Tired Wheel Deal III: Bridgestone MB-1

During my regular commute home through the mean streets of a somewhat large city close to Canada, I saw a bike leaning against a tree. Noticing it was unlocked, i naturally slowed to see if it was (a) abandoned and (b) worth claiming. This was certainly both: the MB-1 was the top of the line mountain bike made by Bridgestone, and I would guess this model was from 1993 or 1994. 

For those with scruples, rest assured I did my due diligence trying to return this obviously stolen and disgarded bike to its rightful owner (While I was immediately suspicious that I was looking at a stolen bike, the 27" wheel forced onto the fork really sealed the deal). However, I was unsuccessful, and thus found myself in an awkward position: I was in possession of a bike I was unwilling to sell (I didn't feel right selling a stolen bike, yes, that was part of it, but also, my covetous nature made me reluctant to part with a bike of such storied lore). And, being unwilling to sell it, I found myself also unable to ride it, since it was far too small (I am similar to this gentleman in height).

 I can be forgiven for loving this bike. It was hand-built by Tom Ritchey himself, with top-shelf Tange tubes. The components were Shimano Deore LX (drivetrain) and Dia Compe (brakes) with Ritchey wheels (or at least a Ritchey rear wheel, since the front was the aforementioned 27", and it was smashed, likely the reason the hammered joyrider abandoned it in the first place). Splendid Suntour dropouts as well.

So what was my elegant solution to this conundrum? Why, I built it up and gave it to my Mum, of course. here it is, fully built:

Tired Wheel Deal II: Miyata 310

I am a big fan of Japanese lugged steel bikes. As a general rule, even the cheaply made ones are strong and reliable. Miyata crafted some of the most beautiful bikes ever made every by anyone, often using crazy firearm technology. This is not one of those high end models, in fact it is an entry level road bike, but a nice all-around rider despite the heavy hi-tensile tubing. I picked this frame up during one of the strangest bike purchasing experiences of my life, when I went to a guy's house in Puyallup to buy a glued and screwed Vitus frame and came home with 8 wheels, endless quantities of random components and handlebars, and this frame.

One unique feature this frame has is the dimensions: If you look closely you'll notice that the gloriously tall seat tube (62cm) is paired to a rather short (54cm) top tube. If you were a dandy, a bike like this coupled with some sweet Nitto bars, bar end shifters and $800 in other accoutrements from Rivendell could make you the envy of all the rando nerds in your "posse."

Since this bike came from that strange era when brazed on cable and housing guides were out of fashion, I decided to build this up as a single speed. Here's a quick breakdown on the build (very cheap, all parts from the bins in the shop):

• Wheels: Suzue Jr. flip-flop hub laced to Mavic MA3 / can't remember the front wheel. nothing special though.
• RX100 cranks
• steel riser bars
• dia compe brake and lever
• this doesn't take very long when it's a fixed gear, does it

PICS COMING BACK SOON, I PROMISE!

Tired Wheel Deal I: Motobecane Mirage Mixte

There were about 4,000,000,000 of these bikes made back in the glory days of French bicycles. Motobecane was the biggest mass-producer of French bikes during the days this was made, but it has since gone bankrupt, so any new bikes you see carrying the Motobecane name are certainly made in Taiwan (not that there is anything innately wrong with that, despite some snobs' protestations to the contrary, but it is certainly quite a different operation than the French production plants).

Fortunately this bike did not suffer from the usual complications that come with being French, however. During the bike boom days of the late 70s and early 80s, all you had to do was slap "made in France" on the side and it upped the value $200. The Mirage was the bottom of the line, cranked out in huge numbers. The heavy straight-gauge 1020 Motobecane steel tubing, original steel wheels and stamped dropouts (among other things) reveal it to be a remarkably unremarkable bike. But it is still lugged steel, and made with the highly functional yet highly misunderstood Mixte design, so bikes of this caliber always have the potential to be spruced up into perfectly decent city bikes for commuting, grocery getting, etc.

When I got this bike it was all stock, and rusty. Suntour drive train (VX if I recall correctly), stem-mount shifters, did I mention steel wheels? I tossed the wheels and replaced them with mismatched alloy-rimmed guys (the rear was a nicer Suzue with an ACS freewheel spun onto it).

Also swapped out the cranks for a set of RX100 (with a single ring of course).

MISSING PICS WILL BE BACK UP SHORTLY

The Tired Wheel

Probably one of the most popular activities pursued by bike people is "flipping" bikes. This is the process of buying something (in this case a bicycle) at one price, then selling it at a higher price. Occasionally you will do something like "fix" the bike in between the buying and the selling, but this is not always true.

While "flipping" can of course be done with anything, it is more prevalent with bicycles than with other goods for a variety of reasons, but the most important are that there are:

1. a lot of bicycles sitting in basements that are spontaneously slated for sale by owners ignorant of their bicycle's value
2. a lot of lazy hipsters and bike shop employees sitting around waiting to pounce when aforementioned bikes appear on craigslist at prices well below their real value.

There is some danger in this. Many of the people flipping bikes are seasoned or out-of-work mechanics with the ability to take a rusty and mistreated bike and restore it to past glory (or at least give it a modicum of functionality), the reality is that most flippers are newjack morons with an adjustable crescent wrench and non-metric allen tools. while these folks may be established experts at switching out the cog on their color-coordinated fixed gears, their ability to create a safe and functional 10 speed is unproven, leaving the purchasers of their flippery as the guinea pigs in their doomed laboratory of bicycle experimenting. the results, of course, can be terrible.

So it goes without saying that I flip bikes. And while my reasons for doing so are varied, the principal motivators can be summed up to this: Getting Over. Even though I have a lot of bikes and don't need another one, rather than let someone else score a good deal on some cheap wheels, I'd rather swoop it up and sell the bike at an inflated price, not because I like to restore bikes, but because I like money.

Well, perhaps that is not entirely true, since there is the whole issue of being a cycle pervert and wanting to rub my hands all over as many bikes as possible before I am ultimately struck down during a ride to work.

Whatever the reason, I've been doing it for years. And while I don't really call what I do flipping, since it implies that I don't put any love into it, that's what an outsider would call it and so that's fine with me. It is true that I do the vast majority of both the buying and the selling on craigslist, and that I always sell higher than I buy (although the bike I sell is always vastly improved over the one I bought).

Recently I started taking pictures of my projects, which I'll begin sharing here. If you're lucky. Which, as any cycling commuter knows, is what it takes to stay alive, even on the relatively non-mean streets of a city like Seattle.