Like minded

I found this guy's Flicker page recently. He has a bunch of nice pics of his project bikes, quite a few of which are old timey mtbs built up with big ballooner tires. He's done some real nice rebuilds and modernizing to make really functional and good looking bikes. Check it here.

Ramblings

I saw an old Trek 790 on the street the other day and I got kinda stoked out on it. Ever since Jonny made his "Beast of the East" 26er-to-29er conversion, I've been curious about the ghetto niner. Here's a link to some pics of the 790. The 790 takes 700c wheels already so it wouldn't need any super janky conversion, just the biggest tires that would fit, which, according to a poster on a forum is 45c or 1.8". Not bad. I guess that's just a monster cross, but either way, it'd be fun to fool around with and crash into trees.
I also was looking around a lugged fork crowns recently and was reminded of the so sweet Mb-1 crown that was used in '93/'94. That's a guess on the dates, but close.

This is the one that was the model for that great crown that Pacenti makes. The Pacenti crown has 2.9" tire clearance, which is so, so, so, awesome. I want one. It might be part of the plan to fix my newly broken fork on my '84 Ridgerunner. Last time I bent the fork the guy at the shop who discovered the bent steerer said "maybe no more jumping." But what the hell is the point right? Anyway, pics to follow when I take the fork out to survey the damage.
Oh, also found this pic recently on another blog that shows an exploded Suntour bottom bracket, the same one that is on the Mt. Fuji Limited that I just finished working on. It's an interesting example of an early cartridge bearing bottom bracket. (I lost the link to the page I found this on but I'll post a link if I find it again.)
Pretty neat. The one on the Fuji was still buttery after 25 years.
Been thinking and talking about this recently. Tough guy stuff...

MTBro tire smooch

New Years Day Dirt Doggin'

As Jonny pointed out, repeatedly, there was something magical about the light. I wish my cellcam picked it up better, but I think it's got some sort of anti-magic filter (it was cheap, ok?) It looks like nice light, none the less.

It made doing our usual loop like a new dirt dogging experience - yes, a magical experience - that livened up our old standby loops, namely Backwards Redwood, The Ewok Needle (which we Thread), Jurassic Park, Pathway To The Wizard's Circle, that part of Big Trees I don't have a cool name for, Sunset, and good old J. Miller in general.

We felt motivated to take a few Inspiration Breaks.

Notice this Stumpjumper's hi-tech pump mounting rig.

That's merely inspirational tobacco, btw.

We ended our ride in the best light of the first day of the year.

NYE SAM P/ Darby's Fuji

Nye Camping, just a short pedal out to Samuel P Taylor State Park. What nice line of bikes in the woods!

Tacos

The Fuji is finished (I think). I cleaned it all up, put on a new chain and freewheel, changed some cables and housing, a new used seat, and new rear tire that is a closer match to the one on the front. The other changes I talk about below. While I had the wheels off for truing, I noticed that the Suntour XC hubs are cartridge bearing models. Pretty sweet. I also feel pretty good about the fender line; its not perfect but good enough for me.
The fender install was a real bastard, I guess it kinda always is though. I found these mystery fenders at REI marked way down and missing most of the original hardware. I was pretty amped though, because I had a bunch of fender hardware laying around from an old wood fender project. The stays and R clips are Velo Orange, while the top clip is Honjo.
The Honjo part is graceful, but I had to jank on a little extra length.
Also from VO, I had this little Rando Rack that I got a year ago hoping that it would fit my Rivendell. It turned out to be impossible to fit the thing on the Riv because of the huge tire clearance. I've tried several bikes since and it fit terribly on those too. Since this frame has the roller cams, the rack stays are able to clear the brakes.
I had to get crafty again here, as the provided P clamps are way too small. These are just copper tube straps from the hardware store manhandled into shape with a little electrical tape to protect the paint.


I pulled the stem while going through everything, and it is indeed a Nitto.
Ritchey Riser bars, and those Origin8 grips that have sawdust (cork?) in them.
Pretty passable for a commuter...