Fire Wally @firewally@mspsocial.net

As @earthtopus might say, I made breakfast for dinner, for breakfast

Popular Opinion: Among Us is a very fun game to play with friends

May shift the morning walk to lunchtime in order to maximize vitamin D intake and achieve optimal lighting for dog outfits

(Dog EC)

Okay, we're way down the rabbit hole now, but one more tidbit from #ThisOldBike . These brakes are made by Dia-Compe, who would later buy the patent to the "Threadless" headset that made it much easier to adjust and change handlebars on modern bikes. Dia Compe's USA division was in North Carolina, and eventually split off as "Cane Creek", still a huge manufacturer of headsets on nice bikes: https://cyclingtips.com/2017/08/origins-how-the-aheadset-threadless-headset-changed-bikes-forever/

Oh, back to Bridgestone for a second. I should have mentioned how much the modern history of the bicycle is connected to the Pneumatic rubber tire. Inflatable tires made bicycles much more comfortable and led to a huge boom in their popularity. They were also big business! Goodyear used to sell branded bikes, and the origins of the Tour de France are closely tied to the Michelin tire company #ThisOldBike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27%C3%89quipe

The other big name in Japanese bike components is one that I haven't found on this bike: Shimano . It would be a few years until a combination of marketing savvy, engineering advancements, and a favorable USD/JPY exchange rate would allow Shimano to sweep the global market for bike components #ThisOldBike https://sheldonbrown.com/japan.html#flighttaiwan

This bike features cranks and handlebars by Sakae Ringyo and shifters and derailleurs made by Suntour. The two companies would later merge and the resulting "SR Suntour" brand is still found on value-oriented bike components today, particularly mountain bike suspension forks
#ThisOldBike

My bike is a pretty bog standard mid-range road bike of the "Ten Speed" era, nothing particularly valuable. The models that go for $$$ are the high-end racing bikes and the weird stuff designed by Grant Peterson, the head of Bridgestone USA during the 80s/90s who would go on to found Rivendell Cycles and make beautiful, weird, boutique steel bikes https://sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/ #ThisOldBike

First, the frame. Most Americans would see the Bridgestone logo and think "The uhh... tire company?" But Bridgestone has it's roots in Japan, named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi, whose surname translates as "stone bridge".

Bridgestone's bike division was a Japanese-American partnership that made some very interesting bikes through the 80s and 90s, some of which are rare and highly valued by bike nerds #MastoBikes #ThisOldBike

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgestone

I'm still waiting on parts before I do anything fun to #ThisOldBike, so how about I share some Brief Notes on Bike History, told through the parts of my 1980s road bike @mastobikes #Bikes #MastoBikes

I'm a dummy with a low tolerance for inconvenience so I'll admit that I've totally slept on how easy modern libraries have made it to check out almost anything. You seriously just click a few buttons on the website, get an email when your book is ready, then you're in & out in 30 seconds with easy options to renew (and no late fees in St. Paul ). Use your library, friends!

Inter-library Loan is extremely cool

These thin wrenches are usually called "cone wrenches" because their primary job is to reach the thin little wrench flats on a bearing cone, but thin wrenches like this are also needed to adjust the brakes and headset assembly on bikes of this era #ThisOldBike

First thing that stuck out to me when I examined the bike was too much wiggle in the rear hub (if you know what I mean). These old hubs use loose ball bearings in a "cup", held in place by a screw-on "cone" and lock nut. It's finicky to do a full rebuild, but this one is back in rideable condition after a few turns of a wrench to tighten the cones and lock nuts #ThisOldBike

The extension levers come off with a single screw, but unfortunately the mounting post is part of the lever pivot mechanism so it'll be sticking out until i get sick of it and attack it with a cutting tool.

Bike nerds sometimes call those extension bars "suicide levers", which is a little over-dramatic IMO, but you do get more lever travel to work with (and stronger braking force) after they're removed. #ThisOldBike

First order of business, let's get rid of these brake extension levers! These were a result of the Bike Boom of the early 70s, where "Ten Speeds" were sold to a lot of folks for aesthetic reasons who didn't want to ride on the brake hoods or the drops. These extension levers were a cheap and quick way to meet market demand, but they're just going to get in my way, so off they go #ThisOldBike

I'm going to be journaling my adventures restoring/updating an old road bike with the #ThisOldBike hashtag, bookmark or mute as you so choose

#Bikes #MastoBikes #BikeWrench

> Viewing the source of this page should reveal a page identical to the page you are now seeing. Nothing is hidden. It's a true "What you see is what you get."

https://secretgeek.github.io/html_wysiwyg/html.html