My current commuter has quite a history as to how it came into being. It started out as a 20+ year old single speed ladies frame bike and some parts that we acquired when I was just a wee lad. From there, parts were added until a serious break in the frame necessitated me to switch to a recently acquired from (several minutes prior to discovering the break). Then, parts were transferred over, and more parts were added. Then, I broke down and bought a new set of wheels to accommodate newer tires (this was necessitated by winter roads... turns out 3 Speed 26 x 1 3/8 wheels don't have much of anything useful for studs). This is the result (there... that is condensed from my massive novel and history that probably nobody wants to read through at the moment).

So, in a way, this is a bike that has been years in the making.

Edit: As an aside, until I took these photos, I had no idea that those white patches were so reflective.