With the rate of humidity running low in the high desert, some folks are able to keep some steel items in pristine condition. Such is the case with beauty of bicycle belonging to Charles. Bicycles like this are meant to be ridden from sun-up to sun-down.

Charles had been anxious to get this vintage Fuji touring bike back on some trusted roads this year. Some new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires & Newbaum’s Cotton Cloth handlebar tape should assist in keeping him safe and comfortable on those long journeys. While my local distributor was out hemp bat tape finishing twine, I had to come up with an improvisation.

I had been contemplating for sometime on how to make useful an old and unused African drum head I had sitting in the corner of the living room. The body of the drum was still intact, but the twine used to tie down the head to the body had seen had been rhythmically slapped off some time ago. Of course, this twine provided me with what would be the finishing touch to add to the handlebars.

It would be nice to hear some of the many roads Charles has ridden on this beautiful machine. Perhaps some day he will let me have a run at it.