Friday Follies ~~ Progress (Of a sort)

One might ask,  “Why are you posting stuff about this buildup as a Friday Folly?  Wouldn’t it be more appropriate as a “tech” article?”

Those are good questions.  I guess, about now, the “Repurposed Bike” feels sort of folly-filled.  I embarked on it just ages ago.  My intent was to develop a commuting ride, and to have such ride ready to handle commuting in Summer rains.  (You might remember rain, if you go waaay back in your memory.  At the beginning of this Summer we had a good bit of it, and it looked like we’d have more.

You might refresh your memory by going to the post of 6/22/2011 (please note, this was just at the beginning of summer.

I already had the bike.  It is a Giant Escape 1.  (Actually it’s only a large bike, not all that giant really.)  Here’s a picture of it in the “before” condition.

The Escape in "Before" condition.

The reason it feels kind of like a folly, is that the project has taken so long.  The work needed would only take about an hour to an hour and a half of shop time.  But the thing is, much like the cobbler and his children, a bike mechanic does not have shop time to work on his own bike.  When the shop is open, customer work comes first.  And when there is a lot of customer work, it comes first when the shop is closed too.

But surely a mechanic of long service would have the resources to do some, or most, or even all of the work in a home shop?  Well yes.  But one has to be home to make use of those resources.  More, one has to be home and have the time available to the task.  While I do get home at least once in every day, I have lately had a few major project to occupy me.  I’m not complaining about that, mind you.  It’s just that this buildup has been on the front of my mind for a long time.

So here’s the current state.

A work in progress...

You’ll see that a lot of stuff is missing.  At the moment, this is not a rideable bike.  The Giant Sport tires are mounted, and look quite handsome on this rig.  Note that the fenders are (mostly) installed, and the Tubus rack looks very good on this frame.  The Cane Creek Drop-V levers have a businesslike presence on the bars, and the bars and stem seem to work well with this bike.  Bars and stem are not finally placed yet, but just that…  in place.  (Alert and astute readers will note that there is a bit of a difference in my usual backdrop.  That’s the result of one of those other projects I mentioned, and is in a stage nearing completion.)

Look for a couple of more posts on some of the detail construction.  These will appear in the near future, and they won’t be in the follies section.  Likely, mu “Summer” commuter will be ready in time for late Fall riding.  Or is that thought another Folly?