Wednesday, May 27, 2009

First Post! Re-Cycling is underway!

I'm starting this blog primarily as a way to document my first bike rebuild. Last fall, my good friends Lefty and Isus were getting ready to move. They had to clean out the shed, and one of the larger items therein was Lefty's old 10-speed, a relic from when he went off to college, fresh-faced, with the idea of zipping around campus on his trusty steel steed.

Years had not been totally kind to his fondly-remembered bicycle, however. After arranging to pick up what Lefty referred to as "the Peugeot", I went by their place late one evening to find the bike waiting for me on the back porch, per instructions left earlier that day by Isus.

It was a bicycle. That was about all that could be said for it, in reality.

Upon closer inspection the next day, I could tell that, indeed, the bike was a Peugeot, did have a lugged steel frame, and would be large enough for me. (Important, that, as I stand a bit over 6-foot-2.)

















It was a french-built 10-speed with Simplex shifters mounted on the stem. The bike had been painted with a spraycan when Lefty bought it. It was red. There was rust, and pitted chrome. There was a chewed-up seat, and vinyl bar-tape. There were wheels, and they rolled. It had tires, flattened through disuse and age.

















There were good elements and bad. Rust was present on the hubs, the stem was banged up and creased. But the frame and forks seemed straight and solid, which meant I could certainly use it as the basis for a custom rebuild.

I just had to decide what to keep and what to discard. I also needed more information on the bike. Research needed doing, and I needed to pick a path for the rebuild.

2 comments:

  1. Umm for the record - the crummy red spraypaint job was my fault - in my defense, I was 17 when I got that bike.

    -- Lefty

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  2. No worries, my friend. I got the call from Jerry today, and the bike is now a beautiful, classic grey with a fantastic shine. It all evens out in the rebuild! (^_^)

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