I have only owned the bike for eight years. It had a defective stem (handlebars were tilted) and a defective front derailleur and had evidently been put in the back of a shop and forgotten about. Someone in North Carolina found it and sold it to me. I disassembled the bike and and sprayed the inside with frame-saver. I replace the stem with an NOS PIVO stem, determined that the front derailleur's problem was mounting bolts that were too long that had cracked the body of the derailleur. I replaced with another NOS Simplex derailleur. I added some loose ball bearings to the headset - I think it was missing about 7. Re-greased and adjusted the BB. I rewrapped the handlebars with the old black cloth tape after replacing the stem (not original, but dealers usually rewrapped the handlebars in black because the original white tape started to show dust and dirt just from sitting. I even bought a 50 foot roll of the original style brake cable housing. You can tell that the bike had never been ridden because the original sew-up rims have never been glued to a sew-up. I rode the bike with a set of clincher wheels on it. The inner cables are all original. I had the original steel seatpost re-chromed. I found some matching paint at the local hobby store and toched up chips in the paint - mostly around the seat lug. I recently waxed the original chain. Back in 72 I had bought a used Tour de France, same size but in white with silk sew-up tires. The frame was too tall for me, but that was the only way to get a long enough top tube. I rode it to high school, I rode it on club rides, I rode it to college in Tallahassee, Atlanta and Gainesville. I rode it back and forth from Gainesville to Daytona Beach (miles) multiple times. Then one day in 75, an on on-duty police officer broadsided me in the crosswalk. He paid for the damage and I bought my Schwinn Paramount P-15 (still have it), but the Tour de France was always special to me and when this one came along I jumped at the chance. It is orange after all (as is my Rivendell Custom). The early seventies were a bike boom time and the French were cashing in as fast as they could - No telling exactly what components would come on a bike - my original TdF had Campagnolo dropouts (same as the Paramount), but this one has Simplex dropouts. The brazing of the lugs is sloppy, the paint is thin and the foil decals are very fragile - very crude next to a Rivendell, but there is just something about French frames that makes them ride beautifully. French stems are notoriously fragile (and short). So it is kind of my museum piece at this point. I do think about gluing some fat Rene Herse sew-ups to the rims, putting a Nitto stem and bars on it and riding it in a Eroica ride one of these days (maybe after I retire). I also have a nice Ideale leather saddle for it.
Laing On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 9:54:13 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > Laing, you take the cake for being precious! You have a bike that is 50 > years old and was only ridden once? I’m going to get a tee shirt made for > you! > > I have been rather hard on the old gal lately - my most precious bike is > getting a ton of miles this summer. She’s dirty and gritty and starting to > make noises that will need bike shop attention. I have a stupid goal this > week and I might pull it off. I’ll ride group/club rides all week, and > still keep up my weights, core, and running. I usually only do 2-3 club > rides/week. I got my 2nd one done tonight and I’m TIRED. And because this > is my club ride bike, all the miles will be this Platy’s. Tomorrow is a > brewery ride and I don’t know what the lock-up situation is because they > don’t reveal where we are going until we’re on the way. Might get some > fresh scratches tomorrow! Practicing not being precious. > > I put a Cateye Quick on my Platypus today. It looks dumb but I really > wanted to start calculating mileage over this bike’s lifetime. I don’t > think I can keep up to Pam Murray with her 72,000 mi on her 2011 Betty, but > since this bike is my lifetime bike, I want to know how many miles we > travel. Plus, as Pam pointed out, you can figure out how many miles you are > getting out of your components. She has a logbook and tracks hers. > > To bed! Work at 6 am, brewery ride at 6 pm! > Leah > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Jun 20, 2023, at 6:44 PM, lconley <lco...@brph.com> wrote: > > Forgot the picture: > > <IMG_0595.JPG> > > Laing > > On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 6:37:52 PM UTC-4 lconley wrote: > >> Ahh, the mysterious pleasures of French frames. I have a 52 year old >> Gitane Tour de France - with an all Reynolds 531 frame. The French would >> use the top tube as the seat tube and the seat tube as the top tube from >> the tubeset resulting in the requirements of oversized brake cable clamps >> on the top tube (or just longer screws) and front derailleurs that needed >> smaller clamps for the seat tube. I found Rivendell years ago when looking >> for French frames. The 58 cm Gitane Tour de France frame weighs 7 lb. 5 oz. >> with Stronglight headset, Stronglight bottom bracket and fully Weigle Frame >> Savered - lighter than a 47 cm Roadini. All of the derailleur cable clamps, >> FD, and shifters are bolt on and the RD hanger is not part of the dropout, >> so it would make a very clean single speed, but given that it is an only >> ridden once, NOS bicycle, I haven't been able to bring myself to do it, >> talk about being precious! >> >> Laing >> >> On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 6:17:14 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote: >> >>> What are those Rivs, and why do you choose the PX-10 instead of them? >>> What sort of riding? >>> >>> I love Rivendell, but I'll not allow ideological purity to keep me from >>> choosing other bikes that please me better. Only, the very best bike of all >>> the scores that I've owned over the last 25 years is that 1999 Joe Starck >>> custom, and if I had the money I'd order a custom Legolas except without >>> the Legolas features to make it a as-light-tubed-as-possible gofast >>> derailleur road bike, and perhaps a customized Clem to take 700C X 3" tires. >>> >>> >>> >>> I liked that Motobecane, but the expensive Riv custom once converted to >>> commuting and errand duties was even more fun for utility riding, and the >>> Chauncey Matthews replacement for that Riv is even more fun for the same >>> purpose. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Jun 20, 2023 at 3:21 PM Ryan <ryte...@mts.net> wrote: >>> >>>> Yes indeed. My 50-year old PX-10 is still being ridden as a >>>> single-speed . Much more than my Rivendells I'm afraid. Might soon be >>>> time to release those precious Rivendells >>>> >>> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/fBVXpMqGxr8/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/80ea923f-45b9-4c3a-8000-776e18ad3d9en%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/80ea923f-45b9-4c3a-8000-776e18ad3d9en%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > <IMG_0595.JPG> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/a9305172-07a7-4e82-9052-35a73c650c8dn%40googlegroups.com.
