Oh how the bikes stack up

So this post is bike nerd intensive.. However a couple of people have asked about the various bike projects so I thought I’d make one long post. There are some some aspects that everyone can relate to no matter what their relationship with bicycles is though. Feel free to skim/skip/enjoy..

Bike #1
Project name: Possible Xtracycle
1994 Bridgestone MB5

Ok so bike #1 is my baby. I co-bought this bike with my mother when I was 14. I then proceeded to ride the hell out of him. I’ve ridden this mamma-jamma in Wilder Ranch, Nicene Marks, Butano, Upper UCSC, Grey Whale, Tahoe, Downieville, Idaho and probably several places in between. I grew up down the street from Delaveaga park and used to ride that trail pretty much every afternoon after school and 2-3 times each weekend day. I bet if I threw his tires back on he’d guide me to “top of the world” and back with no hesitation. I had to retire him from the trails a couple years back after the components were beginning to fail.

I think his next incarnation may be as an Xtracycle Its a bit spendy but for me being able to haul around a bunch of stuff (or my wife) on my favorite bike sounds awesome.

Bike #2
Project Name: Desdemona
1970s? Schwinn LeTour – Grocery Getter

I found Desdemona at the Flea Market about over 2 years ago. I think I was mainly attracted to the 70s brown and gold color scheme. I wish I had a before picture because it was the epitome of a late 70’s 10 speed… suicide levers and all! I stripped it down only to find that it had a proprietary sized stem. I had another stem (which I’ve since put to use in the Xtracycle project) that I’d been really excited about using for this bike.. Since I couldn’t use that stem I lost steam for about 2 years.. (petty huh?) Then one lazy (hungover) saturday I cleaned/rebuilt the bottom bracket and headset, cut the big front chainring off, bought a set of generic MTB riser bars and put my daily rider set of wheels on her. The result was a Frankenstein-deathtrap-fun-fun bike due to it’s fixed-gear-nobraked-ness.

I’m now trying to teach myself to build wheels using these…

and these..

So one day Desdemona will have her own wheelset.. Lastly I plan on adding a nice brake and a big ol’ basket in the front

Bike #3
Project name: Jane Deere
1990s? Raliegh Girls Mountain Bike – Bike for Serena to ride twice

I found this bike while coming home from lunch one day. I just had to give it a second chance.. So far I’ve stripped all components and paint off of it and painted it John Deere Green.

I’m going to try to make this 90’s bike look kind of english 3 speed style. I’m pretty amped on it.

Bike #4
Project name: Drinking beer by the ocean bike
1950’s? Royce Union

I found this guy last sunday at a garage sale for $10. I couldn’t really say no.

My only real plans with this one are to clean to 50+ years of gunk off of it, wax the paint a bit, try to get the front light to work again and replace the ridiculously huge seat.

What’s funny is there are still several more types of bikes that I want.. For instance I haven’t even begun my cyclocross career! I also gave away a frame last year that I was sure that I was going to use to go bike touring up and down the california coast with. However, as long as I have a bike to ride and a bike (or 5) to tinker with on a saturday I’ll be ok…