The Fleet (Part 1)

It's time I got around to talking about and showing the bikes I have. I refer to the lot of them as "the fleet", and have six bikes total.

Let me start by describing the first bike I put together when I got back into cycling over two years ago. I began with an old Motobecane frame from City Bikes, an old set of Avocet hubs I had been saving for years, and slowly hunted down the rest of the parts and put it all together. The Moto wasn't very comfortable to ride at first, but after some advice from Beth at City Bikes I made some changes and now it's much better. Because I ride it in the worst weather, it doesn't have my best parts and still has mismatched tires. I'll have to exchange the front tire, a Bontrager, for a Vittoria Zaffiro one of these days. I will say that Bontrager Race Light tires are about as bulletproof as you can get. I've pulled some big pieces of glass out of them, ran over a beer bottle, which exploded as I did so, and haven't EVER had a flat. They take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. The Zaffiros have been pretty good as well.

Here's the summary of the old Moto...

• Bike: 1970s Motobecane (model unknown)
• Nickname: The Old Moto
  
• Class: Foul weather commuter
• Frame: Crome Moly Steel
• Rear Spacing: 120mm
• Wheels: Sun Rims with Avocet Hubs
• Bars: Ritchey BioMax 42mm
• Seat: Fizik Aliante
• Brakes: Soma levers (excellent!) with Modolo on the front and Shimano on the rear
• Weight: A ton
• Drivetrain: Bulletproof Crank, MKS pedals, Shimano rear D, Campagnolo front D, SunTour freewheel.

Tags: Motobecane