Interview with Lim Soo

http://flwrider.com/2011/04/25/frame-chapter-twenty-five/

Click on the link above to watch an interview with Lim Soo, a new friend I met while I  was in Hong Kong.  See more about my ride with him while I was there here.  He started a blog last fall about his bicycle commuting experience for 190 days on his brompton folder; www.i-brompton.blogspot.com

The interview was done by the great folks of flwrider.

Cycling in Hong Kong is going to improve over the next few years.

Fuji Friends

Matteo/Lazaro

Meet my new friend Lazaro.  We met when I bought the Royale II from him about 2 weeks ago.  He has been riding a Supreme.  He painted it black.  It looks okay, but the original paint was fine, and the fuji logos were all good too.  I think he regrets doing that after seeing this blog.  But it is not what is on the outside that counts, it is what is on the inside, and underneath the black paint remains a quality vintage fuji.  Both of these bikes used to be his father-in-laws, but as I've said before they are getting new life in our hands.  I've been helping with some mechanical issues on his bike.  We've put a different crank on, a different chain, trued the wheels a bit.  It would be nice to rebuild the wheels with new spokes, and I want to redo his brake set up if he'll let me, get them higher up on the bars.  We took them around the block for a fast test spin, and hopefully we'll get out on a nice long road ride soon.  

Vertex: A Chain, A Frame, and 2 Wheels

The 80's Fuji Track frame I've recently acquired was sold to me with a chain, however, sometimes I like to put new things on my old bikes.  I want to set up this track bike as well as possible.  I didn't want to leave a used chain on it.  In searching the web for a track specific chain I found this one.  However, I wasn't finding that it was sold in my immediate area, and to have it shipped from somewhere in the U.S. would have cost just as much (or more) than having it shipped from Japan.  I went ahead and purchased it from a track-specific shop in Japan, Track Supermarket.  I ordered it less than a week ago, and wasn't expecting to receive it for at least another week and a half.  That was fine with me, I'm in no rush and it's half way around the world.  I was excited when it arrived though.  I'm one step closer to getting this bike ready to ride.  

Another cool thing about putting it together is that I found the perfect wheel set for it within days of getting it.  Instead of spending over $600 (for a hub set, rims, spokes, and tires) and then take the time to build them, I only had to spend $270 (including shipping!) for a complete set of wheels with Sunshine Professional track hubs (110mm rear) and Ukai rims.  These are actually the ones that came original on the Fuji Track bike in 1982.  This is all thanks to Abbas, who had posted them in a classified ad over 7 months ago that nobody ever responded to (until now).  It is like they were waiting for me this whole time. 

 'Vertex' is the name given to the chain I just bought.  Some definitions of vertex are: 'The highest point,' 'The point at which the sides of an angle intersect,' 'The point of a triangle, cone, or pyramid that is opposite to and farthest away from its base.'  There are others, but the main idea is that it is referring to a point of convergence of two (or more) separate entities a fair distance from their starting points.  These parts (frame, chain, wheels) for this track bike are converging from different places (New York, Texas, Japan) to form the whole of the bike itself.  Pretty cool.

I still have to put the headset back together, purchase the cogs and lock rings, maybe buy a new crank and bottom bracket, then it should be ready to go.  Stay tuned for more updates on its progress.

A 'New' Work Horse

I used to own an '82 Fuji Del Rey.  I gave it to the Charlottesville Community Bike Shop almost a year ago because I had swapped it out with a smaller Gran Tourer I found.  I thought the Del Rey was too big for me, and that the Gran Tourer would fit me better.  I was wrong.  I began to regret giving the Del Rey away, and began missing it.  I didn't realize how much it had grown on me.  I even missed the yellowish color of it.  After moving here to Pa, I saw a picture of the Del Rey in a craigslist ad, at least I thought I did.  That was last November, but I didn't really need it, even though the asking price was very low.  My youngest daughter was only about 7 months old then, so she couldn't be in the child trailer yet.  Well, she'll be a year in only a couple of weeks.  The Gran Tourer is still down in Charlottesville.  Also, we're doing Bike New York in a couple of weeks.  I don't want to use my Fuji Touring Series IV at Bike New York, just in case something were to happen to my bike, and I don't want to use it to pull the child trailer on a daily basis.  I have bigger plans for that bike in the future, like taking it cross country at the very least.  So I want it to be in tip top shape.  I still had Lazaro's contact info, so got in touch just a couple of weeks ago to see if he still had the Fuji.  He did!  Except it wasn't the Del Rey like I thought.  It was the Royale II.  I used to want the Royale II actually (in the beginning of all this fuji craziness), so it was kind of a pleasant surprise.  I like the gold rims, and it also has quad-butted Ishiwata tubing like the Del Rey I had.  They are similar in many ways.  It is going to be a better fit than the Gran Tourer, and should serve me well as my new work horse bike, hauling the girls in the trailer and taking us anywhere we want to go.  

Epilogue:  I've recently seen Lazaro since he sold me the bike.  I helped him with some mechanics on his Fuji Supreme.  These two Fujis (the Supreme and Royale II) used to be his father-in-laws' bikes.  They are getting new life in our hands.  Lazaro and I have plans to see each other again, and eventually our wives and children will meet.  We definitely plan on getting out on a ride together.  It is just another special element of these older Fujis, how they can bring people together.