Dear List:
It's been a while since I did this, but here are a few pictures of a newly built circa '75 Follis racer.
http://www.flickr.com/
This project has been rather angst filled due to some painter problems. I wanted to get this frame repainted in the worst way, and that's exactly w hat I got. It looks okay from a few feet, but up close you can see the i nexperience of the folks doing the work, and it left me rather unhappy. Decals off line and misplaced (the big Follis goes on the DT), gobs of ma tter under the paint you can feel, a great big drip of clear hardened under the BB shell---- just let's not talk about it. As there's no likeliho od of anyone else reusing these folks via the same path by which I stumbled on them, there's no need to identify them except to say it's not any paint er that's been discussed on the list ever (according to an archive search). An experiment that, alas, went awry. The financial resolution was no t satisfactory.
So I ended up with a poorly painted frame, which looked worse than when we started, which is hard to believe with a French factory finish. A few ti mes I started packing up the frame to ship it out to a reputable painter, b ut I just couldn't make myself redo a brand new paint job. I mean the fr ame is completely covered, and at least it won't rust. I decided I had t o ride it some and get it scratched up a bit before considering a respray.
My fantasy is that a gravel truck will swerve to miss me, overturn, and, as I leap clear, drop it's entire load all over the frame, while missing the components. I, of course, survive after making a perfect one point landi ng, protected by my helmet. I then repair to the bar, have more than one pint, and wait for the truck's insurance to treat me to the price of a Joe Bell or Brian Baylis respray.
Anyway, this was finally a good excuse to use the gold components I'd been stockpiling for a while, so here's a chance to see them on a a bike. The build up was straight forward, except for the usual French frame idiosyncr acies. I don't know if it's a sign of advancing years, but I refused to spend time wrestling with the screws on the clamp on bits, made too short t o begin with and exacerbated by oversize french tubing. A trip to the hardware store, some longer bolts, cut off the excess after tightening, and voila! No headache, no eyestrain and no sprained vocabulary after spe nding hours trying to start the screws into the brake cable housing clamps, BB cable guide or shift levers. I should have started doing this years ago. The screws are less than a quarter a piece. Make sure you count how many you need, though, so you only have to make one trip. I did save the original bolts in case I ever decide to enter the Follis in a conc ours level show :-).
I will probably bring this bike to Cirque, assuming I can make it this year . It is a very nice riding frame, with that indefinable "French Ride". I will be happy to share a pint with sympathetic listeners, as we bem oan bad paint jobs we've had in the past. I've had such good luck with t his hobby, I was probably overdue for some bad luck. If this is the wors t that happens to me dealing with bikes, I can live with that.
Tom Adams
Manhattan KS