Refurbishing Parts...

 We are still getting occasional cold days here, which means some time to work indoors on refurbishing the various small parts that old bicycles use. Over this weekend, I re-built a 1950s era Sturmey Archer 3-speed shifter. I also began work refurbishing and reblocking a set of 1950s British bike pedals.

Reblocking pedals can be a challenge if the new blocks are of a different length than the old. In this case, I used some star-shaped lock washers to make up the slight difference in the blocks (the new blocks were a touch shorter than the originals), and to help lock the blocks in place (I hate spinning blocks). The picture of the pedals below shows a refurbished pedal (on top) and a pedal waiting to be finish (underneath the new pedal).

The Riding Season Creaks to Life

 So at last the road salt has pretty much washed away, and while it is still chilly, it's not bitterly cold. With the arrival of daylight savings time, that means enough daylight in the evening to start riding again. We're right at the start of spring, and it is appropriate to hit the road with the bikes again. 

 

The season usually begins kind of slowly: bike maybe once or twice per week and run for exercise the other days. But as the weather and daylight improve, biking will take over and eventually become my main form of fun and exercise.

This 1964 Schwinn Traveler is in excellent overall condition and is looking promising this year. Today's ride showed a couple small adjustments I need to make, but also reveal the Traveler to be a decent rider. It has those Schwinn three speed qualities: solid build, kind of heavy, smooth riding, and a flashy look. They sure loved chrome and stainless steel in those days!

1964 Schwinn Traveler - Getting Ready for Spring

 

Spring is finally close at hand. The weather has been steadily warming, though there is still some residual winter salt on the roads. I did some final tinkering this evening with the 1964 Schwinn Traveler. I decided to go with a Brooks B66 Honey colored saddle and a Banjo Brothers barrel bag. I got to test it out a little on the local side road, and it seems like it is ready for its first "real" ride. Hopefully we'll get this road salt washed away and back on the road in the next week or so.

Below is a closer look at the Soma Silver Bullet rear tail light, which is an LED light in a vintage-style package. I think the torpedo/rocket styling goes well with a 1950s-60s era bike. It also goes great with the stainless Schwinn fenders.