by Rick Glos
13. February 2009 08:21
After having finished project number 1, it was time to look to project number 2, overhauling my grocery-getter-commuter-small-chain-ring bike.
Here’s what it looked like when I bought it back in June of 2007. It’s a Cannondale Fat Boy.
My two big complaints were the integrated front shock and lack of tire clearance. I originally thought I’d would use the shock because of the round trip 40 mile commute I had from SW Portland to N Vancouver went through some fairly beat up streets. Problem is the front shock needed to be filled with air every month and I never ended up using it but kept it locked out all the time anyway so it turned out to be a pain.
My tires of choice for commuting are these babies, Schwalbe Marathon Plus.
They are touring tires and I have yet to get a flat on them on any of my commuters and they didn’t fit on my frame so… goodbye and hello to this (you can see the white walls of the Schwalbes).
All my components switched over to a Kona steel 29er frame. Rigid, durable, plenty of clearance and able to load up my panniers (you can’t go wrong with Ortliebs) with groceries from gallons of milk to cartons of eggs. I’ve not talked much about gear and setup for bicycle commuting on this blog – maybe someday – but what I can tell you is that you cannot go wrong with disc brakes for commuting/errand running. Consistent braking power even in rain, plus no wear and tear on your rims from V-brakes and the black grime you get all over your hands and your bike from V-brake pads. Never again.
Nice thing about Sellwood as they have my the old Cannondale frame on consignment so whatever it gets sold for I can use the cash for new chains, overhauls, etc… I have to commend them on a nice job poaching all my old components and putting them on the new frame and they were more than happy to do it.
Which led to my project number 3…
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Tags: bicycling
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