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This is “Dame Judi Dench, the bike, the first”. She is the first bike I ever fixed up, and I spent a whole winter working on her, mostly scrubbing in my living room while binge-watching various shows on Netflix. These are some before pictures. There were some pretty heavy patches of rust, the brake hoods had melted from exposure, there were a few small bits missing. I test rode her before buying, but probably shouldn’t have done so in her condition. Survive and become educated, I guess.
She got the name Judi for a couple reasons. Since the bike came from Japan I asked a friend what is the Japanese word for bicycle, “jitensha”. It sounded a bit like Judi Dench. Plus Judith made sense to me since, when I saw her in that dark Portland basement I kind of lost my head. I paid way too much for her considering the shape she was in and all the work required. But then, I’ve gotten so much joy out of riding her around, and the feel of the handling, the speed that seems to come so easily, I suppose that’s worth the price and then some. After taking a bunch of pics I began the process of disassembling the bike, except for the headset, which I didn’t know came off at the time. Not that I bother with those now for the most part.

More to come…

I got yelled at today, I think for not riding on the sidewalk, out by the mall. I couldn’t make out any words, just a general WAHAAYAAAGAAH! And then the guy missed his turn because he had stayed in the right-hand lane in order to berate me inarticulately for nothing even though he needed to turn left. But it’s okay. He turned around in a gas station parking lot and caught the light.

It’s been months now with me riding around on the B72 from 1975, so I thought a proper update was in order. For a saddle that’s four years older than me it really is in good shape!
When I first installed it at the beginning of winter I did two coats of proofide a week apart, and the second was very light. I rode it around a lot but the flaps were always flipping out and chaffing my thighs. I went to a couple of leather repair stores in town, but the quotes to punch a few holes down either side were ludicrous ($50+). So I just drilled five holes down each side, measuring the distance of each from the nose as well as from the edge to try to keep them equal on both sides. I laced it up with a long shoe string and voila! Any time I want to make an adjustment to the seat angle I have to untie the laces, but otherwise it has worked out great and the seat immediately became much more comfortable. The tension under my butt bones feels perfect, like a supple leather hammock. My thighs no longer ache after riding around town all day. There is still a little tension left to tighten should I need to do so, but right now I’ve got it right where I want it. I rode this saddle all winter here in Maine and I kept a bag over it during ugly weather. Thus far it hasn’t stretched or suffered any ills. Plus I’ve received several compliments on the saddle in particular.

I noticed this handy-dandy bike repair station near the lockups by the USM bookstore, and what a great idea! The Gear Hub is such a great local resource for cyclists, and this is just another great example. There’s a double hook to hold your bike while you work, a variety of commonly needed tools and even a tire pump! That seems to be the thing that every cyclist should own, but so many of my friends do not. I’m going to make it my mission to scrub the rust off these after it rains each time in the hope of preserving them as long as possible. After all, it’s just down the street.

Starting on the XO-3

I’ve started work on this Bridgestone XO-3 that I got at the Portland Bike Swap this year. It needs a bit of TLC, but overall it seems to be in good condition…just filthy. And there are a few raggedy teeth on a couple sprockets, but we’ll deal with that as it comes up. I’m excited to ride it when all is said and done. Plus I sold all the bikes I sent to the swap so I’m planning to reward myself with a new B17 (my first!), and what better to start it on than a Grant Petersen design!

Pictures taken of the Brooks B72 just before its first application of proofide. The saddle came off an old 70’s Raleigh Sport that my mom found in Oklahoma. It’s a little dry but not brittle. It looks like the tensioning bolt has never been touched. The first proofide went on January 2, 2016. That one was fairly heavy, top & underside. I did another light application on January 6. After that I put it on my JC Higgins 3-Speed, Frank the Tank, and started tentatively riding it around the neighborhood. Once I tensioned the saddle a tiny bit it started to feel great, and I’ve done very little to it since. I’ve continued to ride it and have not noticed any deleterious effects thus far. It does flair out a bit along the sides, so I’m thinking of punching some holes and lacing it. Still not sure about that, though.