Last week was held the Premiere at the Beursschouwburg of “Brussels Express“, a 20 min’ documentary about traffic, mobility and cycling in “Europe’s most congested city“, with only 4% of bikes on the street (when some Flemish towns have a rate up to 20-25 to 30%).

The portrait of 2 well known Brussel’s bike messenger, Karl-Heinz “Kardama” and Karel, is made through their everyday’s life. There’s also the point of view of a traffic specialist, a bike repair center manager, the former Kopenhagen Major, my friend John, bike shop owner.
It’s not a Mash SF nor a Macaframa-like movie, but images are as beautiful though.

As I said somewhere else:
“This is part of my life. Those are friends, this is my city, those are the streets, the roads I’m cycling every single fucking day… This is our city, and we are all part of the traffic.
Just take 20 minutes to watch this, fullscreen, with a beer or a tea…
And think ’bout it…”

Enjoy…

• Images illustrating this post are copyrighted and property of Dries Van den Broeck.

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Onion, leek and chicken soup made for my ex’, who was sick.

My flatmates want chaos and the world to be destroyed: I HATE when they do this !

One Armed Bandit: one hand to ride, but bike messenger…!

People use more and more their facebook page as a microblog, copy/ pasting several links a day (that’s not new), but since a few weeks, I see some of you creating big galleries with a lot of images saved from the web (in my opinion: well, get a tumblr, specially if you’re too lazy to give the link source…)

Yesterday, I had the idea to create a Temporary Data Page (see the Data link in the top menu?), with stuffs I’ve made, been thinking about, things I’ve seen or heard: a drawing, a picture, a song, an article, a link… but only available for a day or 2.

No archives, no access to the previous content, no RSS link (but you can of course bookmark the link), no “like” nor “repost” button.
Just go on the Data page and enjoy, if there is something…

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Frame was in rather good shape, with clipless white Look pedals, a 3T stem, a Sugino Coronado cranckset, Shimano Dura Ace and Light Action derailleurs, old Mavic wheels, a nice Tange headset and the original Bianchi air pump. There was no saddle nor seatpot, neither brakes or gears.

I finally took it back home and, little by little, collected pieces and started working on it to make a fixed gear convertion.

Wooden piece, mainly to protect the inside of the frame.

The stem’s Allen screw was almost round, thus impossible to unscrew. It has been decided to drill it. Really, really carefully…

Custom Front wheel

Before…

… and after

Maillard hub, with a quick-release skewer: I wanted to replace this piece for a bolt axis and I just asked around me: thanks a lot Bernie !

Before…

… and after cleaning and long mechanical polishing

Greased and mounted.

Wheel building

Spokes have been cleaned in an hydrochloric acid solution. When using hydrochloric acid, always wear gloves and eyes protection in a ventilated room: metal reacts by producing hydrogen, which is an explosive gas.

Spokes have then been rinsed and slightly oiled

Inside of the rim has been painted in Celeste color, and the wheel build using a pattern. Here is just before tensioning the spokes. If you’ve never build a wheel, you’d better first practice or use a simplier pattern.

Campagnolo bottom bracket.

I had almost all the pieces, but still needed a seatpot with correct width and a saddle. The bike then stayed like this for… months.

Air Pump

Found in a book !

Felice Gimondi’s bike, 1973 !

Seatpost found !

Tube and pieces will be mechanically polished, in 5 different steps.

San Marco Supercorsa Concor

And finally…

Believe it or not…

I’m pretty happy with it, the bike is comfortable, not really aggressive: great for smooth summer rides !
But for the moment, it’s winter, and after a quick test ride to the bike shop, it started snowing..

• Thanks a lot to Bernie, from Unik Bikes, for his help with pieces and material, and to the Fixerati guys !
• Tech Specs: Frame Bianchi Campione del Mondo 1973-74, Size 54 (Molybdenum chrome steel, steel brazed lugs, reinforced Columbus tubes) Headset Tange-Seiki Levin Stem 3T Handlebars cut 3T dropbars Bottom Bracket Campagnolo Crankset Sugino Messenger crankarm, Shimano Sg (46t) chainring Front Wheel Original Mavic rim and spokes, new nipples, 3-Leading-3-Trailing lacing. Maillard 36 holes hub. Vitoria Rubino 700x23c tire. Rear Wheel Dodici deep aero rim, Miche Pista 36 holes hub. Continental SuperSport 700x23c tire. Pedals Mikashima (MKS) Sylvan track, BLB double-single steel toeclips, BLB leather straps Chain Half-link Shadow Conspiracy Saddle San Marco Concor Supercorsa. Seatpost: Custom 26.6 Brake front Condor Cross Top Lever, Miche Performance brake callipers Ratio 46 x 17 (2.7, 17 skid patches) Weight 10.00Kg
• ^[1] fr.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
• Book: Bianchi: a bicycle alone in the lead. Daniele Marchesini. Bolis Edizioni. ISBN: 9788878271586
• Images: Bianchi bike, jersey

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D-Day -2

The trophies have been customized for us by street artist Denis Meyers

D-Day

French street artist Pupa

H Hour -1

“Basilic” Check-Point

One Armed Bandit finished second. Again on an alley cat’s podium. He’s just a machine…

Bike Polo on TV

Sylvie, a lady bike messenger, is leaving in a few days for Australia…

• At least 5 injured racers, a lot of flat tires, several falls, 2 broken bottom brackets, a guy walking with automatic pedals for 8 kilometers (RESPECT !)… but no serious injuries, a great day and a party ending with loud music and shirtless people: that was just amazing!
  Thanks a lot to Fixerati, the Victoire Cycles guys, Denis Meyers, the Vedett car, the “Fritkot”, Bionade, all the checkpoints people and, of course, the riders from everywhere !

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“One Armed Bandit”, the guy who rides 1 hand.

Pista

Merckx Wielercentrum, Gent.

43.5°

Stuffs

In a magazine: Matt, from San Francisco, who stayed in Brussels for several months.

Simon “Gomok” Andraca, a friend from Paris, on cover of the Traffic catalogue

One Armed Bandit‘s new handlebars. Why keep the left side if he’s not using it anyway?

Kalavinka, handmade in Japan. Look at how the tire is close to the fork…

Mission Workshop, San Franscisco

Opening Party at Fixerati Brussels – April 2011