Vive La France!

This has been the first time I've paid close attention to the Tour De France and it's been fun to watch. I've even managed to get Tam to tolerate it for awhile! We caught the first couple of stages up in Portland last weekend, and I've been continuing at home with help of our trusty DVR. I'll admit that I don't watch the ENTIRE stages. I'll usually skim through the first 2 hours or so, stopping occasionally. For me the exciting stuff is the last 20K or so. Those sprinters are insane. So much power and a lot of strategy on the whole team's part.

So in honor of all things French, and because a CICLE ride is finally coming up the Tam can participate in, I'm finally getting the ol' Peugeot back into working condition with riser bars. Here she is so far...

The old drops are on the floor underneath. I think Tam will feel better in a less aggressive position on the bike. I managed to dig up a couple of old stems, handlebars and grips at the Bike Oven last month and I was able to use one of the combos. I think it cost me about $10 for everything! As I have with a few other parts, I pulled the brake levers off the now very stripped and unrideable (may she rest in peace) Basket Bike. The next step is to instal new brake cables.

Most of the brake tutorials online focus on more modern braking systems, so I'm not seeing a lot on old school center-pull Mafacs. I'm going to do some more digging, but may ultimately just wing it. Story of my life.