowl.

1987 Panasonic MC 7500

I didn’t know much about Panasonic Bicycles until I bought this frame and fork a few years back.  I was impressed with its apparent quality and began doing some research.  This model is the Mountain Cat 7500, made in 1987.  It has Tange Prestige double butted tubing, and very nice lugs.  The rear stays appear to be fully chromed underneath the paint.  This particular model was the top of the line mountain bike back in its day.

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The frame was cosmetically challenged, with a lot of chain suck damage to the paint on the chain stay, and at some point it lost its original fork.  I decided to build it up using inexpensive but reliable components, with a simple 1 x 6 drive train in friction mode.

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I used some parts-bin and vintage components, such as this old Peugeot crankset. The kitty-approved bear claw pedals, are new however.  The other new components are a Tange headset, funky $7 shifter, and townie-style handlebars.  I also sprung for new full-coverage fenders, and a new rear rack and kickstand.  The wheels are a mismatch with the front being an Araya rim on a Joytech hub, and the rear being a Weinmann rim on a no-name hub.

MC-7500

The original bike had a lot of nice features, as shown in this 1987 catalog – not to mention the 80’s color scheme.  Currently, vintage Panasonic bikes are sought after (at least some models), and the company is still making beautiful handmade lugged steel frames from their Osaka factory in Japan.  Yellow Jersey has some of these frames available through their website.