That New (Repurposed Parts) Bike Smell

It's official: I have a touring bike! Well, mostly.

The local bike shop does builds with used components, and I had a bunch of parts lying around. They put a cyclocross frame together with a steel fork, strapped on some new cranks and a new cassette, bolted my parts to it, and gave it back. All that leaves for me to get are a couple fenders, a pannier rack, and some panniers. With all that, I'll be kitted out for routing, or just commuting more comfortably.

The whole package was well worth the $500, since it comes with much higher-end components than I would have otherwise gotten. The only downsides: the shifters are a tad abused -- one of them came from me -- and the fork is actually very very very very very dark green. 

Indeed, as seen in the above setup, my first real ride on it was on a trainer. The weather promptly turned rainy, and I wanted to give the whole thing a test without having to clean the bike after 12 hours in my house. 

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One change already made: the seat post in the top picture has been replaced with an angled Profile Design post that pushes my butt back a little more -- and gives me another half inch of rise above the minimum insertion of this post. Plus it's black.  

I've got fuzzy plans to do a 200+ mile, 2-day trip at the end of the month, maybe ending up in the Outer Banks. The DC-Pittsburgh run is also popular, as it requires riding only on the C&O Canal Trail and the Great Allegheny Passage Trail. Details yet to be worked out. 

Now all I need is a slightly more padded seat to accommodate my wife. She would like to ride more, and this setup is far easier for us to swap than either my mountain bike or road racer. She'll inherit the other seat post to go with her seat, and hopefully we can take the kids on some great rides.

In conclusion, excitement factor for me: 8/10. Excitement factor for everyone else: 0/10. Whatever.

Mash out. Spin on.

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