Special deluxe Flying Pigeon PA-02 3-speed

I made the video above after working for about two months (off and on) on this custom Flying Pigeon PA-02 3-speed. It was a special bike for a customer willing to wait for it to be completed.

Friday night at the shop.

The toughest part of this build was finding a 40-hole Sturmey-Archer hub, building a wheel around said hub, rebuilding the hub (to ensure it worked), and rebuilding the hub a second time (to swap in a brand new AW hub with a longer axle)!

The rest of the build was pretty straightforward for a Flying Pigeon. Assembling this bike reminded me of a trick I use to make sure the rod brake clips stay in place.

Rod brake clip trick: 5mm Allen head bolts FTW.

I swap out the crummy Phillips-head bolts on the included rod brake clips and install stainless steel 5mm metric Allen button head bolts instead. Doing this allows me to apply the proper amount of force on the brake clips to allow them to symmetrically bend around the fork blades. Additionally, allen head bolts don’t have as much tool slippage as Phillips head bolts. I have endured one stabbed hand too many, my friends!

The rest of the bike was finished up with a Brooks B33 in black (a $200 addition) and a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires in the 28x 1 1/2″ (40-635) size.

Some more tips:

I swapped out the standard chain for a 1/8″ width Z-Chain to ensure that any chain case noise would be kept at a minimum.

I switched out the stock headset for a 1″ Tange Passage headset and this immediately made the ride quality better.

I took the bike out for a test ride the evening I made this video. There is nothing like a quiet evening test ride on a Flying Pigeon to remind me why I love my job.

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One Comment

  1. Posted June 24, 2012 at 9:26 am | Permalink

    Hi, I’m the assembler/rider of the Pigeon you shipped to Iowa late last/earlier this month, I’ve gotten it together and have started riding it around, I’ve done a bit of fastener replacement on it already, but hadn’t thought of the brake aligning clip-screws yet, thanks for the noting of them.

    My local hardware store has some brass colored stainless acorn nuts, and those are tempting me also. 🙂

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