rholland1951

Thanks! I'm sure I can slow it down a bit by sitting on it.

The frame and fork is an older Ebisu All Purpose Bicycle, with a Stronglight A9 roller bearing headset already installed. Wheels (built 'em myself) are Chris King hubs laced to Alex DM-18 rims with DT-Swiss butted spokes; I've got a pair of old, beat-up Grand Bois Cypres Extra Leger 32mm tires on at the moment, expect to swap them for the equivalent Compass tires before the bike sees serious miles. Drivetrain is Sugino XD2 triple crank, Shimano Deore XT derailleurs, Sun Tour Power Ratchet friction shifters from Tyler Oulton's parts bin, with a 9-speed SunRace cassette (specific cassette aside, I've found the Sugino/Shimano XT ders/9-speed friction shifting model to work really well for me, and used it on both the Rawland and Trucker DeLuxe builds). Brakes are Paul Touring Cantis with Moon Unit (giggle) carriers, actuated by eBay-sourced Dura Ace 7402 brake levers (the ones with the return spring), in pristine condition, that apparently graced a wall-art bicycle for decades. Handlebars are 42mm Nitto Noodles, on the narrow side, selected based on my experience with the Rawland build, and something that may get changed later, if the Ebisu handling is significantly different from the Rawland's (the Rawland is very low trail; the Ebisu is just inside the low-trail envelope, almost mid-trail). Stem is a Nitto Technomic DeLuxe high-rise with a bit less than the maximum reach (that's an experiment, may change that out later for more reach). Seatpost is a Nitto Crystal Fellow (whose job is to keep the Paul Moon Units company on the funny-names bench), saddle is an eBay-sourced WTB SST, a saddle that is offered intermittently by WTB and is known to fit where I sit. Bottom bracket is Shimano UN55, square taper.

This was the first build from a F/F/HS that I've done with my own hands, and it's taught me a great deal about bicycle subsystems that I have used without much thought for decades. Often, this learning involved proceeding from one error to the next. Thanks to Tyler Oulton at Paramount Bicycle repair, Ball Square, Somerville, for patiently mentoring me through the process, allowing me to make enough mistakes so that discoveries were made and the lessons sunk in. The build's not over, but the end is in sight. Good thing, too: it's riding season.

rod