Going back in time to view some some back history of a current bike build. – nsm
In December of 2009 my Subaru Forester decided to give up two head gaskets. It was not a pretty sight. Its the beginning of winter and I was trying to figure out how to get to and from a job that was 30 miles away and get this car fixed when I get called into the office with 11 of my co-workers to get the latest news: we were all laid off. It was the feel good meeting of the year, let me tell you.
I have no problem with a lay off when there is no work to do. I could draw my unemployment benefits and go back to work in a few weeks. At least that is what I was told. Three months later, a denial of my benefits and no car started to scare me. I dropped the insurance and saved over $100 a month there. I caught rides to the store with my roommate. My parents would pick me up for family junk. But the desire to be mobile was always there. That’s when I remembered how rad riding bikes was.
Seriously, riding bikes was something I did from the time I figured out how until I was about 18, with a major dip around 16. So I called up my parents and had them pick me up and went out to their house to find my long lost bike. After a bit of digging under the crawl space of the house we find it, nearly free of rust and in need of lube in a major way. And the dry rot, oh god the dry rot.
I peeled the Panaracer Dart from the front wheel and the Smoke from the rear into a pile of crumbly rubber. With the came the tubes and rim tape. It was sad to see my past $165 investment in tires, tubes and tape tossed to the garbage but they had lived a good life before being hidden away.
This is how it looked on April 1, 2010. I had removed the shift controls and cables and front derailleur in anticipation of making this a single speed bike. I knew I could make this a working bike, it was just going to take a few dollars and some time.
Here it is a few weeks later with new tires and tubes and back from having the wheels trued. I peeled the covering off the seat and re-glued it and it looks much better. Currently waiting on funds for a chain.
Another week later and it’s chained up, new grips, dug out the helmet, got a cable lock and I’m off and riding anywhere from 2 or 3 miles a day to upwards of 20 miles.
Here it is a few months later and many upgrades. First was toe clips/straps. Then I zip tied a set of generic MP3 player speakers to the handlebars. A little music makes getting into a pedal rhythm much easier to maintain and you cover more ground that way. Then I added that mess on the back. First was the little under seat pack. Then I got the seatpost mounted rack hoping to get some panniers. I never got them. Then I found an old milk crate and bolted that to the rack. I could now make pretty big grocery runs.
Here we are picking up supper from Chong’s in Lone Oak.
And now we’re crusing downtown Paducah.
Another one in downtown Paducah at the riverfront.
We went to the Karson Kelley Salon and Art Gallery to drop off some Fresh Prints.
And not long after this last photo was taken I was informed by a polite gentleman in a pickup truck that I needed to get my Woodstock lovin’ hippie arse off the road and onto the sidewalk where bikes belong. I essentially told him to take an airborne fornication at a rolling donut and asked how he passed his driving test. He returned fire with a 20oz bottle flung through my rear wheel. I would have gotten a plate number but his “truck nutz” prevented a clear view of the plate.
In the next installment I’ll show you how I got from this busted frame and fork:
to this “BigBMX” monster:
May all your rides be downhill both ways,
NSM
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