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WEIR'S
About Weir's
8247 N. Lombard |
WEIR'S - Portland's Oldest Bicycle Shop |
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“Tanko” Revisited In 2002 By Bob Crispin
I built my fat tire ten speeds, Tankagnolo I through III, between 1973
and 1975. Each was an improvement over the other to create a bike
I published a story about the bike in the May-June 1978 issue of Bicycle
World Magazine and again in Mountain Bike Magazine in
August of 1995. Then the most complete story was told in Oregon
Cycling Magazine this April, 2002. Thoughts of rebuilding the bike
returned to me.
The week following the publication of the story, my wife and I were
shopping in a Salvation Army Store in the St. Johns neighborhood of
Portland. I saw a beater JCPenny bicycle in the corner. The Shimano
disc brake I used (a much needed part in the 1970s as no caliper brakes
were made for fat tires) came off a JCPenny’s bike. Then I saw the disc
brake, the one part that would be hard to find. I had purchased some
disk brake parts from Weir’s Cyclery, a shop up the street from where
I live. The parts did not include the special wheel hub needed
to hold the disc and a five-speed freewheel, so they sat on my shelf
for half a decade. This brake was complete, so I dropped the $5.50 without
thought and walked the bike home. I now had enough parts to build at
least one complete brake. I had committed to rebuild the Tankagnolo. My goal was to be done by the end of August. The biggest hurdle completed, I built a rear wheel with the disc on one side and the five-speed freewheel on the other. I then set out to find the next two important components, a Schwinn Varsity bike and an “old school” fat tire fork that would fit the Schwinn frame. After some looking and wondering if they had grown scarce, I found a complete Schwinn Varsity with a 23-inch frame at Community Cycling Center here in Portland. A young man named Jeff, referred to as “the Schwinn guy” set me up with the bike, including all the components in great shape. It was funny that over the next week I saw five Schwinn Varsities at garage sales, though none as clean as the one Jeff sold me. I guess they are not that rare yet. I
collected more parts from local shops and polished them up and put them
in a cardboard box. Still the completion seemed far off. There was need
for welding equipment. I explained the need for an oxy/acetylene torch to heat and bend the frame to fit a fat tire wheel to the guys at Weir’s Cycle up the street from where I live in North Portland. I had the discussion at ten in the morning. They let me in their work area and as I nervously set up the welding gear, it came to mind that the last time I welded was in 1975 when I built Tanko III the first time. Working with the torch on a bike was like riding one. Seemed I never forgot. All the bends came out as I fanaticized the first try. My fears of the stays having fancy “S” curves in them from retries were unfounded. I was done by eleven, took the frame home, sanded it and painted it the same (still available!) Rustolium “Royal Blue” I had used in 1975.
I was having little luck finding the fork. There were plenty in the
new mountain bike style, but no old one speed “cruiser” forks that had
a long enough steerer tube to fit a 23 inch frame. At Portland’s City
Bikes, they helped me That evening about six I decided to put the headset, fork, and crank arms on before relaxing into the evening. I figured it would take a half an hour or so. At one-thirty that night, Tankagnolo IIIA was all but finished. It was cabled up and was short only handlebar tape and adjustments of the shifters and brake.
The next day, after peeking into the garage to make sure I didn’t dream
this completion, I made one quick run to the Community Cycling Center
in hopes of finding a longer stem, and found a HUGE long one, and finished
the bike. I showed it off to neighbors, rode it, took pictures of it
and compared its feel with my 1996 GT LTS. Times sure have changed!
It is my hope that I can show Tankagnolo IIIA at bike shows in the future,
as it is possibly the first mountain bike to roam the North West, and
for sure the first to roam Spokane. My thanks go to Steve and the crew at Weir’s Cycle, Jeff and the crew at the Community Cycling Center, and Ed and the crew at City Bikes. Their familiarity with the “old school” bicycles and their willingness to give time to my project allowed me to complete it much more quickly. Because of them, the bike is so close to the original, I double take myself when I look at it. And thanks again to Wheel Sport Cycle in Spokane for starting me off the first time back in 1973.
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that would go well in snow. Having moved from the sunny coast of California
to Spokane, I needed a bike that would go well in snow as my Motobecane
with sew-ups fell down often in such conditions. The last iteration,
Tanko III, was done in the summer. The fenders were removed and for
the first time I headed for the woods to ride in dirt.
I left the snow to move to Portland in 1980, and soon after traded Tankagnolo
III for a nice commuter bike and thought little of it until the mountain
bike boom began. As I could see the possibility for historical interest,
I wished more and more that I had the bike. I ran an ad in the local
club paper asking if anyone had seen it, hoping to find it and buy it
back. It was much like Peewee Herman’s dilemma with his stolen
bike in his “Great Adventure.” No answers. 
search every storage area for such a fork. In the process I found other
things I needed, but not the fork. As I was making my purchase from
Ed at the cash register, he said, “there’s a cruiser for in the corner”.
Like a glimmering beacon, it was there, a new “remake” in the old style,
chrome even! I snatched it up and was gone. 
