Custom Details

[Matthew Williams]

At hot-rod and custom motorcycle shows, I love the subtle personal touches and "easter eggs" people create and add to their rides. For example, vintage British motorcycles have a gold "Made In England," decal on the frame--and one custom British bike I saw had the gold decal in the same spot, but its owner had created a "Made by Hand," decal in the same script.

I was inspired by Mark's monkey, Jeffrey's hand-painted lettering, and Leah's matching pedals, spokes, valves, and stem. I thought we could share the custom details of our rides--subtle touches only the owner and bike aficionados might notice.

What's a detail you've added to your bike? Has anyone noticed? Does your bike have a scuff that reminds you of a good ride? Does one of your grips have a spot where your thumb tends to rest? Did you add a pinstripe, a sticker, or a custom-fabbed bracket? Post photos of your finishing touches and share a story about your favorite subtle detail or beausage.

Here's mine: I got these handmade valve caps to match my headlight and taillight.

I got my wife a set of valve caps for her bike, too.

[Patrick Moore]

118 mm rear dropout OL spacing, to accommodate a 114 mm SA AM hub as well as a Surly 120 mm hub, but I wish I'd had it spaced at 114 mm because I just got a NOS (NOS!!) SA TF hub dated 1937 (NOS!!) from Hilary Stone that I mean to have built into the default wheel for the new Matthews 26" wheel road bike (the clone and improvement on the 2003 Curt Goodrich Riv Road custom). The TF 2-speed fixed hub is the simplest of SA's hubs, with a direct and 25% underdrive, and, so reports go, very little lash. The AM, again, has direct, 11.15% overdrive and 86.54% underdrive: 72/65/56 gear inches.

The frame is built with standard gauge .8/.5/.8 wall 531.

The Matthews frame has dynamo wiring inside the right fork leg running to crown, thence under fender to arch holding Edeluxe, with tail light wire running from Edeluxe back under fender to crown, where it pops out to run to an internal tube in the top tube back to just under the seat cluster, and pop out again to enter the left seatstay for a bit, and exit just above the custom rack where it enters the central rack strut to run back to the tail light. As an additional custom touch I have spliced the tail light wire to power a Secula lamp clamped on the seatstay just above the wire exit, so that the SON powers 2 taillights and the headlight.

The chainstays were measured to put the axle at the center of the custom cut, very long, plate (= thin, to accommodate the short SA axles) dropouts so that, with 17 t fixed cog or 19 t AM cog the wheel with Naches Pass 42 mm tires is pretty much centered under the VO hammered 50 mm fenders.

Must take a new photo ....

When I as 16 or so, as my second custom build, I tore apart and fully rebuilt an ancient Varsity: took it completely apart, stripped frame, spray painted (Flit gun, oil-based gloss enamel) black, and hand pinstriped it, adding a hand-made headbadge cut, bent, drilled, and engraved, made from one of my mother's brass coasters. Dog (very doggy) Latin, Secundum Ventus. Replaced Alvit drivetrain with 16 and 18 cogs on AW hub and Cyclo Benelux rd with 39 or 40 t inner ring. Whitewall tires, aluminum fenders. They heavy 1/8" chain hit the stay over bumps, so I cut a guard from a tin can, and bolted it silver inside outward to the stay. A rather nice looking bike.

On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 11:04 AM Matthew Williams <matthewwil...@gmail.com> wrote: .... What's a detail you've added to your bike? Has anyone noticed? Does your bike have a scuff that reminds you of a good ride? Does one of your grips have a spot where your thumb tends to rest? Did you add a pinstripe, a sticker, or a custom-fabbed bracket? Post photos of your finishing touches and share a story about your favorite subtle detail or beausage.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Joe Bernard]

My detail is from the painter of my custom, Joe Bell. He put red in the cutouts inside the fork crown, a spot no one notices with the wheel in there. I didn't even notice it when I first built it up! 

Joe Bernard 

[aeroperf]

Probably not what you had in mind, but only one person has ever noticed the spoke holder and spare spokes on my touring bike.

I’ve only needed it once, but was glad it was there when I broke a spoke in the middle of nowhere on a tour.
What are the odds?  63 years of bike riding, one broken spoke, and I had a spare.  And had even remembered to bring the correct spoke wrench.

[lconley]

I will see your fork dot and raise you lug outlining. The only Standard Riv that I recall with lug outlining were the Grey and Red Hunqapillars. They even had cream outlining on both sides of the head lug because the headtube was red. The braze-on posts are for Rene Herse centerpulls.

Laing

Delray Beach FL

On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 2:39:45 PM UTC-5 Joe Bernard wrote:

[Joe Bernard]

Got lug lining, too! Not like yours, like the Hunqapillar because my gray/red frame is a lightened up version of that scheme. 

[lconley]

This is not a good picture, but has several subtle touches. I generally despise black components on road bikes, and my standard for saddles is the discontinued Brooks B-68. I have several, but they all have black frames and black or aged leather. I wanted Honey leather and chrome rails, so I bought a B-68 frame on e-bay from Italy, had it chromed locally and sent it to Firth and Wilson Transport Cycles. They installed a Honey leather B-67 top with large copper rivets. I call it a Brooks B-678 Frankensaddle. The 29.0 Campagnolo Icarus MTB seat post isn't something you see everyday either. Note the offset pump peg and paint matched Zefal pump (dang that black plastic top).

Laing

[Joe Bernard]

The spoke holder is sweet!

[Collin A]

I hammered in some nickels in the place of the plastic dust cover on some MKS pedals for my now fiance's bike.

[aeroperf]

Collin--

VERY cool!

[Keith Weaver]

Mine was on a bike I don't have any more, a 1995 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo. On the back of the seat tube, it had a decal that read "Man's Best Friend". I always liked that detail. Side note, I bought that bike on the day that Jerry Garcia died. That's only relevant because the bike was available with a paint job by Prairie Prince, the artist for the Grateful Dead. The other color option was "Slate". I trained in geology, and I didn't like the idea of a MTB with a paint job that had to be protected, so I went with Slate.

That detail inspired me to personalize my custom Lynskey with my initials on the back of the seat tube. No one notices, but I know it's there.

Cheers,

Keith

On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 2:14 PM Collin A <collinm...@gmail.com> wrote:

I hammered in some nickels in the place of the plastic dust cover on some MKS pedals for my now fiance's bike.

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[islaysteve]

Many people love the Bleriot graphics, but I'm not particularly fond of the cartoon portrait of Louis on the seat tube of mine.  So I made my own graphic using some cling-on vinyl sheet and a round riv sticker.  Don't worry, Louis is alive and well under there, the vinyl will come off without damage.

On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 1:04:22 PM UTC-5 Matthew Williams wrote:

[RichS]

That spoke holder is my kind of detail. Really thoughtful. Incredible that you had what you needed to make the on road repair. You're right - what are the odds?

Wish I had a cool detail to share:-( 

Best,

Rich in ATL

[Eric Floden]

It's not really an easter egg, but it IS a wonderful detail: the peg on the frame above the rear axle to hand the chain on. I am recalling it now as I took a fix-your-bike course a while back and my Bertrand* was on the workstand and when the peg was pointed out, the rest of the class was completely agog at such a thing.

Does my Riv have one? Not sure, I imagine it does.

No picture, the bike is in Ontario. But here is someone else's example

EricF

Vancouver

* frame by Marinoni

[lconley]

Grant recommended against that type of chain hanger when I got my custom. He recommended the chainstay mounted version instead. He said that with the seat stay version, people would forget the chain was hung and push down on the pedals and rip it out of the seat stay because you could mount the rear wheel with the chain still on the hanger. With the chainstay version, you have to get the chain off the chain hanger to get the rear wheel in. 

Laing

[Matthew Williams]

Oh wow, my old Stumpjumper had that and I always wondered what it was!

On Feb 19, 2021, at 8:01 AM, Eric Floden <eric....@gmail.com> wrote:

It's not really an easter egg, but it IS a wonderful detail: the peg on the frame above the rear axle to hand the chain on. I am recalling it now as I took a fix-your-bike course a while back and my Bertrand* was on the workstand and when the peg was pointed out, the rest of the class was completely agog at such a thing.

Does my Riv have one? Not sure, I imagine it does.

No picture, the bike is in Ontario. But here is someone else's example

<image.png>

EricF

Vancouver

* frame by Marinoni

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[Paul Brodek]

Very cool!

This goes back almost 40yrs now, but when building up a tricked-out 24"-wheel Fuji Junior SE (up-spec'd with Valite tubing) for my petite destined-to-be-wifey, I realized that uberlight aluminum alloy Japanese 1yen coins were a perfect outer-diameter fit for 1" handlebar ends. They had to be crazy-glued in place, so not as perfect/elegant as friction-fit pedal caps, but an alloy 1yen coin weighs a lot less than a nickel.

My Minolta CLE didn't have macro capability, so no close-up photos. No further-away photos, either.

Paul "Hypens" Brodek

Hillsdale, NJ USA

On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 5:14:16 PM UTC-5 Collin A wrote:

[Paul Brodek]

I think I just nuked a reply before sending, if not, my most humble apologies for the dupe.

As for custom-ish stuff, I can think of a few.

1. Cable End Cap Signature Crimps: BITD LBS wrenches would often develop signature cable end cap crimps, so you'd know who to holler at if a build/repair came back with problems. This is the most important use of the Shimano cable cutting/crimping tool. The key is to not just use the crimper, you use the cutting jaws to cut/crimp a recognizable pattern into the cap. Mine is just as many perpendicular cuts as possible; it's pretty hard to get much than 8 cuts. I always thought of mine as kinda being like a rattlesnake tail. Usually it's a set pattern of perpendicular cuts, but some would get fancy with criss-crossed "X"s.

I flatten the cap a little first with a couple of light squeezes with the flat inner surface of the Shimano tool, then do the cuts. Sounds like work, but it gets pretty quick and natural after a few hundred, then very automatic and 2nd nature after thousands. Spotting a sloppy cap later on tells me I was working really late on that particular bike, or it gave me a hard time. Really sloppy caps don't leave the stand---they get redone. I generally like to leave short-ish cut cables, so more than one redo and I'm getting into trouble.

Caps, btw, are the last thing I do. That's my sign that everything's done, checked and ready to roll. This one in the photo just got 7 cuts. Shoulda been 8, but I'll let 6-7 slide.

2. Horizontal Dropout Adjusters: I used to always cut the adjuster springs in half, since when a full-length one is fully compressed it robs too much potential rear wheel positioning. Then I returned to my roots and started using locknuts on the outside, which was stock spec for higher-Fujis way back when. I use stainless hardware from McMaster-Carr, with a hex-socket button-cap bolt and a domed cap nut. The Fuji locknuts were knurled rings, like presta valve locknuts, which I prefer, but when I was ordering a bag of 100pcs McM-C didn't have any of those. I just hand-tighten the nut, don't need to torque them with a wrench, since they don't rattle loose when hand-tight, and you don't want to have to use a tiny wrench to tweak the adjustment. The button-cap socket is a big help though, prevents the tiny-tip screwdriver from forever slipping off the shallow slot in the std adjuster bolts.

3. Figurehead/Talisman/Icon/Tchotchke: My bicycles have been adorned/protected by a number of zip-tied objects. The first was a weird Japanese manga-like character I found on a keychain, with the words "PB Performance" molded into the plastic. I found it about the time I ordered a Klein Performance frameset, which would have been the perfect match had the frame not been defective. PB Performance is still around, somewhere, he gets lost and resurfaces from time to time. Pretty sure I bought two, knowing I'd never see another. When my kids were young, all our bikes had 'em, and they'd often lend me one of their action figures to rotate through. There are dozens of different Ultraman characters, you could change 'em monthly and not repeat for 4-5 years.

I've gone through phases, had a definite cartoon-character phase, then didn't use any for quite a while, now they're creeping back in/on.

Coupla current pix, and "the guys." The Guys have lots of yellow, and I've only had one yellow bike that I recall. Hmm....

4. Japanese Omamori: These are honest-to-goodness talismans, blessed/sold by Japanese Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, and available in many flavors. Health, wealth, job searching, good school entrance exam results, love charm, happy marriage, easy/safe childbirth, you name it. Germane to this discussion is the "koutsuu anzen," or public transport safety, omamori. Koutsuu usually refers to trains/buses/planes, but by extension auto travel and bicycle riding, at least when it comes to omamori. Think of it as "travel." Lots of Japanese cars have one hanging from the rearview mirror, lots of schoolkids have one hanging from their backpack, lots of cyclists have one hanging on the bike, or from a bike bag, or stuffed inside. Mine usually get stuffed inside the saddle bag.

The omamori are often an embroidered fabric with the blessing printed on paper and sewn inside. Usually they have both their purpose and the temple name embroidered in the fabric, so they also serve as temple visit mementos. Often they're inside a vinyl cover, so they don't get threadbare as quickly. You're supposed to keep them until they get tatty and worn out, then bring them back to the temple to get burned in an annual ceremony.  I'm not sure if you're supposed to return them for retirement to the same temple where they were bought, seems impractical if you bought one far from home.

There are modern plastic one with self-stick tape on the back, usually for traffic safety ones to get stuck on a dashboard. I suppose you could get one and stick it on a frame tube, but I'd worry about it falling off and getting lost or run over.

I think these 4 are all I've got. The two outside ones in the photos are my oldest, probably from '83 or so, and I don't recall where they came from. The blue one is really pretty tattered now, and should get retired the next time I make it back. The orange one is more recent, from Kiyomizu-dera, one of Kyoto's most famous temples, and one of my favorites. The plump purple one is from Sanjusen-gendo, also in Kyoto, not one I went to often, usually on the visiting friends' tour.

5. Paul Sticker Frame Flaw Cover-up: I use lots of Paul Components components, because Paul, and I'm not able to throw out the many Paul stickers they come with, because Paul. They come in two sizes, and are very useful for covering frame cosmetic flaws, especially if you're lucky enough to be named Paul. If not, it's kinda random, if so, Paul's yer uncle.

6. Protective Tube Wraps: Not super-custom, but I'm recently reviving my old-timey practice of protecting top-/downtubes from handlebar/caliper hits with bar tape. Used to be bar tape, what I use now is my standard bar-finishing teflon taps. Easy-on, easy-off, with the easy-off part important, especially on the top tube, where just raising/lowering the handlebar can change the contact location. Changing the stem reach, fer sure. Different bar bends, also possible. I don't expect the tape to protect much in a full-on crash-up, but for tip-over and other relatively lower-impact hits it should provide some protection.

Note that the Raleigh Pro photo above shows a tube wrap, figurehead and cable-end crimp treatment. And this being RBW, I'll wrap-up with a Riv, which also has some visible crimping action if you go the ful-size image and enlarge.

Paul Brodek

Hillsdale, NJ USA

[Paul Brodek]

I'm having weird posting stuff today, apologies again if this is a dupe.

I've seen quite a few seatstay-mount chain hangers shear off. Depending on location and with short chain length and/or higher chain tension, they can also make it a little difficult to get the wheel in/out. Chainstay mount doesn't have either problem.

Back in my yout, that chainstay-mount attachment was thought to have been invented by the Murphy Bros. at Columbine. I phrase it that way because I'm now pretty used to thinking something like this only to have somebody say: "The French/Italians/whoevs were doing this in the 1930s!" Or 1800s. Or whenevs.

I have two '82 Columbines, but neither have the Columbine chainstay-mount hanger. One has a standard cyclindrical-shaped boss, the other has an unusual (to me) kinda squished L-shaped hook. Pictured below, but it was hard to get the angle I wanted with the bike hanging on a hook. It does hold the chain a little more securely, but would shear off just as easily if I forgot the unhook the chain and rode off.

Paul Brodek

Hillsdale, NJ USA

[Eric Norris]

Columbine used to offer a plastic band-on version of this braze-on item, called the “Quickchainger.” 

You can see it here, but I’m not 100% sure that the web site is still valid: 

http://www.columbinecycle.com/store.php 

Here’s a picture:

I had these on several bikes, and it is definitely a cool device. It doesn’t work well with vertical or semi-vertical dropouts.

--Eric Norris
campyo...@me.com

Insta: @CampyOnlyGuy

YouTube: YouTube.com/CampyOnlyGuy 

On Feb 19, 2021, at 1:18 PM, Paul Brodek <pcb....@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm having weird posting stuff today, apologies again if this is a dupe.

I've seen quite a few seatstay-mount chain hangers shear off. Depending on location and with short chain length and/or higher chain tension, they can also make it a little difficult to get the wheel in/out. Chainstay mount doesn't have either problem.

Back in my yout, that chainstay-mount attachment was thought to have been invented by the Murphy Bros. at Columbine. I phrase it that way because I'm now pretty used to thinking something like this only to have somebody say: "The French/Italians/whoevs were doing this in the 1930s!" Or 1800s. Or whenevs.

I have two '82 Columbines, but neither have the Columbine chainstay-mount hanger. One has a standard cyclindrical-shaped boss, the other has an unusual (to me) kinda squished L-shaped hook. Pictured below, but it was hard to get the angle I wanted with the bike hanging on a hook. It does hold the chain a little more securely, but would shear off just as easily if I forgot the unhook the chain and rode off.

<50959204003_9099d0d08a_w.jpg><50959904256_c16d9ce0ee_w.jpg><50960004487_1048f8ec0b_w(1).jpg>

Paul Brodek

Hillsdale, NJ USA

On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 11:12:36 AM UTC-5 lconley wrote:

Grant recommended against that type of chain hanger when I got my custom. He recommended the chainstay mounted version instead. He said that with the seat stay version, people would forget the chain was hung and push down on the pedals and rip it out of the seat stay because you could mount the rear wheel with the chain still on the hanger. With the chainstay version, you have to get the chain off the chain hanger to get the rear wheel in. 

Laing

On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 11:01:47 AM UTC-5 ericf3 wrote:

It's not really an easter egg, but it IS a wonderful detail: the peg on the frame above the rear axle to hand the chain on. I am recalling it now as I took a fix-your-bike course a while back and my Bertrand* was on the workstand and when the peg was pointed out, the rest of the class was completely agog at such a thing.

Does my Riv have one? Not sure, I imagine it does.

No picture, the bike is in Ontario. But here is someone else's example

EricF

Vancouver

* frame by Marinoni

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[lconley]

One of my personal signatures on my builds are zero end cap crimps - I solder all of the cable ends. This was much easier in the days of non-stainless steel cables and lead solder, but I finally did the research and came up with the correct flux and solder for stainless steel cable. Plus I finally replaced my 70's era soldering iron.

Now I know what to do with that pile of Paul stickers.

Laing

On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 4:09:39 PM UTC-5 Paul Brodek wrote:

I think I just nuked a reply before sending, if not, my most humble apologies for the dupe.

As for custom-ish stuff, I can think of a few.

1. Cable End Cap Signature Crimps: BITD LBS wrenches would often develop signature cable end cap crimps, so you'd know who to holler at if a build/repair came back with problems. This is the most important use of the Shimano cable cutting/crimping tool. The key is to not just use the crimper, you use the cutting jaws to cut/crimp a recognizable pattern into the cap. Mine is just as many perpendicular cuts as possible; it's pretty hard to get much than 8 cuts. I always thought of mine as kinda being like a rattlesnake tail. Usually it's a set pattern of perpendicular cuts, but some would get fancy with criss-crossed "X"s.

I flatten the cap a little first with a couple of light squeezes with the flat inner surface of the Shimano tool, then do the cuts. Sounds like work, but it gets pretty quick and natural after a few hundred, then very automatic and 2nd nature after thousands. Spotting a sloppy cap later on tells me I was working really late on that particular bike, or it gave me a hard time. Really sloppy caps don't leave the stand---they get redone. I generally like to leave short-ish cut cables, so more than one redo and I'm getting into trouble.

Caps, btw, are the last thing I do. That's my sign that everything's done, checked and ready to roll. This one in the photo just got 7 cuts. Shoulda been 8, but I'll let 6-7 slide.

[John Stowe]

Sam Hillborne (RIP):

3D printed TARDIS fender spacer (intended as a charm bracelet bead), the only one that hasn't been noticed "in the wild", to my knowledge.

Homemade long mudflap. Couldn't find a picture of it on the bike. The top layer of inner tube is cut out to reveal reflective tape sandwiched between layers.

Twine frame protection on the downtube (where the rack bumps) and chainstay. I don't think I'd bother on the chainstay again - it started to fray pretty badly after a few bumps and scrapes.

Wife's Cheviot:

Cubic zirconia ear "stretcher plugs" to cover up some old mounting holes in the fenders

-John

Alexandria, VA

[Bill Schairer]

Wow, that chainstay looks like a Wegner chair I've got!  Very nice.

My "custom" chain hanger on my Atlantis:

Bill S 

San Diego

[Mike Godwin]

Its not a Rivendell, but

I finished off Bob #2 with a leather top tube protector. When Bab was at the frame guy, the horizontal dropouts were ground off about 1 cm so they would behave more like vertical dropouts when installing or removing the rear wheel. Also added some  barrel brazeons on the lower seatstays like Appaloosas'.  The rear fender stays are attached to the elevated brazeons leaving the dropout area free of encumbrances.  

Mike SLO CA