After starting the year off with a debilitating stomach flu which the wifey and I lovingly shared, I'm back in action. Not only able to eat solids again, but I can ride a bike too. I've got a couple projects on the go right now, as do the other Projekt members.
Some of my short term goals this winter are to build up my new hubs when they come in, have my shit together for NAHBS, work on my tritall at le cyclery de WMD, Ride my new old school WMDMTB on the local trails, and harass DFL_Nick on the internerd.
You see, I showed him this picture of the new bike:
...and he got all hot and bothered.
Nick: ...and now you've got me eyeballing that Timberline out on the balcony...
3:52 PM me: haha
3:53 PM you have no parts
3:55 PM Nick: I have OCB. Srsly, I need a beater.
And the wheelset off the Cirrus would be perfect.
Rack/fender mounts, singlespeed, perfect snow goon.
3:56 PM ...and no aesthetic concerns whatsoever :D
3:59 PM me: Thirty Dorra says you cannot have timberline running in that incarnation before snow melts.
4:01 PM Nick: hah, it'll make a good beater either way!
4:02 PM me: yes. you've had it for 2 years now, patiently waiting to be ridden again
4:03 PM Nick: I totarry backburnered it, too many carcasses kicking around as it is.
This is just the sort of motivator a (money) hungry courier needs to get off his ass and actually resurrect one of the bike frames he's currently tripping over. I'm really hoping I don't win this bet to be honest. I haven't checked The Weather Network yet to see what the long term forecast is looking like.. But I really want to see Nick working on a single speeded fender and rack equipped GT Timberline in the snow, while he still needs a snow bike. Sure the .243 is a decent plow, but its got no fenders and winning 'hardman' awards from the walkengers isn't that big of a badge of honour. I put more weight on actually having running bicycles. Still, he's planning on cannibalizing his once running condition Rocky Mountain Cirrus for parts, but I'll let that slide since he already stripped it. I will not accept removal of parts from the 243 (ie brakes or drivetrain components) as that defeats the purpose of making a second bicycle.
I'm pretty sure he got to work fitting some wheels onto the frame as soon as I left him last night, because this morning I received some email bitching about missing cantilever cable guides. If this motivation keeps up, he could actually have the snowbike running in super rush time.
So what does it need?
Decent snow tires tires, full fenders, a rack, brakes/pads/levers/cables, cranks/bb/pedals/chain/cog/spacer/ring, (all of which could be priced out reasonably at OCB if he sweet talks Leanne)..and some sort of solution to the non horizontal dropout issue.
It could be majik geared, which takes time and experimentation and is not the most reliable setup for a work bike. The rear dropouts also have room to be extended via dremel, which takes a steady hand. ..or it could have a tensioner bolted on, which is the quickest solution really.
I'm curious to see how this turns out, and I'm rooting for courier cat on this one.
5 comments:
the more i see your wmdmtb the more i love it...
The Timbo has horizontal dropouts, no Dremel (unfortunately) necessary. Today's monsoon may render my projekt-deadline moot in any event.
dremel?
angle grinder, bro!
Frances Street is almost all but clear, my two week prediction coming true, the Timberline has gained a set of bullmoose bars but not much else. Was this a two-way bet?
Further update: the Timberline now has red anodized brakes front and rear, but it turns out the threading on the steerer tube was botched. Nick's on the lookout for another 1" mountain fork now...
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