Like every hack, this one has a starting point. I'm not sure where exactly, but a few months ago I saw an old Rivendell All-Rounder, which may or may not have started this one off. Or it may have been when one of the local used bike dealers called up, and we worked out a trade. I gave him a completely overhauled low end Peugeot from the eighties, and he unloaded a set of Campagnolo derailleurs, A pair of Blumies' fenders, and an old Belt leather saddle in pretty nice condition on me. He immediately sold the not-so-great Peugeot for 125$ and I got some cool old parts I could mess around with, so we were both happy.

"I've got a bike I'd like to give you" he said. "It's an old mountain bike, and it's been sitting in my yard rusting for six months now. No one wants mountain bikes-- they all want to build fixed gears; I'll never sell it. You're the only person I know who might be able to do anything with it. If you want it, it's yours."

I am no big fan of mountain bikes in general. Last one I had was a 1984 Trek 850, which I fixed up, almost never rode, and then traded for a 1958 Raleigh Lenton Grand Prix (there was an easy trade), Most MTBs I see are too small (the Trek was), not lugged steel, and pretty much crap. However, I'd been entertaining the idea of building a fixed gear ice bike out of an MTB frame, so I went and looked.

Oh my. The bike lacked horizontal drops, but it was entirely lugged steel and one of the bigger MTB frames I'd ever seen. It was in rough shape, but I could see the potential. Tange seamless cro-moly double butted MTB tubing, cro-moly forks and stays. Lugged. Three (!) bottle mounts; braze ons for rear racks. Early Deore derailleurs, Nitto bar and stem, friction thumbies, Suntour XC sealed bearing rear hub. Shimano crank with Biopace (you can't have everything) in 180mm and no front wheel. No matter, I'd found a pretty nice 26" wheel in the trash a few weeks before. The stem's clamp turned out to be 26.0, not the MTB size, perfect for my plans.

I took the offered bike, it was too cool to pass up, easily the coolest and bestest MTB I'd ever seen. The build fell together quick. I replaced the bars with drop bars, as I've never liked straight bars. I had the Suntour shifters and the set of interupter levers, as well as the fenders and a tubular steel rack that fit the bike pretty well. The new crank, virtually unused, came about because I bought a parts bike in order to build another bike for a friend's employee. She warned me any bike I built would likely be stolen, so when I saw a virtually unused 48-38-28 Sugino crankset in 175mm, I kept it, replacing it with a more worn crank on the soon-to be stolen bike. I figure the crank was worth the ten bucks I paid for the parts bike alone (it also coughed up a nice steel JIS headset and some parts for the giveaway bike before I trashed the broken frame).

I bought the Cane Creek levers from Nashbar during their recent free shipping sale, then Nashbar was stupid enough to offer me free shipping again, and I bought the tiny but cool front rack. New Kool stop pads, chain, a replacement freewheel from the parts pile. The MKS GR9 pedals came off ebuy, the toe clips from the parts pile, as well as some slighly later deore derailleurs (still pre-index). 26 by 2 tires, in a semi-slick. It rides well and handles the gravel alleys around RVA far better than the rest of my fleet.

I'm unsure if I'll keep it; I still need to match and touch up the paint and replace the straddle cables, but it is a great little ride, I think. Maybe if I ever buy that cottage on a lake in rural Maine I'll take this one along...

Well done, its got a great rugged utilitarian look to it!!!!

Cool.

Great bike! Since I went to OR and had to tackle the mountains out there on my Miyata I've been looking to get a mountain bike. That looks to be a goodun', not that I'm asking for it, it's just inspiring.
By the by, are you IN richmond or just around the area?

Thanks; I like the hack so far. I may tweak it a bit. It would make one heck of a tourer. I wonder if the bike design wasn't a bit of a lift from a touring bike. I'm tempted to ride it to Sugar Hollow out side C'ville; it could handle the gravel roads there no problem. It's really a bit different than any of my other bikes and may find it's place in the herd.

I am in RVA proper.

C'ville? RVA? So many hints yet my only guess is Rural Virgina? But that's a big state.

Great custom job on the MTB! This just proves that the bottom line about bikes should always be FUN! Fun to dream, fun to plan, fun to build, fun to maintain, and finally fun to ride! Poguemahone, I can tell you had fun, and you know what? Fun is contageous!

Speaking of not-fun, I was out suffering on my Paramount this afternoon. I don't know why but my middle age legs just didn't have much umph today. Somewhere around mile 18 or 19 a fellow came up from behind and passed me on his CF feather weight. I turned and gave a smile and a "hello," and he didn't even look at me. I feel a sermon brewing.

About a week or so ago, I was riding on a popular bikeway in the area and made a point to yell a hello to every bicyclist who was coming at me. Not one returned the greeting (and probably didn't know what to make of someone actually speaking to them). These were lycra-clad CF riders, mtb-ers, everything in between. I did that ride again last week and held off with my greetings except for one guy coming at me and wearing a bike helmet adorned with horns. He got a thumbs up and a "nice helmet," for which he thanked me.

Nice build, Poguemahone.

Neal

"C'ville? RVA? So many hints yet my only guess is Rural Virgina? But that's a big state. "

C'ville= Charlottesville
RVA equals Richmond

Both are a bit bigger than my old stomping grounds in your neck of the woods, aka Berlin... which was one of the bigger cities in that area, as I recalls.

On the subject of unfriendly riders, I took Behemo (Bee-he-moe) on a shakedown cruise yesterday, out to Short Pump (once rural, now a giant shopping mall), a commute to work. I passed by several riders, and all of them, from the fellow on the carbon bling to the guy on the rusting Trek with the milk crate strapped to the back, acknowledged my wave and/or spoken greeting, most with a grin. Of course we are having a spasm of nice weather just now .

Behemo (the Shogun) handled as expected. A bit slower than a roadie, not as gracefully quick on the turns, but very stable and wider tires do indeed eat up bumps, esp at the 30 or so PSI I've got them at. The Sugar Hollow ride demands planning, with this bike as a steed, and I'll post pics once I do it, it is truly beautiful there.

And thanks for picking up on the fun part of this, guys... enjoyment is what this is about!