Chuck's Bikes

These are the bicycles in my garage.

I ride these things, too. Here are some photos of my favorite rides.

2005 North American HandBuilt Bicycle Show

11/13/05 First Austin "Old Bikes" meeting

3/18/07 Third Austin "Old Bikes" meeting

Austin frame builders:

http://www.crumptoncycles.com/
http://www.willitsbikes.com/
Skip Hujsak has closed his shop, and is watching the river flow.
Whit Moyer is now helping to irradiate the earth http://www.flickr.com/photos/moyercycles/2603698503/

And our importer: http://www.wmlewisimports.com/

1990 Specialized Allez Epic - another bike that I've always wanted. Carbon fiber tubes with aluminum lugs and Shimano 105 component group.

1989 Cannondale SR800 - The ultimate "Boy Racer" from back then. Good and stiff, and all Shimano 600 at a great price.
Whoever raced it back then did a great job of stripping the decals and adding a couple of Shiner Beer decals as well as Racer X, Spaceman Spiff, and a flaming 8 Ball.
A garage sale find, the tires had rotted off, and the tire bag had a patch kit with a 1995 date on the sales tag - probably when it was last hung up to dry.

1999 Lemond Zurich - 853 Reynolds frame and Calfee carbon fork. Assembled from Frankenbike and garage sale parts.
My lightest bike as it sits at 20.4# - those Calfee forks make a big difference!

Trek 5200 - 1992, the first year for the OCLV construction and Shimano STI and 8 speed casettes.
The first two years had that stringbean CF fork, which is more than a little springy.

1984 Olmo Competition
Detail shots of the Olmo here

1983 Austro-Daimler - Bought as a bare frame and assembled from leftover parts. Smoke chrome frame, probably 531 or 501 tube.
Detail shots of the A-D here

Another Raleigh USA, 1984 Racing USA Grand Prix. Upgraded the wheels, changed out the deraileurs to Shimano 600 and SR Royal crank.
Raleigh USA was operated by Huffy from 1982 to 1985 so is it really a Huffeigh?
HUFFY? Yup, read this: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/%7Ehadland/neago.html

Another garage sale frame built back into a bike, this time a 2000 Marin Argenta. Usually bikes are at least 15 years old before I get them, this one is practically new! Billato, made in Italy frame with beautiful Columbus Zonal tubing and a selection of Nashbar, Frankenbike and shed components. First aluminum bike that I had where I could understand what the folks that compain about their stiffness were talking about. I'm not gonna complain though! Light (20.8#) and quick handling for a fairly large frame bike.
A couple extra photos and label detail shots.

A week after the Mondia I found this 1985 Raleigh Team USA. 555sl DB tubing and a middle quality bike, but I remember the US Racing Team Raleighs from '83-'85 and admiring the paint.

1981 Mondia Super, 531 tubing, and mostly 1980 Dura Ace AX components.
Detail shots of my Mondia.

Two weeks after finding the Dawes, I found this 1987 Mercian at a garage sale. It had been converted (or built up) to a hybrid and I changed it back. It's all 531c tube and Shimano 600 components.
Detail shots of my Mercian

A week after I found the TREK below, I found this 1968(?) Dawes Galaxy. Very original except for the rear wheel and deraileurs. I've built it up pretty stock to celebrate how my Dawes Galaxy tourer (below) started out.
Detail shots of my Dawes Galaxy

1996 TREK 2100 - Aluminum and graphite bike came to me as a frame, wheels and a couple of fixings. 600 and Campy components.. Not especially light (21.9#), but a very nice ride.

1986 Cannondale SR500 I'd never seen a METALLIC PLUM Cannondale before. Suntour Cyclone deraileurs and an amazingly clean bike for being 20 years old. Looks like it had only had a couple of years of use, and even has the Cannondale "The Aluminum Advantage" handlebars.

Cannondale 2.8 R900 (1992). I bought the frame at a garage sale, and assembled the rest of the bike from my pile of parts. The bike weights around 20.6 pounds and is Shimano 600 and Modolo equipped. It occasionally gets strange looks because of the early 80's grupo and radial spoked wheels.

Another "new" bike, this time a 1990 Cannondale T700 Tourer.
It had been used as a road bike, and I've added the racks and fenders, upgraded the wheel set, and intend to continue prepping it as a loaded touring machine.

1984 Univega Gran Sprint - S
Found it at a garage sale, after the previous owner had let the tires rot off of it. I know why; it came stock with sew-ups, probably one
of the last low cost bikes with sew-ups. I redid the wheels with Mavic aero clincher rims.
It was supposed to be their "club racer" and while it is nice and stiff thanks to the triple butted tube, the geometry is pretty relaxed for a racer.
It does make a nice recreational rider, though. This bike was built by Miyata for Lawee (the distributor).
Detail shots of my Univega

Wile E. Guerciotti
1985 Guerciotti. A quick bike that I use mostly for short rides. I bought it as a race-retired frame, put it together with shed parts and rode it for about ten years before finding a Campy Victory groupo that I've upgraded it with - restoring it to their 1985 Victory model.
Detail shots of my Guerciotti

An early 70's Eddy Merckx. This bike was built by Falcon. I have upgraded it with all sorts of interesting components, including GB engraved bars, Universal Model 61 center pull brakes, Campy Valentino deraileurs, Modolo levers, Brooks saddle, Carnielli "cookie cutter" stem, Nissi Toro rims, Nervar crank, and even Heuret thumb screw axles and a latch-clip bottle holder with an aluminum bottle. It's heavy, but who cares?
Detail shots of my Merckx

My 1974 Ellis-Briggs. This was my first quality frame (1987), and is still one of the best balance of handling and comfort of any bike I've ever had.
I've probably put between 30 and 40K miles on it.

This is REAL retro. My 1969(?) Dawes Galaxy tourer. Everything's been upgraded to mid 80's stuff including SunTour barends and deraileurs, 600 crank, Phil Wood hubs, and Weinmann concave rims . Latest tour was a overnighter to Lake Georgetown.
Detail shots of my Dawes Galaxy

I finished building this up as my "city bike" for the JingleBell ride 2005. Raleigh Technium (Tange Prestige/7005 mix) MT500 frame with a pile of various parts including Deore drivetrain and Rock Shox Mag21 forks. Seven speeds on the rear with a thumbshifter set up as a jockey shift "selector" on what is virtually a single speed.

1991 Miyata Elevation 5000 that I'm building up as my offroad tourer.
Deatail shots of the Miyata

1995 Parkpre Comp Limited. Just for riding. Must have had an easy life - one little skuff on the decals.
What's a Parkpre? http://www.parkpre.com/history.htm

This is my Columbia Five Star General. I think that it's circa 1953 from some of the component dates. Originally it used 27.5" clincher wheels, and the front wheel included a generator hub and the rear had a Brapton three speed. I still have the parts, but replaced them with 26" wheels from a Raleigh three speed, and used the FRONT brake from the Raleigh too. Really interesting to see an American company try to meld the Continental three speed technology into an American arch frame.

Finally, a Markward Rekord folding bike. Those original 20" Carlisle wide whites are probably worth a lot more than the bike itself!