Yo, this is how I roll...
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Willis... brazed by Steve Willis, owner the local shop (www.thebikestand.com) there are only a handful of these. It's really light and though it's a road frame it handles sharp like a track bike almost.
Columbus tubes, I think, with a Cinelli bottom bracket shell, Campy dropouts amoungst other things. Light as a feather... and fast. I assembled it with various old school sundries I had lying about, so the parts spec doesn't match exactly but they work...
1992(?) Schwinn CrissCross. A "cross" bike or hybrid, as opposed to a cyclocross or offroad bike, this bike was made to be a cross between road and mountainbikes, unlike modern hybrids which are built as "fomfort" road bikes. Stock Suntour cantilever brakes and bearings are about the only things original; everything else is set up for the road and commuting or urban/suburban assualt and very few other original parts remain. 40t front chainring, rear gears operated by thumb shifter, aluminum stem and seatpost. Since this picture was taken it was set up with the matching front 700x32 cyclcocross tire.
Bianchi Campion d'italia. This old-school roadbike was practically a gift from Steve at the bike stand in Scotch Plains, NJ. A customer dropped it off or left it to be sold and Steve hooked me up. Ofmega headset (looks like Campy!) and Bianchi-branded Ofmega cranks (also looks sorta like campy, with the fluted arms and whatnot.) It c ame with pristine Cinelli stem and criterium bars but I took em off to keep em neat and put on nitto road drops. The week I got it this bike did a metric century in the Pennsylvania hills, then went on to do some road rides too. It's got a 52/42 up front and six gears in back. I thought about going over to old-school campy shifters to complete the look but the costis too expensive fro right now. The only change I might make is old-school brake levers where the wires come out the tops of the hoods instead of the modern aero levers.
Masi Gran Corsa. I've owned this for nearly a year, got it off another rider at The Bike Stand. Couldn't decide to use parts 'I had or save for a new group. The choice was made for me when a patched frame cracked in front of the shop on a Friday night. Steve kindly transferred the bottom bracket and with some help I installed the fork. The rest was swapped when I got home and riding that evening.
Raleigh Grand Sport from Steve at The Bike Stand. It is fun.
Trek 4500
Trek mtb set up with rigid forks and a single front chainring -- 44t -- and rear gears hooked to thumb shifter. Previously set up as a fixed/singlespeed, as seen below:
Trek mongrel SS/fixed. Unlike my track bike, this thing loves curbs...;)
. This is a real fun around town bike too.
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Schwinn Tempo, currently 43/17 gearing. Low? Mayhap, but hey it's not meant for speed just traffic. This is my daily commuter. On 7-29-08 a woman with a Hungarian driver's license left-hooked me on this so right now it's running a flat bar and different stem...
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A cool old-school Lygie road frame converted to fixed gear. It's been fixed for a while; it's first owner that I know of was a cycle courier (hence the NYC stickers); the 2nd was the mechanic at the local shop. 42/16 gearing, 27mm seatpost, nitto road stem, junk find bars. Campy dropouts front and rear.
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My daily ride.
The fuji track I have is the steel framed basic verison, not the aluminum "aero track" or "track pro" model. It has a steel fork and welded (as opposed to lugged) construction. I got the 54cm frame but it feels small which is why it fits me; taller riders might want to size up as they appear to me at least, to run small. Parts spec was good; RPM cranks, Fuji single bolt seatpost, fuji seat, fuji aluminum track bars with a ergonomic drop, and a threaded headset. Gearing was 39/15 but I think the shop set it up that way. Weight: Fuji website advertises the steel track weight at a tad under 19 or 20 lbs. I got my chrome Pista down to about 19 point something and the Fuji feels similar if not as light. Finish: The finish and quality of the fuji are right on. The welds on my Lemond roadbike look slicker but this thing just seems well put together, especially for an entry-level bike. People with a lot of ground to cover or who use a flip-flop hub will appreciate the fact that the rear brake bridge is drilled for a brake. The stock wheels come with formula low flange hubs. Mine have held up fine even though one day I goofed trying to hop a crack left in the road by a dig crew. The wheels are pretty basic, but I like them so far. The only real changes I made was swapping out the brake lever, bars, stem, and seat. I used a fuji 2-bolt seatpost to fine tune the position of the Flite ti seat and an old-school quill stem with steel track drop bars. I started w/ steel criterium bars and a bmx lever, then i went to wider track bars, which were also thicker, so I hooked a cyclecross lever up. Bike rides great ever since. The best part of this bike - the bottom bracket shell has a drain hole drilled to prevent water from poolin' in there if you ride it in the rain. For the price, the Fuji is a better deal. I like the threaded headset (Raleigh Rush Hour, Surly Steamroller, and Bianchi, to name a few, all use threadless) and the drilled bb shell (none of the aforementioned names have that either).
The funky red and black tire was gratis fromt eh local shop (Bikestand you rule) after I got two flats in my rear tire and had to walk into Scotch Plains on foot carrying my bike to find my tire looked like swiss cheese. Not a glowing recommendation for Kenda Koncept tires that I wore one out in under a few months of daily riding when I don't skid or anything... Oh, I since added Some bars (38 size?) and it runs sweet, though the current gearing (42:15)isn't a hill climber...
The "path racer" i built up, since dismantled...
This is my Raleigh. Chromed campy dropouts front and rear, full Nervex lugs... awesome but not too durable repaint. I built it up on 4/24/07 with parts from my Schwinn and the next day took it for a 37 mile inaugural ride. 42x16 w/ 165mm cranks. I thought it was a Competition but it may be an International... the serial number puts it at 1969. Now I don't feel so old...
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This was my first road bike, aluminum frame with steel fork, back on the road with old-school parts: 52/36 double up front, 8spd rear with downtube shifters. The pic was taken after I got up a steep local hill for the first time on a rainy day. What fun!
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Bianchi Pista, above, in current configuration... and below, as previously set up...
Bianchi Pista. Got this at the Edison bike show and ended up swapping out a lot of parts. 52x20 gearing gave it a 2.6 to 1 gear ratio -- the current setup was 44/17 until recently when I needed a new rear wheel. The Bike Stand's James hooked me up with this disc with a 16t cog stuck on it so I went to a 42 up front. Now I'm running a normal wheel but 42/16 is still that's where its at! Other changes; the bike now has a carbon TIME fork...
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