Are those blue kenda kwests?

Indeed they are! Running silver Mr. Tuffys in them.

Darn now I'm bored of my plain black kwests

I've been using a black Surly Cross Check from ca 2003 for year-round-commuting and light touring. Because it is flat where I live, the bike is usually in fixed-gear mode, but for touring I've swapped the rear wheel with an internally geared hub. Last summer I built up a dedicated touring bike for a longer tour and, accordingly, I'm ready to dedicate this bike to commuting. After seven Midwestern winters the bike was in pretty bad shape, so I made some modifications.

Here's a photo from a couple of years ago at the start of a tour around Lake Michigan:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6...DSCN0103_3.JPG

Here's a complete list of this winter's mods (framework done by my LBS):

• Paint stripped
• Removed rear brake bosses, derailleur hanger, and all cable stops
• Fork vent holes expanded slightly on right side to route dynamo wiring internally in the fork blade
• Hole drilled on bottom side of down tube, near the steerer tube, to internally route tail light wiring (exit through hole at bottom of bottom bracket)
• New powder coat
• New front brake (Avid Single Digit 5, linear pull)
• New brake levers (Tektro RL520, linear pull-specific; both mounted, but only the left is used.. the right one is just for hand position).
• New rear rack: Tubus Vega, with B&M 4D Toplight (battery operated tail light to augment the fender-mounted Seculite Plus dynamo tail light)
• New Velo Orange (VO) aluminum fenders
• Added VO leather mudflap for front fender
• Added VO aluminum chain guard
• Added Salsa Crossing Guard to outer chainring position and moved chainring to inner position
• New VO brass bell
• New MKS steel toe clips and VO leather straps

Finally, here's the end result:

http://hpscott.smugmug.com/Various/C...03_QXru2-M.jpg

They sell them in yellow and red, too.

That's a good looking bike! I never would have guessed it came from a cyclocross bike.

The magical bike fairy dropped off some goodies for me today and a visit to the co-op yielded in some goodies. Now all's the Kuwahara needs is some new tape and a chain, I think im going to wait until the middle of march and tear her down repaint the frame and put on the new parts. I can't believe how much jagwire costs these days and I even got it on sale:)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/100_0288.jpg

Done!

I finished the drop-bar mod on my commuter hybrid. The natural cork tape with a couple coats of shellac came out pretty close to the honey brown Brooks B17

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...7&d=1298156177

A modest upgrade on my commuter rig -- the Pelican case I use for my laptop and clothes now mounts on top of the rear rack, rather than hanging off to one side. Attached using the Klickfix/Rixen & Kaul "Carrier Adapter" system.

New setup:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5171/...aa8fdf8854.jpg
Pelican Commuter Pannier Update by joshua_putnam, on Flickr


Old setup:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/...d600caec09.jpg
Pelican Commuter Pannier 1 by joshua_putnam, on Flickr


PS, yes, those are RED Kenda Kwests on my Bianchi Milano,
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3402/...61abce7927.jpg
Rolling by joshua_putnam, on Flickr

LOVE the pelican hack!

Fantastic looking bike! Love those Nishikis. Great job on the bar tape, too... I have to try that sometime, looks so cool.

Rock on! That bike looks fantastic, too!

Thanks!

I figure my laptop has enough work-hours stored on it that it deserves protection. (It does get backed up regularly, but still, reconstructing even a day or two of work would be a royal pain.) That box has rolled down a flight of stairs and been hit by a fishtailing car, no damage to the box or the contents either time. (Though the car did leave me with a broken hand...)

Also, hard-case luggage means my work clothes stay completely dry and don't get wrinkles the way they did in soft-sided bags. Hate having to iron my shirt when I get to the office, or getting water spots on my tie.

My newly restored mini velo.

TibiMAC
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/...8149621bb3.jpg

Very cool...

I pretty well hate light blue (something about stripping baby blue paint out of our 59 Airstream that my Father-in-law thought would be a good color to paint the inside with) but that came out pretty cool. :thumb:

That frame is like a Salvador Dali painting or something. Wild.

Thanks!

The shellac provides a tough but flexible covering on the cork tape, almost leather-like.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...4&d=1298245032

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...3&d=1298245030

Shellac over cork? I've only seen that on the old school cotton wrap. Looks great!

It does look good and, presumably, adds some padding -- nice job, Doohickie!

For the bike I posted above, I used the old-school cotton wrap you mention. It takes about four coats on the white cotton to match the brown color of the Brooks saddle.

One thing I like about the shellac over cotton is that it is really tough... if it does get scratched up, one just needs to add another coat of shellac.

On the downside, though, it adds an additional hurdle to swapping brake levers but, hopefully, I won't be doing that again after this latest makeover!

Just finished my first commuter. Excited to join the ranks.

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1338/img1563vb.jpg

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/3608/img1566g.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/9757/img1564u.jpg

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=190846

Here's a pic of my commuter. Bike is bone stock. Add-ons include rack and panniers, stem bag, front and rear lights, and a cheapie Wal-Mart bike computer. Oh, there's also a bracket to connect my Garmin Forerunner 305.

Love it! What frame is that?

yea, i want to know, too.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ck-Build-(yawn)...

My new (to me) 1980 Peugeot PX8

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5058/...1c588c44_b.jpg
After restoration by individual image, on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5058/...1c588c44_b.jpg
She's a beauty! Congrats on the restoration.

Yeah. Classy ride.

I'm also really digging BestSportEver's Peugeuot. That is a sweet bike!

Looks great. I use a Black Peugeot Super Sport converted to single speed as my winter bike. If those pedals are the original Lyotard ones, I would suggest replacing them - the axle on mine snapped resulting in me falling in front of a bus. Got a few bruises and a cracked helmet from that fall....

+1 very sweet bike.