Originally Posted by
USAZorro
I just get pulled in a lot of different directions - and there is also a bit of procrastination. My bike project style is also quite a bit different, but it's not that I have nothing I could ride. Part of it is that I try some rather ridiculous things with many of my builds. Often there's stripping or painting or wheel building involved, and despite having a reasonably well-stocked stash, you'd be surprised how many times lacking the needed configuration of cable stop (or some other seemingly innocuous small part) can cause me to take a pause to either get it, or figure a way around it. Also, having back issues often causes me to have to walk around and find something else to do at inopportune times.
Things like stripping, painting, or finishing, I wouldn’t consider to be part of an “unfinished project”. That’s part of the process and the time needed for that part is often out of your or my hands. For example, I had a titanium bike modified with rack mounts and other braze-ones added as well as the frame refinished. I dropped this bike off at the frame builder in June of 2020 after stripping the frame
And got this pile of parts back in at the end of January 2021. The parts sat in my garage for about 12 hours.
By about noon, my garage had warmed up enough to be just bearable and I started putting it together.
I had a functional bike by 1445.
And took it out on a ride the next day.
Nothing sits in my garage for too long unless I’m waiting on the frame finish.
Wheels are something that I can make in less than an hour. I just can’t wait to put the bike together and get it on the road. I once drove nearly 50 miles to pick up the frame, drove back how, pulled the parts off another bike, and put together the bike only to discover that the wheels wouldn’t work. I ran down to the local shop, picked up spokes (I had the rims and hubs), built both wheels, and still had the bike operational before the sun went down…about 8 hours.
I don’t mess around.