Welcome, jerks.


Yeah, I got the fever. Three or four years ago, a rabid, red-eyed zombie sank its rotten teeth into my arm and thus I was infected with a peculiar strain of irrational obsession. Since then I have breathed, eaten, and slept bikes and almost nothing else. Maybe a vaccine will be invented, or maybe it'll simply pass, but until then I'm a slave to my compulsion to buy, transport, take apart, degrease, scour, lube, polish, assemble, tune, tighten, align, wax, buff, and yes, ride, ride, ride these magical two-wheeled machines.

So, the idea is, on this page I'm going to post pictures and perhaps stories of bikes that I've refurbished and ridden or ones that are in the process or recently completed. Maybe it'll expand from there. We'll see, I guess.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Fuji Opus

 New project. I bought a Fuji Opus III this week that was sadly subject to some serious neglect and perhaps abuse. For one thing, the paint and decals were in lousy condition. Innumerable paint chips, a rattlecan sprayed section around the seat cluster, etc. For another, the parts were pretty well worn, some had been replaced with inferior ones, and the bottom bracket was so loose you could see the cranks rocking back and forth when pedaling. (I don't understand how anyone could ride a bike like that and think everything was okay but the previous owner was doing just that.) The good news was that structurally the frame and wheels seemed sound. Also, I could tell from where the paint had chipped that the whole frame was chromed, so I before buying I decided to strip the paint and let the frame go au naturel, just plain chrome. Similar plan for the heavily scratched Superbe Pro cranks: strip anodized surface, polish, and perhaps seal. Fuji and Suntour diehards, you may want to look away.

To reverse the oft-used platitude, these pictures don't do the bike justice; it looked much worse in person:






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