New bike

October 14th, 2008
bikes
My new bike:
The bike is a flying pigeon PA-02 2D, a roadster based for the most part, aside from the double top bar, on the Raleigh Tourist DL-1. I ordered it through a reseller in Texas.

Some statistics:

  • Wheels:
    • 28 inch
    • 32 spoke front; 40 spoke rear
    • Westwood steel rims
    • front fork about 3 3/8 inches wide, rear about 4 1/2 inches (measured today without rear wheel: 120 mm exact)
    • Wheels out of true
  • "Stirrup" rod brakes (right hand is front)
  • Brazes for a 1 1/2 foot pump
  • Fully enclosed chain case
  • Can't see sprocket or chain-wheel, but maybe 48T and 22T?
  • 32 1/2 inch stand-over height
  • About 45 pounds
I still need to weigh the bike, but the shipping weight was 45 pounds. So a little less (box, some packaging, light and dynamo I didn't put on) but not much. Update: I weighed it (with the new rear wheel and it came to 43.8 pounds.)

Now I need to look into finding a new rear wheel, or rebuilding the current one. It definitely needs some sort of brake that is not a rim brake on a steel wheel, and it would be nice to have some gears. So I'm thinking of putting on a Shimano Nexus 3 speed coaster brake hub. Or maybe some used hub. I'm not having too much luck finding bike shops that deal with 28 inch wheels, but the Dutch Bicycle Company in Somerville says they carry them. When I emailed they wrote back to say they had 28 inch stainless steel wheels with stainless steel spokes and a SRAM torpedo 3 speed hub with a coaster brake, which was exactly what I was looking for. I'm probably going to go over there tomorrow or friday after work.

I should also get some bungee cables for attaching things like bike wheels to my rear rack.

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