I propose that there are three types of inactive keeper bikes. Machines that rest all but unridden, sometimes broken, sometimes obsolete, antiquated, and other times, simply lying in wait. Those latter leopards are prepared to pounce on moments of nostalgia, need, and N+1 to rip open your wallet.
Built, semi-built, or in my case usually a frame, while recognizing that there’s a lot of colouring over the lines between these categories, here’s my basic breakdown:
- Conversation starters, the museum pieces like boneshakers, velocipedes, and carbon Y-bikes that no one has any intention of ever riding again.
- Two-wheeled nostalgia, that old RMX, Stinky, Stab, BB7, Super-8, DHS (Tube or Mono), that mostly just takes up space hanging somewhere, but is dragged out onto the trails a couple of times a year to justify its continued ownership. A sort of personal homage to the HMS Victory.
- Future projects. Rebirths, refits, reimaginings, and sometimes, with the addition of saws, files, and torches, revenants. Just add money.
It’s my personal belief that bikes shouldn’t be retired to museum status until they are beaten, broken, or simply bad. Ride that classic ’80s Ritchey until the chainstays rot out and then hang it up for people to see. Or, I mean, have the chainstays replaced and keep going. We don’t have space to keep broken sh*t*, so it’s always financially dangerous for spare frames to ever be floating around chez MEATengines.
I mean, those spares are in a state of chaos, trying to will themselves into working bicycles. Plus, you see, every time I notice them, I start imagining projects.
In this case, Nina’s older model, Truelove-built, Chromag Sakura, was intended for a different project. It was long slated to receive a fresh head tube, slacker head tube angle, and a fresh lease on life as Claire’s next bicycle. Instead, that role was filled by the used Samurai we picked up for her.
*{Full-sized broken sh*t anyway. I do have a couple of pry bars and two pencil holders made out of old frames.}
But the Universe has a plan. Nina’s commuter needs changed from all pavement to add some gravel to the mix, including a steep bit of descending, with a significant added challenge, ascending and descending, that <<name removed to protect the guilty>> summed up nicely:
“Why TF do teachers insist on bringing the entire goddamn school home with them EVERY DAY.“
Let’s be honest, as much as I generally, genuinely appreciate Surly, even with their transition to dumb and ugly steel flat-mount brake tabs, I’ve been looking for an excuse to move on from their awful Straggler dropouts for a while. And, I mean, it was basically ‘just’ moving all the parts over?!?
Maybe it doesn’t need to be this way with rebuilding a keeper into a rider, but wow, I have seen it happen a lot of times. Let’s agree that there’s generally a reason the bike was retired the first time {geometry, wheel size}, and so whether it’s a repurposing to commuter duty, like Nina’s renewed Sakura, or a push back to active mountain bike duty with an Angleset and some hope, some money is being dropped.
In our case, Nina’s fenders were both too narrow and totally bagged. Her tires were really only pavement happy. She was looking for a different handlebar experience. Her road cranks didn’t fit. And, I needed a fork.
Oh, and it turns out that for managing the full load, down gravel and at stop lights, a dropper post is going to be added as well. That’s a future discussion, as apparently this is the one mountain frame in the house I’m not willing to drill a hole into?!
I know that this bicycle, as a whole, is still on probation. Which is always the most {financially} dangerous part of rebuilding a bicycle that you originally took apart for some reason. Yes, even if the application has changed.
When it comes to bicycles, some folks’ love language is new-bike-I-love-you and some folks’ love language is six-month trial period. I mean, the carry-over parts are all awesome. The Corner Bar is rad, even if it is beastly {thanks to Dumpster Bear for the recommendation}. The Marathon Mondial tires rip with excellent road efficiency and gravel descending and climbing chops.
Yeah, so. I’m going to leave it there for the time being, with some future writings down the road.
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