Steel Porn

[Cataboo]

Spinsugar, how's the rawland's frame working for you? I remember you posting before about the top tube being too long - that's one short stem you have on there.

I still want a rawland's frame, however after seeing both of those luna's... They're gorgeous! especially Tulip's, but I love red.

Here's my flaming surly pacer. It's my commute, around town, and mild off road bike:

[SpinSpinSugar]

Hi Catronia. I looooove how you've setup your Pacer. Those red fenders are HOT! As far as between the Luna and the Rawland... well depending on what you are looking to spend... the Rawland is a great deal if it fits you. You can get a XS or S frame set for $350. (or this med might be for sale soon .. 'eh hmmm')

The Rawland is much more comfy to ride with the new Selle-Anatomica on it. - Before I could never get KOPS - I was always too far setback for various reasons with the other saddles.

It has a 40mm downhill stem on it now. It's the shortest threadless stem available, and it weighs a TON. (actually .5 lb to be exact) With that short stem the bike fits... but barely. Can we say - NO room for adjustment and NO tight cornering ability?? Nimble handling the Rawland is not. So I am still looking at purchasing a LHT, but I am waiting for the 2010 models to come out first. Maybe there will be a better color offered than BLEH Green, or Boring Brown.. lol.

Keep em coming ladies..

SpinSpinSugar

[Cataboo]

Well, you can always dress up bleh green or boring brown with accessories! I did that with red ones to dress up my boring black bike... although, I still want a red bike like Tulip's.

I have the opposite problem on that pacer - I've got a 130 mm stem on it to give me the top tube length I need. That bike, especially with the fenders, has a heck of a lot of toe overlap. The rawland looks like it'll be close enough to "red", have the top tube length I need, and probably fix my toe overlap issues from looking at the geometry. They only have the x-small left on their website which will fit (I might have preferred the small) & I've been hemming & hawwing about it for like 3 months now... Because I either need to get expensive brakes so that I can run 700c's with it, or buy 650b wheels to use the brakes that I already have. Not to mention all the other build costs...

And, while I'm not thrilled with the surly's fit... I do love that bike even though it likes to pitch me into the ground at every opportunity. It's the first bike that I really got to build up and 'play' while I did it. My road or mountain bikes are built with the best components I could find cheapest - so they really don't have that much personality.

[eofelis]

Here is a 41cm Gunnar Sport frame I won on ebay. It is a custom that was done for someone else, but it also happens to be my size too. I got it for 1/4 of the original price. (I paid ~$250.) This one has 700c wheels. The smallest Sports usually have 650c wheels. The ride quality of this little bike is outstanding. It has a fork from a Surly Pacer. I'm going to get a Waterford/Gunnar steel fork and probably have the bike repainted eventually, the paint job had some dings in it.

[eofelis]

Here's my flaming surly pacer. It's my commute, around town, and mild off road bike:

Hehe! That was my Pacer frame! Glad you are having fun with her!

[Cataboo]

Yep, I bought it from you as a christmas present to myself. I'm half tempted to get her powder coated red, but until then she gets a lot of red accessories

Now if you ever get bored of that gunnar, I think it'll fit me too...

[radacrider]

Guess I have personalized and comfortized my MTB from when I first joined the TE forum.
(*SUB = Sport Utility Bike)

Then:
Standard MTB bars, moderate road tires, Specialized Lythia saddle


Now:
Cinelli LW drop bars (38cm/40cm), fendered, racked, Specialized Ruby saddle, dual platform peddles

[badgercat]

Wow, that is quite the transformation, Radacrider! I love the color of the bar tape.

[radacrider]

Thanks, Badgercat! It has been fun working on it and getting it set up so I really love riding it. (Still like my Radac better, though). It will be my standard, not so nice weather commuter and errand bike.

I had a lot of wrist issues with the flat bars, so I did not ride it much until I did the conversion.

[sarahspins]

I need better pics of my Takara since I never took any once it was finished, but I can share some of the kid sized mixte

It was my rusted $10 thrift store score - the guy really looked like he was probably asking way too much when he said they could sell it to me for $10 (out of the donation pile no less - they're "not supposed" to do that!)... but I knew it had potential Most of the original components were too rusted to save, but the frame, aside from the fork (which was bent, and replaced) was in great shape... I had it powdercoated so it will last another 30+ years

Before: (in front of the 45cm Nishiki I had at the time for a size comparison - it's tiny!)


Now:


I think the only things I "saved" from the bike were the bottom bracket, headset, and front wheel.. everything else was replaced.. some new parts, some old parts off other bikes

My 9 year old son currently rides it and loves it.. I have visions of redoing it in about 5 years with PINK cable housings and bar tape and all sorts of girly touches for my daughter

[radacrider]

Wonderful rescue, nice bike, sarahspins.