New bits on old bikes are cool!

A Jack the Bike Rack Came For Me in the Post Today. After mounting it on the PPPKN-10, which was a fiddly thing the 1st time around, I strapped the Velo Orange Mini Rando Bag to the platform. On which it looked ridiculous.

So I went down to ILE, to see if their small Porteur Rack Bag would fit. Alas. It really wanted to, but the buckles were all in the wrong positions for the strap slots on the rack. Which they wouldn't have fit through in any case. So, dejected, but with $150 still resting comfortably in my bank account, I decided that my original idea had been the best idea, and put a Wald 137 on it. I had hoped for the half-height one, but Blue Heron Bikes didn't have one. What they did have, however, was a black standard 137 that was marked down 17 bucks because it was supposedly damaged. The manager dude said they'd gotten a break from the distributor because of paint flaws, but if there were any, they were too small to even notice, let alone to matter.

The Wald fits on Jack the Rack like he was designed for one. (Which, for all I know, it was.)




The basket, being semi-permanently attached, does defeat Jack the Rack's portability. But on a bike like this, (or my Fuji, for that matter,) which hath not front eyelets, it probably still makes sense to spend $99 + tax & shipping for this, rather than more money for some kind of kluged-together front rack setup involving p-clamps and profanity.

So this is how Madame looks now:


There's a cockpit re-do coming soon. That will be with:
TRP RRL levers, (non-drilled, black, on sale at Performance)


Compressionless Jagwire Pro cables & housings, in orange. (The orange is a pretty close match to the "BLG" sticker on the top tube.)


and wrapped with BTP Bart Tape's "Woven Tribal Light" bar tape:


I'm pretty sure that, so long as I don't screw up too badly, it's going to look rad.


I'm figuring I'll be able to get two grocery bags in the basket, and one in the Barley. Which, since I live alone, should be plenty for a few days.

I'll have more pix after I redo the bars and crankset. (I bought a complete Sugino XD600 for 60 bucks. 46/36/26, which is Overlap City on a 12-32. I'll be putting on the 48 and 34 from the mismatched crankset that's on the bike now. I'd like to keep the 26, so long as the bottom bracket and front derailleur allow. If not, I guess I'll have to live without... I bought it for looks anyway.

--Shannon