The Flying Pigeon Project

All Gum Tire Install

Recently I reported on the acquisition of some All-Gum IRC Tires from Japan. Originally my intention was to install these along with my stainless Araya Westwood rims, stainless spokes and mystery hub to create a completely new wheel set for my bike.

This Week's Score: Cheap Thrills

Going through the parts bins at an old state run bicycle shop that I like to call "The Pigeon's Nest", I occasionally come across some NOS parts. Such was the case last week when I found this chrome chainwheel guard from the 1980's or 1990s. Hard to believe, but the 1980's is already twenty years gone! And 20 years is like 100 years in China.

Hutong Tour

Beijing is famous for it's Hutongs. These are the tight alleyways of the old city. The last 50 years has not been kind to these historic streets and the buildings around them. During the population boom of the 50's, 5 families were often allocated to a courtyard home that had previously belonged to only 1. Of course, now they are being torn down to make way for high rise apartments and offices. But still, they make for interesting little jaunt.  Yes, now it is cold and bitter, but in the warm days of August I decided to go for a little ride. With streets so tight, a car is a bit of a nuisance... A bike, by far is the best way to tour the hutongs.

Score: Mr. Jin's custom saddles

 
A few weeks back I gave a report on several neat and rare accessories that I had picked up. I said there was one "score" which out-did the rest. This post is about that item.

There is an older gentlemen at Panjiayuan. He refers to himself as "Old Man Jin", even although you would not think he was so old by looking at him. Age aside, he performs a great service to the bicycling community: He re-covers seats. In leather. Take your old tensioned leather Lepper, Brooks, or in my case a Chinese "OK" Brand seat to him and he will re-skin it with a genuine cowhide top.

Take for example, my seat. Originally, my seat looked something like this: The standard Chinese "red" leather seat. Leather being a somewhat nebulous category, I have since heard it called a "lacquered composite seat", and indeed it is covered in lacquer.

 

I happen to have a spare seatwhich I hand over to Mr. Jin. He spends about 30 minutes trying to discuss the fine points of seat making with me in my very bad Mandarin. Do I want aluminum rivets?..or brass?...or copper? What color leather? He shows me several seat stampings in different colors. Am I sure I want to use this as a base? ..because Chinese seats are lightly sprung as the average Chinese is a lot lighter than us Laowei. Well, who isn't these days? I say no, I want my bike to stay all Chinese, or at least all Asian.

In the end I decide on brown leather, brass rivets, and for the base...go with what I brung. Yeah. Brung.

Two weeks later, I have a marvel to behold. A "Old Man Jin" bespoke saddle.

You may say, "It is a nice seat, but it's no Brooks."

No. It isn't. That's the point.

Sure...I could have just dropped a lot of money on an expensive, mass-produced Brooks saddle. They are available in Beijing. But what would be the fun in that? I would never have met Mr. Jin, never would have learned about saddle making, never gotten to practice my Mandarin on a really weird topic, and never gotten a bespoke saddle. I also wouldn't have had an interesting story to tell. Besides, the end result is mighty fine, I must say....

In truth, I was so pleased with the results that I went back to Mr. Jin with ANOTHER saddle. This time I had him punch holes in the sides so I could cross tie them and prevent side flare. I also cut a badge from the back of my old Flying Pigeon mattress saddle and had him put it on the back. How did it turn out? We'll see in another post.

This Week's Score

Last week was a very successful run at the Panjiayuan old bike meet and I picked up a number of rarities. First were these Hengchi pedals. Super-heavy duty with braces to prevent the blocks from turning.

 

Then a neat little leather tool bag. There is a guy at Panjiayuan who custom makes all kinds of leather goodies for bikes. A lot less expensive than Gilles Berthold too!

Rub it down with some peanut oil and it is ready to roll.

 

Finally there were these little items.

A little chrome cap with a rubber insert. Can you guess what they are for? Well, anyone who has every caught the cuff of their suit on a cotter end knows the reason for these.

 

They are cotter caps. The slide over the big end of the crank and keep your pants away from the cotter.

There was one other BIG item in the score, but it really deserves an article all to itself, so stay tuned.