Winter Project: It Was a Productive Weekend

The Peugeot Course is starting to come together.  In fact, it's beginning to resemble a real, live bicycle.  A couple of weeks ago, I picked up some cheap Kenda 27" gumwall road tires, along with tubes and rim strips.  I put them on the mint condition aluminum Araya rims that came on the bike and bolted the wheels onto the frame.  I should mention here that Tom, the guy who gave me the bike, is obviously skilled at repacking hubs, as the wheels spun wonderfully and I was glad to not have to do it myself.  With the rear wheel on the bike, I was able to get a good look at how the chain rings lined up with the freewheel.  It was not good.  A really shitty chain line would've been in store for me.  This was just as I suspected, so I put in an order for a new bottom bracket with an appropriate axle length.  And that's the end of work on the drivetrain until I get my new bottom bracket in the mail.

Next, I put a stem and barset on the bike.  Because the frame is just a shade large for me, I decided on a very short stem that I had lying around The Tinkery.  The old bars were pretty beat up, and the brakes that came on them had suicide levers on the flats, which I absolutely hate.  So I bought some new-to-me drop bars from Klunk, along with a pair of beautiful, still-in-the-box, NOS Dia-Compe brake levers.  With these bolted/clamped on and the wheels back on the bike, I was pleased with the progress.  Oh, and I also stuffed the old seat post back into the frame, even though I'm considering buying a new seat post and clamp.

The next day, I was out in The Tinkery realigning the rear wheel of Ginger's Raleigh Sports.  The boy watched me do this, and when I was finished, he obviously decided I had done an inferior job.  So he snatched the 15mm wrench from my hand and went to work.  That's when I snapped this picture.

How great is that?  I can't wait until he's old enough to help me out with these projects for real.