Winter project completed, spring is now welcome to arrive

As even more (!) flakes fly outside, one of the few respites from bicycling cabin fever is wrenching on one in the basement. With my nine-year-old outgrowing his 20-inch six-speed mtb, it was time to prepare him for another size up.



This was my oldest son's bike until I rebuilt him a Fuji Boulevard last summer. It takes 24-inch wheels, and it's the perfect size for my middle guy for at least a few years. He tippy-toes the floor from the saddle with it all the way down, and his legs look good on the pedals. Here it is after I started putting it back together.


 It's a bit heavy, but it's a nice bike. It was also yet another opportunity to learn more about repairing and rebuilding bicycles. On this one I went through everything. I replaced the old steel wheels with alloys from a parts bike, and repacked or replaced wheel bearings, bottom bracket bearings, and headset bearings. Those old Shimano derailleurs work perfectly, and keeping myself to a pretty modest budget, I just cleaned and re-used this one. Partly just to have an excuse to buy a freewheel removal tool, I swapped the Shimano 6-speed from the old wheels to the new ones. The cockpit is all new. New flat bar, donor stem, new twist grips and new levers. I had amazing luck with these Shimano BL-550R levers; they work wonderfully with cantilever brakes, and I have used them on other bikes I've had. The SRAM twist grip shifters work nicely, and they come with the grips for just about 17 bucks online. I replaced the cantilever brakes with basic generic ones, with Jagwire pads. They work fine. And I swapped over my 9-year-old's computer.

This winter has been snowy and brutal.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. The only nagging shouldawouldacoulda I have is the drivetrain. The old 2x6 works just fine, but I wonder if I spent another 50-60 bucks I could have truly upgraded this bike into new territory. I think the answer is probably not. It still weighs a ton, it's still a late 80s-early 90s Nishiki hybrid 24-inch bike that's only going to last my son a few years at the most. I only paid $50 for the bike in the first place, which is also a consideration. My son will enjoy it I'm sure; he was happy with the final product. But it's nice to just take stuff apart, see how it works, and put it back together sometimes. Better to make mistakes and go down rabbit holes with a cheap little project like this. I think I'd like my next project to maybe take a little more risk, a little more reward. Maybe a nicer old Schwinn, or Peugeot, or an 80s steel Trek. Something worthy of well-thought-out upgrades. On the other hand, when you build a bike from just a frame like I did on this one, part of me is starting to think that basic, high-quality components are all you really need. The rest is just marketing.