So I really, really like to ride bicycles - as any regular reader may have noticed. Over the last few years I've collected a few vintage road bikes - none have a ton of value - I like to find them cheap then fix them up into riding condition. I'm not a retro purist and I wouldn't say that I am "restoring" them either.
Anyways - for a work stand I had been using some clamps and a two by four on my workbench - it gets the job done but it definitely isn't the best. Every Wednesday I go on a group ride with some friends and a few were mentioning that Aldi(of all places) was selling bike work stands for only 30 bucks. I started to think I should get one - then it occurred to me - I have every kind of stand, clamp and arm possible in this studio to hold up lighting gear, cameras, and backdrops. After trying a few different pieces and parts I came up with the above solution - why didn't I think of this before!?
This is my latest bike - a Gitane Tour de France. In terms of overall quality it is the highest-end one I own. I started to strip it down but I'm not sure how I want to rebuild it yet. Since it is an early 70s race bike I was thinking it might be cool to replace the outdated components with more modern ones....
"Tour de France"
The Stronglight crank and chainrings are pretty rad - those will have to stay.
Gitane made nice bikes - this is a Reynold 531 frame - but their finishing touches were very cheap. Metallic decals not even clear coated over, sloppy looking welds, cheap paint, etc. My other two French bikes(Motobecane & Peugeot) were probably a quarter of the cost but look four times more expensive.
but yeah - a c-stand, sandbag, an arm, and a clamp and I'm totally in business. I have enough of these things around that I probably won't have to bring this up from my workshop even for the biggest studio jobs.
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