RIDING THE FALCON "SINGLE SPEED"

Even though I had built this nice old English bicycle from the ground up myself, I still gave it a thorough going over to ensure that everything had been tightened up.  Safety is a big concern and the last thing I want is for the rear wheel to pop out of the drops when I apply pressure to the pedals.  Don't laugh, it did happen and I was just lucky that I was going really slow because the result was a near "face plant" and an actual shoulder plant.  Ouch!

With the bike checked over and my everyday running shoes on, the Falcon and I took off for our shake down or test ride.

As usual, the saddle position needed to be touched up a couple of times, until height, fore/aft and tilt positions had been achieved.  The bars and stem height seemed to be just fine and I left them as they were.

The Falcon was a treat to ride.  It was a pretty light feeling bicycle.  This lighter feel was accomplished through a few avenues.  The Falcon's Reynolds 531 frame set is relatively light to begin with and the geometry adds to the feel.  Removing an assortment of components also adds to the light feel.  But it was probably the choice of wheels that imparted the greatest improvement in the improved feel of the bicycle.  The wheels were considerably lighter and the smaller profile tires were run at higher pressures than the original would have been set at. The original wheels, incidentally were 27" steel rimed units that were quite heavy and significantly impacted road feel.

Acceleration was quick, though I feel a bit unfair comparing such a characteristic to other bicycles that have transmissions.  Holding a fifteen mile an hour pace was no problem, encouraging neither laboured breathing nor profuse sweating.  This was a perfect around town bicycle.  I plan to build another one some day.

Not long after building the Falcon up, I realized, as I usually do, that I had too many bicycles in the Old Shed.  The Falcon was put on the auction block and snatched up very quickly.  Today, this neat old bicycle lives in Montreal, as I recall, but I could be mistaken.