A Set Of Current Classics from A Couple Weeks Back

Missed getting this posted when I made the last round of updates - ahh well.... better late than never, eh?

Martin Gierke's Trek TX500

Martin's Trek TX500 hails from the time when frames were steel and designs were versatile. Yes, the heady days of 1977 when punk rock was slipping into people's awareness and the Talking Heads were just an obscure art band with a day-glo cover album out.  Regardless of the musical tides of the time, the renovation of this bicycle today is really gorgeous. 

Starting with the proud simplicity of the frameset, Martin has chosen some very tasteful current parts from Paul Components, Sugino and Honjo to come up with a build that is truly timeless - the epitome of the ideals which started this collection of "Current Classics".  

Truly a pitch perfect example, and one of the reasons that I always seem to have "Steel Trek frame, pre '83" on my want list of bikes.

Additions to the Current Classics Gallery -

#808 - Ray Shine's Rivendell Bleriot
#809 - Michael Hechmer's Bilenky Tandem
#810 - Even Elliots Univega Viva Touring
#811 - Jan Levine's 3Rensho SR Export
#812 - emor's Univega Grand Rally
#813 - Jason LePree's Rivendell Rambouillet
#814 - Jason LePree's Carrera Andromeda
#815 - Lee Hogan's Paramount PDG
#816 - Martin Gierke's Trek TX500

Tim Fricker's Goshawk Touring

Over the year's I've taken bicycles and their bits down to the last nut and bolt. It's always transfixed and challenged me - pulling things apart and considering the thought and trial/error that went into the development of a given component, or looking at the bearing races in a hub and thinking about the hours and miles that went into honing that groove. In that pursuit, I've broken stuff, reassembled things wrong, tweaked bolt heads, stripped threads and generally made about every mistake that could be made.


That's one of the reasons I have such respect for anyone who decides to take up a torch and go about creating a bicycle frame out of a bunch of steel tubes. Pondering over a pile of loose tubes takes some planning, confidence and commitment.  Which brings us to today's highlighted entry:

Tim Fricker's Goshawk Touring

Current Classics Gallery #785

Tim took the design of his 1986 Miyata and then ramped up the clearances to cover 42 mm tires.  He's already had the chance to do some light overnights and other short trips on the bicycle, and seems pretty pleased with it.  The closeup of the seatstays show a good sense of stability and reliability.  The choice of lugs and sloping fork crown pull it together nicely.  All that he needs is a headbadge to finish things off.

#785 - Tim Fricker's Goshawk Touring
#786 - B. Saul's Nishiki International
#787 - B. Saul's Nishiki Continental Touring
#788 - B. Saul's Nishiki Continental "Raleigh"

Prowling The Current Classics Gallery: Nick's Custom Capricorn

Everything "old" becomes new again, I reckon.  It's interesting to consider what catches my attention in bicycle design these days. Longer fenders, clearance for bigger tires, tightly fitting and artfully designed racks (Bruce Gordon seems to to manage both), understated-yet-evocative paint....

The arc to this point stems from Interbike in '97 or so, when GW and I were recovering from walking the aisles and he said something along the lines of "I am so freakin' tired of oversized tubes and toothpaste welds..."

I didn't quite get what he meant - it probably occurred to me that aluminum bikes were boring to him. Titanium was sexy back then, and the good welder laid down a bead that looked like tiny dimes stacked on one another.

Luckily, he had also thrown an early Rivendell Reader at me one day and said, "You need to check this out..."  and he'd made me follow him to the outer edges of the booths to find the Jack Taylor frames. Quiet, lugged and classic, they made little splash at the show where full-suspension mountain bikes were still pretty exotic.

So now, I wonder what impression it would have made on me if this bicycle had been sitting on the forward corner of a booth.

Current Classics Gallery #682

I like to think that something like this Custom Capricorn would have caught my eye back then - though it might have just been the oddity of a large forward-mounted Gilles Berthoud bag. The "pencil" blue would have also been pretty non-standard at the time (still is, mind you, but now it has a historical context for me...).

Nick's Capricorn (posted to the Current Classcs Gallery in 12/09) is one of those bicycles that it's almost impossible to imagine improving. It has all the things you'd want or need, but nothing more.  There are some unique preferences - the Kelly Bike "Take Offs" for example - which make the bike entirely his. 

Whether you were doing serious randonneuring or just wanted to be able to leave the house at dawn for an all-day ride, it would be a fine choice.