Bike Builds

So... a customer (a guy whose been here a few times, and gave me some good advise on one visit) comes in the other day wondering how busy we are and if he can get some time on the stand, he says he just got his bike back from the painter and wants to build it up.

He's got all the parts, some used(original), most new. And he has plenty of know-how, but he needs a couple of tools and a little help for a few things. I tell him to bring it in, it should only take an hour or so.

The bike is great(beautiful really), classic vintage steel made by a french artisian in the 80's. It's got a story that starts with "I was in this village in france with some guys". So he's had it for a while, and he likes the way it rides, but over the years it's taken a beating. So he tears it down and sends it to this fella in North Carolina or somewhere to re-beutify.

He's building it up as a single speed sorta training / showpiece bike.

Unfortunatly When I told him "An hour or so" I failed to take into account the time it would take to Chase and Face the bottom bracket, and fork. but he was pretty forgiving. Even when I said the scary "Just so you know, I've never done this before, but I think it'll be OK". And I had to re-do a couple of things do to lack of famialariarity. And a brain freeze or two on both of our parts (and a trip home for him for a forgotten part).

This isn't a great picture but you get the idea. It's really very pretty, and I wish I had a scale, 'cause I'd like to know how much this thing weighs. It's the lightest steel bike I've seen. Certainly lighter then my Schwinn Fixie conversion. He put these really cool Cane Creek brake levers on it.

Just thought I'd share with the group, since this is something we can do. I know a guy here in Illinois who paints bikes and I can certainly tear a bike down, and rebuild it better then it started. Or Help you do it yourself. Fortunatly for him he came in during Feb. so he saved a few bucks in labor, and got my undivided attention (except for me braking up a fight between my sons) And he was a class act, he brought a thank you gift for yours truly (yummy beer) and took care of Jake when he helped him to his car with his bag. I'm not fishing, so much as publicing him.

See you around, thanks for stopping by.

Trash or Treasure

Do you have something is your garage that looks like this?

Loads of Surface rust, seized chain, sprung saddle, corroded cables, dry rotten tires, spider webs and leaves?

It can look like this:

New seat, tubes, cables, chain, and tires.
Some elbow grease to remove the rust.
Every thing on this bike has been dis-assembled, overhauled or replaced.

You can do the work yourself, or we can do it for you.

Dream Bike

Do you have a dream bike?
Maybe it's a groupo (or component) you want to build a bike around?
Or a frame that you have (or have seen) that you love, but needs to get built up.
This is one of our customers dream bike that he gave us permission (encouragement) to share. It started with a Moots frame which he loves and brought to the shop. And we have slowly cobbled it together with some parts he "Ebayed", some he had in his garage, and a bunch of new stuff that we ordered up special for him.
It's not quite finished, we still have to order shifters, and decide on grips. But it's January, and he's not in a big hurry.

So here's the point:

Do you want to make that dream bike a reality?

Have you been eyeing that frame on Ebay, but want some help building it up?

Do you have something that's been sitting around for a long time, but want to modernize it?

Well let's make your dream bike a reality.

Don't forget we discount Labor Rates 20% when the snow's flying, so get in here soon, and ride your dream bike by spring.