A Nishiki restored, Mike’s on the road, and more
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Joel’s Nishiki is fixed, straightened, painted, and ready to go. It came in with a crumpled downtube so I replaced that and did some alterations while the paint was off. That included new rear dropouts, new cable stops, and some fender mounts. Check out the slideshow for the pictures of the process.
Mike came by to pick up his completed single speed on Saturday. The bike looked amazing with the White Industries ENO crankset and freewheel. The custom stem didn’t look too shabby either. Here’s the finished product.
Our friends Bobby and Dan held an alleycat race on Saturday as well. Congratulations to Eric Pupecki who won it and also to Mike Bike for winning the Circle A paint job (again!) for carrying the most papers. Here’s Mike in his partial Mapei kit. Nice job.
And I still ride my BMX bike from time to time. On Sunday, a bunch of old school riders (i.e. people who’ve been riding since the mid to late 80’s) got together to ride and catch up on each other’s lives. Got a little group photo because it probably won’t happen again for a long time.
Speaking of BMX, this Saturday Vic over at Circuit BMX in Pawtucket is holding a BMX swap (1-5PM), the footdown world championships (5-7PM), and the Kink Safety First video premiere (7PM).
And speaking of bike swaps, Providence Bicycle will be hosting their bike swap/fundraiser for the RI Food Bank on Sunday from 10AM to 3PM. There will be a ton of vendors and a cool raffle which will include a Circle A paint job as a prize. See you there!
Mike’s green machine, A.N.T. open house, and a repair in progress
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
I’ve finished Mike’s single speed and am very happy with the finished product. The fillet brazed fork and stem complement the frame nicely and I love the paint scheme. He picked up some sweet components including the White Industries ENO crankset. Can’t wait to see it built up.
On Saturday, 10 of us headed up to Mike Flanigan’s shop from Providence for the annual A.N.T. open house. Amazingly crisp, sunny, autumn ride through the scenic roads around his shop. On returning, I ate more Indian food than my body could handle. If you missed it, mark your calendar so you make it next year. Here are some shots of us from the day. Jim was missing from the group shot. Where were you, man?
In the shop I’m currently giving some new life to an older Nishiki by replacing a crumpled downtube and switching over to track dropouts. It’s almost there right now. Painting will happen later this week.
And finally, Katie and Arthie rode off on their new bikes a week and a half ago but I forgot to share the shot. Here are the ecstatic ladies on their new rides.
Arthi rides off and Mike’s is coming together.
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Arthi’s gunsmoke and fuchsia single speed is done. So done that she rode it away two days ago with Katie and her new 8-speed commuter that Chris built. It’s always exciting to see a bike that we’ve built get ridden away by its new owner. After two and a half weeks of metalworking and painting, I have to let go and trust that it’s in good hands. I might be exaggerating a little…but only just a little. Here are the shots I got of it before building it up.
The current project is a fillet brazed single speed for Mike. It’s pretty minimalist with very few braze-ons and svelte little dropouts. Along with the fillet brazed frame, the unicrown fork and stem are also fillet brazed. So much brass, so little time. More pictures to come soon.
