The Great Rebuild

Due to a long love affair with Mountain biking, I have ignored my road bike and relegated the poor thing to the status of "commuter." In Toronto, this is acceptable because one must be able to lock his bike outside of a shop without being overly worried about theft. However, as I began to ride the roads more, and discover new riding buddies along the way, I realized that something had to be done about the state of my bike.

It all started off with a pair of wheels. A Shimano R500 rear with a semi-aero profile and bladed spokes and an Alex TA-19 front that doesn't deserve much more mention. The rear came with a 9-speed cassette that I figured I could somehow work with my 6-speed shifters. Despite that lovely thought, I could not get the ratios to work out for more than 3 of the positions, and I'd be damned if I would go to friction shifting. So began the hunt and the Great Rebuild.

The next bits to be upgraded were the saddle and the brakes. The old white Vetta saddle left serious numbness (see the Trek Across Maine). Through Pinkbike, I found a fant-reach Tektro brakes. The Fizik went right onto the Fiori and I attempted to fit the brakes. Turns out, even though the frame is ancient, these long brakes have far too deep of reach to fit my wheels. Instead, they hung comically below the rim and I had to replace my old brakes. Through an unrelated conversation, I found out that my cousin had an extra dual-pivot rear brake and needed a very long reach front brake for his new fixed-gear project. With this fortuitous turn of events, I had a great rear brake and saddle, and only a few extra parts that I couldn't use.

Following that, there were 3 weeks of searching for replacement components. Days on craigslist, Pinkbike, and ebay turned up nothing but duds. Then a glimmer of hope when I found a great deal on some Shimano 600 STI shifters. I met with the gentleman selling these beauties on Saturday and spent the rest of the morning pedaling around the city, looking for the odds and ends to complete the build.

Following is a short photo journal of the build:
From the Beginning-


Changes-




Several hours, curses, and cuts to the hand later, my bike looks like this:




Sweet wheels, saddle, 16-speeds, a name: "Millie" (because now she's thoroughly modern,) and no more excuses not to go road riding instead of sitting around the apartment. Total cost: $more than I should have.

The only problem is now I need a commuter bike again...

A Jets to Brazil moment and Fixed gear trail riding

Whoosh squeeeeeeal. There are 2 spots in the Don Valley that I cannot ride at full speed for some reason. No matter how much I talk myself up to it or yell at myself after, it just doesn't happen. One is above. It is pretty at that angle, but there's a short drop followed by a quick left turn that offers a view of your impending crash if you don't make the turn. That crash will be down a nearly vertical hillside. It doesn't help when some pot-smoking high-schoolers tell you "You can't ride that? Yeah, you'll probably die if you fuck up."

*Get out of your head, Ilan*



The second spot is a super steep, albeit banked, turn (see item one of the list in my second post if you see a pattern here). I come in from the side and don't have enough speed to take the bank, and I'm of accelerating in the turn.

One of these days I'll accidentally do one of these and from then on it will be okay. But I think I will need to be riding with someone else for that to happen...

Anyway, enough self-pity.

Last Sunday, I took my good friend, Swoo, riding on the flat trail of the Don. On his fixie. He is a member of the All City fixed gear freestyle team and has a fairly wicked edit out of his riding, which you should check out:

Sungwoo Kim - Summer 2010. from swoo on Vimeo.

He really wanted to give off-road riding a try and I was ecstatic to take him. Despite his fixed-gear and brakeless handicap and as a testament to his skills, he stayed upright and on my rear wheel the whole time. He even embarrassed me by riding some features that I was far too nervous to attempt. The only mishap happened when he got off his bike to go through a puddle and hit his head then stepped in the mud. And obviously he had so much fun that he wants to go again. He may even set up a spare frame with a freewheel and brakes so that he can do it with less fear of death. Mountain biking wins again.