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Wim van Est postcard

In the 60´s my grandfather organised bike races in the north of the Netherlands. At the time my mother was a teenager and many of the day´s professionals cyclists visited their house. On one of these visits made by Wim van Est he gave my mother a post card and signed it for her.



My mother found the card last week and gave it to me.

Wim van Est is very well known in Holland for the way he lost his yellow jersey in the Tour the France. http://www.myshavedlegs.com/2007/05/in-search-of-wim-van-est.html

Eurobike Project III

Eurobike project II

le Cadre
Originally uploaded by le cadre bicycles

It got finished in the nick of time. The party was great. If you missed it, you really missed something. Thanks Fahrstil!!

Eurobike project

box lining before clearcoat
Originally uploaded by le cadre bicycles

Eurobike project almost done

Time Trial frame modifications

Team Saturn GT time trial frames. Needed extended seatposts.

Come see, Come see!!!

Come see, Come see!!!
Originally uploaded by le cadre bicycles

Friday the 3th of September from 20.00 to 24.00 at Eurobike there is a Velo Vernisage held. 15 builder (including myself) will be featured. Come have a drink at see the bikes!

Formula 1 Pedelec

What happens when you let a Formula 1 team design an Electric assist bicycle? You get a light weigth, super fast, super expensive electric bicycle. 100 km/h!!!!! (60 mph)

Columbus Banner

7 nation army

why ride a mountainbike?

full contact cycling

Eurobike Exhibition Project

Futurama

Futurama
Originally uploaded by le cadre bicycles

I saw this poster hanging is Kris' workshop (Julie Racing Design). I really like it. Julie must have put it there to make sure Kris keeps his mind on her Audi TT. Way to go Julie!!!

Hard day at work?

Take some time to enjoy this. It's the descent of Mont Ventoux on a nice day.


I really like going down a mountain pass. Too bad I first need to ride up.

Don´t ask!

Belgium connection

These guys make my ´production´ frames. Have a look.

Walcheren Coast Customs

I love watching shows like American Hotrod and Overhauling. This gave me the idea to do something like that to a bicycle. (since that is my field of expertiece)
Now that I am also involved with Liberté Cycles and we are starting a 650B section in the webshop I decided to combine the two ideas and convert an old racer into a 650B tourer.
I bought a used but well taken care off Batavus Competition on Marktplaats (Dutch auction site). I picked her up today and since the transfer had to be made at the seller workplace and there wasn't as much time as I would normaly take I overlooked some things. The paint isn't as good as I had hoped. This is not so good if I was going to keep it, but since I plan to use the torch on her this makes it only easier.



As soon as I got home I took her for a spin. Just by riding you feel she has been taken care of. Braking feels direct, wheels are tigth and true, shifting feels smooth and no play on any bearing. This means I can salvage most parts. And what I can't use I can find in my scrap bin. Just need to buy some nice 650B rims and tires.

tubing stock

New order arriving, stuff that was left over and pieces I messed up. Now I need to figure out if all the ordered pieces arrived and label them.

big box of Reynolds tubing

Fixed steady for the Myford

Tour de France

Last weekend the Tour de France started in Rotterdam and on Sunday the first stage passed my neck of the woods (Province of Zeeland). Unfortunatly I was unable to visit the show. I even had an invitation to stay at a friends house in Rotterdam. He lives less then 100 meters (300 foot) from the prologue course. This bummed me out somewhat, but I was able to follow the whole circus on TV and had the best view possible.
The first stage was visited by a large number of people. I haven't heared of official numbers but it wouldn't surprise me if it more than half a million. Almost the entire 220 km course (Rotterdam - Brussels) was lined with spectators on both sides. Some sections had them standing more then 10 rows deep.
Two of them where my inlaws. My mother in law, knowing my passion with le Tour, managed to obtain a route sign and some goodies from the caravan.

ORME dot TV

At the EHBE pictures taken by the Italian Orme.tv blog. They borrowed some of my bikes and took some great pictures in the park right outside the venue.



Have a look at ORME dot TV. It is in Italian but the pictures are great. I am proud to have one of my bikes in the ORME garage. Also have a look at the rest of the garage. It´s worth a look.

enjoy!

6 speed cassette

At the EHBE I had a 6 speed set up on the build off bike. It used a Hope SS hub and the 6 largest cogs out of an Ultegra cassette. To make it all run smooth I needed to take a bit of material of the back of the cassette. I finally had some time to make it happen. And since I will have to ride the bike soon, I am glad I got in done.

single piece bar/stem

I planned to bring a bunch of single piece bar stems to the EHBE to sell. But circumstances made it impossible to finish them in time (or even to start making 'em).



I have two shapes: Boomerang and Northroad. The Northroad can be used two ways, upright and upside down. I will make the stems in several lengths and angles. If you are interested let me know what you want length and angle wise so I can make sure I have one for you. Because I plan to make only one batch.

missing @ 2010 EHBE

After exhibiting at the 2009 EHBE I was looking forward to meeting a lot of people again in 2010. This year a lot of the same faces and a lot of new faces where at the show. And as in 2009 I had a great time. One of the people that didn't return for 2010 was Karl from Yasec bikes (Hungary).
I was very happy meeting him at the 2009 show. I hadn't seen many pictures of his bikes through the years and it had been a few years since I saw the last. His bikes have always inspired me to design and build better bicycles.
I hope he is there next year, because I like looking at his bikes.

Ecovelo dot info

I am a fan of the ECOVELO blog. I try to read it every day. It is filled with information about car free living (I am not there yet, and lickely never will) which is of great interest to me. The American way of car free life is not the Dutch way, but the information is still very usefull. As it should be for anyone around the world.

Have a look at:

http://www.ecovelo.info/

Hydraulic press

I finally transported the workshop press home. It turned out to exactly fit in the back of my car (With me crushed against the steering wheel for 108 km!). This weekend I decided to take it appart. The reason it got trown in the trash was obvious: it didn't seem to hold pressure. I now plan to replace all the gaskets and seals. The current parts are very worn. But what do you expect of a 33 year old press. Now I just need to find the parts.

detail shots

I finally had some time to take a few detail shots.


I like the result.

Show Down in Schwäbisch Gmünd

EHBE, Part II

UFL (Unidentified French Lady) taking pictures all weekend.


One of my personal favorites of the show. I love the lines and the colour.


Leonardi Racing fork in a Crisp bike.


BICICLISTA dot IT


Found in the street at nigth.

EHBE

Last weekend was EHBE weekend. I had a great time once again, as did most of the people involved. Personal high lights:
-Meeting friends
-Unveiling Build off
-being pulled over by the Police
-Having fun
-being interviewed
-having my bikes photographed
-Getting and buying nice goodies
-having some pretty sweet ideas for next year
-Ordering a Julie Racing Designs fixie frame
-Paying for this frame by building a frame for him
-Getting the first issue of Fahrstil magazin

In short I am going again next year.

For pictures look at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lecadre/sets/72157623992818179/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/breetbikes/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18bikes/sets/72157623981678215/

Parts

While the frame is at the painter I have time to sort out the parts. I have most of them right now. Waiting for the last small bits. Also need to modify a couple of things to make em fit or to make em function better.