Friday Follies ~~ The Repurposed Bike (Redux)

As promised last week, here’s a bit more on the “Repurposed Bike” project.  I’m presenting this particular post on this day, the one reserved for “Follies” and foolishment, because this just might be a grand folly.  It could be a great success too. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the two, one man’s Folly often being another man’s glorious march into self-delusion.

If you’ve been following this at all, you know that I’m intent on building up a dedicated commuter.  Once I get this done, I can de-commuterize my Giant Defy 1.  The Defy has been a good sport about being used as a commuter/trainer/explorer/fast recreational/light tourist type bike.  It’s such a versatile machine that it can fill all of these functions, but hauling a trailer with this bike is a bit like pulling a pop-up camper with a Mercedes S Class.  It can be done, but why?

Further, I don’t want to put racks on the Defy, but that means I carry a big bag on my back…  a lot.  That’s okay every once in a while, but one shouldn’t make a habit of it.  The bicycle should be the “beast of burden.”  The load should be on the bike and not on the rider.  After all the rider has to provide the power to move it, and should not be supplying the energy to support it too!

So I picked a bike to build up to my particular parameters.  That meant some fairly heavy modification.  Below is a picture of the stuff that is coming off of the donor bike.

The "Old" parts (removed from the bike)

In the picture above you are seeing the flat handlebar, and the attached grips, SRAM X.4 shifters, and brake levers.  Also included are the stock stem, pedals, saddle, tires, and tubes.  All that stuff is being removed.  Likely it will be sold, or traded, or will find it’s way into other projects.

Now in the next picture are the parts that are going back onto the bike to complete this transformation.

The "New" parts (ready to be installed on the bike)

Pictured are the following:  A Giant Connect SL handlebar and the compatible Giant Connect SL Stem, Cane Creek Drop V brake levers (mounted on the bar), Shimano 8 speed bar end shifters, an old Brooks Professional saddle, Giant FlatGuard Sport Tires (700 X 28), Velox rim strips, Shimano M235 dual use pedals, Shimano Deore rear derailler, Minoura accessory mount, Cateye Mity cyclocomputer, Bike Ribbon gel pads, Profile bar tape, inner tubes, SKS thermoplastic fenders, and a Tubus Cargo rack.

Most of this stuff was lying around in parts bins, fallout from previous projects and trades.  The items I bought specifically for this project are the fenders, tires, tubes, and rim strips.

There is one more small set of things that I still have to get, a one gallon plastic milk jug and stainless steel 8 nuts, 8 washers, 4 screws.  Keep watching.  It’s going to be fun seeing how this all goes together.