dale cannon from lawrence kansas on 2/22/2008 8:59:22 AM:
I love that Q.. It is the core of my riding experience. One trip with many riders I saw a guy with a 49 buck huffy and along side was a 5,000 buck trek full suspension. Hey anythings better than walking the thing. PART OF THE FUN is the prep while off the bike. YES to the garage sale frankenstein bike. There are lots of old lugged frames out there. Many bike shops are grabben these up and making them into one speeds. I am a diehard frankensteiner ( one level below a fixie) and love the challenge of taking old bike junk and turning it into a speedo rocket. Used bike parts are like looking for hidden gold. Bike shops like new part sales, but many old roadies have old parts just thrown in baskets in basements. If you can do your own axle overhaul and have access to used parts then go for it. The ride experience on a hand-rebuilt bike is as good as it gets. It is like making a raft to escape a long lost island. Great joy and satisfaction comes from this experience. It is easy to go and buy a new bike, but something special happens to the ride experience when you make yur own bike. From the old Frankensteiner Dale Cannon