The Flying Pigeon Project

Flying Pigeon: California Custom

Rick Huff has a thing for Flying Pigeons. Like many Pigeon riders, he also likes to take a turn with the wrench.  And his skill with that wrench, and good taste, cannot be questioned. Rich has turned his humble Pigeon into an Path Racer for a new generation. But I'll let Rick and his beautiful pictures do the talking.

"It was a really fun project and I couldn't be happier with the results. Up until I found this bike I knew nothing about Chinese bikes. I had moved to downtown Long Beach, California. Parking is always a problem so I starting looking on ebay for a vintage "city bike" that I could use on the weekends to get where I needed to go, maybe do some shopping with.  I started my search for a decent Raleigh DL but found it was way too tough to find or to expensive to restore."

"One day I came across an ebay posting for a Flying Pigeon PA-06 (men's double-bar). This guy had got a couple of these bikes through U.S. customs for himself but had one extra that he was selling. I went ahead an bid and won for under $150 (US) and drove to his house to pick it up. I assembled it myself I rode "stock" for about a year. I got a lot of questions and comments as I would ride around town. I even took it into a local bike shop when I needed a cotter pin for the crank. The guys at the shop were blown away... most had never seen push rod brakes before."

"One day riding I got a tree branch caught in the back spoke and it ended up bending the chain guard so that was the first to go. Next, I was riding in traffic and had to get out of the way of a car – I stood up in the pedals and had the drive-side crank arm bend so I had to "limp" home. The bike sat in my garage for a couple of months while I tried to figure out what to do with it."

"I came across a site where a guy was taking old 3-speeds and converting them to a "scorcher" set up... single-speed, flopped handlebars, very simple and stripped down... I thought I'd do the same with my Pigeon. "

"I first found a sealed Shimano bottom bracket that would fit the shell so I could use modern cranks. I used a Sakae (Japanese) crankset and a pair of vintage "rat-trap" pedals from an old Peugeot that I have. For the steering I got the handle bars (no name) and stem (Kalloy) from a local shop. I was pretty sure that I was going to ditch the rod brakes... they look cool, but didn't stop too quick, especially now with the more aggressive setup I knew I would need something better but hadn't figured out what to do."

"I got in contact with Josef at Flying Pigeon LA and he to me they had built a custom "racer" with a coaster brake so I put my bike in the car and drove up to see what he did. I decided on the spot that a coster brake would be a good way to go. He was nice enough to sell me a new rim and coaster brake hub that he had and I had it laced at my local shop. Finally I could stop my bike!"

"I initially kept the fenders on but eventually took them off (one less thing to rattle), they may come back as we get into the rainy season. The finishing touch was a custom logo for the downtube. I always felt that logo that was there looked too modern, I wanted something that looked more "Communist China" since this bike was straight from the factory. "

"There you have it... the result is my stripped down Flying Pigeon "racer". It's super quite and smooth to ride, and a lot faster than it was in it's previous life. I still use the back rack for my shopping runs. I have other bikes in my garage, but this one definitely has the most character and gets the most comments."

Small wonder. It looks fantastic!

Rickshaw Restoration: 1897 Rollfast

As you know from reading this blog, bicycling has an immensely long history in China, going all the way back to the 19th century Qing dynasty and the advent of bicycling itself. However, there is an even older form of manpowered transport in China: The Rickshaw.

The first rickshaws were foot haulers, where the rickshaw man ran ahead of the cart carrying it in a reverse wheelbarrow fashion.

When bicycles came along it did not take long form someone to figure out that these two forms of transport could be effectively married. Technically, this would be called a bicycle rickshaw, or a pedicab, or even a trishaw. But most people colloquially just call them rickshaws. With such a long history, it's no surprise that old rickshaws also have their fans.

A few weeks back at Panjiayuan, there was a particular treat in this regard as 3 rickshaws frames, each at various levels of restoration and customization were present. You an see them in the photo above. The first, was just a cleaned up frame, probably of late manufacture as the frame looks welded.

 

The 2nd bike had paid a visit to the chromer and acquired some brass for trusses.

But the third bike, was much more interesting. While I don't think the fork is original, the bronze fork trusses were things of wonder. VERY mandarin. Very late Qing in style.

   

While examining the fork, the headbadge caught my eye. This is where I really got a big surprise. "Rollfast, New York". Old American bikes are not seen in China...ever.

So, how old was this bike? Well, I found another clue just behind the front fork. Take a look at the bells. There are two brass handlebar bells, which is not surprising. There are also two bronze push gongs. Again, a very Chinese feature, but I was again pleasantly surprised. The owner removed on of the plunger to show me "Pat. USA Feb, 4, 1897." !!!!

   

So is the rickshaw from 1897?

Difficult to say for certain. The frame didn't look too different from the other rickshaws.  It wasn't lugged, and arc-welding did not come into popular use until the 1930's. But it doesn't exactly look welded either. Take a look at the reinforcing bar near the neck. This is also where the rear brake cable attaches. You can see the reinforcing bar fits into "cups" on both the top tube and front down tube. Now this could be a VERY large, very nicely polished weld, which would mean the frame is not original. Or it could be some unfamiliar 19th century tube joining method.  

However, with that said, Rollfast was around in 1897, so it is entirely possible that they could have made this che. Another possibility, is that while Rollfast made Rickshaws for the Chinese market, this one is not original, and the headbadge and gongs are reproduction parts mounted on a newer frame. I think this most likely.

Other clues about the age are not forth coming. The frame is chromed, of course any frame from 1897 would not be chromed. Probably painted or maybe nickel plated instead. But that was the restorer's choice and doesn't reflect on the real age. It's the same with the brass Miller headlight, which is also a later addition. Electric lights did not start to appear on bikes until the 1920's

 

The back of the bike does not offer any more clues, but does offer a lot of eye candy. Bright brass fenders and lots of brass fasteners. The brake appears to be the standard contracting band type found on all rickshaws. Note the turned bronze cross bar at the back adorned with dangling bronze bells. That's fine craftsmanship. But the part that really spoke to me of the craftsmanship of the restorer was the pedal.

 

The humble pedal, which the driver is going to constantly be grinding his foot into over and over again, is a brass and rosewood piece of art. Note the brass inserts and surrounds. Extremely nice detail indeed.

Now what is it all going to look like when this frame acquires a carriage? It will get even more brass and stainless for sure, and end up looking something like this....

Beixinqiao

 

If you are in to Beijing, and want to satisfy a bicycle hankering, you must head to Beixinqiao. Bicycle heaven. Take the 5 subway line to the Yongehong stop (Lama Temple). Visit the temple which is one of Beijing's great landmarks, and then go to the nearby Natooke fixie shop, if that is your desire

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If not, walk back to the main street, Yongehong Nan Da Jie and then head south.

 

At Jiaodouku Lu, cross the street.  Now you are approaching bicycle heaven. If you go west, you will run into a strip of local shops and a Giant bicycle super store.

 

   

  

 

I'll say this for the Taiwanese Giant  brand, they know how to do a bicycle shop up right! The have a huge stock of proprietary bikes, nicely displayed with upscale components including Shimano and Campy conveniently located nearby. From the looks of things, I'd say that the French "Randonneur" style of bike is coming back into vogue.

 

 

On the north side of Jiaodouku Lu is a Giant eCycle super-store, if you'd rather let the volts due the pedalling.

 

 

If you head back to the corner of Jiaodouku Lu  and Yonghehong lu and head south, you'll see are the Pawnshops, one on either side of the road, followed by some more local shops. The road is now called Dong Si Shi Tiao

 

 

 

 

The pawnshops usually have a good selection of roadsters:  British, Japanese and Chinese, of course.

 

South of that on Dong Si Shi Tiao are several local shops sell new roadsters: Flying Pigeon, Phoenix, Forever. There's a lot of folding bikes and eCycles mixed, in there of course.

 

 

  

 

There are also several street side bike doctors in the area.

 

 

At the extreme south on the map is a shop selling high end German and Chinese bikes, particularly the Merida brand. If you feel like a carbon fiber race bike, you can find them here.

I would then turn around and head north again to the junction of Jiaodouku. Then turn east. You are now in a section of the street is called "Gui Jie", or Ghost Street. It is wall-to-wall restaurants for about a kilometer and a half, many of which are open all night. The "ghosts" in this case are the diners who come in at 3 AM wearing pajamas for some late night hot pot.  I've been at 1:30 AM and many restuarants still had a waiting line outside! At any time, this is a great place to get some good food and a Yanjing beer.

 

(Map credit to Google Maps)

Shuang Xi

When does a Red Flag Roadster mean happiness? When it IS happiness, or more precisely Double Happiness (Shuang Xi). You may recall the antique Red Flag Roadster I posted about a few months back. This bike surfaced again a few weeks later and I found myself in a broken Chinese conversation with the owner.. As it should turn out, with the exception of the magnificent rear fender,  it is not a Red Flag at all. It is from a brand called Shuang Xi. I kick myself for not noticing this earlier.

 

Shaung Xi or "Double Happiness" is one of the most common Chinese characters. It is actually two symbols for happiness standing side by side, and it can be found on everything from fine porcelain to front doors...and it was right there on the bike's head badge... and handlebars... and rims.  Shuang Xi is a very auspicious symbol and is often used in connection with weddings, marriage, etc. So how does a bike come by this name? Well, not too long ago, a bicycle was one of the key items that a groom was supposed to bring to a marriage. Sounds like a very modest gift by western standards, but in the hardline communist days you could spend several months wages and wait several years to get a roadster. A bike was proof you had financial wherewithal.

Now whether Shuang Xi chose their name as marketing stunt because of the marriage tradition is anyone's guess.  But I think it likely. Shuang Xi is still around. They seem to focus mostly on women's bikes these days.

 

Mystery Gear Hub: Part 2

It has been about a year since my first encounter with the Mystery Gear Hub. I had pretty much given up on it, because I could not figure out how to make it go. But a month or so ago I spot a 2nd Mystery Hub at Panjiayuan. This one is a bit different. It has a grease fitting AND THE FLYING PIGEON LOGO. I had to have it.

  

I was encouraged to buy it as posters here had thought it might be a back pedal/ gear change tepe hub....plus it was $9, so I could afford to experiment. I immediately rushed home to disassemble and compare to the hub I already had. In fact I'd disassemble them both at the same time to make a comparison.

First, the brake side came off. The old hub had a heavy coating of copper plate. The new hub, did not. The old hub also had loose bearing whereas the new one had a caged bearing.

On the drive side things were also different. First off the old hub had flats on the axle where as the new one did not. The driver/planetary cage assembly on the new hub had 3 slots for the sprocket, the old hub has 5.

 

Then I discover a problem. Under no circumstances will the sprocket disengage from the driver on the new hub. It appears that it has developed a slight lip of hardened steel that prevents it from being lifted off. I guess I'll just have to unscrew the cone/sun gear mechanism and see what happens. As you can see above, there are no caged bearings on this side. Just 11 loose balls.

To get down in any further I remove the driver/planetary cage along with the stuck sprocket and dust cover revealing, again, 19 small loose balls in a race around the outside. I was expecting this, but it would have been nice to find caged bearings as they are so much easier to work with, although theoretically loose bearing do have some advantages.

 

Next came the planetary cages. There are two rows of pawls. One row is attached to the gear ring and is covered by a thing sheet metal shield. This shield in turn attaches to the driver/planetary gear mechanism, so when you back pedal the shield will move over the that row of pawls and disengage them. The old hub had a square face that mated to the cover. The new hub has this two. BUT the old hub also had a tab which also aligned with the cover. The new hub doesn't have this. However, it does have a mangled pawl spring. Not good.

  

The other row of pawls is always engaged unless you pedal backwards. On the underside of this row is a bearing race containing 9 loose balls. This fits over a cap in the MIDDLE of the axle.

  

If we take a look at the now empty hub housing you can see that it has a screw in type engagement area. this is not perforated anywhere for the grease fitting, so the external fitting would seem to serve no purpose whatsoever.

 
My theory is that the new hub is in fact...an OLDER hub. Whereas the hub I had bought last year was in fact Mystery Hub MK II. as it had several improvements: flats on the axle, 5 slots for the sprocket, etc.

Between the two hubs I think I can make one good one. I will use newly bought hub's shell with the other's innards. 

Reassembly is tiresome. The small ball loose ball bearings require a grease that is thick enough to hold them in place while you put it all together. Once reassembled, it doesn't work. It kinda grinds and adjustment of the multiple cones makes this quite difficult. Disassemble again. Reassemble. Disassemble AGAIN. Reassemble. Still not right. If anyone has suggestions, I am open to hearing them