GT Outpost (re)Build, pt. 2

Spring is here and after riding Pepe Le Peugeot all winter and being limited to roads and paved trails I decided it was high time to get to work on the GT (re)Build. But first we roll back to Spring of 2010:

What started as a 1990 GT Outpost “crossbike” is going to become a completely new animal. After sitting in my parents basement for nearly 16 years the Panaracer Smoke and Dart tires were completely dry rotted. Those were replaced with a set of Bontrager H2 slicks, new tubes and rim tape.

The derailleurs were either bent or broken and deemed unnecessary as the final project would be a single speed. The front derailleur was the first to go along with its shifter and cable. The rear was deemed somewhat important for the near future, at least as a chain tensioner. It’s cable and shifter were removed. A new chain was put on to replace the old, stretched out one.

So far the bike has lost about 4 pounds in parts and knobby tires. It’s shaping up to be a lean, mean, urban street fighting machine.

And now for the rest of the story:

So I spent the winter on this bike, “Pepe Le” Peugeot, and yes I know I’m mixing my Spanish and French.

A huge thanks to my friend Mike for hooking me up with it.

This is where and why the GT (re)Build was left to set for a few months.

You may notice the mismatched tires and wheels. The front wheel belongs with the bike. The rear wheel is borrowed from a NEXT Avalon full suspension beach cruiser. That bike is crap. Seriously, if you are going to spend $150 on a bike, please, do not go to your area big box superstore. Put an additional $50 with it and go to your local bike store and get a proper bike, not a hunk of aluminum with an assortment of plastic parts hung from it. <rant off>

The reason for the wonky rear wheel: a fine, upstanding gentleman in an oversized pickup truck spouted some polite words at me and threw a 20oz. bottle through my rear wheel. I gave him some choice words of my own. I would have gotten his license plate number but his “truck nutz” were blocking it. I had those spokes replaced and the wheel trued and about three weeks later was involved in an accident that pringled the front wheel, broke more spokes in the back, and broke both brake levers. All that by hitting a parking curb at less than 10 mph. I bounced and was very lucky because I bounced into a busy parking lot during business hours. My helmet and the extra layers of clothing saved my arse from a scraping. We now return you to “Teh (re)Build.”

On April 14th I got the itch to work on it. It might have been the ADD talking though. I got the GT out of storage, stole the wheels off the NEXT Avalon, put the Bontrager tires on the “good” NEXT wheels and gave them a basic true. Put them on the GT frameset and *poof* I find out that the handlebars and stem are bent.

--Look at that bend!

On a trip to the parts shed I remember that I have an old 90’s Dyno freestyle out there. I stole the headset and handlebars from it and put them on the GT and created what I call a “BigBMX” bike. But now the old brake cable won’t fit the Dyno’s brake lever. Back to the shed for the cable, swap it out, and after two hours of tinkering, removing the front cantilever brakes and general tuning the bike can go and stop. I was afraid the riser bars would be too tall but it makes for a rather pleasant riding position but I don’t expect to set any land speed records in this configuration

The only things really left to do are remove the extra chain rings on the front and get a rear wheel that is set up for single speed. So until next time, I leave you with these nearly complete photos of a 21 year old bike that has been beaten on trails, been a trusty companion for around town commuting and broke the 40mph mark:

May all your rides be downhill both ways,
NSM

GT Outpost (re)Build, pt. 1

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

Tour de Paducah - Alps Leg

An interest has been shown in seeing some of the routes I ride. I've logged my first one on mapmyride.com. As a security precaution I'll not be showing my starting point as my home address. Most, if not all of my routes, will be showing Dairyette as a start or end point. Also, Dairyette is a wonderful place filled with delicious treats to totally negate all your riding efforts.

Tour de Paducah - "Alps" Leg

Rolled 100 Miles For The Week

According to the speedometer on my bike I'm rolled 100 miles this week. I've been averaging 50 to 60 miles a week for the start of the year. To some that may not seem like much but I've only been back on the bike for 9ish months after 16 years off. Starting with a mile or so a day, moving up to 5 mile trips, to 11 mile tours of town and now doing 3 day/40 miles trips around Paducah and crashing with friends and family. Its been a good way to exercise and force myself to socialize when I get tired. Occasionally I'll have a track day and go to 100 laps/25 miles or more in one crack but its a rarity. But long story short I'm not paying $125/month for car insurance, I've lost 4" off my waist, and I'm not buying $3/gal gas. I'm stronger, healthier and better than you. Just kidding about that last part.

My Midnight Ride Soundtrack/ Sleep Process

Lately I've been doing a lot of riding at night. Yes, it is balls cold but that does not stop the hardcore rider in me. Also, I don't have a car, so if I go anywhere I go by bike or bum a ride from the roomie.

The soundtrack until recently was this:


Then I discovered this, which is much more calming and relaxing on those late night rides.


My pacing got a lot less frantic and I actually came home after my rides almost ready for bed. After a quick Welsh lesson while lying in be I put on this track by the Welsh band The Joy Formidable and promptly pass out.



My daytime ride playlist (I ride with one ear open at all times and the volume pretty low)consists of Agalloch, Royal, Eso-Charis, Frodus, Roadside Monument, Hadouken, For Love Not Lisa, Fugazi, The Anniversary, Questionblock, Archers Of Loaf. See a trend there? Mostly 90's indie stuff with some modern metal and a track about being a hipster douche-bag.

It had been about a month since I posted last and just couldn't come up with anything and then i did. Rock out, relax and "Pass Out" (with respect to Tinie Tempah).

Temp @ 50. Time to ride.

Temp just cracked 50F. Time to get my butt in gear today and enjoy what will probably be the last "warm" ride until March. Where to go? Have two hours before it starts to get cold and dark. I'm thinking not Arbys. Maybe Chinese or Dairyette? Or, leftover Thanksgiving grub?

All I know is this Deadliest Catch marathon is killing my motivation.

Pile of bike parts

I've been a bike commuter for 8 months now. In that time I've gone through 3 bikes and I'm on the fourth.

Front to back:
1990-ish Dyno conglomerate
2008 Next Avalon (pile of aluminum crap)
1990 GT Outpost (steel beast!)

The Dyno came to me courtesy of a roommate that moved out and left behind a lot of great stuff, including this bike. It needed new tubes and a brake of some sort to get it rolling. What did I do? I got some tubes and popped on a rear brake and hit the park. At the park I blew both new tubes, pringled the front wheel and broke some spokes on the back. Not a great day.

The GT was been with me since the day after it hit the showroom floor. I'm pretty sure it was the fruits of my eleven year old labors of collecting aluminum cans over the summer. I kitted that bad boy out with Panaracer Smoke and Dart tires, CatEye speedo, upgraded the wheels and various components and had a good light weight trail bike. A few years later I turned 16, got a car and it went into storage. Eight months ago it came out of storage, 16 years of sitting. Popped on some Bontrager H2 fat slicks, a seatpost rack, mounted some cheapo MP3 speakers on the handlebars, a new chain and took off everything that made the bike shift and made it as single speed as possible.

All those fixes lasted me about 800 miles when a goofy little crash sent me over the handlebars, creased the front wheel, broke half a dozen spokes in the back, scraped all the freckles off my left shoulder and some really neat looking scars on my left hip. All that at less than 5mph. I almost didn't wear my helmet that day but something told me to cover my head. The rack hit me in the top of my head.

The NEXT Avalon belongs to my parents. When my bike died it was scavenged for parts to get the GT up and running. That was full of fail. The Avalon wheel rims were too narrow. The hubs were too wide. Put it back together and make due with the oxymoron bike, the full suspension beach cruiser. Rode that beast for about a month and one morning I wake up with a message on facebook that changed everything.

More on that, next time.