The New Old Joy of a rebuilt bike
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: new old joy
My Trek 1000 ['99 model] was my first store bought road bike. After conversion to a fixed gear, a crash that required a nasty shoulder operation, and a rebuild into another fixed gear, the frame has sat dormant in my basement like a larval cicada. However, looking through relatively recent issues of bike magazines, I longed for a "new" bike. Not new from the shop per se, but new to me. Then it dawned on me; i had the frame to build one.

The STI shifters were long gone, so I mated the stock Sora to downtube shifters. Double cranks, instead of the stock triple, and wide but not too wide drop bars. Aero brake levers and new tektro RX40 calipers. Mavic rims with Coda hubs. I had to use a QR skewer thru the drilled out seat clamp as the threads were stripped and it is waiting on a special order replacement, but aside from that -- and possibly better cranks it's done. And it rides better than new. Downtube shifters are more primative, but lighter and racier; the bike flies up hills now, like it never did. The addition of my Carbon fiber seatpost -- once i get a proper clamp that won't risk damage -- will drop the weight and boost the ride quality more. This is the bike it should have been -- and cost next to nothing to make.
My new bike lust is satisfied -- and so is the bank account.
-- Elvis

It