Who are we? We are our stories. We are our pictures

Monday, November 2, 2009

McLean Wrapped Up

I'll spare you more pictures of M05030 after these. It looks better the more fine-tuned it is. The blue fabric wraps I tried didn't look right. I'm not sure of these Cinelli cork wraps, as they are not as taupe a gray as the paint. They are probably as close as I can come in gray. The cables and housings are old Dura Ace, closer in color to the paint than they photograph. Virtually nothing on this bike is NOS. I cannibalized another bike and bought some nice, but not new components. For instance, the rear derailleur came from John Barron, maybe 10 years ago, and it's on it's third bike. Somehow avoided scrapes. It's a pat '82 which is technically too new, but very few people could tell without very close inspection. As I posted earlier, the brakes are the older Modolo Professionals with newer Modolo sintered pads, the hubs are vintage Phil Woods, and the shifters are Simplex Retrofriction. That's about it, I guess.




8 comments:

Margadant said...

It's beautiful -- the pictures should follow the word "machine" in the dictionary.

reverend dick said...

How does she ride?

Gunnar Berg said...

There's a picture on the Wikipedia "machine" definition. The print dictionaries will catch up with the next editions.

Seems to ride sweet. I haven't ridden enough at speed to really judge it.

Eat your heart out Ellis Boy, ...as you ride that sleek steed with the gorgeous full-wrap blue fenders with the white ends, etc. (on Wiki under "beauty")

Anonymous said...

get on it and enjoy!

if you're still unsure about the tape, fisik makes a nice microfiber tape that can be had in grey (darker than the frame but would look nice). It's some of the nicest feeling tape I've ever used.

Allan

Velouria said...

What a clean, beautiful bicycle.
And the wraps look perfect.

Justine Valinotti said...

In your front-view shot, I love the way the bag and saddle give a sort of autumnal dusk tinge to the frame. It's silver with a very slight bronze undertone. Beautiful!

Filigree knows from beautiful bikes. So, relish her compliment!

Gunnar Berg said...

The color is one of the original McLean options, Medium Taupe Metallic, and it does have a warm undertone - like the softness of pewter. McLean Fonvielle was an art school dropout and he maintained his aesthetic sensibilities when he made bicycles - even to the disdain of flashy graphics.

Anonymous said...

that is one hell of a bike, .

michael white