Monday, December 9, 2013

Zeus Database

An effort to compile resources for Zeus Bicycles.




http://velobase.com/ViewBrand.aspx?BrandID=5ff4b4c8-eded-4ff7-887f-bf8904093768&From=T

http://www.disraeligears.co.uk/Site/Zeus_derailleurs.html


Monday, June 10, 2013

Little 500?

As the story goes........I was making my usual thrift store rounds about a week ago and came across this picture in a homemade frame.........








...........I'm not sure why but the first thing I thought of when I saw this, was Little 500 in the late 70's.

Can anyone confirm, deny or add any insight to where and when this pic may have been taken?

Monday, March 18, 2013

Almost Spring

Springtime is descending upon us, however, the winter weather refuses to subside. Current employment was expected to last 6-8 weeks and could possibly run for an additional 8-10 weeks. Therefore, work on the Nishiki Cresta has been almost non existant. I did manage to spend some time working on the front wheel. It has several bent spokes which I attempted to straighten. This attempted turned out to be futile. Options at this point would be to either replace the spokes or replace the wheelset with a non touring specific set. I may substitute a suitable set of wheels until I can obtain the proper spokes for a proper rebuild.

Last weekend I decided to play hooky from work and attend the Chicago Bike Swap at the UIC, probably my favorite swap. I previously reserved a couple of sellers tables and as luck would have it my tables backed up to the kind folks from Alewyfe. They are masters of making scented soaps and such. Steve is also a homebrewer, and a fine homebrewer he is. He brought 2 kegs of brew to share with pretty much anyone who wanted some, a very kind gesture I must say. As far as bike parts and the like, table sales were rather slow this year. This was true for myself and reported by several others I spoke with. On the other hand bike corral sales went very well, as I sold 5 of the 6 bikes I took. Two of those were bikes I had there last year.

I presently only have 2 bikes completed and available. So the task at hand would seem to be to prepare several bikes for sale for Maggies resale shop, complete bikes for CL and complete bikes for myself to ride.

A couple of years ago while working down by St. Louis I purchased a Fuji Royale. I have now procured all the parts I need to complete it and am axious do so and finally hit the pavement with it. More on the completion process later.

April 27 and 28 I am planning to head up to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the what I am told is perhaps the biggest and the best swap meet in the states. I will be going as a buyer and am looking forward to this adventure.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Nishiki Cresta GT and other stuff

I've been rebuilding a Nishiki touring bike...........things have been moving along kind of slowly. The bike has basically been stripped down to the frame. I have not removed the headset yet, but everything else has been torn down. The crankset, bottom bracket, freewheel and seatpost have all been cleaned up. The frame has been wiped down pretty well with a greasy rag but I still need to go over it with lighter fluid.............works great for removing all sorts of gunk, sticker residue and the like. Also started on the wheels. The rear has been trued. Front has some bent spokes that need straightening or possibly replaced. Hubs need rebuilding as well.

I would say it's cleaning up pretty well thus far. I have no pictures to prove it though. I ran out of Mudshine cleaner some time ago and have started using Simple Green as a replacement cleaner. I've been using a 10:1 ratio, as thats how it came mixed in the spray bottle they supplied. In the future I may ramp that up to a 1:1 ratio. The 10:1 ratio is no match for the results I was getting with the Mudshine.

I did a swap meet in early December and another in mid January. The Milwaukee Swap in December was kind of small and I did not sell much to speak of. The Madison swap in January was huge and I did much better than at Milwaukee, although not nearly as well as I did at Madison last year. I also spent more. I got there early. I was one of the first vendors in and got set up as quickly as possible, leaving myself about 45 minutes to shop the other vendors before the doors opened to the public. I bought....................a rare Park CCP-1 crank puller, a short 1 1/8 Salsa stem, an early 1970's Brooks B15 in very nice shape, a black Selle San Marco suede saddle also in very nice condition, an NOS 1990's Suntour bottom bracket fairly rare and an Ibis Mojo MTB frame from the late 1990's.

I have returned to full time work after being off for about 8 weeks so bike work will be progressing slowly. I have registered for a swap meet in Chicago on March 9th and I have at least 6 bikes ready to go so that will not be an issue.