Raleigh Record Ace Post War brochure

 We recently acquired a Raleigh Record Ace, Post War, that will soon be for sale. Looking through some recent catalogs, I found this brochure for the retooled RRA. Pretty cool. The bike was available with endless options, the closest to building a custom bike I have seen from a large bicycle manufacturer.

Amazing features. I am looking for one of those bag supports for our PreWar RRA. I had never noticed the braze on brake cable clips before until we got this bike.

Hurlow bike we sold- Customer update

 Above, the W.B. Hurlow as we acquired. As is.

 Above, how the new owner set the bicycle up. The new owner adds- "Only a custom, chrome rear rack needs to be added. Wheelset, freewheel, cable housing, cables, chain, alloy fenders, pedals, and rear derailleur have been replaced with suitable components."

Cirque Swap Meet 2012

Items seen for sale at Cirque Swap meet.
I've said it before, go to swap meets- buy and sell and trade.
(and these are parts I didn't buy, things I left for others. . .)

A load of new old stock items- vintage Campagnolo and Dura Ace.

crate of hubs- Campagnolo, Airlite, Harden, etc

Cinelli Stem badge and a Rivendell headbadge

a well used pair of Campagnolo con Denti pedals

NOS TA tandem crankset with bottom brackets.

Classic Rendezvous wool jerseys. Ok, I bought one for myself!

Bikes from Cirque, Part 6 - Masi 3V

Masi 3v.

 Campagnolo Cobalto brakes.

 Campagnolo C-Record high flange hubs.  These hubs have 7 windows.

 Seat cluster with internal lugs. Internal brake cable routing.

Bikes from Cirque, Part 5- Moretti

1983 Moretti road bike owned by Peter Gilbert..  Little touches like the stripes on the hubs and in the headset spacers make bikes like this a treat to look at in a show like Cirque.

Named after Caesar Moretti- a six day bike racer from the 1930s-1950s, some were imported Bertins and others were supposedly built in Italy. This light blue bike was built by Eric Parker.

(I'm not sure if it is the same Caesar Moretti, but there are New York Times sports blurbs about an Italian Champion Caesar Moretti racing against Frank Kramer, Alf Goulet and Bobby Walthour- August 1914 and Sept. 1914)

World championship stripes.

Campagnolo Cobalto brakes and WCS stripes on the brake levers.

Strava for vintage bike riding

well not exactly for vintage bicycle riding, but it makes for a good way to show routes and possibly find riding friends.

my ride on Sunday was more about finding hills and doing some of climbs over(maybe even getting a little lost). When looking at a ride on Strava, their are segments that you can use to gauge how your ride is going. I have a usual route I ride to get out of Philadelphia, and do some of the same climbs every week, and it is nice to see myself getting stronger as the season progresses and set new personal records on them. It is minor, but these little achievements help make riding solo a little more challenging and helps one push themselves.
You can follow riders so you can learn new routes and in my case, hill climbs that are new to me.

Bikes from Cirque, Part 4- Hi E bicycle

Larry Black owns this Hi-E road bike that was on display at Cirque.  It is an amazing display of innovation in lightweight technology, and a forerunner to modern lightweight bicycles. Harlan Meyer built this bike.

HERE is Classic Rendezvous's webpage on HI-E.

1950s Universal front brake.

 These Hi-E hubs are still the lightest in existence today. Note the spoke lacing and minimal skewers. (The front spokes are aluminum and are double ended threaded, laced through a spoke hole then uses a proprietary nipple, tensioned with a special tool.)

 Dropouts joined to the frame.  The rear hub is Hi-E as well.

Drillium on rear derailleur- (stock Huret 3rd Generation Jubilee rear derialleur).  This shot also shows a side angle of the rear dropout joining the seat- and chain-stays.  It's also interesting how the rear derailleur housing runs inside of the dropout.

Cranks and bottom bracket shell. (Hi-E custom made cranks with Lambert/Viscount chainrings screwed to them. Simplex Prestige front derailleur. This is the first time I have ever seen the Hi-E cranks in person)

Bikes from Cirque, Part 3- Weigle

There were many great J.P. Weigle bikes at Cirque.  I overheard one person say that "there should be an award for best Weigle" during the award ceremony.  There were so many that it was hard to choose one favorite.  This post will highlight some of his bikes and their unique and beautiful features.

 Built in taillight.

 Custom front rack nicely mounted to Paul new racers.

Sorry for the out-of-focus shot, its the best that I have of this entire bike. 

Another integrated taillight with a interesting cable hanger and Mafac Competitions.

 Fork crown detail.

 A wider shot of the rack and lights that I posted before.

jokes!

Bikes from Cirque, Part 2

 Beautiful 1974 Masi Gran Criterium, owned by Mike Kelly.  This bike has a lot of cool little drillium touches and details.

 Painted and milled cranks and front derailleur.

 Painted 3T stem.

 Intricate drillium on the rear derailleur.

 Milled and painted brake levers.

Milled and drilled brakes.  The milling on the brake arms where the pads bolt on is especially neat.

Milled Campagnolo seatpost, with seatcluster lug detail.

Bikes from Cirque, Part 1

My name is Aaron Popelka, and I am a mechanic at Via Bicycle.  I will periodically be making guest posts on this blog to supplement Joel's regular posts.

This past weekend I accompanied the Via team to Cirque for the Sunday show and swap meet. I took many more photos, and will be posting more detailed photos and descriptions of bikes in the coming days, but here is a sampling of some of the bikes that were there that were particularly interesting or beautiful.

J. P. Weigle

Super clean Mario Confente track bike in the hotel lobby, owned by Wayne Bingham, organizer of Cirque.  I wish I could get a drive side shot, but the couch was in the way.

An early Hi-E lightweight road bike owned by Larry Black.

 Pristine Paramount headlugs.

Dual headlights and a nice rack on a J.P. Weigle.

Alex Singer constructeur bike.