Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle

There are many reasons that cycling is so popular: the joy of riding in the open air and amidst never-ending scenery; the physical challenges of racing; the delicious pleasure of pure speed; the unknown road ahead on a long tour; the engaging history, both technological and social, of bicycles, to name but a few. But for me, one of the attractions is the sheer aesthetic quality of a bicycle.

It is an apparently simple device that has not changed a great deal since the Rover Safety Bicycle was introduced in 1885. Two wheels of generally of equal size, chain drive and pedals, a triangular frame and so forth. It was left to later generations to come up with inflatable tires, variable gearing, clipless pedals, effective brakes and lightweight material, of course, but the idea was there. Where form follows function, things engineered tend in one direction, so most airliners now look pretty much the same. Bicycles have perhaps followed a similar path but it is clear that there remains room, in a world of mass-produced commodity bicycles, for artistic self-expression. In May I had an opportunity to attend an exhibition in New York City's Museum of Arts and Design on Columbus Circle that celebrates the craftsmanship and the beauty to be found in the work of six chosen custom bicycle framebuilders.

Photo: J. Peter Weigle

The show is entitled “Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle,” and it opened on May 13 and will run until August 15, 2010. The museum website notes:

In the 1980s and 1990s the demand for handbuilt bicycles was eclipsed by the popularity of costly factory-produced racing bikes endorsed (if not actually ridden) by star cyclists. Custom frame builders also had to contend with a new and booming market for mass-manufactured mountain bikes. Over the past decade, renewed interest in craft, coupled with a rising social movement favoring the durable over the disposable and supporting cycling's physical and environmental benefits, has contributed to a revival of handbuilt bicycles and fostered a new generation of artisans and clientele.

Photo: Museum of Arts and Design

The builders, five American and one Italian, have provided superb and very diverse examples of their art. Mike Flanagan, who builds as Alternative Needs Transportation (A.N.T.), presented an unusual pair of bicycles: a “basket bike,” clearly meant for shopping, and a novel “Truss Frame Bike” that resembles something from the early part of the 20th Century. The bicycles were charming, and had touches such as hand-etched brass badges and a chainring hollowed out with playing card suits!

There were also a pair of bikes from Jeff Jones, who builds titanium mountain bikes without suspension in the wilds of Oregon. These bicycles roll to the beat of a different drummer, with trussed forks and appealing curves.

The other four builders construct more traditional bicycles but are each masters in their own rights. Dario Pegoretti builds classic Italian racing bicycles characterized by not only their excellent build quality but by outlandish paint schemes that bring modern art to the tube surfaces. The bicycles have unusual names as well, such as “Love #3,” and “Day is Done.” (Actually, the names remind me a bit of some of my Jerry Garcia neckties, based on artworks with titles such as “the Poet Considers the War.”)

I had the good fortune to meet the final three artists/artisans personally at Cirque du Cyclisme in 2007 The market for finely-crafted steel frames has mushroomed in the United States and the order books of Sasha White (Vanilla), Richard Sachs and J. Peter Weigle all show an impressive backlog. Looking at the bicycles in New York, it is easy to understand why.

Photo : D. James Dee

The surprisingly-young Sasha White builds in Portland, Oregon, and his bikes not only feature superb workmanship but also a spirit of playfulness. There was a child's bicycle and even a tricyle. One of his Speedvagen models, from a line of quasi-production run bicycles, was present, but the Vanilla bikes (a track and a road model), with their detailed lugwork were more appealing to me. I spent quite a bit of time looking at the Randonneur model, with its beautiful metallic paint and matching fenders, and featuring a handmade old-style aluminum water bottle (with a hardwood cap!) and cage. That said, a randonneur bike, as I understand it, is meant for long-distance, comfortable touring and the Vanilla bicycle looked more to me like a racing bike with fenders. No racks or lighting system, and narrow racing tires but lovely nonetheless.

Photo: J. Peter Weigle

Richard Sachs of Massachusetts, considered one of the deans of American framebuilding, showed models for road, track and cyclocross racing, all in his familiar red-and-white paint scheme. The cyclocross bike was particularly appealing, as it had a layer of mud on it, an idea that took it away from an objet d'art in a museum to its direct function. A display case in the museum showed artifacts from the builders, and not only could you see Richard Sachs' own racing license, but also his collection of New Yorker magazine covers featuring bicycles.

Ladies' Randonneur Bike--Photo J. Peter Weigle

Also from New England comes Peter Weigle of Connecticut. He had only two bikes on show, a ladies' randonneur bike and a men's sportif model, both equipped with vintage parts and including Peter's own custom tail light. The men's bike won Best in Show at Cirque du Cyclisme in 2009 I looked closely at Peter's work at Cirque and was impressed not only with the skillful construction but also the seamless appearance of his bikes. Their subtle detailing and beautiful proportions are distinctive. At Cirque, Peter brought an old Raleigh of middling quality that he had turned into a beautiful randonneur bike and it was immediately apparent that there was more Peter Weigle in it than Nottingham at that point. Yet was just another diamond-framed safety bicycle. Peter also provided interesting material for the display case, including a memorabilia from his own racing career.

The exhibition is nicely set out in an uncrowded and attractive environment, enabling the visitor to get a close view of all the pieces. Of course, with the exception of the cyclocross bike, everything is surgically clean so the bicycles are considered as artworks alone, with no distracting environment. As it is a gallery, the property rights of the artists are closely guarded, so photography is not allowed. Well, for some people it is: I am indebted to Peter Weigle for the photos on this blog.

Photo: J. Peter Weigle

A rather expensive catalogue (but with admittedly excellent photography and comments about the bicycles and their “artists”) is available from the Museum shop here. Mine had to be sent after my visit as it was prepared too late for the opening of the show.

Take the opportunity to enjoy the exhibition if you can as bicycles are so seldom presented with a focus that takes them from mechanical objects to fine art.

The Latest Tin Donkey: Heron Out of Junk--or A Phoenix Arises!

The Raleigh Heron

As someone not immune to the collecting mania, I have tried to limit myself but have not been too successful. From stamps as a child to classical CDs and cycling books as an adult, if there is space I will fill it. However, I was able to limit myself in terms of bicycles and actually sold several over the last year. But I was always attracted to classic steel and since my current road bike, a Specialized S-Works Tarmac E5, is pretty close to state-of-the-art, I thought that perhaps I would go backwards rather than forwards in terms of new bikes.

A real Marinoni/fake Raleigh

My steel Marinoni still remains a favourite and when a bike purporting to be a 1985 Marinoni frameset as used by the Levi’s-Raleigh Racing USA Team showed up for a laughable sum on E-Bay, I was particularly interested. There were only around 26 of these frames built, and they were painted as Raleighs and marked as having Reynolds steel tubing, when in fact they were built out of Columbus tubing. These “disguised” Marinonis were ridden with great success in North America by Levi’s-Raleigh, a team that included Andy Hampston and Roy Knickman and was the only domestic team up to competing with the vaunted 7-Eleven Team of the 1980s. As well, Connie Carpenter scored a gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics on one of these bicycles.

The frame did not seem to be in bad shape from the photos. It had a braze-on for a race number, something seldom seen on consumer bikes but invariably on pro ones. The fork, a unicrown Tange thing, was clearly not original, but I was puzzled by the seatstays, which looked nothing like any Marinoni I had ever seen before. In addition to contacting Marinoni, I was able to find an e-mail address for Mike Fatka, who had managed the Levi’s-Raleigh team in its heyday and is still selling bicycle stuff. He was kind enough to check with a mechanic from the team, who was a bit discouraging:

It appears that one of the custom frames in the 1985 Raleigh catalog may have similar fastback stays? I can't remember anything about "real" Raleigh's from back then, but 1984 was an Olympic year, and Raleigh had all those Olympic "superbikes" built, and this frame seems much lower quality than any of those bikes or the Marinoni bikes. I don't know what it is, but it looks fake to me, or just very low quality. Perhaps not junk, but collectible? I don't think so.

The owner of the frame had gotten it from a former Raleigh employee and still believed that it was a Marinoni, although the team people didn’t think so and neither did Marinoni, since they stated it was definitely not one of theirs. The owner said it was a very good frame, and the filework was even better than on his Waterford. He said it had been raced with a Dura-Ace build-up as that was a team sponsor, but a better Campagnolo Super Record rear derailleur was used, with the Campy markings scratched out!

Framebuilding at Raleigh SBDU

I was becoming very intrigued by the frame. Marinoni said that they could refinish it for me and build me a correct-style fork. The owner was able to provide a serial number and with this the mystery was solved. The frame was indeed a Raleigh, but a very special one. Mike Fatka was able to explain that the frame was built in a small 12-man factory in Ilkeston, near Nottingham at Raleigh’s Special Bicycle Development Unit.

Unable to resist, I put in a bid for the frame and soon afterward Raleigh Professional #SB6032 was mine. It actually cost more to ship the frame from its owner in Kansas City to me than I paid for the frame, but I was about to discover that the frame was only the first and nowhere near the most expensive part of my project! The owner had packed the frame so well it took me an hour with a very sharp knife to free it from its shipping box. The frame actually looked better than it had in the photos and my wife, who had been appalled by what she thought was going to be a piece of rusty junk, was highly impressed. The decals were quite good, as was the paint (unlike the notorious quality of Italian and French finishes from the 1980s) and the only rust, which was very minor, was to be found on the under-tube cable guides. The bottom bracket and headtube were very clean and the frame looked to be quite straight.

SBDU in action, 1980s

The Internet, that source of all information, good and bad, yielded a great deal about SBDU and its bicycles. Here is one reference I found:

Headed by Carlton’s Gerald O’Donovan, Raleigh Specialist Bicycle Development Unit, was created in 1974 and housed in its own standalone factory in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, which was once part of the Rolls Royce works. The SB unit is best known for pioneering and proving the new Reynolds 753 lightweight tubing in 1974 although it made Reynolds 531 framesets as well. Initially, almost all 753 production was for the TI Raleigh Team (which was equipped with 753 frames from the 1975 season onwards) and other European teams with each team member of the Raleigh squad getting two or three frames per season.

From 1974-77 it bought out most if not all of the 753 tubing from Reynolds (both Raleigh and Reynolds being part of the TI conglomerate of course) making it exclusive to Raleigh. Production increased to the point of offering framesets to the general public by 1978 at a cost of $475 in the US market including an Edco headset. The 753 was offered in track, roadracing and special time trials frames in the famous team livery, midnight blue or champagne. Initially Ilkeston turned out about 25 753 tubed frames a week c. 1977 and produced approximately 9000 framesets in both 531 and 753 for individuals and teams until its closure in 1986.

The piece went on to say that due to their lightweight nature, 753 frames in particular were prone to damage but that a good SBDU frame was a high-quality one, and, indeed highly collectible since never more than 700 frames per year were built at SBDU.

The Internet yielded further gold: a Yahoo discussion group devoted to high-end Raleigh bicycles and I learned a great deal about my new acquisition. It would have been built in 1983/84 and sold as a special order frameset to a customer of Raleigh USA. A similar frameset, available both in Reynolds 531 or 753, is shown in the 1985 Raleigh catalogue. I have since acquired a 1985 dealer catalogue which shows a built-up version of the same frame, and which I will use as the basis for my rebuild. The Yahoo group experts told me that I could determine what kind of tubing was used by the diameter of the seatpost. I had my local bike shop check with an electronic caliper and they confirmed it was 26.8 mm, meaning that I had the high-end 753 frame.

Before bidding for the bike, I made sure not only that Marinoni would refinish it for me, but also that I had a source for new decals, one of the difficult points of any rebuild. I was able to source suitable decals from California, Australia and the United Kingdom, so everything was good there.

A Restored SBDU Bike

My purpose in buying this bike was to bring it back to life and get it on the road so that I would be able to experience a state-of-the-art 1985 racing bicycle. SBDU frames are supposed to be lightweight and highly responsive and this one was clearly very good-looking. And since I have wanted to ride l’Eroica, the Tuscan cyclosportif event that celebrates vintage bicycles and the heroes who rode them over the dusty unpaved roads, I thought that the Raleigh would be the perfect time machine. It turns out that now post-1987 bicycles are not allowed in the event, so my choice has become all that much better.

A beautiful frame deserves suitable parts but this meant I had to make a decision. I communicated with Greg, the very helpful owner of Bicycle Classics, which specialized in NOS (New Old Stock) parts from this era. Although I did not pay very much for the frame, I decided I do not want to spend $2000 to end up with a bike I could easily sell for $900 so I made the decision to go with lightly-used Campagnolo Super Record parts from the correct era. That said, I was not going to go insane trying to build a perfect period-correct bike–the fork problem alone would prevent that.

After attending Peter Weigle’s talk at le Cirque du Cyclisme, I decided that the Raleigh would be rebuilt as a safe and reliable bicycle meant to be ridden without too much obsessive worry about scratches (well, no more obsessive worries than normal). As a practical matter, I did not want to use tubular tires, although they would have been authentic but would have a new wheelset made using old Campy SR hubs and new silver Mavic Open Pro box rims. They would be hassle-free and in addition I would not have any worries about old parts failing. The other area of concern was the stem and handlebar. I did buy a nice used Cinelli Giro d’Italia handlebar but I had been eyeing new Japanese-made Nitto parts, which are certified for keirin racing and are beautifully made (although not cheap either). At Cirque’s swap meet I found a new Nitto handlebar and stem in the correct size and at an excellent price, so I went with these in the end.

It has taken a great deal of patience to locate nice Campagnolo Super Record parts but they have come in: from Virginia, Florida, Australia, Naples, Berlin and who knows where else. With the exception of a few small generic mechanical parts, almost everthing has arrived except a suitable seatpost. I have a great-looking Selle San Marco Regal saddle, a model that has been produced for decades and features big copper rivets at the back. I have brand new Super Record brake levers with hard-to-find amber rubber hoods in perfect condition. My hubs were overhauled and my new wheelset constructed. All the Campagnolo parts look really gorgeous.

A non-SBDU Raleigh in the right colour scheme

Once I return from my trip to Europe in August, I will deliver the frame and decals to Marinoni so that they can work their magic. With any luck, everything will be built up before the first snow falls and this reborn Heron (the long-time Raleigh symbol) will fly again.

Cirque du Cyclisme 2009: Good Friends, Old Bikes and A Few Beers

Gitane tubes, from Mel Pinto Imports, Fairfax, Virginia--
The one on the right is the same design as was on my 1974 Gitane Gran Sport

Having enjoyed my previous visit to Le Cirque du Cyclisme in 2007 in Greensboro, North Carolina, I decided to attend this year’s event in Leesburg, Virginia, giving me an opportunity to visit friends in the District of Columbia and to do some riding in green Virginia before joining others to ride the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The drive down to Washington on Thursday, June 4th, was uneventful as I left Ottawa early in the morning in beautiful weather but this was not last. As I came out of the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania it began to rain hard and by the time I reached Hagerstown, Maryland, it was a deluge. I stopped at a Panera Bakery which I had always found conveniently located before and chatted with a group of older cyclists, in their late 60s at least, who were on their way to ride for a few days in the Shenandoah Valley. Their van was outside and I noticed some high-end titanium bikes on the roof rack. The group, from Long Island, were are strong argument in favour of cycling since they all looked to be in incredible shape. I finished my coffee and offered them some suggestions on where to ride around Staunton and Lexington before I got back in the car and the heavy rain.

Of course, rainstorms in Washington always bring out the worst in traffic and when I reached the I-495 split everything slowed down and it took me around 45 minutes to cover the last 3 miles of my 11 hour trip. I spent a quiet evening with my hosts and reorganized the ton of equipment I seemed to have brought.

Friday, June 5th did not start out too well. It was still pouring rain, which meant that the rides scheduled for Cirque were probably going to be scrubbed for the day. I checked the Marinoni over and when I pulled the front wheel out of the wheel bag I saw that it was flat, the only time I have had a flat with the bullet-proof Schwalbe Marathon tires I used in the past for touring. I had been a little concerned when I put them on since they were last used seven years ago when I rode the Camino de Santiago and had been hung up ever since but they looked fine. In fact, it turned out to be a failure of the inner tube at the valve joint. At least I was indoors and could have a cup of tea while I worked. But on the way to Leesburg I stopped and bought another inner tube since the Campagnolo wheels on the Marinoni need a long valve stem. I also thought it might be a good idea to buy a lightweight rain jacket for the GAP tour in case the weather was not entirely cooperative.

The 45 minute drive to Leesburg was pretty miserable but when I arrived in Leesburg I had a chance to hang out with some of the old bike folks and look at some of the great machines they had brought. I go reaquainted with people I had met at the last Cirque, including Dale Brown, who had run the show in Greensboro, and I met Wayne Bingham, who is now the keeper of the Cirque flame.

The 2009 edition of Le Cirque du Cyclisme, billed as an event “celebrating vintage lightweight racing and touring bicycles, and the artists and craft persons carrying on the traditions,” marked the 12th year of the event. This time I was the only Canadian present but there was an impressive representation from far and wide in the United States. There were all kinds of interesting bicycles strung out in the reception area of the Best Western Hotel with racing bicycles from the 1950s interspersed with touring bikes, one-of-a-kinds and even a highwheeler. Of course everyone was busying photographing or else chatting and we enjoyed some food and drink while getting registered. I had mentioned to Wayne that I wanted to register my Marinoni and he encouraged me to do so as he wanted to see one in the show. As noted in previous postings, I had the Marinoni repainted last year and it looks wonderful, although not nearly as flashy as some of the bikes in the show.

The Sheldon Brown Memorial Ride prepares to leave

A brave group of cyclists decided to ride the Sheldon Brown Memorial Fixed-gear Ride (and one of Sheldon’s Raleighs was on display) but it was all too wet for me so I drove back to Washington and had a nice dinner in the Palisades area next to Georgetown.

As much as I had wanted to ride with the group, all the driving in the rain over the previous two days had quite exhausted me so I slept in on Saturday and once more made the trek along the Dulles Toll Road to Leesburg. There were some new bikes to look at and some new arrivals to chat with. Lunch was served and we all sat down to hear the presentations by three speakers.

Dave Wages, Ellis Cycles, with a customer's single speed randonneur bike

The first, Dave Wages, was previously a framebuilder at Serotta and Waterford and went out on his own in 2008, operating as Ellis Cycles. He brought several examples of work he had done over the years and even had a Powerpoint presentation to illustrate his career. At one point he seems to have become obsessed with carving lugs and one bike bore lugs that were way over-the-top, all in a flame motif. He described this as his “call for help.”

One gorgeous frame!
Photo by Steve

There must have been some kind of intervention as earlier this year one of his frames won Best Lugged Frame at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) and a photo of the frame showed why it had captured the judges’ attention. The frame, made from Reynolds 953 steel tubing, uses polished stainless steel stays and fork and is beautifully understated. He brought a similar frame, but unpainted, to the Cirque for us to look at and anyone who thinks that individual artistry in metalworking is a thing of the past need only look at this. While not inexpensive (and the whole ordering process seems to be a very hands-on, individualistic thing since Mr. Wages went out on his own as he wanted to work directly with customers), prices are comparable to high-end Taiwanese carbon frames but you know that if you order one of these it will be the only one.

Jan Heine, getting technical

This enjoyable discussion was followed by some history as Jan Heine, the creator and editor of Bicycle Quarterly magazine, talked about the technological development of the competition bicycle. The talk was based on his superb book, “the Competition Bicycle,” which I reviewed for www.pezcyclingnews.com shortly after it was published. He had had that opportunity to measure many bikes ridden by famous riders and his fascinating talk was based on the fact that bicycles, such as Fausto Coppi’s 1949 Tour de France-winning Bianchi, did not use the latest technology, such as aluminum components or better shifting systems that had already been available for years.

The last speaker for the afternoon was Connecticut framebuilder Peter Weigle, whom I had met at the 2007 Cirque. He has become focused on touring/randonneur bicycles and Cirque always seems to have examples of his workmanship brought in by customers. But this time he had two bikes of his own as he spoke about attitudes to restoration. He mentioned the famous Masi restoration that fellow Connecticut framebuilder Richard Sachs undertook in which the bicycle was brought back to period correctness, a process illustrated here on Richard’s website in awe-inspiring detail. The goal was to rebuild only with New Old Stock (NOS) parts, to bring the bike back to what it looked like before anyone had actually ridden it. Peter doubted that the Masi has ever been ridden after the restoration but I cannot imagine anyone would want to be responsible for scratching it!

Peter then showed such a “period correct” bicycle, a Frejus belonging to one of his customers, John Drake. Then entire frame had to be rechromed, a project not for the faint-hearted, and of course all the right components found. It is a lovely bicycle and won the Cirque 2009 award for the Best Restored Bicycle 1960-1967. Peter then turned from the idea of “period correct” to going with your own ideas and had two bicycles to illustrate this. One was an old French utility bicycle that was pretty much ready for the scrap heap and that Peter turned into his own ride-around-town bicycle. It had incredible style, set off by the most wonderful Art Deco chainguard the world has seen. This was not as the original maker sent it out into the world but it was a success as a personal statement.

The second bicycle, a Schwinn Paramount, had essentially been dropped off at his shop to do with as he pleased. Paramounts were the top-of-the-line bikes for the company but probably not comparable to anything like a Masi. By the time Peter had finished reviving it, it looked more like a J.P. Weigle than a Schwinn. This “creative restoration” had brought about something new and unique and it looked good enough to win the Cirque 2009 award for Best Open Class Bicycle 1974-1980. I found Peter’s remarks very encouraging as I am proceeding with the restoration of my own old racing bicycle, which will be the subject of a posting (probably several) soon, and did not want to be forced into the idea that it had to be “period correct” and a sort of museum-piece. Bicycles are meant to be out on the open road and enjoyed unless they are impractical or unsafe but I can understand, having lusted for Richard Sachs’ Masi (he actually has two of them!), how someone would want a bike they could just simply admire and polish.

Unless connected to a famous cyclist or exhibiting some kind of unique technology, most of these bicycles are not really very historically significant. For example, most of the Italian racing bikes of the 1970s and 1980s use Columbus tubing and Campagnolo Record or Super Record parts. The name on the headtube might be different but there is a certain similarity to them. What makes them special to their owner is some association that gives them pleasure. One of the participants at Cirque mentioned to me that as a hobby collecting lightweight steel bikes was not very serious since you could generally buy the bicycle today for less than it cost when it was new. I think this must be true; an English gentleman sold a beautifully refinished 1983 Colnago Mexico frame (in Saronni Red, be still my heart) recently on E-Bay for under $1000, which, adjusted for inflation, would be about the same price as it would have been in 1983.

After the seminars we enjoyed a lavish dessert buffet (I was worried that my weight was going to go up because of all the eating and the fact that I had not even assembled the Marinoni yet!) and then we had yet another speaker, Keith Anderson, who had moved from framebuilding into the exacting world of painting. He talked about the how frames are stripped and prepped and the kind of detailed work that goes into masking. Some builders do their own painting but others farm this part out to specialists and I can see why some of these custom paint schemes are so expensive. Again, major time and skill must go into this.

At this point I got into the car and drove over to the local hotspot, the Tuscarora Mill, where I met my friend Tom from Pennsylvania for a beer. He had read that I was coming to Leesburg on my blog and since he was going to be in Frederick, Maryland he suggested we meet up for a beer. He was in Ottawa last summer and I introduced him to Creemore Springs Lager. He returned the favour with a sampler pack of Troegs craft beer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We know each other as contestants in the Fat Cyclist’s Weight Loss Competition a few years ago and I hope to lure him onto one of our European trips yet.

Bicycles all corraled

On Sunday, June 7, I got up early. The weather was great and after I said goodbye to my friends in DC I headed out on the Toll Road for the last time this trip. I drove to the Loudon County Fairgrounds where the Cirque Bicycle Show & Swap Meet was being set up. I planned to ride with some of the other Cirque participants on the Potomac Pedallers group ride, rejoining my old bike club, but instead I ended up riding with a local rider on a Gios (repainted orange, and surely the target of those “period correct” types who believe a Gios simply must be blue) and Steve from Indiana, who actually has built a goodly number of frames himself. We took advantage of the W&OD Trail, and rode from Leesburg to the end of the trail in Purcellville, Virginia. The Gios fellow wanted to be at the swap meet by 10:30 when the doors opened officially to be in early for the bargains so we just did this short ride before coming back. This suited me as it was getting quite warm and I did not want to overdo anything. But at least I finally got to the end of the W&OD Trail, a rails-to-bikepath route from Shirlington/Arlington, Virginia, past the Dulles Airport to Leesburg and onwards. I had ridden it only from Shirlington to Leesburg soon after I arrrived in DC in 2002, so this completed the route for me.



The 4-H Fairgrounds had plenty of room for all the bikes, divided up into their own corrals by era. I had brought along a stand and happily set up the Marinoni in the post-1987 group, sitting near a group of Colnagos in Mapei colours and a pair of Mariposa bicycles, the only other Canadian bikes in the show besides mine. It was a bit dusty from the ride in the morning but since there was no floor in the hall I figured it was going to get a lot dustier by the end of the day.





A leather-covered racing bike with its creator

I walked around and took lots of photos and spoke with many interesting characters, including the man who was a leather craftsman and had actually finished several frames in exotic leathers, such as ostrich and snakeskin! I chatted with Jan Heine, who had his books for sale along with the 650B-sized randonneur tires he offers, and who has lots of interesting things to say about cycling. Although I had vowed to keep my wallet unopened, I found a superb unused Nitto handlebar and stem and could not resist them. I have a used Cinelli handlebar for my project but no stem but I am a bit hesitant about using old used handlebars or rims with an unknown history. Taking Peter Weigle’s comments to heart, I have decided that the Nittos looks so good I can “hot rod” my bicycle in good conscience with them.

There were many beautiful bikes to look at, old and new, and I enjoyed cruising around all of them. I was particularly impressed with a restored Raleigh Super Ace and even more so with a gorgeous Raleigh track bike. There were a number of Peter Weigle bikes on display (and they took home lots of awards) and I was struck yet again about their just-right proportions.



Parts at the Swap Meet

By 2:30 p.m. I was feeling hot, dirty and ready to go, so I packed up the Marinoni and my time at Le Cirque du Cyclisme 2009 had come to an end. I drove off to Montgomery Village where I picked up a wonderful set of new wheels for my project, made up with Campagnolo Super Record hubs but new Mavic Open Pro rims, from Travis Evans, who has just set himself up in business as a mechanic. Between the wheelset and the new handlebars and stem, my old bike project is already starting at a pretty high standard. And after seeing so many wonderful bicycles at Cirque I am motivated to keep on going!

Le Cirque du Cyclisme: Part Three

Sunday, June 10, 2007

On Sunday morning I had planned to participate in the Tour de Guilford bicycle ride around Greensboro, with lengths of up to 60 miles offered. Unfortunately, since our hotel checkout was 11 am, I felt that going for a long ride in the North Carolina heat, followed by a visit to a bike show and then finished up with a six hour drive back to Washington without a shower was singularly unappealing to me, let alone to my passenger Jeff, so no ride. Instead we had a leisurely breakfast at the K&W–$5.09 this time!–and went to the local recreation center to enjoy the bike show and swap meet.











The look of the New: Tarmac SL and Roval wheels

The parking lot was already well patronized by the time we arrived. After a brief hike past the tennis courts we looked at the marquee set up by Cycles de Oro and featuring a new Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL with those great-looking Roval wheels. The latest, and perhaps not in accordance with the spirit of Le Cirque, but as a recent Tarmac owner I was quite entranced anyway. Through the doors of the rec center and we were in Olde Bike Heaven.

We walked around looking at the neat things that people had for sale, ranging from really obscure bicycle parts from the 1950s to frames and complete bicycles in various stages, from pristine to woefully dilapidated. I had made Jeff agree that I was not allowed to buy bicycles of any kind, even a pretty good Bianchi Specialissima needing some nice period Campy parts. So instead of reaching into my wallet, I just kept walking around, taking photos of some great bikes and chatting with people.

I met up with Mike Barry, a very quiet person who was taking in all the sights. He was happy to meet a fellow-Canadian and I asked him about his son, Michael, who will not be participating in the Tour de France with T-Mobile as he has come down with a bad case of pneumonia, although it seems to have improved greatly. I told him that I serve my guests the biscotti made from the recipe on Michael’s webpage. We talked about the trip down from Toronto and I mentioned to him the excellent cycling I had found in West Virginia and encouraged him to try Pocahontas County, near the radio telescope in Greenbank, for some really glorious riding. I gave him a copy of my West Virginia roadmap and pointed out the areas where I had been.

Since I was clean and neat and not tired out from cycling, Jeff dragooned me into doing a series of interviews for his video blog. I have to admit I had a great time, and meeting the people I have known only by reputation and getting them to talk about their passion was fun for me.

Now, these are water bottles!

We first spoke with Chris Kulczycki of Velo-Orange in Annapolis, Maryland. A few years ago I bought a set of wooden kayak plans from Chris when he still owned Chesapeake Light Craft and someday I will build one of these but I fear that my building skills will not result in the kind of beautiful “showboat” I dream of. Chris has gone onto other enterprises and now is immersed in the “randonneur” business of cycling, exemplified by the great French touring bicycles produced by Rene Herse, and which is appearing to grow in the United States. These bicycles are built for comfort and durability but are handsome in their own right and ideal for people not obsessed by racing’s fashion dictates. Chris had two bikes on display, and I particularly liked the blue one, with its traditional bottles and 650B tires. I have only read about the latter and never seen one outside the pages of Bicycle Quarterly. Chris has a range of wonderful accessories, including Amish wooden baskets, all-enveloping chainguards and great-looking hammered-out fenders.









Jeff filming, me holding the mic and Dazza concentrating

Next we spent some time with Darrell McCulloch, who had spoken about the meticulous way he builds lugged steel bikes at the seminar on Saturday. He seemed a bit nervous when I began the interview but quickly relaxed and pointed out the features of the bicycle he had brought, which was so beautiful it made my eyes hurt. He had some of the lugs with him that he developed for the sloped-top tube frames and we talked about his customers and their interests. His order book means a 18-24 month wait for a Llewellyn bike but he wanted to sell the bike he brought with him rather than ship it back to Australia. The price for the frame was US$6,000, and built up with full Campagnolo Record it was US$ 10,000. It is clear to me that Mr. Campagnolo is doing a lot better out of this than Mr. McCulloch as the frame took 180 hours to construct before being painted. This works out to US$ 33/hr, including costs of material, amortization of the elaborate tools and all the time put into developing the lugs for what is a rolling piece of sculpture crafted by a true artisan. The service rate at my local Mazda dealership is nearly three times this.

Peter Weigle and the Drillium time trial bike

Next on our list was Peter Weigle of Lyme, Connecticut, who went to England to apprentice as a framebuilder and eventually opened his own shop in 1977. His current wait list is over five years and looking a the gorgeous dark green frame at his stand I could see why. He talked about his developing interest in randonneur bikes but when he showed us one of his bikes on display in the show area it was clear to me that his heart was still with racing. This lovely white bicycle, with the racing number “13," was a wonderful time capsule of early 1970s cycling. He had built it to race time trials in the UK and it had a single chainring with no front derailleur and a five-speed rear. No aerobars in those days, of course, but the bicycle had Drillium: carefully drilled-out components to save weight. The rear derailleur looked about half the weight it must have been when the Italians made it, and there were holes elsewhere on the bike, including the stem and the chainring and the bottom bracket. He said that he was doing a lot of travelling when he built the bike and he would just take it into his hotel room and bore holes into it with a hand-drill to pass the time. He won the Connecticut state time trial championship on this bike and it was displayed with his jersey and medal. The bike hung around in his shop for years but I for one was enchanted by it and glad he had brought it. The workmanship was superb and the bike, in spite of all the Swiss-cheese-looking parts, was very elegant to look at. Rather than order one of the randonneur frames, I was tempted to see if he would do another “13" for me but then I thought about all that hand drilling. Peter Weigle was also a bit nervous at the start of the interview but his pride in his bicycles was obvious and deserved and he quickly warmed up. A very charming man and very easy to interview. I even got him to talk about his Framesaver product, used to treat the interior of steel frames!

Here I am (l.) with Richard Sachs (r.)

On to Richard Sachs, one of the best-known custom framebuilders in the United States. Also located in Connecticut, Richard Sachs, like Peter Weigle, apprenticed with Witcomb Lightweight Cycles in the UK and was building frames at that company’s US operation before he opened his own shop in 1975. Referred to as the Stradivarius of the Bicycle, he builds road frames that are truly exquisite to look at, with their exacting Joe Bell paint finishes and gorgeous lugs. They are apparently wonderful to ride, although I have not had the opportunity to do so. You can expect to wait five years for one.

For someone who wanted to go into creative writing, Richard is quite entrepreneurial and in addition to the bicycles he has developed several lines of lugs, the names of which refer to the glorious past: Newvex, Singer-Herse, Nuovo Richie. And he also has his own tubing made to spec by Columbus: PegoRichie. He had an example of one of his frames in an unfinished state and instead of a head tube decal it has a badge formed right into the tube. Richards Sachs is a unique talent, and he has a very entertaining and comprehensive website.

Lastly, Jeff and I called on Steven Bilenky and looked at some nicely fillet-welded bikes and he showed us an old Raleigh that he had retrofitted with S&S machine torque couplings, which allow the bike to be taken apart easily. He had a short length of steel tube with a coupling so that he could demonstrate how it worked. And not only could he retrofit it to steel bikes but to titanium frames as well.

One more tour of the show area, a few pics of great bikes like the Rivendell with the harlequin handlebar tape pattern and the Hetchins that was used to win the 1956 Tour du St. Laurent (two months after I was born!) and Jeff and I called Le Cirque du Cyclisme a wrap for 2007. We had an uneventful drive back to Washington and I looked forward to adding all this stuff to my blog. Jeff, on the other hand, will have some issues: each episode of A Billion Bikes is five minutes and he shot a total of 3 ½ hours of video during Le Cirque!

It takes patience to wrap two rolls of handlebar tape to look like this!

It was a very enjoyable event, with a friendly family atmosphere since everyone seemed to know everyone else and was pretty keen to talk bicycles. I see on E-Bay there are offerings of NOS (New Old Stock) Campagnolo parts and I could even buy a brand new lugged Cinelli Supercorsa frame if I wanted. I appreciate the shape of my Tarmac and the engineering that has gone into it, but you would have a heart of stone not to fall in love with a Vanilla, a Weigle or a Sachs bike. And even though I successfully resisted buying another bike, I did buy a set of four limited-edition postcards of Daniel Rebour technical drawings from Brett Horton so I was not entirely unscathed.