During the restoration of my Falcon, the owner of Café Vélo in Nevers, France started following my Instagram account. Their Instagram posts are full of delicious looking cakes and mouthwatering food, definitely makes me want to visit.
As well as the lovely food, one of the owners, Anna, started messaging me about buying a Falcon Black Diamond. It turned out that her husband had owned one as a teenager and she was trying to buy one for him. She eventually found one, and the story has been reported on the French website Bike Café.
As well as talking about the history of Falcon and Charles’s new bike, my website gets a mention in the article. It is an interesting read, although is in French, so you may need to turn translation on.
Thanks to Charles and Anna for the shout out, and I look forward to visiting the café.
I finally managed to make it to VeloRetro in Ulverston this year. Taking the Falcon and seeing so many other old bikes was a highlight. The weekend-long retro festival takes over the centre of Ulverston, with displays of vintage cars and motorcycles and stalls including a cycle jumble.
We spent Saturday in town looking at the exhibits, and enjoying live music in the sun. Plenty of steel bikes were on show too.
Sunday morning saw the start of the various rides. I was riding Le Loafeur, a 50km outing from Ulverston along the eastern shore of Coniston Water.
It was a gorgeous morning, with the sun out and the Lakeland scenery. The miles flew by with a few chats to other riders.
Photo credit: Steve Fleming
The trip up the lake was very pleasant. Traffic was light, but there were a few parked cars which narrowed the (already narrow) road. With give and take cyclists and cars all managed to get along.
Photo credit: Steve Fleming
The food stop at Monk Coniston was well stocked with the usual flapjack and cake, but also sausage rolls and pork pie! Most welcome. I opted not to carry on up Hawkshead Hill after the food stop, as I wasn’t sure my gearing was low enough to manage. This proved to be the case on the climb back from Monk Coniston where I did have to walk. Apparently 48-28 is not low enough for some of the Lakeland hills. I may need to change that for next year.
A lovely climb over moorland gave some stunning views and plenty of photo opportunities.
Almost back to Ulverston and there was the chance to do the optional gravel climb up the Hoad to the Sir John Barrow Monument. This seemed like a good idea to start with, but again the gradient defeated me.
I did make it to the top with a struggle. The descent on gravel was tricky too, and had me taking to the grass for a more stable surface, only to switch back to the gravel when a rabbit hole appeared.
Back at the finish we were treated to a chip butty and beer as post-ride recovery food, and very welcome they were!
Thanks to Steve Fleming for the ride photos (all others are mine), and a massive thanks to Alan and Ali for organising the whole event.
With the long bank holiday weekend and the sun I decided to pop out for another ride. This was also a chance to check everything over for the last time before an up coming retro cycle event.
The cows seemed mildly interested in the bike, but more interested in eating grass.
The front mudguard still rattled, but more worryingly the rear started to sound very loose. When I stopped to check, the bolt holding it on to the stay was loose. The only thing I had to hand that fitted the screw was a key. It did the job to tighten it till I got home.
I did risk a gravel track linking two of the local villages. It wasn’t too bumpy so felt ok to ride.
The afternoon was spent fixing and cleaning. I adjusted the front mudguard so it no longer rattles all the time and tightened the rear mudguard bolt. I applied thread lock to make sure it wouldn’t work loose again. The bottom bracket had some play in it so I tightened that up too.
The rear brake was the worst problem. The cable clamp looked odd and when I removed it I found it had broken on one side. Luckily I had a spare so was able to swap it. Better to replace it than risk it failing on a ride.
Following a collision with a submerged pothole a few weeks ago, which saw me thrown from my bike and hitting the tarmac hard enough to fracture a bone in my pelvis, I took my Falcon out for a ride this morning.
My physio had said I should get back on a bike as it’s good rehab, and the weather was nice. No rain to get the bike dirty.
I took a gentle trip round a couple of local villages early in the morning. Very little traffic and lots of sun, but still a bit cool. The bike is feeling good after the winter inside, but I am going to have to sort out the front mudguard. It rattles all the time. It’s not loose and in danger of falling off, I think it’s the mudguard banging on the stay. A bit of adjustment is in order.
I managed an hour-long ride and felt ok afterwards. So I should be okay to start building the distance up from there.
I joined the Veteran Cycle Club last year. They have a host of members with assorted bikes and knowledge and I have consulted their Falcon marque expert on several occasions. There is also a library of Falcon material such as manuals and catalogues.
They produce two magazines through the year. One , News and Views, is a newsletter magazine with letters, short articles, list of upcoming and reports of past rides. There is also a reader’s bikes section.
I sent details of my Falcon to the editor and this month it was published. Here it is.
While the weather is a bit poor for riding I’ve been adding more to my collection of Falcon bits and pieces. The latest addition is a promotional photo card featuring the 1963 Falcon Cycles race team with team manager Ernie Clements.
With the weather turning it’s time to keep the Falcon inside for the winter. I really don’t want to get it covered in winter road muck now it is so shiny.
So instead I’ve been looking for more Falcon memorabilia. I’ve com across a few items so need to add them to the website.
First up are a couple of catalogues. These are from 1984 and 1986.
Full copies are now on the website, more items to come as I get them photographed.
I decided that I’d take the Falcon out for my morning “work from home commute” toady. Just a short ride through the country lanes then onto the town square, where I stopped to reflect at the floral tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
So having rebuilt the Falcon today it was time to take it for a spin. I had tried it up the street just to check it was all bolted together properly first, but today was its maiden outing.
I decided on a gentle trip round town, and to cover some of the old ground I used to by recreating my rides to school. I spent many years riding the same routes every day and thought it would make a good introduction to getting used to the bike again.
It was, as I should have expected, a very different experience to riding my modern bike. Downtube friction shifters were odd to start with, but by the end I could almost shift a gear at a time without it clattering when not fully engaged. The handling is a bit different as it is slightly longer, and of course heavier than carbon.
Start street for the ride to school
There are a couple of tweaks to make. The saddle could do with being raised a cm or so, and the bell needs moving over. Otherwise it rides well.
At the site of the school bike sheds, now a housing estate One of the streets named after my old English teacher And onto the Sixth Form bike sheds
Falcon Black Diamond restoration 