1970?-something Ross Eurosport.

Update: To help save you some time, before you read this post go read this one.

And this is the Ross I picked up with the rest.

Despite it's having a nicely lugged frame I think I'm just going to part this one out since it has full Shimano kit from the brakes to the dérailleurs and use it on my primary beater bike that I refuse to ever part with.



Though you can't see it here, there's both an inner and outer pieplate on the front chainwheels.

I do like that bashguard on the rear dérailleur, that's part of why I want to put it on the beater.

Update - 4/22/08: I discovered today that this bike has what Shimano called their "Front Freewheel" system, where the rear gearing was fixed to the wheel and the freewheel was part of the bottom bracket.

The freewheel was built into the bottom bracket so that the chain would turn even when the rider was coasting. This was to allow shifting while coasting.

I'm hoping this will fit my old Huffy beater, mainly because it's weird.

1972 Raleigh LTD-3

Update: To help save you some time, before you read this post go read this one.

Picked this one up the same time as the Motobécane & the Ross and from the same person.

I'm still debating the possibility of restoring it instead of just stripping it for parts.


By my reckoning it just needs tires, cables, and a good cleaning to be ridable.

Now is that a sexy set of forks or what?

It still has the original Raleigh Record tires on it too.



This is the sight that greeted me when I rubbed some of the grime off the hub.

If you look closely here you can see the date code stamped sideways on the hub casing.

And it turns out that the shifter wasn't broken as I originally thought, the shifter body was just sprung a bit and a few lovetaps with a rubber mallet and a block of wood set it to rights.

The Baron's Latest Finds Part 2: Bike Porn

You might want to read Part 1 first...

As previously stated, I acquired yet more vintage bikes and bits related to them over the weekend.

Foremost among the latest finds is the 1976 Motobécane Super Mirage.

The Moto is, to me anyway, a gem found in the mud that only needed a bit of air in the tires and still needs a good cleaning but it's very ridable and I've already put quite a few miles on it already.

So, for all that may be curious or just bored enough to read my ramblings, here you go...

Geriatric Bike Porn

Ok, instead of going through all the hassle of getting pics into a post here I'll just give you all a link you can bang on to go see what I have to work with.

Linkage (warning: lots of pics, not dialup friendly)

I'm quite happy with it considering the price and all and I can't wait to get it back on the road again.

A veteran like that shouldn't be left to rust in storage.

Wish us well, I think we'll be happy together.

I'm taking in strays now...

Just recently I acquired a 1978 Peugeot UO8, this is currently the only pic I have of it but will add some more once the weather clears.


Found it on craigslist in the free section, of all places, someone was giving away this Peugeot, a Gitane frame I've yet to put a year to, and an old girl's huffy mountain bike frame.

So after finding the guy's place and dragging them home, I stripped the Huffy to fix my old Mt. Storm beater and then started in on the Peugeot, after a little research and a lot of help from Jim at Cycles Peugeot we got the year and model nailed down to a 1978 UO8 and I discovered that, aside from the missing shifters and dérailleurs, the bike was relatively intact.

It even has the original saddle and bartape on it...

It needs quite a bit of work, mainly cleaning and polishing as far as the frame is concerned, and there's a ugly kink in the front wheel along with a missing spoke or two.

The paint looks good aside from a bit of surface rust in spots and the decals are about 90% intact, and from a cursory examination the size looks right for me with just a couple minor adjustments to the saddle and bar angle.

I'm really looking forward to getting this 30 year-old veteran back on the road where it belongs.

Now, what to name it...

The Flying Pigeon has landed in NYC

Some time ago I read a post in another blog about someone taking a tour of the Flying Pigeon factory.

The Flying Pigeon or Fei Ge is the ubiquitous bicycle you see in China, almost everyone seems to have one and they've been making the almost the same way since 1949, right down to the sprung seat and rod actuated brakes... Talk about a blast from the past.

Ever since I saw these posts I was smitten with the bicycles, but there was no easy way to get one since they were usually only available in China and getting one exported was abysmally expensive.

That is until recently when I discovered that The Flying Pigeon is now available from a distributor in New York City, and for a price that's low enough to be surprising.

New addition to the family

Went out this morning to pick up the latest ride, a Lespo Soltar, haven't done the research yet to see what year it is though.


No, I haven't heard of them either but when someone is selling a folding bike for $75 I figure it's worth a look.