Current Projects chat and miscellany

I had similar set up on my bike, similar size frame, and liked the look, but hated the ride. Managed to ride like that for two hours only, came back home and put drops back :)

I've got a similar size bob jackson, similar set up but longer stem and less sweep on bars. Love the way it rides, alot of control sliding around in the wet and ice, and good view of whats going on. I definitely miss the drops on uphills and hard acceleration, but willing to make the trade off.

threw bullhorns on, clipless pedals for winter.

Nice

isn't winter the worst time for clipless? Pedals can get filled with crap and you can't walk properly even in mtb shoes.

doesn't sound like experience talking.

and anyway it's the lesser of two negatives. yes walking about in MTB shoes sucks, but i'd rather not ruin my street shoes getting crap all over them from the wet road. They'd be in the bin in a week.

THIS BIKE has fenders and i ride it about 10 miles an hour so my shoes rarely get affected. It has platforms.

I've never had a problem with SPDs under any circumstances. they're designed for mud.

Well I had a lot more trouble walking around this winter than in summer. No trouble with crap getting in the pedals though because I use ATAC's.

horses for courses... they say.

I'm afraid that poster is not the same Mercier as your frame. I can be wrong but it seems to be from a local Parisian bike shop, when the other (and main) Mercier (your frame) would have been the larger factory founded and based in Saint Etienne.

Good your frame is from 83/84, as 84 is when things seem to have gone wrong with the name (as they started making supermarket bikes after 85).

Re lug lining (gold on pink mainly), from what I've seen, it appears on the more elaborated lugged frames, like on this picture:

L

Ah yes I get what you are saying about that poster, either way I thought it fitting to go with the picture as an inspiration and make it slightly more modern with the trans black.

I might do a translucent pink for 2012! I love stripping and re painting bikes.

Yeah will go with the gold lining if I do, see how the trans black turns out.

isn't winter the worst time for clipless? Pedals can get filled with crap and you can't walk properly even in mtb shoes.

I didn't find them to be a problem, what were you walking on when you have them on? through people's garden instead of the pavements?

any road which isn't a major road in london

road clipless, yes.
MTB clipless, not a massive problem.
from experience.

i used spd-sl on a muddy mtb ride as I don't have mtb spds (usually stick to flats for that) had no problems with clipping in/out but wouldn't fancy walking up a slippy hill in em. (more motivation to keep going.)

any road which isn't a major road in london

Kick the pedal and clip in!

The only difference I've noticed was the fact, that they're not as tight as they used to be and had to adjust them (despite I don't ride much in the winter - bad weather and short days don't really go hand in hand with the child seat).
SPDs are meant for much - they're mainly used on MTBs where they go through tonnes of mud.

saying that i used to have ritchey spds on a mtb and had endless problems with them clogging with clay rich mud. nightmare having to stop and try scrape them clean with a twig. then could clip in but not out, resulting in some spectacular stacks. hence the switch back to flats for mtb.

had endless problems with them clogging with clay rich mud

If you learned to ride properly, you would never have to put your foot down :-)

If you learned to ride properly, you would never have to put your foot down :-)

HA! go ride Tiger Hill in Penang and tell me you didn't put your foot down, I will give you my life earnings...

stages of my guerciotti project, still not done but already a great ride, my winter beater...

still need front tire, pedal straps, crankset, saddle, brake levers...

That look quite nice, is that zip tie on the mudguard?

Go to your LBS and ask for P-clip.

That look quite nice, is that zip tie on the mudguard?

Go to your LBS and ask for P-clip.

edited post ^ and yes it is, i don't need a P-clip when you have free zipties, working great so far

stages of my guerciotti project, still not done but already a great ride, my winter beater...

still need front tire, pedal straps, crankset, saddle, brake levers...

yeah, like this, welldone mang! sometimes the best projects are the ones that serve a day to day function - like beater bikes. Think this could use some more TLC and it'd come up really nice

yeah forgot to add its getting a bit of paint to, what ill do is cover the guerciotti decals in masking tape and get a small can of the best matching colour I can and spray over all the little filed, rusted or scratches areas then clear coat the hole frame, one of the previous owners already did that along with half hacked off brake mounts on the top tube(they called brake mounts?) with that and the new parts I said above it will look pretty decent I think

just cant decide on drop bar levers, cross top levers or even bullhorns, rarely in the drops on this bike so its a hmmmm

Kick the pedal and clip in!

The only difference I've noticed was the fact, that they're not as tight as they used to be and had to adjust them (despite I don't ride much in the winter - bad weather and short days don't really go hand in hand with the child seat).
SPDs are meant for much - they're mainly used on MTBs where they go through tonnes of mud.

I didn't have a problem clipping in to the pedal, more trying to walk in the snow/ice.

Nice Guerciotti.

Sorry for the crappy quality of the pictures (bad lighting)
Just put together loosely to get an idea of the geometry and check the chain-line.
*Sending it out for paint next week, ive not really decided on a color yet.*** -> EDIT: I bow to the wisdom of the forum: RAW STEEL IT IS (no paint)!**
It's one of the raw frames bicicletta666 had for sale some time ago.

Raw FTW.

i am having some trouble with a chain tensioner
and have searched google and you tube but not come up with anything
anyone got a link to help me out?
thanks

i am having some trouble with a chain tensioner
and have searched google and you tube but not come up with anything
anyone got a link to help me out?
thanks

What kind of problems? What kind of chain tensioner?
Do you mean chain tugs or the kind of tensioner that is in a rear mech?
What kind of rear dropouts?
BTW, this may be a topic for the "mechanics" corner.