Coffeeneuring ride #4: Kaldi's Coffee

I took my Raleigh Sports on a ride around town today and stopped by Kaldi's Coffee. Dedicated bike parking is nonexistent but there are some railings and signs where you can lock a bike. Inside, it's an expansive, modern space with a dark industrial metal, wood, and leather decorating scheme. They serve coffee, pastries, local Denizen's beer, and food (which I didn't try). Great. I'd never been in before but I'll be back.

Coffeeneuring ride #3: Kefa Cafe

I rode my bike to the grocery store this morning and tried out my new (to me) Deuter panniers. On the way home I stopped at Kefa Cafe on Bonifant Street in Silver Spring. It was a cute, homey, small shop with cheerful yellow walls and floral tabletops. It seemed entirely too unbusy for a Sunday morning. I hope they have enough customers on a regular basis to stay in business. The shop takes only cash.

My latte was tasty, mild, balanced--very acceptable. Bike parking was basically nonexistent. I locked my bike to a sign out front.

Interesting bike sightings around the city: yellow

Coffeeneuring ride #2: Peirce Mill

I took my Raleigh Sports on a longer ride for the first time. I got a bottled Vietnamese coffee, a banana, and a croissant to go from Whole Foods, stuffed that all in my purse, and rode down to Beach Drive. It was a beautiful ride on a perfect fall day. Beach Drive winds along next to Rock Creek and for much of the way it is closed off to cars, so it's just shared by cyclists and pedestrians. About five miles south of Silver Spring is Peirce Mill, built in 1829. The National Park Service oversees the mill, and you can tour the inside, although I didn't do that today. I had my coffee and snacks at one of the picnic tables, then looked around took some pics. There's a small waterfall close to the mill. This is one of the most beautiful spots that I've seen in the DC area.

I have my Raleigh Sports set up in a way that is very comfortable. I angled the handlebars down and for some reason that helped immensely with eliminating my chronic elbow pain while I was riding. This bike seems like the correct size for someone of my height (I'm almost 5'7"). The ride was smooth and silent when rolling along. When I coasted there was the tick tick tick from the hub. The gearing is still a higher than I would like it to be, even with the 22-tooth cog, but it's acceptable for getting up  hills. The shifting is smooth and reliable--pretty impressive for a 42-year-old hub. I'm looking forward to putting a rack on the bike and installing a replacement rear reflector.

Refurbished 1974 Raleigh Sports

This is a 1974 Raleigh Sports (21 inch size) I bought on Craigslist for $150. It wasn't in bad shape to begin with, but I put a lot of time and effort into revitalizing it so that it would be fun and safe to ride. This is my first English three speed and I'll be riding it in the Washington, DC tweed ride on November 6.

Things I did:

Changed tires and tubes. The tires on the bike when I got it were old and cracking. They'd been replaced sometime in the bike's life but not anytime recently. I decided to splurge on Schwalbe Delta Cruisers because I had read a lot of positive feedback on them from other Raleigh Sports owners, and I wanted something quality that would last me a while. I also thought they would fit under the fenders--I've read comments on some modern tires of the 26 x 1 3/8 size being too big to fit under fenders.

New brake pads. The brake pads were old and just barely acceptable. One of them was rusted on. I tossed them and installed new salmon Kool Stop brake pads.

New brake levers. I could have made do with the old self-adjusting levers but they were creaky and had rust inside. They didn't work that well. I decided to upgrade to Velo Orange city brake levers, which have a nice vintage look to them and more importantly, work well.

New shifter. The original shifter was rusted inside so that it was hard to use and the face plate had fallen off. I might be able to derust it and re-use it on something else but for now I wanted this bike to work. So I replaced it.

New brake cables and housings and a new shifter cable. The brake housings were rusty and the shifter wasn't working terribly well. I installed fresh cables and housings.

Front hub overhaul. I took apart the front hub, cleaned the parts, and put new grease and ball bearings in. The grease was old and crusty so it definitely needed to be changed.

Rear hub cog. I took the 18 tooth cog off of the rear hub and installed a new 22 tooth cog to make it easier to get up hills. I really can't imagine riding it up a hill of any type with the original cog. Maybe people in the 70s had strong legs! Doing this was a bit scary because I've never done it before, but I followed a really good video on YouTube.

I decided not to delve into the ball bearings of the hub. I wanted to get the bike working again first and didn't trust myself to do that yet. I will be pouring a small amount of oil into the oil port.

Bottom bracket overhaul. I used a wonderful and expensive yet worth-it tool, a cotter pin press from BikeSmith, to remove the cotter pins quickly and easily. I removed the cranks and polished them with foil to remove surface rust. I cleaned both sides of the chainring and shined up those beautiful herons with foil and polishing compound. I cleaned out the old grease and grit and put new ball bearings and grease into the bottom bracket.

Rims. The rims were rusty and I cleaned them with water and aluminum foil. I'd like to put alloy rims on it but for now I'm staying with the steel rims. The braking now is acceptable, although not as good as what I'm used to with my Linus mixte.

Saddle. The original Brooks mattress saddle was in good condition. I am working on refurbishing a 1965 Raleigh Colt and I think I'd like to use the mattress saddle on it. I installed on this bike a new Brooks that I bought this year.

General clean and polish, along with cleaning rust. I went over the frame with a little bit of slightly soapy water to clean off dirt, used some gentle polishing compound on it, and then used a car wax on it to shine it up.

The handlebars, seat post, and crank arms had some surface rust and I was able to clean almost all of it off with aluminum foil and water.

Still left to do:

The rear reflector was missing when I bought the bike. I'd like to buy one to replace it. I'd also like to put a rear rack on and hope to do that soon. I need to do some work adjusting the seat position and handlebar angle for comfort.

The heron in the headset lamp bracket is rusty. When I get a crescent wrench large enough to take apart the headset, I'll take that part off and use some Evaporust on it.

Cost (not including tools):

I'm including the cost of this project in case anyone is curious. I did more to the bike than I strictly needed to, and I also think I paid, debatably, on the high side for the condition the bike was in.

Cost of bike $150
Velo Orange city brake levers $13
22T cog $4
KMC Z410 chain $8.95
Kool-Stop Continental brake pads $19
new brake cables and housings (already had)
Two Schwalbe Cream Delta Cruisers, 26 x 1 3/8 $31.38 each
New Sturmey Archer three-speed trigger $18.95
Two Sunlite Schrader valve tubes $12
Brooks saddle $43 (had an REI gift certificate)
Sturmey Archer three speed trigger housing $12.95

$345.81

Speed insecurity

I am the slowest cyclist I've encountered while commuting, and I don't feel good about it. It takes me about an hour to cycle a hilly seven miles. Along the way, I am passed countless times by faster cyclists young and old, big and small, on old bikes and new. It bothers me, although I know it shouldn't. Why does it matter if other people get where they're going before I do? Why does it matter if they leave me toiling in their dust?

A few months ago I rode the 13-mile route from Georgetown to Silver Spring along the Capital Crescent Trail. It was my first time commuting by bike, and I didn't know enough not to wear my work clothes cycling. So I was sweating and pedaling in a nice shirt and dress pants while cyclist after cyclist zoomed by me. Most of that route is uphill. I barely made it. Along the way two tiny kids on tiny road bikes buzzed by me a couple of times. They were riding with their dad and all three of them had plenty of time to stop along the way for water and breaks and then pass me again.

A couple of weeks later they randomly passed me again on a totally different trail north of Silver Spring, and again I felt that insecurity one might feel when left in the dust by 10-year-olds.

I don't know why this matters to me but it's something I'll have to work on mentally, because I don't see myself gaining a lot of speed anytime soon.

Coffeeneuring ride #1: Bump 'n Grind

I found out about the Coffeeneuring Challenge and thought it looked like fun.

I wasn't feeling well today but got myself out of the house to take a trip to Bump 'n Grind. They made a decaf latte topped by a lovely latte leaf.

There's a Capital Bikeshare stop right outside the shop, but I didn't see any bike racks. I locked my bike to a stairway railing. Getting to the shop isn't the easiest because the traffic on East West Highway is very fast. I had to do some sidewalk riding, which isn't ideal either. I combined the trip with a ride to the grocery store. A woman told me that she used to have a bike like mine in Germany a long time ago. The Linus seems to bring out comments, compliments, and stories from passersby.

Oh, and butterfly handlebars I put on the Linus didn't work for me, so I'm back to the original bars. I'll be experimenting with a few stems of different heights and extensions and working on being mindful about not locking my elbows, to try to get rid of the elbow pain.

Trekking/butterfly bars for the Linus mixte

I bought this Linus mixte 8 in May and have been using it to commute to work two or three times a week. Roundtrip it's a 13 or 14 mile ride. Lately my elbows have really been hurting. I thought I was riding with my arms too straight and locking my elbows so I put a shorter stem on the bike about a month ago.

But the pain has persisted and gotten worse. I think that going downhill and when braking I tend to lock up my elbows. It doesn't help that I have only one hand position with the original North roads handlebars.

I decided to give trekking/butterfly handlebars a chance. Honestly I think they're a bit funky looking but perhaps they will grow on me. I've often wished that my Linus could have drop handlebars, because I think the leaned-over position might be fun and faster, but I haven't known how to accomplish that with the twist grip shifters. These trekking handlebars will be the closest approximation of that possible with my current brake levers and shifter. I hope that with more hand positions some of the stress will be removed from my elbows.

Mostly because I wanted something soon so that I can start bike commuting again, I ordered the Nashbar trekking mountain bike handlebar, which was fairly affordable at $19. It's black--not my first choice. I was leaning toward the Dajia Cycleworks trekking handlebars from Velo Orange, which are silver, but they're out of stock. I decided to sacrifice looks for practicality in this case so I can get back on the road.

I haven't put bar tape on yet because I want to experiment with different configurations for the brakes and shifter. For now I have the bars flipped this way because it seems more comfortable. This stem pictured has about the same extension as the original stem that came with the bike, but it's taller. I wanted to raise the bars up a bit. Will post updates on how the new handlebars work out.