I decided to forego renting and took my yellow Motobecane with me here to Hawaii - Keahou Bay to be specific. What a great place - the coffee belt is about 1500' up the volcano from the waterfront resort area, and yesterday I found a great ride to test out the new changes to the old Motobecane ! Baron provided me with new bars and a longer stem, and as expected... this bike now descends with MUCH more stability. I couldnt re'use the elk hide wrap from Velo Orange because the lever positions didnt match with the cutouts - so put on a RED set of tape. And Jan sent me a replacement 30mm Gran Bois for the rear, so I'm not riding on the 'cut' one I have been for a long time ! Oh... I'd seen an intriguing saddle on a cheap taiwanese 'retro' bikes, sold as the house brand for a major bike distributor ( model has the logo of a billiard ball with an 8 in it) - the saddle is brown 'leather', and has a modern styling (sorry, OT) - but I can report for a super cheapo saddle this is is really comfortable. Check it in the pics below. Darn thing was something like $20 (might break in a few hundred miles !).
The bike climbs great - even though it's a longer wheelbase. There are some steep sections, but the compact double manages these hills pretty well. I strapped on the handlbar bag this time which works out well.
On the ride, I took a break at an interesting old, abandoned, building along the upper road. Turns out it's the Keahou store ! (1500 feet above where they now call 'Keahou' - names seem assigned in a flexible manner here).... so I stopped for a picture, looked closer, and this storefront had some incredible, old original signage on it. . See the pictures below - a classic film sign..but in the plural which I've never seen before: KODAKS. Then it turns out the store once was a bike store (i can see old boxes in side thru a broken window pane... ooooohhhh)... And among the Redline and Mongoose stickers, there is a great logo of a hub company called 'MATTATUCK' (sp?) pic is a bit fuzzy, but the model is the 'QUICKER'. What a find.
Here are some pictures
http://www-hsc.usc.edu/
Rich Pinder
Keahou Bay, BigIsland HI
(beats Van Nuys, CA)