Author: Broadway Bicycle School

As a shop that’s been continuously operating for forty-five years in one location, we’ve got some dusty piles of old parts in the basement.  While we have a self-serve used section in the back corner of the shop that can be a treasure trove, I wanted to share some of the fun new old stock (NOS) stuff I found hidden away in the basement, out of browsing eyes, while doing year-end inventory.

Many of these are long out of production, and service or compatible parts are no longer available. Surprisingly, I also found a few modern parts that wriggled their way into the piles, parts we ordered by accident, or for wheel builds that just never happened.

I found the most interesting to be the pile of old hubs from bygone eras, including the fixed gear craze from a decade ago and the internally geared hub craze from several decades ago. Well before my time, somewhere in between those phases, the shop did an enormous number of wheel builds as part of modernising and selling old English 3-speeds. While we are long out of classic Sturmey 3speed hubs, we remain with piles of front hubs from that project.

Some of the highlights:

  – Phil Wood FX/FW Rear Track Hub: OLD 120, High Polish, 36h

 – Sturmey Archer S30 S-RF3 3-Speed Rear Hub: OLD 127mm, 175mm axle. Still available at retail for $125, Sturmey’s modern three-speed internally geared hub from after redesign that eliminated the neutral gear. 175mm axle is plenty long to allow for it to be spaced out for a wider frame.

 – All-City New Sheriff Hub: 32h Front, High Polish. Discontinued several years ago, All-City’s BMX-inspired designed-in-house fixed-gear hub originally retailed for $95.

 – SRAM 716 X7 Front Hub: 6-Bolt Disc, 32h, black. 15mm x 100 front thru-axles do not roll through Broadway very often, so you can imagine my surprise to find such a hub under the dust in the basement.

 – Shimano Nexus 7 SG-7R46 for roller brake (2): no brake, no shifter (and likely no shifter available)

 – SRAM Dual Drive 3×9 rear internal/external hub (4): 36h with hardware but no shifters (and no shifter available)

 – Sachs 3-sp rear hub with drum brake: 118 OLD, with shifter and hardware kit

 – Sachs Super 7: 36h

– Raleigh, Phillips, assorted 3sp front hubs (lots)

– NOS and used Suntour sealed, assorted (mostly front) hubs (lots)

As a 26″ diehard, I personally put a huge dent in the overstock rims in the shop. Nonetheless, we still unearthed a dozen or so NOS rims in the corners of the shop:

– Mavic XM317: 26″, 32h (2) and 36h (1), silver

– Mavic EX721: 26″, 32h, black (2)

– Velocity Aerohead: 26″, 32h, white MSW

– Mavic Open Sport: 700c, 32h, silver (3)

– Velocity Dyad: 700c, 48h,  silver MSW

– Velocity Chukker: 700c, 36h, black MSW

– Velocity Synergy: 700c, 32h, silver

I’ll save the chainrings for another rainy day. In the meantime, drop us a line if you’re interested in picking up any of these gems. And as always, swing by the shop, give the used section a look, and say hello.

 

 

– JCW

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In the spirit of reflecting on the end of the year, I posed to the staff to name their favorite album to play at work, and one noteworthy track off that album. As anyone who has been in the shop knows, we have music playing pretty much all the time. We often get questions and comments about what is playing. Sometimes, we listen to MIT’s campus radio station, WMBR, but often whoever is working just choose album after album of new releases, old favorites, and other curiosities. For most, it was a struggle to pick just one favorite. And unlike every other ‘end of year music list’ you’ve likely read so far, no one picked albums that were actually released in 2018.

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Broadway’s Year End Staff Picks

in alphabetical order

HB: Emotion, Carly Rae Jepsen (2015)
“It’s impossible not to bop along to this entire album. Just try to fix a flat tire without singing along, I dare you.”

HK: They Sell Doomsday, Ryan Power (2017)
“This album is great when you kind of want to listen to Mac DeMarco without the implications. I think it’s calming and it reminds me of the summertime. I always want to move around a little when listening to this, but not full-on dance or sing along… Justin liked this album so much he went to Ryan’s show last month in Somerville and reported jam band vibes… A customer recognized this album at least once.”

Jace: Bury Me at Makeout Creek, Mitski (2014)
“I’m the kind of person who listens to the same album on repeat 50-100 times, and then often, moves on. So, while there are a number of extremely strong contenders from the last year (boygenius self-titled, Puppy Problems’ Sunday Feeling, Mitski’s Be the Cowboy) and my perennial too-sad-for-work favorites (Julien Baker’s Sprained Ankle, Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight) the fact that this album came out in 2014 and I keep playing it is a testament to its place in my heart.”

Jessie: Rumors, Fleetwood Mac (1977)
This album is a classic and usually a good choice on any given day. More specifically, one of my parents didn’t like Fleetwood Mac so I very rarely heard them growing up, despite this genre being a staple in my household. I got into Fleetwood Mac as an adult, I love everything about this album, especially all the ways it conveys raw expression of emotion in a time of struggle.
Runners up: Breakfast in America, Supertramp (1979) and Emotion, Carly Rae Jepsen (2015).

Justin: Trout Mask Replica, Captain Beefheart (1969)
“An artist I’d been introduced to at age 19, & as a matter of fact it was that particular album I’m about to highlight. But back then, as much as it cracked my skull, it didn’t absorb beyond my frontal lobe, & never made its way through my veins into my heart. It was cool, too cool maybe, but didn’t soak into my skin & sweat out the way all other albums I fell in love with did. At some point in my mid-twenties I listened to it a bunch, but still it remained as an odd refreshing background flavor needed to cleanse my palette between savory pop albums. But don’t mistake me, I was quite fluent in free jazz; just more jazz than art-noise-rock.  As I approached 30 I decided to expand beyond this artist’s critically acclaimed best album & introduce myself to his debut & accessible Safe As Milk (1967). This came at the right time & instantly caught fire. I guess so much so that I didn’t bother venturing further. Then … I went back & fell in absolute love with his 1978 album Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). Then I hopped over to Doc at the Radar Station & skipped stones back to Lick my Decals. The mood was destined & the desire was unbuckled, this night was finally time to return to the album that started this tale… If you want to know how I feel about Trout Mask Replica come talk to me about it. But I recommend you take 19 years on your own first if needed.”

Kate: Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space), Digable Planets (1993)
“It’s an album that has it all; the Boom Bap styling of the nineties, feminist messaging and it’s nostalgic (for a thirty-something like myself).”

Saskia: 1992, Princess Nokia (2016)
“Solid hip hop album that’s gender empowering and celebrates individuality. It’s a great album to ride along to while biking to work but also keeps your energy up once you’ve started a work day. I’ve played it in the shop and I think my coworkers liked it.”

Susanne: Stoosh, Skunk Anansie (1996)
“I bought this album in a second-hand store in Paris more ten years ago and just re-discovered it on funky Napster. Great variety of rhythms and moods: whenever a song gets too intense, the music turns around 180 degrees and surprises you with something completely different. None of my coworkers have complained yet.”

Suzanne: Cosmic Thing, B-52’s (1989)
“I’m always excited to listen to Cosmic Thing by the B-52’s at work. There isn’t a song on the entire CD that I don’t love. If I happened to run into the B-52’s around town, I’d just say ‘Thanks for increasing the quality of my life’ and I’d walk away.”

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And for those who do not have all day to play through full albums, listen to the highlights playlist here.

-JCW