I hope the environment appreciates how much a pain building this bike was...

[Cataboo]

I've been looking for a bike to use to ride to work, get groceries, and to go downtown with, without worrying too much about leaving it out in the rain or what not. (I don't have anywhere to bring the bikes in at work and I know bikes are meant to be ridden outside, but I don't want to leave my road bikes out in the rain/sun/whatever.)

This mostly consisted of watching craigslist and going, they want how much for that old of a bike???

I saw surly pacer had posted her 43 cm surly pacer frame for sale on here just before Christmas, and I totally rationalized it as being good for me and the environment, and a Christmas present to us both to buy it. I've also been pretty curious about steel bikes, because of the steel is real crowd... I had a complete set of 8 speed xtr shifters, derailleurs & cassette that I'd upgraded off an old mountain bike and decided I'd use those, because it'd be cheaper than buying stuff... I had a spare set of wheels that always felt too slow for the road bike - I'd been letting my bf use 'em as trainer wheels, but I took them back.

After much drama. The bike is rideable

Of course, through various incompatibilities and the rest of that, I ended up buying stuff and my cheap commuter wasn't quite so cheap anymore. Tiagra brakes via ebay, I splurged on red panaracer t-serv 700x28 tires (but only one came, the other was a 700x25, so I'm waiting for my replacement... ) I got origin 8 tiki handlebars 'cause I really wanted mustache ones, but the xtr shifters wouldn't fit on them, so now I've got a specialized flat bar with zertz inserts on it and I'm debating buying the soma sparrows... I got some cheap truvativ cranks off ebay because after thinking about it, I decided I didn't want to put my spare pair of carbon fiber cranks on a commuter... None of the spare front derailleurs I had would play nice with the setup, so I had to buy a 9 speed shimano 105 front derailleur... I pouted for days about the origin 8 handlebars.

My universal bike rack appeared to be universal except if you put it on a 43 cm frame... So we had to file down the bottoms, and then jury rig the connection by hooking it up in between the seatpost collar, by filing down the seatpost collar and cutting an elbow shaped bracket... and lots of cursing. And my cannondale rear bike bag won't fit underneath my seat, so I think I'll be relying on panniers. I've got some trader joe's colorful bags that I'm gonna sew up to make panniers out of, but I ordered some cheap ones off amazon to use for now:
http://www.amazon.com/M-Wave-Double-...4825763&sr=8-2

But... I put flame stickers on it. Now I will go fast on it.

The bike is either named Surly or Flame. It was a little bit surly to build...

So it needs grips, I want the soma sparrow handlebars, and the new red tire ain't here yet...

And it sorta feels like riding a tank... I haven't decided whether that's the feel of the 700x28 wheel or the steel. But fun either way. And while it's been a pain to get everything working together, it's been fun in that it's a bike that I can have fun with, and buy stuff purely based on, oh hey, that's gonna look cute... which I don't do on my other bikes.

[Tri Girl]

Wow- that turned out GREAT!!!! I really like the look- sleek, fast (thanks to the flames) and rugged as all get out. I'd be worried about leaving it outside because it's so nice now.
Congrats on getting your bike built up. The environment is surely appreciative of all your efforts.

[derailed]

Fantastic! That's a real investment of time and thought, and I hope you get many happy miles on her.

[Cataboo]

Yeah, someone might steal my flame stickers if I leave her outside! And I might have to switch to a torn up terry butterfly saddle I have instead of the specialized ariel I have on there now... but I'm hoping the bike'll also be a nice ride on something like the C&O canal or gravel paths (things I would never take my road bike on, but my mountain bike seems like over kill for)... A road triple with an 8 speed mountain bike rear should provide enough gearing that I don't think hills will be a problem and it's more than enough for my flat ride to work... I was debating just making it a fixed gear, but I decided buying all those parts was probably more than just using what I had.

I did learn a fair amount building her up and I proved my bf wrong on a lot of things "you can't use mtb shifters with a road front"... (Proving him wrong at least once a day is sort of a goal of mine since he's always convinced he's right)

One of the comical moments was the set of spare wheels I had, which I'd continually complained that they were slow... The bf absolutely didn't believe me and thought it was all in my head (this is a very common occurrence if I complain about something on my bicycle)... so I'd been letting him use them on his trainer, and at some point he decided... something's not right about this rear wheel, so he took apart the hub and it was full of crud... To which I got to exclaim "What? My slow wheels are full of crud... do you think that mighta been why they felt slow?" But apparently, despite that, it would have been impossible for me to feel a difference in the wheels according to him. I'm slow enough that the slightest thing that makes me slower, I feel.

So anyways, he puts the wheels back together and gives them to me... and I'm adjusting the gearing on the bike and the wheel's wobbling on the trainer... and I'm going... Erm, you didn't put that hub back together right. He's going, no, you didn't put that tire on right. No, the tire's fine... So he looks at it, the hub has worked its way loose, and a bearing has made a run for it... Which is followed by 3-4 comical hours of watching him try to get all the bearings lined up, one falling into the hub and getting lost in some groove in there... rescuing it, knocking some more down in there... And... Me just going... "I wanna ride my bike, hurry up and find the bearings"

Poor guy did finally fix them for me though.

[tulip]

That is one hot bike!

[Zen]

I love it.
I love the flames, the red pedals and the tires.
But...
you might want some fenders for rain or muddy towpath.

Too bad this decal doesn't come in red.

[Cataboo]

Thanks everyone

Zen - I'm still debating what to do about the fenders. I'll probably stick a piece of wood underneath the backrack for now... Then I have a plastic rear one that's supposed to clamp onto a back seatpost... But I've never had a seatpost that was up high enough to use it. So I may end up cutting that up and improvising something to hold it.

The bf's been building me a kayak, so he's got long thin scrap pieces of marine grade plywood and spare fiberglass.... So I may take some of that, cut out some fenders & see if I can glass them in a curve & make them red... If the bike looked a bit more classic (erm, wasn't covered in flame stickers & red), I'd love to have the natural wood look... Maybe I can stain it sort of a dark mahogany or cherry color?


7 rider - The DC craigslist provides much amusement value at least.

[7rider]

This mostly consisted of watching craigslist and going, they want how much for that old of a bike???

Yup. That's the DC CL for you.

After much drama. The bike is rideable

Yay!! Sweeet!!!

But... I put flame stickers on it. Now I will go fast on it.

Absolutely! It's a sure thing now.

And it sorta feels like riding a tank... I haven't decided whether that's the feel of the 700x28 wheel or the steel. But fun either way.

Actually, I think that's a Surly thing.

Congrats on the slick project bike. It'll be great on the towpath. Happy riding!

[twin]

I am a Surly fan and I think your bike is hot.

[Cataboo]

Mine's a modified version of the point bennet, the plans of which are posted online. Adapted to my size.

http://rollordrown.com/kayak/index.html

I would also settle for it to be red ultimately.

[Crankin]

Catriona, I know exactly what you mean when you say your Surly feels like a tank. I feel the same way about my Jamis errand bike. But, I love her anyway! I will never go fast on this bike, but I am always smiling when I ride her.
When I am on my Kuota, I feel the need to prove that I can go fast enough to justify me owning such a light bike. Not that it works...

[tulip]

Those are some nice boats! I live fairly close to the Chesapeake Bay and there are several boat building outfits that offer summer boat building camp (for adults). I'm awfully tempted, but I know I have to pay down this kitchen first...so NEXT year will be Tulip's Year of the Kayak.

Gorgeous!

[Cataboo]

Oooh.... Soma eurotrip fenders are pretty - pretty.
http://www.somafab.com/eurotripfenders.html

Red fenders might be too much though. (let's see how many days I can resist ordering these)

[Cataboo]

I'm guessing that was a spammer, but since I got a reminder for this thread, this is what the bike's at now... I just put simple grips on & the different sized front tire on it. I'll deal with fenders & different handlebars later. I'm debating between the hammered honjo fenders on velo orange or the soma ones... Or making wood ones eventually. I could get the VO milan or tourist bars to share shipping if I got the honjos, or the soma whatevers to share shipping if I get the soma fenders.

But I'll just ride the bike for now

[sgtiger]

Very cool! It looks great.