Smartphone Camera Test

Got my first smartphone a couple weeks ago (obviously I'm a bit behind technologically), and tested out its basic (bicycle-)photo-taking capabilities. I remembered an old railroad next to the REI store that I always wanted to check out, so I went there after picking up a Velox rim tape at REI. I think this track is currently non-operational, but by 2015 or so, it's supposed to be the tracks for the expanding light rail system.

1989 Panasonic Team Custom (2/19/12)

1989 Panasonic Team Custom (2/19/12)

Recently sold stuff

I don't keep track of most of the things that I sell (largely because I don't think they're rare enough or of high quality). But I did sell a couple of frames and a bicycle within the last month or so, that I think would be recording. I just hope I won't be reading this post later and regret selling these (or the prices that I sold them at).

The first is a 1991 Miyata Seven21 frame. I believe I bought this as a part of a bulk lot of bicycles at a police auction. It's probably an upper-entry level bike, but I think it's somewhat rare. When I brought it home, I realized that the fork was slightly bent inward. I was contemplating whether to use one of my spare forks to build up the bike, but I decided to sell it because the frame wasn't as light as I hoped, and I couldn't remove the bottom bracket cups. It was sold to a guy who modifies the rear dropouts into a track bike dropouts by welding on small plates of steel, then cutting the backside of the dropout. The interesting this is that he keep the derailleur hanger on there so that the owner can switch from single-speed/fixed to geared. I'm not quite sure why one would need to do this if the frame already has a horizontal dropout, but maybe it's more for looks. Anyhow, the frame was sold for $35.

The frame does have a few cool specs. It's got bonded aluminum lugs, got internal cable routing, and has a single hole drilled on the bottom of the down tube. That single hole is supposedly for a CO2 cartridge holder.

1991 Miyata Seven21 (12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 (12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 (12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 - Head tube; Internal cable routing (12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 - Seat cluster; Internal cable routing(12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 - Miyata Aluminum Pressurized Adhesive (APA) (12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 - Bottom bracket..seized (12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 - Bottom bracket (12/20/11)

1991 Miyata Seven21 - Dropout (12/20/11)

The other frame I sold is a 1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE. I have actually kept this frame for a while, and have mentioned it in at least one previous post. Before I found my Univega Alpina Ultima, I was going to turn this into a commuter/tourer. But since I've built up the Univega, this one's been just sitting and taking up space.

This one looks a lot like the 1985 frame, with the same colors. The seat lug and the bottom brackets are lugged, while the head tube joints are fillet-brazed. It doesn't have the lowrider rack braze-ons on the fork like the '85 model, but it has the lugged fork crown (which I've kept). It came with Shimano Deore components, with Sugino AT triple crank. The front wheel was Araya RM20 laced onto Suntour XC Pro, but the rear rim was a cheap generic one. It also had Nitto stem/handlebar and Suntour XC Pro seatpost/pedals. It had significant scratches, especially on the right chainstay from chain suck. There was also a broken bolt in one of the rear dropout braze-ons. I put it up for $5 because of the condition it was in, and coincidentally, the same guy who picked up my Miyata Seven21 ended up with this frame also.

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Fillet brazed head tube (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Schwinn Chicago head badge (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Decal (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Bit of surface rust (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Seat lugs (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - (Fancy) Schwinn Chicago decal (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Bottle cage braze-ons(1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Bi-Oval tubes (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Bottom bracket (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Bottom bracket cable routing (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Serial number (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Good amount of wear on the drive-side chainstay (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Drive-side rear dropout (1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Broken bolt inside one of the dropout braze-ons(1/16/12)

1987 Schwinn Cimarron LE - Rear rack braze-ons (1/16/12)

The last record-worthy bike I sold was a complete 1990 Diamond Back Interval. It was fully-lugged, with Tange 2 tubing, and with Shimano Exage components. Because of the small size and the clean condition it was in, I was originally thinking about putting on better components selling it to my friend for very cheap. So I actually overhauled the whole thing, even applying Boeshield T-9 and waxing. During the process,I felt like  the brazing of the lugs looked somewhat sloppy. Since I know nothing about frame-building, I figured I would just sell this one, and wait for a better bike to turn up for my friend.

Here are the specs.

Frame: Fully-lugged; 50cm; Tange 2 Champion No. 2 tubing; made in Taiwan
Fork: Unicrown; Super Radius Cr Mo blades
Crankset: Shimano 400EX, 165mm; 42-52 Biopace steel chainrings
Shifters: Shimano 7 speed SIS downtube
Derailleurs: Shimano 500EX
Hubs: KK front; HG-50 rear, 7 speed cassette
Rims: Araya 700c, single-walled, presta valve
Tires :700x25c Specialized All Condition Armadillo
Headset: some Taiwanese brand
Handlebar: alloy (Kalloy?)
Stem: alloy (Kalloy?)
Brakes: Shimano 500EX; dual-pivot
Brake levers: Shimano 500EX
Saddle: Selle Italia Turbo Bernard Hinault (tear on the left-rear of the saddle)
Seatpost: Kalloy?

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Drive side (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Centurion handlebar (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Shimano Exage 500 EX brake levers (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Head badge decal (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Head tube lugs (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Shimano Exage 500 EX dual-pivot brake (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Super Radius Cr-Mo fork blades (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - "Centurion Designed" (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Seat cluster; Tange Cr-Mo(1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Bottom bracket (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Shimano Exage 400 EX crankset (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Shimano Exage 500 EX rear derailleur (1/17/12)

1990 Diamond Back Interval - Rear view; Turbo saddle (1/17/12)

I also recorded this for fun:

MEGA UPDATE! Part 4 - Univega Alpina 5.7

The fourth part of the updates is going to be about the 1994 Univega Alpina 5.7. It is very much similar to the Alpina 507 I wrote about a while back (which was bought before this one, but has been just sitting). I bought this one because the Alpina 507 felt very light for a steel MTB, and I thought a smaller member of my family could use this one. But unlike the first one, this one just has a steel fork instead of a suspension fork, and is a 21-speed instead of 24.

It's in a great cosmetic condition, and I only needed to do only minor overhaul/replacements. The original Shimano Deore LX Rapid Fire shifters were malfunctioning, so I put on Shimano Deore thumb shifters that I had in my parts bin. And since the brakes were integrated with the shifters, I put on the Suntour XC Ltd. brake levers that I took off from the Trek 6000 that I wrote about in a previous post. The grips had worn off the bicycle when I got it, so I took off the bar-ends and put on a pair of End-Zone integrated grips.

It has the bent chainstays like the Alpina 507, which I read are supposed to help with mud build-up that leads to chain suck and shifting problems. Not sure if that's really the case, but it's pretty cool looking. It also has three sets of bottle cage bosses, and also rear rack bosses. That makes me wonder what the intended purpose of this bike was, since it doesn't have the clunker-like relaxed geometry of my Univega Alpina Ultima. It actually seems to have a pretty tight geometry/short wheelbase since the ride feels a slightly bit more twitchy. Or maybe the bicycle is just built wrong.

I got a bit lazy with this bicycle, so I didn't spray Boeshield T-9 inside or wax the outside. One thing I need to figure out about this bicycle is the seatpost size. The current seatpost is supposedly the same diameter as the Alpina 507, with both of them having the same tubing. But the seatpost lug (is it called that even if there's no actual lug?) on this one appears slightly bent, and the quick-release binder needs to be tightened quite a bit to prevent the seatpost from slipping around. I'm also going to replace the current stem with a shorter one.

I don't know how I ended up with so many Univega mountain bikes.

Here are the specs and pictures.
Frame: Welded Formula 969 Race Lite; Cr-Mo 969 Double Butted tubes & 969 Chainstays (couldn't find any info on this tubing..maybe .9/.6/.9 butted?); Bi-Axial Power Oval (also no clue what this means); made in Taiwan
Fork: Formula 1.3/.7 Chromoly; 1" threadless steerer
Crankset: Shimano Deore LX; 175mm
Shifters: Shimano Deore friction thumbshifter front (from 6 speed group); Deore 7-speed SIS thumshifter rear
Derailleurs: Deore LX top-pull front; Deore XT rear
Pedals: Wellgo
Chain: Hyperglide
Hubs: Deore LX Parallax; 7-speed cassette
Rims: Mavic 230 SBP
Tires: I think Ritchey something (too lazy to walk to the garage and check)
Headset: Dia-Compe Aheadset
Handlebar: Concept
Stem: Concept; 1" steerer threadless
Brakes: Deore LX low-profile catilever
Brake levers: Suntour XC Ltd
Saddle: Vetta SP
Seatpost: Concept
Accessories: Cat-eye reflector on the fork, and on left seatstay.

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Drive side (9/16/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 (9/16/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - The cockpit; Shimano Deore thumb shifters; Suntour XC Ltd brake levers (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Shimano Deore thumb shifter; Suntour XC Ltd brake lever (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Dia-Compe Ahead Set (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Shimano Deore LX cantilever brakes (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Formula 1.3/.7 Chromoly fork blades (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Seat cluster; Bi-Axial Power Oval tube decal (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Shimano Deore LX cransket (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Bottom bracket; Formula 969 Race lite tube decal (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Shimano Deore LX front derailleur (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Shimano Deore XT rear derailleur (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Shimano Deore LX Parallax rear 7-speed freehub (10/21/11)

1994 Univega Alpina 5.7 - Max MudRoom bent chainstays (10/21/11)