Ride Review - Labor Day Weekend 1

This is my new bike.  It's not new in the sense that it's never been owned by anyone before, or that I bought it from a shop.

I built it.

I started with a bare frame with no parts on it whatsoever.  You really can't break a bike any further down than this, without having a welding shop and pile of steel as a result.  I had a local bike shop (LBS) pull a stubborn bearing cup out of the bottom bracket when I was first starting with the build, but beyond that point it has been all me.  My skills and knowledge, coupled with my beer and tools and time.

I could (and normally would) go ahead and list all the parts it is comprised of, but that doesn't change my opinion of it.  Or, of the process it was to get it there.

For somebody that has never had the chance or desire to break a bike down into the tiniest little bits and reassemble it, and then go sprinting across the streets of their home town on it.  It's a unique experience, in a time and life of merely needing to be present to do things correctly.


So, here's an internet CHEERS! for Italian steel frames, fixed gear conversions, stiff-soled bicycling shoes, cell phones that will take photographs, being healthy enough to ride a bicycle, and doing something all by yourself with the result being something you stake your life upon.