BICYCLE BICYCLE

Omg so excite today. after so much talk and so many delays, the project that I started back in July is nearly complete!

For the first time, I took my newly assembled fixed gear bike out for a test ride. Instead of studying for ME108, I went to Missing Link for the day and finished putting stuff together. But even though I got a fixed gear now, I resent being called a hipster.

I still need to go to the machine shop an drill out that hole for my front brake.


I gotta find a damned 26.0 quill stem for my pursuit bars, which i'm dying to use. What I've learned: keep in mind material properties when trying to pull a crazy stunt like forcefully prying open the stem clamp or sanding it down. That shit causes plastic deformations and stress raisers and shit that will cause catastrophic failure. Good thing I got that backup black stem that has been untouched by my foolish attempts. I would have probably killed myself when my handlebars randomly explode while I'm riding.

Building your own bike, even such a simple one as this will likely cost you more than just buying one from craigslist, but at least I can say this one's my own.

and FUCK! I tried carrying both my panasonic and univega on my shoulders while carrying a bag and backpack and my fucking brand new wheel fell out of the dropouts! and with both my hands full, all i could do was stare at the tireless, beautiful rim hit the concrete several times before slowly slowing down like an Euler's disk. .. sigh.. I probably need to get a new rim or risk another form of catastrophic failure. But thank you, Vu, for helping me carry a bike during the last stretch.
That's why I'm using that mismatched front rim for the moment. I ended up taking my saddle, seatpost, tires, and pedals from Sonic anyways.

Scott, I hope you're as excited to see this as I was. Now we can compare "before and after" photos.

Thank you QQ for those toe cages and SOMA straps. I should probably post my final budget later. This cost more than I had predicted. geez

o and if someone steals this shit, then i'll hate your soul forever.

Univega viva sport
44t origin8 chainring
17t Surly cog
Surly lockring
Weinmann DP18
MKS steel cages
SOMA leather straps
170mm sugino GT
Shimano BR-6614 Dual Pivot Brake
Tektro bar-end lever