rafaelcasd wrote:
Jim,
I have this Waltham watch from the civil war era, YOM 1868 which makes it 158 years old. works fine, it is keywound and set, on a heavy coin silver case. I am told it is the same model Abraham Lincoln wore...
That is so COOL! Lovely piece of work, and great pics of it too. I'd say old man Fogg's patent was a success. I wonder who Bartlett was. Maybe the engraver who prepped the back plate and added his signature in large script? The initials are so stylized I can't be sure what they are.
jimmuller wrote:
That is so COOL! Lovely piece of work, and great pics of it too. I'd say old man Fogg's patent was a success. I wonder who Bartlett was. Maybe the engraver who prepped the back plate and added his signature in large script? The initials are so stylized I can't be sure what they are.
"AI Overview The P.S. Bartlett is a highly popular and historic line of pocket watch movements manufactured by the American Waltham Watch Company. It was not a specific "model" in the traditional sense, but rather a premium watch grade named after Patten Sergeant Bartlett, an esteemed foreman of the company's plate and screw department."
Once thing about being retired (finally) is that on weekdays I can do whatever I want (unless Sharon wants me to do something else). The Waltham section of the Mass Central Rail Trail was opened recently, eventually to run the length of the state. The Waltham section runs within 50 yards of the residential neighborhood where we live. So today I rode it on a vintage bike, my first derailleur bike, a Peugeot UO8 from 1972. Across Waltham out to Weston and back.
Not great pics but they do show what the MCRT is like. Quiet, mostly wooded, mostly smooth and straight. PostN91
by James Muller, on Flickr
For the ride home I took a detour through the city to get some pics of the Watch Factory. It holds residential lofts and some offices now. WatchFactory1
by James Muller, on Flickr
jimmuller wrote:
Once thing about being retired (finally) is that on weekdays I can do whatever I want (unless Sharon wants me to do something else). The Waltham section of the Mass Central Rail Trail was opened recently, eventually to run the length of the state. The Waltham section runs within 50 yards of the residential neighborhood where we live. So today I rode it on a vintage bike, my first derailleur bike, a Peugeot UO8 from 1972. Across Waltham out to Weston and back.
jimmuller wrote:
Once thing about being retired (finally) is that on weekdays I can do whatever I want (unless Sharon wants me to do something else). The Waltham section of the Mass Central Rail Trail was opened recently, eventually to run the length of the state. The Waltham section runs within 50 yards of the residential neighborhood where we live. So today I rode it on a vintage bike, my first derailleur bike, a Peugeot UO8 from 1972. Across Waltham out to Weston and back.
Not great pics but they do show what the MCRT is like. Quiet, mostly wooded, mostly smooth and straight. ...Show more →
Congratulations on the retirement, Jim. Is it a very recent thing? Nothing wrong with the pictures. Owning a Z5 mk1 myself, I appreciate how your pictures look like they are straight out of camera. They look very much as the eye would have seen the scene, at least on my monitors.
milt wrote:
Jimmy, I really envy you. Hopefully, in a month, I’ll be able to ride my bike again. Regina
Hang in there. When you are ready, and as I wrote shortly after joining MFNG, we'll do a ride together!
FWIW, one thing I proved to myself today is that the Z5ii w/35mm is light enough to carry in a handlebar bag. So we can get some good pics.
---------------------------------------------
SiMuMe wrote:
Congratulations on the retirement, Jim. Is it a very recent thing? Nothing wrong with the pictures. Owning a Z5 mk1 myself, I appreciate how your pictures look like they are straight out of camera. They look very much as the eye would have seen the scene, at least on my monitors.
Thank you. Yes, retirement is recent, May 1. I gave them 5 months notice so they and I knew it was coming. Retirement at 77, not bad. I'm not quite sure yet what to do with myself but so far my sweetie hasn't let that become a problem
Thank you too for the pics comment. In fact, Straight Out Of Camera is what I try to do most of the time. Capture what I see that might be worth sharing. However IMHO that Post 91 pic on the MCRT is bad composition. The post is just static, dominates the pic and hides of the adventure of the trail. The bike is barely visible. (On BikeForums.net readers want to see the bike. "A picture is worth a thousand words, but only if taken from the drive side.") I just propped up the bike, grabbed the camera, stepped to side carefully, and snapped. I wasn't thinking. It is what I saw at the time but not something I'd want to hang on a wall and look at every day.
jimmuller wrote:
Once thing about being retired (finally) is that on weekdays I can do whatever I want (unless Sharon wants me to do something else). The Waltham section of the Mass Central Rail Trail was opened recently, eventually to run the length of the state. The Waltham section runs within 50 yards of the residential neighborhood where we live. So today I rode it on a vintage bike, my first derailleur bike, a Peugeot UO8 from 1972. Across Waltham out to Weston and back.
Kudos for keeping such a fine vintage ride alive-and-kicking for so long! The technology of frame-building and derailleurs has of course improved, but like an old watch (or camera), sometimes the old ways were better. I really hate the modern trend to super-lightweight and disposable (read not-reliable) bicycle technology: Does saving 157g really matter (unless you're in the Tour de France)?
You are of course posting on the correct thread to get an appreciative audience of old technology appreciators, but still I raise my (no doubt old fashioned) cap to you.
grantgoodes wrote:
Kudos for keeping such a fine vintage ride alive-and-kicking for so long!...
You are of course posting on the correct thread to get an appreciative audience of old technology appreciators, but still I raise my (no doubt old fashioned) cap to you.
Thank you. I tip my cap every day to the folks who post all the great pics in this thread.
Restoring steel-frame road bikes from bare frames became a hobby when I was bike-commuting (until Covid). The collection currently includes a Masi Gran Criterium, Tommasini Racer, Gazelle Champion Mondial, Motobecane Champion Team, Peugeot PF-10, Bianchi Brava, and a Peugeot TH-8 tandem. I keep the UO-8 for nostalgia reasons. BITD it was only slightly above the cheapest entry-level road bikes but with a well-designed frame made with good steel. Over the years I upgraded the wheels and some components. It's a bit heavier than the rest but the ride is sweet. I've ridden all of them up Cadillac Mt in Acadia National Park, the last trip on that UO-8.
As with cameras, old technology can be better than new. Of course everyone here knows that already. Suntour's invention of the slant-parallelogram rear derailleur has never been matched. Downtube shift levers work like a charm. Frame pumps never run out of air.
On that MCRT ride yesterday I was delayed for 20 minutes to help a trio of 20-something guys worrying over a flat tire. Somehow they had gotten part of the tire twisted and inside-out on the rim. An "experienced" and very fit-looking couple had already stopped to help but couldn't figure it out. I fixed it for them, mounted the tire with my tire jack (a device none had ever heard of), pumped it up with my frame pump (they had exhausted their one CO2 cartridge), help them mount the wheel into the rear dropouts, wished them well and sent them on their way. They were grateful! And I kept thinkin' that the old technology, including the old brain, can be better than the new.
jimmuller wrote:
Thank you. Yes, retirement is recent, May 1. I gave them 5 months notice so they and I knew it was coming. Retirement at 77, not bad. I'm not quite sure yet what to do with myself but so far my sweetie hasn't let that become a problem
Thank you too for the pics comment. In fact, Straight Out Of Camera is what I try to do most of the time. Capture what I see that might be worth sharing. However IMHO that Post 91 pic on the MCRT is bad composition. The post is just static, dominates the pic and hides of the adventure of the trail. The bike is barely visible. (On BikeForums.net readers want to see the bike. "A picture is worth a thousand words, but only if taken from the drive side.") I just propped up the bike, grabbed the camera, stepped to side carefully, and snapped. I wasn't thinking. It is what I saw at the time but not something I'd want to hang on a wall and look at every day....Show more →
That's awesome. You're fresh from the the retirement oven. Congratulations, and you went the extra mile with your work tenure.
Post 91 pic, with your description of the bike suffers the sins of familiarity. You've had the bike for 50+ years and it's easy to take it for granted while the people that saw it on bikeforums(I presume) marvel at the fact that someone still has that bike. Therefore, you owe all of us a George-esque bike picture (high bar, that). I remember Peugeot bikes, and Raleighs. That's about it .
Kind of a parallel story about familiarity. In '95 as I departed University, the students at our res gave us nice pens with the res name and year engraved on it. Didn't think much of it but it was cool. Just not that much of a pen person. Over the years I've been given a pen here and there when I reached a blood donation milestone, and just put them away, but never given away. Last month I got two pens as a 30 year anniversary from work but only received them last week because they went to be engraved. Why did I spent a good part of Sunday looking for my other pens(all same make, Parker). When it's just one, it was just a pen with some sentimental value. When I have five of them, well maybe I must give them pride of place. I couldn't believe that 31 years later the pen just wrote from the first click.
SiMuMe wrote:
That's awesome. You're fresh from the the retirement oven. Congratulations, and you went the extra mile with your work tenure.
Thanks!
Cool story about the pens. Some seemingly trivial items carry more value than others! Especially when they include personal experience.
About the bikes, I participate regularly (not so much since Covid when I stopped bike commuting) in a thread on BF named Classic & Vintage. Those folks definitely have an appreciation for the old bikes, not so different from MFNG! I will post some bike pics taken with MFNG. I'm not sure who this George is you mention but I'll do my best.
I've dominated this thread too much over the past few days. Time to let pictures do the talking again.
I am in the process of converting my old OG steel-frame Marin Palisades Trail mountain bike that I bought new into a bike-packing gravel bike (rim brakes and all).
Over the next two weeks we are helping our son move to Columbia Mo and his apartment complex has a connector trail to the Katy Trail. The longest contiguous rail to trail in the US (240 miles).
My retirement comes later this year and I am definitely planning on a multi-day ride out there.
George
jimmuller wrote:
Thank you. I tip my cap every day to the folks who post all the great pics in this thread.
Restoring steel-frame road bikes from bare frames became a hobby when I was bike-commuting (until Covid). The collection currently includes a Masi Gran Criterium, Tommasini Racer, Gazelle Champion Mondial, Motobecane Champion Team, Peugeot PF-10, Bianchi Brava, and a Peugeot TH-8 tandem. I keep the UO-8 for nostalgia reasons. BITD it was only slightly above the cheapest entry-level road bikes but with a well-designed frame made with good steel. Over the years I upgraded the wheels and some components. It's a bit heavier than the rest but the ride is sweet. I've ridden all of them up Cadillac Mt in Acadia National Park, the last trip on that UO-8.
As with cameras, old technology can be better than new. Of course everyone here knows that already. Suntour's invention of the slant-parallelogram rear derailleur has never been matched. Downtube shift levers work like a charm. Frame pumps never run out of air.
On that MCRT ride yesterday I was delayed for 20 minutes to help a trio of 20-something guys worrying over a flat tire. Somehow they had gotten part of the tire twisted and inside-out on the rim. An "experienced" and very fit-looking couple had already stopped to help but couldn't figure it out. I fixed it for them, mounted the tire with my tire jack (a device none had ever heard of), pumped it up with my frame pump (they had exhausted their one CO2 cartridge), help them mount the wheel into the rear dropouts, wished them well and sent them on their way. They were grateful! And I kept thinkin' that the old technology, including the old brain, can be better than the new.
I need to take some old-bike pics with old MFNG....Show more →
When the photographer does things correctly, the IQ of the 400mm f5.6 AIS wide open, even with the TC-14Eii attached, is great! Not bad for something that first went on sale in 1982.
I've been contemplating finding a TC-14B for my 300mm. A nominal 420mm seems like it would be a handful. "Does things correctly" would be a prerequisite.
SiMuMe wrote:
...Owning a Z5 mk1 myself, I appreciate how your pictures look like they are straight out of camera.
I was meaning to ask how you like the Z5. Do you try to take "straight out of camera" shots, and does the Z5 make that easy or harder? Just curious. I read about how the processor in the Z5ii makes AF faster, but we don't do AF here, now do we?
I am in the process of converting my old OG steel-frame Marin Palisades Trail mountain bike that I bought new into a bike-packing gravel bike (rim brakes and all).
Over the next two weeks we are helping our son move to Columbia Mo and his apartment complex has a connector trail to the Katy Trail. The longest contiguous rail to trail in the US (240 miles).
My retirement comes later this year and I am definitely planning on a multi-day ride out there.
George
Ah! You must be "the George"! (Thanks.)
Your Marin Palisades Trail mbt restoration sounds like fun. Show us some pics of the ongoing work. I don't know mbt technology. But we became friends with Frank Waddleton, the original frame builder for Yeti. He straightened the tandem's fork, told lots of good stories from his earlier days.
So you are hoping to do an extended tour with your son. That sounds great, but we will need pictures of that too, of course. My sweetie and I did two short camping trips on our tandem, the first a one-night with a friend, the second two nights with a slightly larger group. We did about 40 miles a day. For the second trip the bike with gear weighed about 100 lbs. Controlling a 1982 tandem is hard enough when it isn't loaded, but we managed and never got into any trouble. We had planned the route carefully (and I was 13 years younger). I wouldn't mind doing another trip, possibly a credit-card tour. But keeping a group of 9 organized is like keeping table tennis balls under water.
jimmuller wrote:
I was meaning to ask how you like the Z5. Do you try to take "straight out of camera" shots, and does the Z5 make that easy or harder? Just curious. I read about how the processor in the Z5ii makes AF faster, but we don't do AF here, now do we?
I like it but I do not find it fun to shoot with like the DSLRs. I can pretty much dial in the look I want before I press the shutter and out comes the picture. No further processing required. The colour is very accurate, the LCD screen is very good. It's that easy, which I somehow don't find as enjoyable. It has far superior AF capabilities though and the image stabilisation is a boon. I appreciate that, especially indoors, in the evenings when I take pictures of family. It's also nicer for manual focus lenses but not nice enough to use it over say, a Df. Maybe later in life.
I am far from being a purist but I can relate to the more natural looking pictures. Therefore, I gravitate towards the "straight out of camera" shooting philosophy. When I got into this, I was drawn to the process of taking photos. PP is what the labs did . I do it out of necessity, but honestly, I'm not good at it so I don't even try hard. Some shadow lift here, some exposure adjustment, or a conversion to black and white. Export. Having said that, there are PP wizards among us and it's wonderful to see what's possible.
Yep, AF is wasted in this board. I was all in on AF until 2020. If I'd just stayed there, but dang this board hooked me.
I guess I must post pictures now, hey. Too much talking.
An "experienced" and very fit-looking couple had already stopped to help but couldn't figure it out. I fixed it for them, mounted the tire with my tire jack (a device none had ever heard of), pumped it up with my frame pump (they had exhausted their one CO2 cartridge), help them mount the wheel into the rear dropouts, wished them well and sent them on their way. They were grateful! And I kept thinkin' that the old technology, including the old brain, can be better than the new. 
