In the 1960s-70s, if you wanted the best in components, you bought Campagnolo. Suntour made a nice touring derailleur (the V-GT), Simplex had a good chunk of the budget niche, and the upstart Shimano came on the scene with the Crane GS. The Crane and the V came in short cage versions but I never saw them.
While Shimano was considered an upstart in the bicycle world, in truth they were a huge industrial conglomerate. In the consumer world, they were best known for fishing gear. Dura-Ace came out in 1973 but I don’t recall when I first actually saw one. Zeus, a Spanish company, made Campagnolo copies. The ubiquitous Simplex was mostly plastic (“Delrin”) and worked okay until the pivot points loosened up and shifting became sloppy. There was a more expensive metal Simplex that a few French purists (in the US), or those with not quite enough money for Campagnolo, used.
Huret was known mostly for the Allvit, mostly known as the “Schwinn Approved” derailleurs on Schwinns. In 1970, for its jubilee (50th anniversary), Huret decided to take a run at Campy with the Jubilee. The Jubilee’s main claim to fame was its incredible light weight. The rear derailleur weighed less than Campy’s front. The design was an evolution from the seldom seen (in the US) Svelto. Different sources claim the Jubilee went into production in 1972 or 1974.
Motobecane named some of its bikes for the components used. The Grand Record used Campagnolo Record. In 1973-74 they introduced the Grand Jubilé. (Yes, Huret spelled it Jubilee, but Motobecane spelled it Jubilé.) Below the Jubilé was the Grand Touring, using Suntour V-GT derailleurs. I bought a Grand Jubilé in the spring of 1974. The derailleur was rated for a maximum of 24 teeth. My bike had 26, which pushed its limit. I thought I was going to go big in touring and maybe get a wider range freewheel, so I swapped the Jubilee rear for a Crane GS. People thought I was crazy, since the whole point of buying the Grand Jubilé was the derailleur. (I was using everything but the rear.) A couple of years later, the Jubilee turned out to be a failed experiment and I picked up a complete gruppo for a song. I installed the Jubilee on the bike where it belonged and rode it for several years. It worked great except that it did not climb smoothly up to that 26 tooth rear. I tried to keep that gear in reserve, so I always had one more gear if I had to downshift. The day the bike was stolen (October 1989 – a few days before the World Series earthquake), the Shimano was in place, and that’s why I can provide these photos.
What’s inside?Rated for 13-24 tooth rear Yes, for you young whippersnappers, styrofoam packing peanuts had been invented by 1974.Front derailleur and clamp 82.5 grams on my scale (various trials came out @80 or 85)Rear derailleur – lightest ever @140 grams – said to be lighter than Campy front. Rear derailleur – back side. Okay, so I could have spent more time cleaning it. Hey, it’s 47 years old!The pulleys contain ball bearings, not just a bushing.Levers. rear cable chainstay clamp, decal. Cable guides not shown.
The Motobecane Grand Jubilé came with a Reynolds steel frame (531 double-butted 3 main tubes), the Jubilee derailleur set, Weinmann 610 centerpull brakes, Normandy hubs laced to Weinmann rims, Stronglight 49 crankset (40/52), Atom 5 speed 14-26 freewheel, Ideale 80 leather saddle, Pivo bar and stem. Weinmann is a Swiss company. The rest are French. The bike came in two color choices – red with black trim (mine) or silver with red trim. It had rack and fender mounts.
Grand Jubilé image from Bike Forums. For $208 ($1204 in today’s dollars), you even got this gorgeous pinstriping on fancy Nervex lugs. (I found a review showing list price as $250, but I paid $208 through Yellow Jersey Co-op.)
This is by no means a guaranteed accurate history as much as my recollection. The Frugal Average Bicyclist routinely gets 100 or more “likes” for writing about a piece of equipment, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
Stop the presses! I just found out that one of the half-fast cycling club still owns a Motobecane Grand Jubilé and he just sent pictures!
If the name Danny MacAskill rings a bell, you may have seen these videos. If not, be prepared to put your jaw back when it drops to the floor. He does things on a bike that are not to be believed.
There are many more where these came from. Search “Danny MacAskill” on YouTube for others. He proves there is nowhere that a bike can’t be ridden -if you’re Danny MacAskill.
As for what can be done on a bike without ever going outside, we have Viola Brand.
My parents always told me it was dangerous to ride double on bike. Maybe they were afraid I’d try this:
Maybe I should be out riding my bike instead of watching YouTube videos, but I am trying to get a question answered and my 22 minute wait time on hold (or waiting for a call back) has expanded from 22 minutes to 2 hours and 22 minutes. I had to do something while waiting by the phone.
What is a “winter bike”? If you have one bike and you ride it in the winter, that’s a “winter bike”. If you have a nice bike and you ride it a lot and you don’t want to beat it up in bad weather, it may mean something else. That’s where we’re going today.
I started riding in the winter on January 1, 1966, when I got my paper route. I rode 364 days/year. After some time off (because I was close enough to walk to work for a long time) I have been back to riding to work every day (in a wintery clime) since January 1995. I don’t count riding in the San Francisco Bay Area as winter riding. I have had a few dedicated winter (or bad weather in general) bikes in those years.
The images below (except the Spot) are not my actual bikes but roughly representative.
Image from Bicycling.comImage from AmazonHow the well-equipped paperboy rode
“Western Flyer” by Western Auto. When I got my paper route, the guy I took over for said I could have the bike for ten bucks. It was what later came to be known as a “Balloon Tire Bomber” and is a lot like what subsequently came to be known as a “Beach Cruiser”. These were also the first mountain bikes, when mountain biking consisted of riding downhill as fast as possible, then walking back up. Steel frame, 26x 2.25 inch tires, single speed, New Departure coaster brake, Ashtabula cranks. It came equipped with giant steel baskets. The rears were long and deep enough to hold newspapers folded in half (papers were bigger in those days) and wide enough to fit papers further folded in thirds. The front was big enough to hold papers laid flat, or hold the over-the-shoulder newspaper bag stuffed to the gills. I equipped it with a center-mount kickstand (like on a motorcycle). Traction was not an issue carrying that much weight, and streets were plowed earlier and more frequently in those days. Pro: indestructible, simple. Con: heavy.
Western Flyer image from eBay
Schwinn “Varsity”. I inherited this bike from my dad around the time he died. Steel frame, ten speed (2×5 Huret Allvit, labeled “Schwinn Approved”), sidepull brakes (Weinmann, labeled “Schwinn Approved”) with “safety” levers (which I removed), 27 x 1.25 (?) tires, steel rims. With derailleur cables mounted on the downtube, and no fenders, they tended to ice up from the slush kicked up by the front wheel. The bike became a single-speed in whatever gear I was in when it froze. Rim brakes on steel rims are terrible when wet. Skinny tires are lousy in the winter. Some folks say they will cut through the snow right down to the pavement. Some folks are wrong. Pro: cheap (free). Con: heavy, poor traction, poor braking, frequent gear failures, wet feet and back.
Schwinn Varsity Image from HRDS India
Specialized “Globe”. This was the first bike I bought for bad weather. It was a great concept. The execution was poor. 7-speed Shimano Nexus internally-geared hub, rear roller brake, front V-brake, fenders, chainguard, generator lights, built-in lock, 26x 1.5 tires. The rear brake worked great in all weather. The cheap steel chainring teeth broke off readily. The mounts for the fenders and chainguard broke. (I was able to fabricate new ones from low-temperature thermoplastic scraps I keep around the house, because replacement parts were not available.) The lock jammed frequently, so I stopped using it so it would jam in the unlocked position. The lighting system (which cleverly used a copper strip running along in the inside of the rear fender to bring power to the taillight) never worked right. The rear light had to be rewired before I took the bike home from the shop. The front light burned out frequently – my guess is they did not appropriately match the output of the generator to the input need of the bulb. I came to carry a redundant lighting system and spare bulbs at all times because it would fail so frequently. Then the light mount broke and it just fell off while riding – luckily, not into the spokes. The riding position was upright, with the rider’s weight on the rear wheel. The wheelbase was long. As a result, the bike was unstable in turns in dry conditions, deadly in wet. I made frequent visits to a mechanic on the way home from work, with quick repairs made while I waited. I don’t know how many chainrings I went through. Finally, there was a catastrophic failure of the rear hub while crossing a 6 lane divided street pulling my kids in the trailer. I found the cranks spinning effortlessly (and ineffectually) and jumped off to run the rest of the way across the street. The mechanic opened up the hub, thinking he could weld the cog back onto the hub body. He said it was not repairable – just not enough metal in there to weld. A new hub would cost almost as much as the bike. He then opened up a newer one and said I must not have been the first to have this failure, as the newer hub was beefier inside. He suggested I contact Specialized and Shimano. I gave Specialized a list of the problems. They put me in touch with the bike’s designer. He essentially said, “You’re right. The bike isn’t made for the way you use it. Too bad.” (See paragraph 3, previous post re: testing.) Shimano didn’t respond at all. Pro: Interesting concept. Roller brake simple and effective. Fenders, lights, generator, chainguard, rack, internally geared hub. Con: Doesn’t work. Frequent repairs. Catastrophic failure. Heavy. Poor handling.
Specialized Globe image from Road Bike Action
Raleigh “M60” Mountain bike. My first foray into the world of mountain bikes. Aluminum frame, front suspension, V-brakes, 3×7 gearing (low-end Shimano Acera). I figured if I equipped it with fenders, lights, rack, and studded tires for winter, I could ride it in all weather. It had a crankset with cheap stamped steel chainrings. The right crank and rings were welded together as a unit so the rings could not be replaced without replacing the crankset. I did that several times, as the whole crankset was cheaper than good rings. I had to replace the wheels, as the braking surface wore down from winter grit (sand and salt). I eventually bought a second set of wheels so I could swap wheels seasonally instead of changing tires. The wheels I bought had aluminum spoke nipples. They crack under load. Luckily I had saved all the brass nipples from the trashed wheels, so I could replace nipples as they failed. Anodized aluminum spoke nipples may look cool, but they are worthless. I replaced the derailleurs multiple times due to winter’s toll. I finally overhauled it thoroughly and gave it to my son before I had to spend any more money on it. I had gone through at least 3 drivetrains and wheel sets. Pro: generally reliable (meaning it didn’t break down in use, it just needed frequent overhauls), top tube cable routing keeps them out of the gunk. Con: Expensive upkeep.
Raleigh M60 Image from Bicycle Czar
Spot Brand “Five Points”. Aluminum frame, steel fork, Sram 3 -speed hub, Avid Elixir hydraulic disc brakes, Gates Carbon belt drive, 700x40c tires. (700×32 studs in winter – narrower so they would fit under the fenders despite the studs) All of the experiences above led to my current bad weather bike. The internally-geared hub of the Globe was a good idea but the more gears you put in a hub, the heavier it gets, the more fragile it becomes, and the more expensive it gets to replace. I briefly considered the 14 speed Rohloff hub, which I had heard great things about. I considered the NuVinci CVT (continuously-variable transmission). I went with a 3-speed because Sturmey-Archer has made 3-speeds longer than I’ve been alive and some of those older than I still work. I need a lower gear in the snow than I do in the rain, so I didn’t think a single speed was the best choice. 3-speed it is. (I looked at two-speeds, where you backpedal a tiny bit to shift gears – a system I recall from Schwinns in the 60s (and still made by Sturmey-Archer) – but decided to go for 3 speeds and disc brakes instead of a coaster brake. Disc brakes seemed to be the way to go for reliable braking in all weather. The rotor is farther from the wet roadway than the wheel rim so it gets less wet. It has a smaller diameter so braking friction dries it more quickly. If it wears through, it is cheaper to replace than a wheel. Cables can freeze up. Hydraulic brakes have been in use on cars for a long time. They use DOT brake fluid (not mineral oil, as do some bike brakes), so I figured if I’m going to ride when it is -30 degrees, I want what works in cars when it’s that cold. I spent a lot of money on chains over the years and a lot of time cleaning and lubing chains at least weekly in the winter. To clean the belt means bringing the bike into the basement and slowly pouring a bucket of water on the belt as I turn the cranks, then letting it dry overnight before I ride it the next morning – and that’s only so the water doesn’t freeze. That made a belt drive the only way to go. Five plus (almost six) years later I don’t regret the decision. I have replaced the belt once so far. Seeing how it failed, I know what to look for in hopes that I can replace it before failure but not too soon. If I had to do it again I would get better brakes than the Avid Elixirs. Each time I change tires or remove a wheel for any reason I have to re-center the brakes. The pistons tend to stick so one caliper will drag. Lubricating pistons is fiddlier than lubricating a rim brake pivot (and needs to be done much more often). Bleeding hydraulic lines is more time-consuming than changing cables. Pads on disc brakes are much thinner than those on rim brakes, so they have to be replaced more often and cost more to replace. The original front pulley (AKA chainring) was plastic. The teeth wore down and I had to replace it. The replacement is aluminum so I hope it lasts longer. This may be the last winter bike I buy; at least while I continue working. Pro: Light, reliable, low maintenance, well-equipped, works in all weather. Con: brakes could be better.
Spot Brand bikeNote smaller diamter due to plastic tooth wear – you might have to zoom in to see that.Note ragged edges of plastic teethPlastic vs aluminum pulley
All studded tires are not created equal. Some studs are too soft and wear down quickly. Some studs pop out of the tire. I use only Nokian/Suomi – from Finland, where they know snow) or Schwalbe (from Germany). There are many studded models from Suomi/Nokian – the more studs, the better the traction and the higher the weight.
One decision to make is: Do you want inexpensive components so you can replace them as they wear out, or higher quality in hopes they will last and/or be rebuildable? I have chosen cheaper components for winter. The Raleigh above was equipped with Shimano Acera. I went through derailleurs every couple of years. My Bruce Gordon has Shimano Deore XT derailleurs that are still going strong after 30+ years. Is that because I sprung for better parts, or because it stays inside all winter? I suspect the latter is a bigger contributor.
I have never owned an E-bike. One could be a winter bike. Battery life is greatly reduced in cold weather. Unless your commute is long, that should not be a problem.
For morewinterbikingtips, click the links in this sentence. Each will open a in a new page.
You may notice a fat bike is not on this list. I’m told that a fat bike is the way to go in “brown sugar” – the mixture of melted and refrozen snow mixed with sand and salt that tends to collect in intersections and at the edges of roadways. Fat bike is the way to go through unplowed streets or trails. Fat bikes are heavy (and even heavier if you put studded tires on them – fatties work in snow but not on ice). I wouldn’t want to ride a fat bike in summer rain – it would probably be a strictly winter bike – that would make three commuting bikes instead of two. I can’t justify that to myself. If I want to head out on trails in the winter, I’ll put on my skis.
Half-fast Cycling Club 