Resurrectio

Once in a while I get to do a project which is especially enjoyable and rewarding. When Mike came in and rode the Rivendell Hillborne, I'm not sure if he was aware of the connection between Rivendell and Bridgestone but the test ride was an eye opener for him. We started talking and he told me he had a Bridgestone X0-2 in his garage, and we discussed fixing that up to make it ride like a new bike. The bike had been a little neglected but was generally sound.

The drive train was shot and he needed new chain, bottom bracket, crankset and cassette. The rear wheel had been replaced recently but the front wheel and hub were fine after cleaning and lubing. We also put on new tires, a new Nitto stem so he could raise the handlebars, new brake hoods and bar tape. Not too bad for a well used 17 year old bike.

First though, we stripped the bike and he took it to a local painter to get the frame powdercoated. I think the color he picked is great.

Facing the head tube

After facing the bottom bracket shell I cleaned up the threads.

New drive train and Schwalbe Big Apple tires

I bought the "Resurrectio" decals from rivbike.com

The finished bike looks pretty good, I think.

I really like the shape of the original Nitto handlebars.

The thing that's so satisfying is working on a product which was made to last the first time and  is still worth putting some time and effort and money into 17 years later. He paid as much to fix the bike up as he paid for it new, and now the bike is good for another 17 years.  That seems like a good definition of value to me.

There are more photos on Flickr

Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show '09

We were in Portland  November 1 for the '09 Oregon Handmade Bicycle show, mostly to try to hawk some Zimbale bags, but also to see what the denizens of this Northwest bicycle hub are up to. This show was so much more energizing than was Interbike. The exhibitors and the attendees who were here are fascinated by bicycles and their many uses.

All the bikes were steel or ti with some carbon forks here and there. Some frames were left "raw", without paint, like Rivendell has done on some bikes. Many of the bikes were obviously "riders", with dirt and scuffed paint. Many different types of racks.... custom, integrated with the bike, integrated with the bike and fenders (Ti Cycles Fabrication), and a very cool cargo bike with a front rack attached to the frame and not to the steering (by Ahearne). He wants to make this a production bike. I remember Ahearne from the NAHBS in Portland a couple years ago as one of my favorites, and he had a customer's bike here which looks just about right.

Cielo is a bicycle making company put together by Chris King. Their entry in the Oregon Manifest Constructor's Design Challenge was extremely well thought out.

Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly writes about this event in the winter '09 issue, and he compares it with the trials in France in the 1930's. These events were like a brevet in that a minimum speed was to be maintained over the three stages and 460 km. But, the bikes were penalized if they exceeded a certain weight and they were penalized at the end for any malfunction. This bred an enormous amount of innovation. It's really exciting to see a revival of an event like this in the US!

Mitch Pryor from Map Bicycles was there with a custom bike using a mix of new and old. He makes simple look easy and that's hard.

Andy Newlands from Strawberry Bicycles puts this show on and he had a booth showing his bikes. He has been making bikes here for many years, and he knows how to do it right.