From Many, One

Many parts, and much time and too much money = One custom bike!

A couple months ago I posted about my project bike. I finally got most of the parts I wanted. Ended up with a long chrome non-suspension fork, as the springer types weren't long enough due to this bikes long headtube. And a smaller, mag style 20 inch front wheel. Which doesn't match the back, unfortunately. Big chrome handlebars, better derailleur, better brakes (important because now it has ONLY rear brakes). Lots of miscellaneous little parts and details. This photo shows the original bike and the parts for the big conversion.

It took quite a while, some of the parts like the fork I changed as I went. Took longer to get it all together, and the brakes were one of the last things to finish as I changed levers, so I couldn't ride it outside. But I did get it all working, and have ridden it inside on the trainer. So it's pretty much ready to go, as is...

What do you think? It's probably 90% finished. Still need to add the computer, tool bag, some chrome fenders, headlight and a few other small details. I already think I'd like to put on a wire spoke front wheel, with a disc brake, which I can mount to the new fork. I just need to find a wheel with the mechanical disc brake. I like the look of the 20 inch front wheel. But a 24 inch is also a very possible setup. The banana seat is a little harder and less comfortable than I expected, but for this bike style is important! All my bikes have nicknames, but I still haven't come up with one for this one yet.

Overall, I think it looks pretty unique. Looking forward to some nicer weather so I can get some real road testing done soon!

Up In Smoke

Maybe Cheech and Chong were in the area. More on that in a bit.

Got out for my hike. Weather had been cool, but got nicer today. But it hasn't rained, and the wind was blowing directly from the direction of the fires. So expected some smoke.

Got started, wasn't bad at all. But could see some very thick smoke obscuring horizon to the west. Situation the same as last week - dull muted greens and yellows, with many leaves already gone.

Did find a few colors here and there. This orange-ish tree was about the best I could find all day.

A nice little sort of lean-to shelter of tree branches built by someone over time.

Another three shot pano of a pond. Just like last week.

A pair of deer. Saw two different small groups of deer today. No mooses, elks or other critters unfortunately. Sometimes you see them, sometimes you don't.

As the day went on, the wind changed more to the wrong direction. Though it was harder to see when you're down in the trees, when you come out on a high spot wow was it getting smoky!

Sky a mix of some clouds and a lot of fire smoke. The farther away you could see, the more yellowish and lost in the smoke everything became. And it was really smelling like a campfire.

The sun turned orange/red depending on how much smoke there was. By late afternoon, it was almost orange light. Felt like maybe I was walking on Mars! Perhaps the sky was colorful to make up for the lack of color on the ground? Headed home and washed the smoke out!

Ablaze

Because of the fall colors!

Or not.

This fall has been weird. Its stayed VERY warm and dry. Maybe that's why the fall colors are very disappointing. At least to me. Went out hiking at one of my favorite spots to capture some color. But most of it escaped!

Lots of trees are still green. But its a kind of a dull, fading green. That seems to be turning gray. The trees that are yellow are mostly a very dull yellow. Hardly any bright fall colors anywhere. Just lots of muted colors and green-ish leaves. And other spots where all the leaves are down already. Color me unimpressed! But, lets try to salvage something anyway.

Probably one of my more picturesque shots of the day. A three shot pano of a beaver pond. Not my first choice for areas, but one of the more colorful areas I could find. Looks pretty good. Also, one of the few areas with any standing water. Many of the little marshy ponds here are totally dried up cracked mud.

Lots of rock features here. Lots of people climb those rocks. I just admire them. Picture was just ordinary, but I added an oil paint effect to make it a little different. I think it helped.

Last shot for this post. Just a collection of clouds cruising along the sky. Temps were upper 70s. Pretty nice for late September. On the right of the photo, the haziness is from smoke. There are some forest fires burning farther west and south of here, and smoke was just on the edge of where I was.

Planning to hike next week in my other favorite spot. Check for colors (not expecting much) and hoping there isn't much smoke. Guess we'll know in a week...

Ow!!!!

Well, that was unpleasant.

Last Saturday, after some cool and rainy weather, we got a couple hour break of warm and sun in the afternoon. Decided to take the MTB out for a quick ride.

Should have stayed home.

I headed for the greenway. The concrete bike path through town. Usually always a good ride. But not today...

From the earlier rain, some things were still a bit damp. I ride a short distance on a unpaved road from where I live to the Greenway. The first thing I hit on the Greenway is a short downhill into a sweeping right turn. Traveling under 15 mph (cause that's the max shown on my computer). Banked around the turn as I've done hundreds of times. But this time something different happened.

The rear wheel suddenly slid out under me like I hit a sheet of ice. And I was sliding on the concrete on my right side. It was over in seconds. No broken bones or anything like that. But my right hand took a hit, with several bleeding scrapes. My right leg got it worse. One small scrape, one slightly larger that was bleeding a fair amount, a bigger raw area near knee, but it wasn't bleeding. And a sizable scrape halfway down leg probably an inch or two wide and 5-6 inches long.

Ow!!!

Post-crash analysis tells me that even though the greenway itself was dry, my drive on the damp dirt road got the tires to hold some dirt/sand. Once at the greenway, all was ok. But the edges of the tires were still gritty. Once I banked in to the curve, the gritty sidewall was the contact area. And physics took over and down I went.

Bike took a little abuse too. Similar to me. Scraped off the edge of the handlebar grip, and the rear derailleur. Almost shredded the shift cable. With a little filing and some paint, had it back to good shape. Later discovered I needed to straighten the derailleur hanger, think it got bent a bit as well.

So, bike is healed up. And me, I'm working on it. Getting there, but it takes a bit longer. Got lots of midly touchy scabs on leg though! I have pictures, but I think I'll leave them off this particular post.

Today took my first ride - on the same bike. Did the ride I was going to do a week ago. All went fine. No crashes. Going a bit easier as the leg can feel a bit sore at times. But back on the horse!

Mystery Revealed!

Not that much of a mystery, really.

Picked up a basic 7 speed cruiser bike for a closeout price a few months back. Performance Bicycle Americano with an aluminum frame and 26 inch wheels.

Decent but basic. The components are all pretty cheap, but after some tweaking by me, they work ok. Here's the bike in its nearly stock condition -

My plans for it are quite extensive. I'm planning to make a sort of custom bike, inspired partly by chopper bikes, low rider bikes and the old Schwinn Sting-Ray style bike.

Almost all the parts will change. I bought it mostly for the full size frame, to use as my starting point. Been figuring parts for it, getting ready to start ordering. And do more figuring. As I haven't entirely decided some things. Like the size of the front wheel (probably smaller, but how much?) and the fork (springer or straight chrome or suspension?) and so on.

But for now I'm just riding it around, enjoying it as is. Before things get crazy!