gelbendorf
private thoughts and events: life, family, design, technology, photography, good guys, bad guys, bad girls, politics, human nature, Hoboken NJ, Israel, NYC, Internet TV, Films, Music, Sports and more...
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Yes, it has two wheels, yes the design is stunning and yes it’s about one passionate guy that went out of his way to rebuild this magnificent piece of history…
But that’s not the reason I’m posting it. This blog, is part of a site that it’s owner wrote the following:
“I built this site because I love the do-it-yourself work ethic and because I enjoy working on it. Maybe someday Knucklebuster Inc. will be a legitimate business and actually make some money, or maybe it will continue to be a “hobby” – there is a certain freedom in not having to worry about it making enough money to pay the bills. Either way, right now I’m just enjoying the ride.”
In his passion and journey, he gathered 5-10K monthly unique visitors… and his posts generate reaction… this post generated over 50 responses.
It seems like the intuitive action that Grail Mortillaro (that’s the guy’s name) took, made him successful in the virtual world, beyond his recognition… He proved that the market exists for his knowledge and passion… With some business planning he should be able to harvest this success in the real world afterall, would you buy from a store that recommends the parts that give them the higher commission or from “That Guy” YOU BELIVE sells what worked best for im in his bike project? -
Chapter 1:For a while I was fantasizing on building my own fixie. I had my eye on an old peugeot with Reynolds tubing, which seemed deserted, but couldn’t get my self to touch it.One evening as I was riding around town, I found in the garbage a cool looking Motobecane Super Deluxe. It seems from the early 80’s: It features 2040 Hi Resiliency tubing, not sure what it means, but it brought up great memories from my childhood neighborhood.
Both rims were broken, gears were gears missing parts and other than the frame which looks in good shape, the crank and the headset and the drop-bar, I removed everything.
I’m currently in the process of cleaning and lubing the parts that are staying on. Since my crank tool doesn’t fit this old crank- I’ll wait with that part, but i’ll do my best to keep the large 52T chain wheel since it’s so beautiful…
As for color- I will see if I manage to keep the decals areas as is, the French sure used a great coloring technique- it’s in great shape, relatively to what it went through… but I’ll paint the rest either white or silver. Probably silver. All components are white and black and the seat and bartape- leather.
Today I started getting the parts I ordered…
Velocity Deep V rims, Velo Orange seat and amazing bar tape, new tires… it’s going to be a long weekend: starting to put the bike together…
See more photos in my flickr stream… in this forum.
Tags: conversion, leather, motobecane, project, vintage
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There was a young man, and he loved a MOUSE. And the MOUSE loved the man. They were happy.
Everyday the man clicked the MOUSE, then he right clicked him, moved him around and around and clicked him some more… and the MOUSE performed his duties quietly, without complaining, moved, pointed, clicked… and the MOUSE was happy.
Then one day, after years of false attempts to create an adequate integration of a MOUSE into a laptop computer, Apple created the Multitouch Trackpad. The man touched…
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There was a man and he loved a MOUSE. And the MOUSE loved the man… and then Steve Jobs brought the Magic Trackpad from the future… And the man was happy and the MOUSE…
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Yesterday I finished the 2 days ride of 170 miles on my bicycle, in behalf of the National Society for Multiple Sclerosis. The journey started about a year and a half ago, when my nephew Yoni gave me his old race bike… what a great nephew. He moved to a newer model after wining the second place in the Israeli championship for seniors (over 30… or something like that).
Then I started looking for a worthy cause for a worthy ride… MS was an easy choice… The longest ride, very organized and a great cause. I knew of people with the disease and learned that practically anyone can get it… enough reasons to get on the bike and start pedaling and fundraising.
I recruited my friend and grad-school classmate, Steve Rigo, I even bought him a cool Bianchi bike on the street, for $85 (he probably doubled that in tuneups, tires and etc.)
and trained a little… and we rode. It was tough. The bikes was not fitted well to my size… the back hurt and I was out of shape. It was raining, it was cold, I had a flat tire about one mile from the end point… pretty bad… but we finished it. I raised $950 or so. Steve raised a lot more - around $1,300.
So we decided to take another shot at it.
This year I took it seriously. I trained for about two months, I did my own tune ups, bought great new tires (Continental Gatorskin), new break pads, new cables, new handlebar ribbon… the good stuff. I even started using a road computer- Sigma
(which were kind enough to ship me overnight a replacement unit after my original one broke during the last week of my training). I raised $1,700, Steve did a little less, and we rode. The ride was great this time. Very nice weather on the first day, some rain on the second day, but all good…
The best part of this entire event, other than the mediative quality of road biking, is the people. Great people, some of them doing it for years, I’d guess that the average age is 40, men and women doing something to support a loved one, as a social event or just for the sport. Great volunteers and the people who live with MS and take the time and effort to welcome the riders and thank them at every rest stop.
See you next year.
