This is just crazy. A bike I've lusted after for some time. I don't know why, I just love the downward sloping TT combined with an elevated chain stay design. Today was an incredible case of the right place at the right time. Here's how things went down.
A couple days back, Jesse commented on one of my flickr photos.
Today out on a business errand I decided to stop into OCB, to check out this Full LX Sexdream.. err Extreme. I go in there and Jesse is not around. Johan and Gen are wrenching on some Italian Job.. Avanti I think. They said that it was actually Avan-Ti. Anyways, they don't know where this Extreme is. Gen thinks she saw it.. "Its got that floating bottom bracket, thingy. It may have gone to the Pedal Depot."
So I'm just about to head out, and out of the blue this girl who was in the shop wrenching on a single speed townie comes up and says, "Did you say you liked Haro Extreme bicycles?" in a strangely sincere voice. Amazingly my crippled sense of facial recognition kicks in and I recall meeting her as our paths converged on a Saturday ride.
"I have one in my car parked a block away."
Jaw.
Floor.
...really?
After chatting a bit while she installed new cones in her hub, she handed me her keys and said to go check it out. I take a tape measure from the shop. I find the Seafoam Honda Civic and pop the hatch. Its there. Metallic blue, on the folded down rear seat. Near mint paint. I measure the seat tube. 20" to the binder. I remember to breathe.
With the bike inside OCB, we discuss it some more. She won't let me give her anything for it. Not even lunch. Thank you SO MUCH Naomi!
I just cannot believe it.
Later in the day (with the bike still on my tarckfiets' rack) I head to the Pedal Depot to see Jesse. He's got things super tidy down there. Very organized shop at 1830 Ontario Street. (They're open 3pm to 6pm Monday through Friday to sell some new parts/accessories and help people to fix their bikes. It is set up similarly to Our Community Bikes just on a smaller scale and with slightly limited capacity.)
He does indeed have a Haro Extreme, and he pulls it out of the rack so we can take a look. Its a smaller one, measuring 18.5" to the binder. As well, the paint is a chocolate and eggplant splatter... not as stunning as what I stumbled upon, but still a decent ride. Its in beautiful condition too, all original Shimano LX components.
Anyways, I'm absolutely elevated with my new bike. There are more detail shots on Flickr. I don't think I'm going to go too crazy with the build on this one. I'll use parts I've got around here, probably retiring the Shasta WMDTB. That bike treated me well, but it was never a Sexdream.
5 comments:
That's bananas. The best New Bike Day is a Free New Bike Day. I've got some old 90s MTB flat bars in blue ano that would look bangin' on that. Let me know if you want 'em.
ps: What's with the non-mutual blogrolling?
That's a good one.
"ps: What's with the non-mutual blogrolling?"
As soon as I know what you're trying to say I will answer the question!
Hi MItchell,
Thanks for the offer on the bars, but I think I'm going to try setting it up with the OG Haro House brand stuff first. The Stem is a 1-1/8" threaded to 31.8mm clamp.. so of course the Bar is oversized as well. They're both very nice pieces. That shit is WAY ahead of its time, and in the following model year of the bike, they went BACK to 25.4mm under industry pressure because the people at Mountain Bike Action griped about it.
If I don't like the fit with this setup and want something lower, I may transfer the Tioga Tbone and Specialized bar over from the Shasta, or I could get a 0° rise stem from OCB and use some period correct Zoom risers I have (that are bulged to 25.4 for the entire rise area up to the levers).
Regarding the link you recently added to your blog, thanks. I don't have google analytics set up on this particular site, so I don't monitor where my traffic comes from. If I had, maybe I would have seen traffic directed from your site. Either way, I can add you to ours... in fact, I should go through and see which ones still work, and cull the herd. Generally I get emails from other cycling blogs asking for linkage, but calling me out in the comments works as well.
gold medals made of solid and delicious chocolate.
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