Bisexual Basketlyfe Dad 2k23

After an incredibly short stint of trying a fixed lockup - I've given up. It was ultimately fun, but too much on my silly little legs (messed up Achilles heel) to function as the do-it-all grab-and-go lockable bike of my dreams.

Really - I miss the GT. It got me started with cycling, and fundamentally, was just a great bike. Wistful of my innocence when I sold it of "yeah haha I only need one bike" - the retromtbbasketmobile is going to be my third (second?! dunno what I'm doing with the Pacer, but the Ogre is here for good).

Anyways, after some faff, the Dolan is out of my hair and I picked up this lovely Trek Singletrack off of @r_mash today. This is going to be the first bike I'm actually going to build up myself (others are too lovely and I wouldn't want to bastardise the craftmanship which have gone into them).

The dream for this is to pop the cetma rack on it, use it to get from A-to-B and piss about + not have a panic if I'm gonna lock it for a bit. Basically - it's gonna be a dad bike.

First quirk to work out - I'm a big lover of the kermitbike, so was planning on popping on a pair of VO Klunkers before I realised... not gonna happen with a quill stem. First worm will be "removable faceplate quill stem!?" or "what swept bars can I get on a quill". For now I've got some standard flats on it n will build it up once I've got some tubes for it.

Other fun things in the pipeline too...

• gonna get some nice pedals, maybe some red DMRs? Would look nice with the red.
  
  • Grip shifters... annoy me for some reason (bad stim) so will wanna change that to either a nice friction shifter or standard trigger shifter.
    
• I reckon I'll convert it to 1x ? because front mechs seem... confusing
  
  

The rest will wait for now... if a pair of bargain cantis come up I'll grab those, but will likely recable existing when I change the bars (will need to extend the length I'm guessing idk)

I like this vintage of Trek. The little seat cluster lug with the Logo is classy.

But honestly, what is confusing about a front mech? Think of it as a chain-keeper ‘with benefits’

yay exciting!

nukeproof evo have some pedal colours that would go well too (pink/purple, orange)

Yeah... all of the lugs on it really are just nice stuff to be honest. I'm gonna go over some gunky residue with isopropyl at some point but I reckon I'm gonna try preserve the decals as much as humanly possible.

I guess front mechs (knowing very little about mechanical repairs etc) seem to be one more point of failure... but really? Not like it's going to be the end of the day if it's temporarily stuck in one front gear! Might preserve it to be fair, could be fun to de-ano and polish up the cranks.

Ooooh that could be fun actually - would tie in well with the pair of bottle cages I might pop on it (still dunno who made em - was a ebay bargain I've got) B))) - ogre already has a bit of a turqouise/orange/purple scheme going but maybe it's just a personal brand. Does scratch a certain itch in my brain really.

there’s some stx shifters in the classifieds that look perfect for what you want. i was thinking about getting them but if you are actually in the process of doing the build i won’t dibs them. i also don’t think a quill stem will be a problem for swept back bars?

Oh sweet - having a look n trying to wrangle my head round what works with what!? But shifters do seem exactly the type... gonna do some googling n try figure it out.

Bars wise - klunkers are the obvious nightmare for quill, but couldn't get the on one Mary's (I'm soon giving them away anyway) to go through, was just seemingly too much of a steep angle to wrangle through the headset?? Maybe?

ooh yes, maybe orange pedals then?!?

after some worming - found the PERFECT PAIR of dmrs for peak jimmii core - just ordered ourys too and will temporarily COPE with mismatched on ogre irritating my "oh god but it matches the frame" brain

getting very excited

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realised i'm a bit too dim to try and make a 3x8 shifter work for a 3x7 so do nab them! will keep keeping an eye out - this might be a bit more of a slow burn project I reckon (given my lack of understanding of how all this works)

tried fitting the bars today only to make the realisation that the tension isn't right on the front canti brake (right shifts loooong after the left side) - rather than trying my dab hand at fixing this stuff, I reckon just remove the front brake for now, go for a couple round the block spins to check sizing etc is all good THEEEN...

start looking for v brakes? seems... easier to maintain?

compounding the above too is it doesn't look like there's going to be enough steerer to mount a canti hanger anyway... the current one is inbuilt but if I want to put on the klunkers, I don't need to make it harder for myself and find a quill stem with a removable face plate with an in build canti hanger...

eyeing up this nitto stem + shim situation? feels like a nice moot point between "nice stuff" and "I still wanna be able to lock it"

[https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266103698335]

V brakes will work a treat, lot less faff to set up than cantis, also with the added bonus of actually stopping you, rather than just slowing you (but a well set up canti with decent pads and cables will work perfectly fine, if you can be arsed to bugger about with em).
Stem n shim will work, especially if you can get that nitto one for not much money.
Looking forward to progress.
Front derailleurs are not to be feared.

Front derailleurs are not to be feared

Just shunned.

To be fair... you did have me swaying there. Might stick with 3x but temporarily parking any gearing changes - all I reckon I'll change imminently will be the shifter?

Been doing some BB research and can't figure out which type it is, but could do with some added length to it to keep it 3x... the chainstay doesn't seem too happy with stock positioning

That does look a little too close.

Update so far!!

After initally going hahahahah I'll keep it all is is will just set it up and spin and wait for it to break, I've inevitably compiled a long list of I SIMPLY HAVE TO HAVE THAT IN ORDER TO RIDE IT list...

That being...

• quill stem with face plate ( nittos ending soon or if not might cop an adjustable raleigh or https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392273669758 )
  
• new 3x7 shifters... altho I've got a nice freelance pay cheque coming in soon so who knows if I'll just go nuts and wiggle a whole new groupset to my door
  
• v brakes + levers
  
• fun cable housing, torn between garish jagwire to match the grips+pedals or faux nissen https://www.veloduo.co.uk/products/vinta­ge-style-brake-cable-outer-housing-5-col­ours
  
• something to wrap my chainstay with. wife stole my blue lug to frantically wrap some bars when the wifi went out. hoping they have more cheap as chips blue lug bar tape at the tokyobike sample sale Saturday (health permitting)
  
  

ALREADY BOUGHT:

• orange ourys (swapping the purple to mismatch on ogre too)
  
• silly dmrs
  
• new tubes
  
  

Looking good, is it True Temper tubing?

I found and saved this photo a few months ago. Similar frame, modern take

1 Attachment

It is indeed! Such a great frame all round really... v happy with it

Ooooh that is swish... if I wasn't in the firm "drop bars are a manifestation of SAD riding" I'd be considering a similar build... but alas, the kermit ULTRASWEEP lifestyle has a firm grip on me...

UPDATE!

Change of vibes incoming, might make this a little bit more swish than originally planned as I think I'm going to sell my ogre (never really use it to it's full capacity, it's a tad too big for me, and it's hard to justify the space in the house for it really)...

Got an A-Head adaptor and stem incoming from @sacredhart (thank you!)
Ordered some Deore V-Brakes for a nice ebay steal (35 with levers)
Nabbed some 3x7 shifters (was a mere 15 quid to not have to deal with gripshift, despite the long term plan for a 1x9 setup... that'll take some time as I'll need new wheels on top of the groupset)

Now I need to...

• get v brake noodles (w barrel adjuster)
  
• brake and gear cables
  
• SET IT UP :DDD
  
  

I've got the cetma rack for now but the weight of it really does my head in for my use (running to big sainsburys + pootling around, now I'm selling the ogre I might be taking it to Epping sometimes), so eventually the pipeline will be a rear rack + canti mount rack to strap a basket on to as that won't do my head in at Epping like a standard Wald might (?!?!) do...

Given the long term plan is to make it a little bit more swish than originally planned, I reckon security skewers is the motive - looking at these for the wheels as they seem,,, alarmingly well priced

https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/abus_nutfix­_security_axle_set-ID_85478