Just when I figured I wasn't going to have any projects this year, other than finishing the FG/SS Centurion (at the powdercoater as of this writing) and doing a couple of fix and flips:
A bit of explanation is in order: Roadkill is the oldest motorcycle riding brother of mine - we go back close to thirty years, flew colors in the Brotherhood of Veterans M/C back in the 90's, and watched out for each other's asses when the club went down in a nasty little altercation with the Western PA Pagans. He's moved to eastern TN, lives about five miles from I-81, and runs a motorcycle shop. Panheads and shovels a speciality.
Last fall he calls me with the brilliant idea that we need to spend a weekend (or week, or whatever) bicycling through the TN hills this coming summer. After I picked myself up off the floor (Roadkill on something smaller than a 650 Triumph chopper?), we start talking about training, getting into shape and getting him onto a bike. He hit a local yard sale and picked up a couple of WalMart MTB's for ten bucks to start working out - and he's been riding daily for the last six months. Oh yeah, good thing he picked up two bikes. He's already destroyed one of them.
I promised I find him a good ride for the trip, and figured I'd do him a copy of my Bianchi Nyala: road tyres, fenders, 3x7/8/9 wide gears, flat bars (after 30+ years on a chopper, he isn't interested in road bars), cantilever brakes, mudguards, etc. Fitting him out should be easy, as he's almost exactly my size - if I can ride it comfortably, so can he. I started keeping my eye out for a decent hard nose/hardtail frameset.
Tonight I head down to Richmond Re-Cycle after work looking for a seatpost for the Centurion. As you walk into the shop, there's a foyer with a freebie section outside the door. If it's there, help yourself - and customers have learned to never park their rides there. I'm walking in and what do I see?
It a Gary Fisher CR-7 with Ritchie headset, sealed bottom bracket and seatpost. Fortunately, it was raining today so I had the pickup truck and not the scooter. Got it home and immediately disovered that the seat post comes out easily, the threading on the headset it good, and the frame appears to be in proper alignment. Now I've got my winter project. Wheels should be no problem. I'm building new ones for the Gitchie Gummee, so this bike will get the old ones. Already have the cantilever brakes, bars, brake levers, pedals, seat, shifters (SRAM twist grip unless I stumble across something better), and rear derailleur (Shimano Altus). Will just need to find a front derailleur, bottom pull, able to fit that huge seat tube; and a stem of proper diameter for the steerer tube - plus the few minor sundries: tyres, tubes, grips.
This is going to be an interesting winter, after all.