Dude is that one of those Rideable Replica seats? If so I would like to hear what you think of it. I have been playing phone tag with them trying to order a few.

Nice idea. Thanks.

Just an updated pic of my Salsa. Added a minimalist front rack and put the fenders and 37s back on for the fall/winter. Also swapped out the saddle.

http://www.watsonfx.com/vaya_sept11.jpg

Well, that's certainly pretty long. Longer than my 16.5 mile each way commute. Probably longer than most.

BUT WHERE'S YOUR PICTURE?

Its pretty long. In my experience, its more than the average by a long shot.

Longer than my current 21 mile commute but shorter than the 28 mile commute I use to do.

What brought on this outburst (so I do not have to search the entire thread for the cause).

9/11/11. the day john_1961 used bold text to let us know he commutes 23 miles. never forget.

That Salsa is sweet. I'm curious about the braze-ons on the front rack. Did the frame come with those or did you modify it to fit the rack ? Speaking of which, what are they anyway. I like the rear rack.

I recognized the front rack, it's a Salsa Minimalist, it can be used as a front or rear rack.

Not bad... my ride to the frame shop is 30 miles each way and usually takes a few hours and change because of the urban portion of the ride.

I know people who ride longer distances than this.

Scoatw: I don't know the answer to your question, but I did see a Vaya recently in Paradise Garage on High Street, if you want to check one out. It was orange, and so, so pretty.

Posted this before, but here it is with the rack and Brooks saddle from my touring bike installed. I love the Bontrager Interchange City Trunk, I can squeeze tons of stuff in there. The whole upper part of the bag is a flexible material, so you can collapse it if you are carrying less. Today I had my tools / pump, a math textbook, binder, bottle of water and some clothes in there. For longer highway rides I can throw a bunch of extra water and food in it.

The downside is that with the proprietary locking mechanism it only works with Bontrager interchange racks. I can't use it with my mountain bike's rack. I was looking at getting a new rack for my touring bike, but the current Bontrager racks don't work well with Arkel panniers. There is supposed to be a better rack coming out for 2012 that lets you use the trunk and 2 panniers at the same time.

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/a.../IMG_1179b.jpg

That is uber sexy fine arse machine ya got there mister!

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/p...r/IMGP2502.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/p...onator/1-3.jpg

The front rack is the Salsa Minimalist. It came with the metal bracket that attaches to the fender mount hole in the fork. The two arms screw directly into the fork legs. As someone else mentioned, it can be used for a rear rack with a special seat post clamp from Salsa. I am gearing up for a tour on the bike with panniers, bags, etc but in the future, I plan to keep it clean and simple and just run the minimalist in the back.

Some revisions, I lost the rack and rear brake added a bell. I rode it to work today and will for the rest of the week, it rides pretty good and way faster with the lower riding position but it's noisy as hell everything seems to rattle:) oh well that tends to happen with a 40 year old bike.
I still haven't decided on a color, and there's a good possibility that I'm gonna do a frame swap for an even older unknown cruiser frame.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/100_0712.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/100_0714.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/100_0713.jpg

That is hot.

My Eros!

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...5/IMG_0194.jpg

Rides awesome, but I wish I could put full fenders on it.

You pretty much can. Takes some work and cut outs at the brakes.
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9431/stb2103ro6.jpg
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/9374/std2105ap9.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2626/madone29ci.jpg

That bike has more personality than a couple people I know. Awesome.

Thanks for the idea! :)

What did you use to cut the fenders? Dremel tool? Scissors?

Can you please show me the rear fender brake attachment.

Thanks again.

sweet

My 2c worth ... brown leather grips to match the saddle and perhaps a set of Schwalbe Duranos in Cream?

http://www.greyville.com/attachments...eme_medium.jpg

Nice bike though :)

Jon

+1
I like what you've done with that.

I am getting matching grips, the tires are staying black though I'm not a fan of non black tires. It's still in a work in progress though I'm having a hard time figuring out what color to paint it.

I like the color you have now, but any rich primary color would work. I like the simplicity of this for example:

http://coolmaterial.com/wp-content/u...ants-racer.jpg

My own commuter bike is far less romantic!

http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/...e/IMG_1392.jpg

my part time commuter is more of a franken bike single speeder:

http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/..._5648839_n.jpg

http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/..._8263667_n.jpg

I'm currently working on bike #3 which will be more of a flat barred road bike/hybrid (based on a Ridgeback Flight 05 frame).

- Jon

Sorry, somehow the link was broken.

I just used a pair of wire clippers. Other tools would make a cleaner cut. Only had to cut the sides at the seat stays, the rest fit fine under the brake.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2918/madone2.jpg

Thanks anyway. I'll try fitting my fenders this weekend.

U.A.V. vs 3.1

Restored to it's original 18 speed glory albeit with nicer XT hubs and Araya RM20 wheels, XT crank with Biopace rings (knees love these) and am running a few watts of light up front to light my way.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...3&d=1316219129

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...5&d=1316219166

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...2&d=1316219112

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=219032http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=219033http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=219034http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=219035

Love the work bench too.