S&SUB Build and Details

I took some pictures this morning of the bike I threw together over the weekend from parts in the garage.  The Frame is an older Trek 400 sport bike converted to 650b.  By using the smaller rim I could run a fatter cushier tire, and also bring the front end geometry into a range that will handle well with front biased loads.

 

I have a few Trek frames in my garage that I bought off of Craig’s List and they have been hanging from the ceiling for almost 2 years now.  All three have their dents, scratches and other marks of age.  I decided it was high time to do something about it.  The fringe benefit is the fun in building a bike up instead of stripping one down to sell.  With a little planning and 30 minutes here and there I was able to put this together from parts in my bins of spares.

 

About a month ago I picked up a pair of NOS Weinmann 750 brakes, and they pushed me to get this done.  The 750 calipers have just enough reach to get to the 650b rims.  There is plenty of room for the 584×37 Col De La Vie tires, and fenders are in the works.  The wheels are decidedly not S&S, Phils laced to Velocity Dyads, but they belong to my wife and i am “borrowing” them.  I used an old MTB stem, bars and levers that span 20 years of age.  The shifting is handled by a Shimano Deore DX in the rear, Suntour XC high normal front and NOS 105 clamp on DT shifters.  The front rack is the Bruce Gordon (made in Oregon) rack that used to live on my Rawland.  The saddle is an Avocet Touring in pretty good shape.   All of the cables and housings are from my recycle bin.

Initial rides have been unloaded and it handles fantastic.  This will become my around town bike for errands and such.  There are only a few things I hope to change.  The handlebars will be switched out with some Wald 867 bars that are on the way.  I may do something about the saddle, but i tis OK for shortish trips.  I have some newer brake shoes to put on, but the old black blocks have been slowing things down acceptably.  As for fenders, I have an older set of the VO zeppelins that were bought on clearance 3 years ago, and will be re-shaped to work here.

Yes, new bikes are fun, but sometimes the best bike is what you have.  At least for the moment.

Remember – Reduce – Reuse – Recycle

S&SUB First Ride

This has been an interesting week, and for some therapy I went through te garage to help a phoenix rise from the ashes.  You may have heard of the Bridgstone Urban Bike or even Jan Hine’s much more refined GBUB (Grand Bois Urban Bike), I now have my very own S&SUB:

As in Sanford and Son Urban Bike, finally bringing a beater Trek 400 back to life a sa 650B conversion with a fantastic spread of parts from all corners of my garage.  With the Rawland on its way out the door soon as well as a couple of others it was time to press some of the lonely frames back into action.

Initial impressions are pretty good too, this is going to be a fun bike in the stable.

 

More Auctions Starting

The clean out continues this week, you can see my eBay auctions here. As written a few days ago, I am preparing to take the business to the next step and need to raise some capital, and keep bootstrapping this along.  This week we have my Rawland dSogn frameset, an older Selle Italia Flite Trans Am, King Headset and Tange Switchblades fork.  Soon to come up are the wheels from the dSogn, 40 Hole Dyads laced to White Industry M16 hubs, and older Dura Ace crankset, some more saddles, and other odds and ends.  I am still planning on updating the Yardsale pages with some older Trek road frames you may remember.

 

Thanks for taking a look, your continued readership and support help me steer this venture into the future.

 

Sneak Preview

Photo shoot for the next phase of clean out.

Tomorrow night the auctions will start for my Rawland, some saddles, cranks, a king headset, A Tange Switchblades fork, and whatever else I can get done in time.