There's not too much you can buy with $8 these days. A coffee and cake. A tube. Maybe a trashy tabloid magazine (certainly not the likes of Rouleur, Bike or Spoke…) How about a complete bike? For eight bucks? Are you kidding me?
It can be done, and yes, I've done it. It helps no end that I have access to a bike shop, with a workshop, which is festooned with discarded parts (my own and other donors) overflowing from buckets, stuffed onto shelves, laying under benches and crammed into boxes in every dark recess and corner. Most of the bits are old, worn and greasy. Wheels are buckled, missing spokes and have braking surfaces grooved from years of brake pads mixing with road grime to form a nasty grinding paste that could be used for industrial applications. There is an odd frame here or there, but usually they have been stripped bare and are just waiting for Nathan's Hacksaw of Death to read their final rites, rendering them scrap metal and helping to boost the shop beer fund.
But, occasionally, some make it out alive.
I'd been commuting on an old Peugeot hybrid that I had deemed too flogged-out for its owner to ride, and who had wondered about getting the drivetrain replaced. She left with a shiny new steed, and the Pug was banished to the back of the workshop, hanging forlornly with the other sad, rejected bikes, some already being picked of their organs and looking like shadows of their former selves. Weeks later, I dragged the old Pug of its hook and risked life and limb by riding it the 5km between home and work a couple of times a week. It felt like the fork was about to seperate from the frame, and the imminent slipping of the chain over cogs was always in the back of my mind, putting my nether regions at risk of top-tube trauma. But her time had come, and when Nathan decided it was time to clean out the workshop, I spotted the perfect replacement.
Why hadn't I seen this before?
Well, maybe because it had lain under piles of broken frames, forgotten. And now, here it was, about to be clamped into the vise and cut into small bits of alloy and mixed in with the empty Coke cans and broken rims. It was that close. I asked of its condition, and why, if there were no cracks, was it going to scrap? It had become an inconvenience, just taking up more space and not having any kind of future to be used in its intended state. I saw potential in it though, and the chance to give it a new life as my commuter/rain bike.
There was a matching carbon fork, Nath told me. Cool, well while you're sorting through the thousands of bits and pieces, can you look for a headset, seat-clamp and derailleur hanger? Within minutes these vital organs were procured, and Ill Pro-Ghetto was underway.
And now, it has life… and I love it. (Is 'it' too harsh a term? Should I refer to 'it' as 'she'? No, I think of it as a kind of Frankenstein bike, and 'it' is simply IT!)
I love the fact that its parts are all mismatched. A Shimano R560 front wheel with an Alex shitter rear. A Tiagra RH crank (with single 39t ring) sits opposite an old 105 lefty. At least they are the same length. An XT Rapidfire shifter moving a SRAM chain across 9 cassette cogs all from different parents, mixed and matched to form an 11-26 block. The riser bars, saddle and grips all came from Josh's 29er, and cost me a beer. So where did the eight bucks come into the equation? A couple of brake inners and a gear inner… I even patched some old tubes from the pile regularly pilfered by Uni students for making some weird project or holding their pants halfway around their asses.
And you know what? IT has made me want to ride to work again, to ride more, on it and also my other bikes.IT has given me a new lease on life. I guess it's just returning the favour.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/Pro-ghetto/”/]
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Damn. Looks great. The mongrel/mixed breed factor enhances rather than detracts.
For eight bucks, I'll take a dozen.
Tres bien, Brett! Love it; love breathing life into frankensteins!
My garage (well, currently amicable ex garage) sounds like a smaller version of your bike shop, due to amicable ex's penchant for owning/building/fiddling with as many bikes (road, mtb, cyclox) as possible - great for me, i get the leftovers and awesome tech support.
There's a green plastic laundry basket that's semi-infamous in town (phone rings, "hello?" "hey k, this is gary. i was supposed to come by and see if pete had a stem in the magic green basket..."); never know what you'll find in there.
I gave my first racing bike (one of Trek's first aluminums) to a dance student of mine who was sequeing from triathalete to roadie. She eventually got a new road bike of her own, but mr. trek (the ONLY inanimate object in my life i ever anthropomorphised with name - except i didn't really think of it as a "he," it was just "mr trek") lives on as her daily ride - what a great feeling to know it's still out there leading a happy life!
her comment: "My first road bike (previously owned by the fabulous K). Pat's worked some magic on this bike and it is now a kick a$$ commuter!
Scrubbed upalright ay! Damn should have taken that frame when Nath offered it...
Nice post, Brett. Got me fired up to make some headway with my own progetto (not 'proghetto' - my street credentials don't stack). I must pay more attention next time I stick my head into the workshop. (Also, nice to see so many photos of nothing but bike...)
Good work Bretto!
Although I'd love to know where I can get an $8 tube in welly these days...
Out of interest, what are those fenders?
@G'phant
Can we at least see some shots of the frame bro?
Awesome work, Brett!
Eight bucks is completely crazy. I don't envy bike shop employees who have to answer stupid questions from people with sippie coffee cups who have no intention of buying anything, just in to kill time; I do envy being able to build up a full bike for $8.
That's one sweet ride! I'd love to have it in my stable. Ride on!
CJ - I'm guessing those are either Planet Bike SpeedEZ fenders or SKS Race Blades. If I had to put money on the line, I'd say SKS.
Nice stuff, Brett! My winter progetto involved putting together the following. I wish I could claim an $8 bill, but I came in under $200 (including V decal). I'm enjoying the singlespeed and will need to go fixie in the near future.
And I can totally relate to this. It's been a treat getting out on what is easily the most beater bike in the garage on a regular basis"”reinforcing the fact: I just like to ride bikes...
Sorry"”accidentally submitted post without the vital info: a mid-1980s Raleigh Olympus (Tange 5) frame. I sanded the frame down (to avoid chemicals), and repainted. Crank and BB were acquired from LBS mechanic from his old ride; seatpost from my son's discarded bike; wheels online. The saddle and bar tape were both acquired from friends and don't match as close as I'd hoped. My local coffee shop sells OCTTO tape, which looks pretty nice and they have a nice brown, which is a much closer match, so that will be switched in soon.
Nice one Brett.
Don't think even I could scrub up that sweet for 8 bucks!
Yeah, I think the fenders are 'Blades. That thing is rollin' dirty - AWESOME. I'm in dire need of an around-town commuter, as my commuter/rainbike recently got it's bits back and became way to nice for beating around town and went back to being a working machine only.
I'm afraid, though, of investing more than $8 because I'll inevitably want it to be perfect. Stupid brain. Ah well.
Fantastic tale; I love the fact that there are different cranks on the left and right, which goes against all sense of symmetry and balance. "At least they're the same length." SOLID GOLD. Like it's an option. Love it.
Conjures up memories of the time I change my brother's crankset around so his cranks were at 90 degrees to eachother. His body language as he worked through what was different was classic. You must try this on someone if you haven't already.