- I sold my Trek Stache (yes, the one I just bought). 29+ wheels are really just too much for me. Too slow to turn; not agile enough. A fellow down in Dayton is really enjoying it, so it has found a good home.
- That left me with just one mountain bike, my Niner ROS9 B+. That's all well and simple, but I like to have a second mountain bike to give me some variety on the trails I've been riding for 20 years. I rebuilt the KM from a city bike back to what Surly intended, a rigid single speed 29er. One of my favorite bike types.
- I still needed a practical bike for running errands and pulling the kids around. My first thought was to convert my Black Mountain Monstercross over, as I had done in the past. I took it for one last ride as a fixed gear drop bar road bike:
When I got home, I found myself putting off tearing it down. I took it out again for another last ride the next morning to shop for a mother's day present, where I spotted one of Dublin's 100 new Limebikes:
Outfitted with a basket, iPhone holder, and a steering damper, it seems reasonably well equipped for a generic runabout:
But this long ride revealed something else to me: my BMC is set up pretty damn perfectly. The Salsa Cowchippers are in just the right position. I was putting off tearing it down because I didn't really want to change anything about it. I cast my eyes around the garage for another candidate.
Which brings us back to the Fuji.
I wasn't entirely happy with the Noodle bar setup on the Fuji. The old timey brake hoods weren't as comfortable for my big hands as the modern fat hoods on the BMC, and the bar was a bit narrow. A bit of bar swapping brought me around to this build:
Flipped On One Marys with inner bar ends are sporty but comfortable, so far:
Strangely, these centerpull brakes seems to modulate better and stop more strongly when pulled by mtb levers. Sometimes I find myself braking just to experience using them. Oddly, they remind me most of hydraulic discs. We'll see how they do in the rain.
A 1x2x8 drivetrain with a fat wheeled Altus derailer:
I couldn't fit my Wald rack with the flipped Marys, so this afternoon I installed my old Carradice on the front bars.
It's nice to have some onboard storage all the times. And a kickstand.
Only a few rides in so far, but I'm really enjoying the Fuji in this setup. It still has the smooth character of the drop bar bike, but the new bars are working better for me. When I look at in the garage, it reminds me of my old Velo Orange Polyvalent: a big, blue bike with a horizontal top tube and 650b tires. But where the VO was kind of dead feeling, the Fuji is responsive enough that I look forward to riding it.
Not too bad for a "road plus" bike from 1981.
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