Most Badass Bike Ever? Probably

Came across this little gem via Culture Cycles.  I can't get it out of my head.  It's a fat bike.  It's stocked with a chainsaw, a shovel, and a six-pack of beer.  It's also a Moots, which is impressive in its own right.  They call it the Trail Maintenance Bike, and it is truly awesome.  So I thought I'd share.  As seen at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) and nicely documented by Brian over at Culture.

New Project: A Shop Update

Things are moving along nicely with Ginger's '82 Motobecane Super Mirage.  We've been discussing a number of functional and aesthetic ideas for this bicycle.  Ginger has veered me away from the plan that I initially had for this bike, but some of her thoughts have been bold and impressive.  And now I'm really excited to see how it turns out.

After I brought the bike home, the first step was to take the machine apart.  I pulled all of the components off the frame and found that some of the parts were likely not original - most notably the mismatched brakes.  I decided to go ahead and trash the calipers and install a whole new brake system; a decision that will enhance both the look and the safety of the bike.  I also made a list of parts that were missing, such as chain ring bolts, shifters, and decent wheels.  Then I cleaned and polished all of the components, taking care to carefully remove surface rust, and made sure the frame was clean and the bearing cups and races free of old grease and debris.

Once I had a full inventory of any parts that were missing or needed to be replaced, I made a run to a couple of the nearby bike shops in town.  I also put in a few orders for parts that weren't in stock at my LBS.  When I got home, I bolted on the parts that I had available and made sure any moving parts were lubricated and functioning properly.  Now all that's left is to wait for the orders to arrive at my home or at my LBS so I can get the thing assembled.  Speaking of which, here's a little sneak peek at one such order that was waiting for me when I got home from work today:

The New Project: 1982 Motobecane Super Mirage Mixte

 
Before we made the move to Springfield, there was a period of time in which Ginger was working in Springfield and I was still working in Columbia.  Our house was on the market and I was interviewing for jobs.  It was a somewhat trying time, but it was made even worse when Ginger's Raleigh Record was stolen.  The bike was locked to the trunk rack on the back of her car overnight and it would seem that someone cut the cable and made off with the bike.  I hadn't put an extraordinary amount of money into the bike since the Records aren't particularly valuable, but it was still a blow.  The bike was a gift from my dad, and there was a certain degree of sentimentality associated with it, especially compared to the rigs that I've picked up off of Craigslist.  But the bike was in the wind, and there was only one option left:  build Ginger a new bike.

I picked up this 1982 Motobecane Super Mirage mixte during a trip back to Columbia to see our friends Kyle and Liz a couple of weeks ago.  I should mention that I'm not totally certain of the date of manufacture, but the serial number on the bottom bracket ends in "82" and the crank is stamped with an "81," so I'm thinking the frame was made in 1982 and outfitted with components that were manufactured in '81.  I bought the machine for a pretty good price.  It had been previously converted from its original setup as a 12 speed to a single speed, which was unfortunate.  Luckily, the seller had most of the original drivetrain components, including the front and rear derailleurs and inner chain ring - the conversion to single speed had simply involved removing the inner chain ring and using the original crank set.

The frame is pretty interesting in that it's a mixte, but it doesn't have the laterals running all the way from the head tube down to the rear dropouts.  Instead, it has a single, full-sized top tube that splits into separate laterals just in front of the seat tube.  Once the top tube splits into twin laterals, the lats then run down to the dropouts like a traditional mixte.  This style of mixte frame is supposedly somewhat rare.  After looking though a few old Motobecane catalogs, I found that the company referred to this type of frame as "mixte special."  No matter what it's called, I was initially a bit uninterested, since I was shopping for a more traditional mixte.  But after seeing the bike in person, I couldn't resist.  The frame is in great shape and the color is really mesmerizing...most of the time it looks blue, but in certain light it looks more greenish or gray.

I'm hoping to have this bike fully road-ready for Ginger by the time the weather starts to warm up, so this is the project I'll be focusing on during the coming weeks.  She's been riding her Sports around town since the Record was stolen, but she's looking forward to having a lighter weight cycle, especially for longer trips.

It's Alive! / What Hump?

It's long past time we got things rolling again here at Cycle Like a Stringer, so I thought I'd kick things off with the set up of my new workshop.  When we moved into our new home in Springfield last October, we had quite a few items, boxes, and assorted baby furniture that ended up in the basement.  Our previous house had a garage as well as an attic, whereas our current house has neither, so all of the things that had been stored in the attic and kept in the garage ended up piled in the basement of our new place.  Things have been pretty hectic with our family as we adjusted to our new life here, but as we finally began to feel settled, I decided it was time to get down into the basement and do some organizing...and, of course, set up the Tinkery.

First off, let me set the scene:  Our house is over 100 years old and has an unfinished basement.  The basement has very low ceilings, a thick layer of grime and dust over the floor, HVAC ducts that require one to stoop to pass under them, and the expected water leakage during heavy rainfall.  It's also very poorly lit and, as of right now, has no outdoor access - the bulkhead that leads to the backyard is sealed with a 3/4" slab of plywood.  Here's a blurry picture that I took with my phone just before I began organizing and rearranging:

After stacking and stowing the boxes that were to remain stored in the basement, I swept the floors as best I could and then went to work setting up my workshop in the middle of the main room that is shown above.  Just behind the four pillars in the center of the floor, I hung the tandem and my mountain bike on hooks from the first floor joists.  Next, I mounted peg board horizontally across the two front-most pillars, and another peg board vertically across the left-most pillars.  I moved my workbench in front of the horizontally-hung peg board and hung my tools up as needed.  Then I hung my spare bike parts on the vertically mounted peg board.  Once my tools and spare parts were organized, I set up the repair stand, clamped my latest project bike into it, and took these pictures:

 

It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than it was.  And more importantly, I now have a near fully functional Tinkery again.  There's still a fair amount of work to be done, but the hardest of it is finished.  I'm pretty happy with the result, too.  Even though it's dank, dusty, smelly, and leaky, I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time in the basement working on my next project.  More on that to come.  In the meantime, I'll just say that Ginger and I are super excited about living and cycling in Springfield, MO and becoming a voice in the local bicycling community.