I'm having so much fun with it now. The XTR crankset with Blackspire rings is my favorite upgrade - $150 on ebay. (More than the bike was worth before all these changes.) But I've changed every single part on the bike except the brakes. Going from a pretty crappy quill front end (with bars I really hated) to the Surly 1x1 threadless fork, Cane Creek S-3 headset, Ritchie Pro Stem and WCS Rizer bar... it's hard to explain what a different bike it is.

I love reviving the bikes I've had the longest, with the most history. I don't Facebook much, barely at all, but I checked in today and had a message from an old friend about my very first "real" bike. In 1987, my freshman year in college, I had a financial windfall of $1000 from a random drawing. I bought a really nice Cannondale road bike for $1200. In 1991, I was moving and broke and sold it to my roommate for less than it was worth.

He wasn't a cyclist at all and spent most of his time on his motorcycle, so I didn't think he'd use it much. His Facebook message pointed out that he still has that bike and rides it every day, to work and for all his errands. He lives in a small Kansas town 1.5 miles from work and has no use for a car. A quote: "It gets me to the liquor store."

It was deep yellow with red lettering, biopace chainrings, and very narrow tubies. I loved that bike and really glad she's still out there.