Pedalmaniac

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Project Bikes

I've got three "project bikes" on the deck right now. Actually I have finished my cross country bike, so I can strike that from the list, but I'll talk about it anyway.

Project 1: I decided, now that I have a "freeride" bike, I would upgrade my old all mountain bike and make it into a better cross country bike. I had a 1997 Deep Cove Hummer. It's a great bike that deserves some upgrading. It's a Sandvic titanium steed that is absolutely bullet proof and is still pretty light. Most of the components are XTR, although old they still work. I wanted to stop better and that was the main reason for the work, also the forks were shot. I got a set of Marzzochi MX Pro forks, with 4 " of travel and ETA lock out for climbing. I got a WTB front wheel and a deore hydraulic disk. Total cost ~500.00. Not bad -- although I think it is actually HEAVIER than it was before, but the forks work and I can stop now. Both are big pluses.

Project 2: I have an old (1986) custom Chas Roberts with similar era Shimano Dura Ace components (actually the first year of index shifting). I have to change the wheels, it still has tubulars on it! And I have some brake issues as well. I have thought about making it into a fixie, but I live at way up a mountain, so it's not that practical having only one gear. I think I will put some moustache bars on it and some new wheels. Ultimately I would like to put some wood fenders on it. I think that will make it look really classy. I might also need a paint job, but I think that can wait for now.

Project 3: this one is kinda cool. It is actually for my kids. The daycare at my work was throwing out an old Norco Moto-X kids bike. It is pretty retro, and my son really likes it -- you know it's got a gas tank and looks like a motorbike, any five year old would go crazy. It's got issues though. Both wheels are pretty rusty and the rear hub no longer has a brake. In fact it IS a fixie right now, you can go forward and backwards on it. He actually did quite well today when we rode it -- no brakes and all. It should be fun showing him how to fix bikes, how to recycle, and the value of father son time. I'm really looking forward to this project.
Here is a link to most of the bikes: Projects, and the Cross country

Let me know what you think of these projects. Any ideas?

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