Hello!

 

My name is Gilbert!  Don’t I look friendly?  I think it’s my big eyes that make me look so cute.

I started as a gleam in cycler's eye last October, when instead of vandalizing a raleigh sports in lovely condition with newfangled modern parts, she took pity on a battered old frame, and had it stripped and powdercoated.

Now I have a shiny dark red paint job, and squishy cream colored tires that take the worst abuse that the Cambridge roads can dish out and soften the hardest jolts.  They still have reflex bands that are super reflective and identify me immediately as a bike when I’m out and about after dark.

My red chain case keeps cycler’s clothes out of the chain, and have the advantage of keeping the road muck out of my chain too,  and is amazingly quiet (for a chain case!).  My koolstop brake pads are so much better than rod brake shoes- quiet and so efficient.

I shift smoothly through my 8 speeds and Cycler’s knees are so happy not to grind gears on uphill starts.  I’m not quite as fast as my cousin Minerva, but I’m more comfortable to climb on and off of, and the angle doesn’t make cycler’s skirt want to blow up.

I have a bright new chromed rack that came over from England.  Cycler had to do some DIY fabrication because the shortie legs that came with it were only long enough for an awkward p-clip mounting on the seatstays.  After a short search, Cycler found some chrome struts that were part of a sissy bar banana seat back, and were a perfect match to the original rack’s tubing.  After a little drilling, trimming and filing, the rack is a little bit too high, but at least it’s level- I’d hate to be one of those bikes with a drunken looking sloped rack.  Ok,  maybe it's still a bit tipsy.  Cycler assures me that she will drill new holes in the struts to both lower the rack, and get a better chance at being level.

My eyes are a wee bit asymmetric, and until Cycler wins the lottery and can afford dual edeluxe lights for retina searing brightness, (yes, you can run two edelux together...) they will stay that way.  I think it gives me a slightly rakish charm.  She said I might get an LED retrofit light for the other lens if I’m good.

She’s also going to look for a tidy little basket for me.  Something a little more masculine than a girlie bike basket, big enough to store a small outer layer or a camera, but something that doesn't stop my from making eyes at passing bikes.  She's bidding on something on Ebay now-  hopefully she'll have something to show soon.


I'm so happy to be out of the basement and in the bike shed with Minerva.  Just barely in time for bike week and bike month!  Hope to see a lot of you (or be seen by a lot of you) soon!
Cheers,
Gilbert