Burningman!

This passed burningman festival (2010) I took the opportunity to clear out my shop a little bit. Fortunately, I live in the bay area, so all I really needed to do was post a craigslist ad 1 day before the start of the festival and sure enough 4 cheap, but working "burner's" were headed to the desert.


This was once my main bike, when I was 15 I got it at a garage sale for $15 and i had kept it up rather well. Just an inexpensive 20 inch BMX with a beefy steel frame... The Diamondback Joker. I sold it to a guy for $60, and it hurt.


This is a Magna 24 inch MTB that i made into a single speed. I was basicly given it as a wrecked bike with another wreaked bike that I did pay for. This baby got dusty for $30.


This bike had one of the best names for a bike I've ever come across. It's called: "Giant" "Attraction"...from the Giant bicycle company. It's a very small framed 26 inch MTB with a hefty steel frame and wheels. A woman picked this one up on her way for $40.


This Diamondback Sorrento Was given* to me by a good friend along with the above "attraction"... I took the descent components for my parts bin and made a single speed out out it. It sold last minute to a grateful guy going for his first time for an easy $60... It's a good frame and he told me he would like to set it up for touring once he got back.. I encouraged and we talked bike for a while, to bad i didn't have my business cards at the time.

Next year, life permitting I may Go to Burningman myself...

Homemade Jansport Backpack Pannier

Note the straps are still attached, you can still where it is a backpack, although it's not the most comfortable... but better then i would have said, very useful!


This has been an other one of those customizing projects (that I really enjoy). The reason I'd make something like this is simple; panniers are expensive, and who has EVER had a Jansport pannier (I couldn't fine one). I just figured that the "right pack" (the classic Jansport backpack) has a 35 year track record as a tough, simple, and well thought out pack so it would naturally make an awesome pannier. It uses a pare of 1/4" mahogany plywood frames (one in, one out) with big holes cut in them for less wight, they are bolted together at the corners, in the center, and at the hook mounts, and screws keep everything tight. The bag attaches with two galvanized steel hooks to the top rail of a bike rack, and has a hook at the bottom to keep it close in to the side of the rack, and finally a bungee mounted in two places mid-bag, hooks onto the racks bottom hook, keeping it from bouncing around. The plywood was sanded and lacquered for a weatherproof Finnish. It's about the same wight as my store bought panniers (with the holes cut out), it holds on more secure too, and i think it's just a little bigger:) The only downside is that the way I have the hooks mounted the bag only works on bikes with longer chainstays for foot clearance reasons. Also the hooks themselves, being made of steel tend to scratch whatever rack they touch. However, after careful consideration of the new scratches on my aged $20 rack, I have realized that I don't give a shit... At the moment it's my main commuting bag (highly versatile) and I'm thinking of making one for the right side as well, i would trust them to some fair weather touring without reservation!

Mina's Bianchi (the Pilgrim)

back in 2005 a friend of my fathers had a garage sail where my dad picked this awesome yet very small bianchi up for $10. I tryed to adapt it to be used by someone my size, being to green in the ways of bikes to know any better. I put old schools drop handlebars and dia-compe levers, it came with full suntour like my trek and my sisters Miyata. And as with those bikes, that gear is still working smoothly to this day (with some new things here and there)

This bike, however say unused in my shop until my good friend Mina saw it and just had to have it. After she road it during the last part of her time at UCSC she spent 9 months abroad during witch a further restored and upgraded the Bianchi. Ever restless on here return she took this bike 749 miles all the way down to Mexico (with the milk crate). she plans to tour more with it and I'd be trilled to ride along.

Schwinn Varsity "it's so yellow.."

Before:

After:


This was a cool little project I was given by a friend of a friend. The frame is around a 55cm. The bike was in almost original shape when it got to me (ceca 1970's) it had been worked on by someone that should have just let the bike alone.... he removed the chain grad but failed to note that other then keeping the chain on, that grad (when it had one) acted as a spacer for the large chainring (that bolts to the smaller/inside ring witch is fixed to the crankset). this made it so the bike would be very...very creaky when you road..... other then that one of the friction shifter bolts was striped however, i have worked on my share of old Schwinns (like this one) and I had a schwinn shifter bolt in a parts bin. The seatpost bold was striped too, so i scavenged one from my bike purgatory. I gave it a new chain and in the process swapped the rear derailleur from Schwinn approved to suntour ARX :) I don't think anyone other then me will notice, but that's just fine. new cables, housing, tubes and tires (kenda Gum walls just like my sister's Miyata) and sweeet yellow bar tape and it's awesome...35lbs of awesome.