Friday, February 27, 2009

Obsessing again

What is wrong with me?

I was thinking about the old RB-1 in my basement the other day. After I cracked the bottom bracket, I took the parts off it, moved them to a new bike and stuffed the RB-1 deep in the basement.

It's a fun frame to ride and I just hate having it sit down there. Its presence has gnawed at me for a few months.

I think I have a plan for it. From a collector's perspective, the frame is ruined, so I don't have to feel bad about hacking it. And hack it I will. 

I think a quick bead of hot metal in the bored out crack of the bottom bracket would do the trick to make it ridable again. And while Hairy Gary is doing that, he might as well add some canti-posts and a hanger, maybe cold set the rear triangle to 135. I have a 650B wheelset laying around. Why not?

Why not indeed?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

why canti post? why not braze on centerpulls?

Anonymous said...

Grasshopper, true bike contentment arrives by contemplating the classic forumla, ideal number of bikes=n+1, where n represents current bikes owned.

Your unridable bike effectively allows you to escape the wheel of karma, by enabling you to both own and not own a bike at the same time.

I'd advise refraining from action.

And btw, the wheel of karma is a 650b.

John Speare said...

Rory: you're evil. That's a great idea. I'll have to ponder. Because after the last BQ issue, I really want to try them.

My initial reaction is that for this bike, which could fail yet again in the bottom bracket area, I want to keep it simple and cheap. I've got loads of canti brakes. And my LFB has loads of canti studs.

Anon (Nate?): thanks for the sage wisdom. But what do you mean? "refrain from action?" As in, do nothing? I don't think I can do that.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Grasshopper, your wisdom has surpassed that of humbled Master.

Yes, it as you say: True contentment lies in refraining from both action and inaction.

Anonymous said...

cheap? a set of centerpull brakes are usually cheaper then canti brakes. the braze on centerpull pivots are only special because they're unknown, but i think theres a framebuilder making them again, and then they're just brazed into a higher spot. Alex might know more about where to procure such an item...