Category: Builds

Pret-tee. This rides faster but less comfortably than my other bikes (even heavier old steel MTBs). Kickstands and suicide/safety levers are out of fashion, but this is 30+ years old, and RED. The paddle shifters are surprising useful in the dark (you can tell what gear you're already in by feel), but the downtube positioning and friction shifting take plenty of getting used to.

One thing I won't be getting used to is the 42/30 low gear (so soft). Here in the Metacomet hills, that's right out.

The culprit is actually this guy. Unlike modern cassettes which let their hubs do all the work, freewheels have their own ratchets, bearings, soul, and free will. This one was cranky and after a flush… is still cranky, but moving freely.

When I finally make that randonneur, it will have cloth rim strips. These cool translucent ones will do for now.

Cleaning up the donor wheels. Weinmann in the front, Araya in the rear (be still, my OCD). This Weinmann is actually USA-made and, unlike the Araya, it's hub's bearings still work.

Or… are the rear wheel's problems even at the hub… (?!)

HB-03 – a 1985(?) Univega Supra Sport

While hunting for an old road bike to turn into an earth-and-forest-hued randonneur, I ran across this instead. Univegas already came from the factory dripping with style, forcing brown and olive on one would be like pasting Cannondale stickers on a Trek.

RED’s not my color, but RED it shall be…

First test configuration – New saddle, new cassette, rubber stopper-reinforced fork, Kenda Kross tires, and… the same magenta bottle cage.

A very smooth and comfortable ride, reminiscent of the Trek FX (but slower, heavier, and possibly more credible off-road).