The Bike!

All you loyal readers know I've been building a bike. The goal was to build a bullhorn style bicycle cheaply, under $50 if possible. I started with a donated frame which I painted. Since then I collected a set of free wheels, a crank, and brake levers, but then construction ground to a halt... until today!

I took all my components down to the bike shop where I know the mechanic and we went to work. After a tire, chain, derailure, shifter, brakes, housing, wheel true, seat post tightener, handlebar tape, and peddles, the bike is fully operational and looks great!!!!

The good news is that it is a super comfortable ride and turned out looking fantastic. The bad news is that I went wildly over budget:

Painting: $20
Bottom Bracket: $18
Today's costs: $118

Total: $156

I thoroughly busted my idealistic budget, but I learned a lot (especially from today's session) and have a great commuter bike. I hope you all like it!

A HUGE thanks to Whit, the mechanic down at The Mountain Works. He gave me a great deal on parts and labor and let me hang around and learn a bit about his trade. If you're a La Grande local or passing through I highly recommend their shop!

Bike Project Update

I've been working on and off on my building-a-bike project, but because I haven't worked hard on scrounging up the rest of the parts I find progress to be slow. Bleh. But, the good news is I focused my efforts on finishing up the new paint job. Inspired by the King of the Mountains jersey from the Tour de France, behold my "new" polka dot frame: