No news is good news

Not much to report recently. Been a busy transition for the kids going back to school, soccer season starting up and a general mad rush to take advantage of the nice weather before it’s surreptitiously replaced by water-bearing clouds for the next nine months. I do have a few quick bullet points, however:

On Thursday evening, I dropped the Bianchi off to David Feldman of Feldman’s Bicycle Repair, right out here in Vancouver, WA. David is a member of the Classic Rendezvous list and is probably the only vintage-schooled bike mechanic in the Vancouver area. As it happened, he saw my post asking some advice on the CR list and responded, noting that he has the coveted and nearly impossible to find VAR tool needed for removing the headset on my Bianchi. I decided to have him take off  and service the headset and bottom bracket. Both of these items are ones I didn’t want to mess with and I felt they would be better off in the hands of a professional. Depending on how bad the rust is on the inside of the BB shell, we’ll see where I decide to go in regards to conservation versus restoration.

I also finally pulled the trigger on ordering a Cross Check frame from Camas Bikes, in black. I’m going to make that my other Winter project, ordering parts as I have money and building it up as much as I dare to with my own two hands. For the stuff I’m too squeamish or ill-equipped to do myself, I’ll seek the assistance of Camas Bikes’ mechanical staff. The process of shopping for and selecting parts is daunting, at best. I’ll probably be bugging the Camas Bikes folks—and various two-wheel-inclined friends—a lot as I make my way through that project. This’ll be my go anywhere, do anything, brave any weather bike. The Bianchi will be reserved for those special occasions and dry, sunny days.

That’s it for now — waiting on stuff at the moment. More updates as soon as I have them.