Sunday, August 28, 2016

70s Vintage Folding Bikes - Picnik and Rapido

I love bicycles BUT I don't like bike racks...

...so at the beginning of the summer I started scouting Craigslist for folding bikes. We finally got a deal on four vintage folding bikes in various conditions of disrepair from a bike shop in Pottstown, PA. 


Three of them, disassembled, fit in the trunk. But the nicest of the bunch, the Italian Picnik, deserved a spot in the rear seat.


The Raleigh Twenty was in the worst condition, a long-term project that will be discussed in a future entry.

Picnik - aka Amica or Graziella



This single speed coaster brake Italian beauty just needed cleaning, lubrication and a new set of tires and inner tubes to get back on the road. I thought about flipping this around for a quick profit but da boss loved it and decided to keep it as a collectible ;)

Rapido from Czechoslovakia



The green unit is a single speed coaster brake model while the gold frame is equipped with an early Shimano 333 3-speed internal gear hub. Unusual for 1970s bicycles, both have alloy rims!


With minimum fettling, I was able to recommission the green Rapido using its original white sidewall tires and Brooks saddle from the Rusty Raleigh 20 project, as my daily ride. 


The gold frame was rusty so I stripped and repainted it in hammertone silver.


The refurbished 3-speed Rapido with new Kenda tires and inner tubes and a genuine leather saddle from China for the touring comfort of da boss ;)


On our regular exercise/expedition route ;)


Sunday, August 21, 2016

'95 Nissan Altima

Our daily driver "Jill" (nickname inspired by the memory of my parents' first car, "Jack" a hybrid '41/'47 Chevy)...


...is a low mileage 90s surivor inherited from my cousin in NYC.


It survived the 240 mile trek but this rusty bit needed the attention of a body shop to pass MD state inspection. Soon after getting it titled and registered, the water pump and one of the electric fans seized, taking away the radiator. 

DIY

...so there's more budget left for folding bike parts, film, tubes, resistors, capacitors, etc. (toys) ;)


Got a brand new radiator and water pump locally, an original electric fan from the junkyard, wrenches and tools from Harbor Freight to get it back on the road, with help from my apprentice ;)

Chambersburg, PA
Canon 7s + Canon 35/2
Agfa APX100 in Rodinal

The car has taken us to the Baltimore/Washington, DC area, PA, NJ and back to NYC!

Monday, August 15, 2016

Octal EAR 834P phono preamp


During my visit to NYC earlier this summer, my buddy Ding loaned me his home-brewed octal version of the EAR 834P phono preamp using 3 x 6SL7 octal tubes. Powering the preamp is a General Radio 1201-B tube regulated power supply.


Ding is not into boutique parts. Instead, he used carbon film resistors, mylar coupling capacitors and electrolytic caps gathered from Hamfests and surplus stores. Proper grounding and parts placement ensured a very quiet phono stage.


Traditional tube phono stages like the classic Dyna PAS 3 and Marantz 7 employed active RIAA EQ networks inserted in the negative feedback loop from the final stage to the input stage. In the 834P, Tim de Paravicini used active RIAA EQ with a clever twist - the EQ network is fed from the cathode follower output back to the second stage only. IMO, the benefits of this topology are: a 1st stage unimpeded by negative feedback, low noise and low output impedance.

I've been enjoying this phono stage so much that I'm inspired to build my own version. Good job, Ding!