I ordered an 8 speed cassette yesterday to go with the 8 speed shifters I got last month. I think I'm getting farther away from a new bike with this upgrade.

I had it at a local shop earlier this year while learning how to do wheelberaing service, and was telling the owner how I'd bought it used to start exercising again, then started changing parts as they wore out to get to where it was today. He just said "you've got the right bike for that".

I tell you, it really makes sense. I think I've got about $450 in my bike right now (not counting the parts I took off other bikes). Most of that was for the bike itself ($120), the wheels ($165) and the tires ($65). If you're in an area with bike co-ops and occasional swap meets you can put together a really nice set of older components for not a lot of money.

I need to go to more swap meets, especially now that I've got some parts to trade. At first I'd just replace stuff as it broke or wore out, but then I started buying better parts or parts that fit me better (like my B17) - all while making the biggest improvements in upgrading the engine.

The ultimate Frankenbike:

Started life as this



It looks like this now



Yes, that is one of my commuting bikes.