Said goodbye to an old friend today.

[Triskeliongirl]

So today, my 2001 terry classic (Athena) left my garage to go to a better home. After converting her to dropped bars a few years back, I needed the new parts to build Feronia, my travel bike, so I retired her. But, I still had her original parts and the frame sitting in my garage. Actually, I had two classics, my crashed one, and my replacement one. A fellow at work wanted to resurrect her for his wife for X-mass. She had a rough year, beat a pretty scary and aggresive melanoma. She had given her bike, which had too long a top tube for her anyway, to her taller daughter. So, today he picked up both frames and the box of parts. He'll have to pull the fork from the crashed frame since the original has some rust, and put all the parts back on, but then she'll have a really nice touring bike that should fit her really well. She's built like me, long legs but short upper body and arms. He parks his bike in the rack at work next to mine, and got really excited when he saw the small front wheel, as his wife was always complaining that bikes were too long for her. While it was sad to see her leave my garage, I knew I would never take the time to rebuild her, so it was great to see her going to a good home where she'll ride again.

[KnottedYet]

What a good thing you have done!

Sending happy strong butterflies to the "new" bike and the woman who will be riding her!

[AllezGirl]

It's a great thing for a good cause! So glad to see her go to a good home!

[mimitabby]

Your bike will be much happier being ridden, thanks for sharing. It's a sweet sadness, you know?

[Triskeliongirl]

Exactly Mimi. I remembered you feeling the same way when you sold your bianchi. I didn't even try to sell Athena, but offered her to anyone willing to put the work into rebuilding her. I was so glad that this fellow accepted my offer, and that I think it will suit his wife so much. He is not sure he'll be able to finish building her by christmas, so I gave him a picture of her to wrap inside a big box just in case. I am more happy than sad, but as you said it was still a bitter sweet sadness. As I packaged the parts I noticed the MS150 sticker on the stem, just reminded me off all the fun times we had together. Getting rid of the crashed bike on the other hand was a relief, didn't like staring at the crashed frame, reminded me of my accident, but I did keep her for the spare fork and parts and again glad I did.

I almost rebuilt her for my daughter, but my daughter has a long upper body so it didn't make sense for her. Its so great to give her to someone that appreciates her. I sent him the frame specs, and he immediately noticed the slack seat tube angle from the geometry chart. His wife has long femurs just like me and also couldn't get fit on the modern bikes with steep seat tube angles, and custom was out of the question with 2 girls nearing college age and a lot of expenses from her cancer treatments.

[Triskeliongirl]

Today the couple I gave Athena to road over to show me how she looked 'resurrected.' She came out beautifully. He cleaned her up so well she really did look like a new bike. He managed to put her together and snuck her under the tree last night. She fit the women perfectly, and she was so happy she just had to ride to my house to thank me personally. I don't think she'd ever been on a bike that truly fit her. I remember that feeling when I rode her for the first time. Even though I am not a Christian, to me that is the spirit of this holiday. Seeing LeeAnn ride away on Athena really did bring meaning to the 'joy of giving.'