Quick Hub Swap

If you have two wheels of the same size, but you want to switch their hubs, say because you want to have a coaster hub instead of a five cog free wheel in a single speed conversion, here is what to do:

Tape the spokes on each rim so they can't shift anymore.

Unscrew the spokes either by hand or with a drill.




Give that rim a good cleaning.



Take apart the other rim in the same way.



Swap the hubs.



Put the wheels back together, tightening the spokes by hand and then true them.

Another cool site from Italy: Chiossicycles

Link to Chiossicycles

Beautiful bike

Check this out. Coaster breaks are the way to go. Bike from Bertelli of New York.


Read article on cycleexif from Australia

St Patrick's Day ride

For Saint Patrick's day, we went for a ride to the parade downtown and on the creek walk with Bolivar and Jordan.

Cool blog from Italy

It's about vintage bicycles. Great inspiration.

Check it out:
Officine 99

Columbia Tourist V

Check out that classic 5 speed tank generously donated by Hans and Madeleine for someone who needs a bike, after an article about the bike club was published in the Post Standard. It's from the 1960s, and there isn't a scratch or a rust spot on it. I gave it to Elijah from Namibia, because he's a poet. When he first rode it, he immediately had a big smile on his face, as if he had on the spot recovered some long lost childhood innocence and happiness. That's what bicycling in style does to you.

The Ideal Bike

The ideal bike is stylish, rugged, and cheap.

Stylish, because style matters. It's an expression of your personality. It talks about you. It tells others what you are made of. Your bike is a fashion statement. You have to customize it, make it your own, so that in the end it becomes a faithful representation of your individuality.

Rugged, because the streets of Syracuse are a tough and exciting ground for bicycling, with no place for the weak. Motorized traffic, pot holes, train rails, uphill, downhill, bumpy tarmac, packed dirt, gravel, all weather conditions, require a simple, strong, low maintenance design that will let you go anywhere, sustain any situation, and never let you down. Strength is the price of freedom.

Cheap, because bicycling is for everybody. It's the quintessential democratic mode of transportation. It's a small reminder that at the core, we are all made the same, and that if we are to live in harmony, there is no sense in inciting the envy of our neighbors. Keeping a low profile is a key to keeping safe, and to keeping your bike.

That's my ideal bike: single speed coaster brake path racer, made from a trashed 1974 Ralleigh Sport frame. What's yours?

Club Poster

Like father like son

Here is type of work my father does in France.



A Peugeot roadster from the 70s with an Italian Mosquito motor from the 1950s.




A Bima Griffon moped from the 1950s.




And half of his collection of Vélo Solex, including the one I used to ride to highschool (the blue one).

Handlebar Wrap

Wrapping handlebars from the top does away with using unsightly bar tape to finish them. Stylish ain't it?