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12-06-09, 10:26 PM
...of gathering all the parts for my retro bike project. Here's how it looks now:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Litespeed/P6120225.jpg
My eldest son visited me today and I asked him about the present location of my sticker bike. I'd gifted it to him several years ago needing very little work to run...and was very disappointed to see that he was leaving it outdoors in a state of disrepair. Today we drove over to his buddy's house and picked it up. Here's how it looked back in the day:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/StickerBike-2.jpg
It still looked like crap, but most everything was there and this evening I pulled a few parts off. Water ran out the bottom bracket in a stream. An ice cube the same shape as the inside of the stem fell out when I removed the bars. The chain was so rusted it was entirely seized. Very, very sad.
The good news is several of the good parts were still there and in viable shape, the prize being this:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Sticker%20Bike/PC060095.jpg
Yep, that's a '92-94 era RD-M900 still in good usable shape, perfect for my '02 Litespeed dumpster bike. :)
The derailleur also tells the story of that era...and gives away that I was a bit of a weight weenie back then. All the bolts were replaced with alloy and titanium, including both knuckle bolts, stop screws, pulley bolts, lower pulley (had to keep the Centeron feature) and even the B-tension screw. The anchor bolt has been replaced with a steel one, but I may have a ti bolt for that too.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Sticker%20Bike/PC060096.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Sticker%20Bike/PC060097.jpg
Just thought some of you might appreciate a little bike history.
I also recovered the era-correct XT crankset in 180mm length, perfect for my long legs. It's going to need some work, but it looks like the rings are still usable as is the bottom bracket. Still smooth even coated in rusty sludge. Amazing.
Unfortunately the wheelset I built for this bike is no more. 36 spoke XT hubs with Mavic 231 hoops...completely trashed by my son's idiot BMX friends. The rear hub is still usable and even has a fairly fresh XT 8-speed cassette, but the front wheel is gone other than the Salsa skewer. Since it's a cheap Mt. Shasta steel frame and just about all the shifting components are trashed, I'm thinking of making this bike a singlespeed.
Oh, and I know this is bike-related, but I figured I'd be a contrarian and post it in Foo. :p
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Litespeed/P6120225.jpg
My eldest son visited me today and I asked him about the present location of my sticker bike. I'd gifted it to him several years ago needing very little work to run...and was very disappointed to see that he was leaving it outdoors in a state of disrepair. Today we drove over to his buddy's house and picked it up. Here's how it looked back in the day:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/StickerBike-2.jpg
It still looked like crap, but most everything was there and this evening I pulled a few parts off. Water ran out the bottom bracket in a stream. An ice cube the same shape as the inside of the stem fell out when I removed the bars. The chain was so rusted it was entirely seized. Very, very sad.
The good news is several of the good parts were still there and in viable shape, the prize being this:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Sticker%20Bike/PC060095.jpg
Yep, that's a '92-94 era RD-M900 still in good usable shape, perfect for my '02 Litespeed dumpster bike. :)
The derailleur also tells the story of that era...and gives away that I was a bit of a weight weenie back then. All the bolts were replaced with alloy and titanium, including both knuckle bolts, stop screws, pulley bolts, lower pulley (had to keep the Centeron feature) and even the B-tension screw. The anchor bolt has been replaced with a steel one, but I may have a ti bolt for that too.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Sticker%20Bike/PC060096.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/Wordbiker/Sticker%20Bike/PC060097.jpg
Just thought some of you might appreciate a little bike history.
I also recovered the era-correct XT crankset in 180mm length, perfect for my long legs. It's going to need some work, but it looks like the rings are still usable as is the bottom bracket. Still smooth even coated in rusty sludge. Amazing.
Unfortunately the wheelset I built for this bike is no more. 36 spoke XT hubs with Mavic 231 hoops...completely trashed by my son's idiot BMX friends. The rear hub is still usable and even has a fairly fresh XT 8-speed cassette, but the front wheel is gone other than the Salsa skewer. Since it's a cheap Mt. Shasta steel frame and just about all the shifting components are trashed, I'm thinking of making this bike a singlespeed.
Oh, and I know this is bike-related, but I figured I'd be a contrarian and post it in Foo. :p