The Also-Ran auctions

This is what happens after one set of Alteks goes on the flea and sells for nearly 200 bucks. The "also-ran" levers come out of the woodwork. Sorry boys*, there are some issues with your offerings that will keep me looking only...

...maybe.

Silver, the most common color, and already at 130 bucks. probably wont go much higher than that.

More silver. Similar clean but used condition, and the youngest auction...only a day old and only at a buck right now.

And the clunkers of the bunch. Crash damage, faded blue anodizing and a stripped bolt hole means this auction will sit for a while even with the seller offering them for 89 bucks or best offer. Someone will take the leap but it won't be me. There's good parts here, but that is a lot of money for parts.

And what is that one thing that these 3 lever sets don't have that the 200 buck pair do?...RED BABY!!

All pics boosted from respective auctions. Search eBay for 'Altek' if your pants get tight* for silver brake levers and you're fancying yourself as a prospective buyer. Bid 'em up!

* - sexist disclaimer. Most retro wackos are fellas, and in the interests of avoiding an adult tag for the blog, I'm not even about to try to explain in print the female equivalent to tight-pants! You can go find a Lady Gaga video on On Demand cable for that!

Altek RED!

Looky! Looky!

Red ones too! Shown here in the shamelessly ganked auction photo is my new set of ridiculously overpriced brake levers. Not to be too disgustingly blunt but...my pants are tight!

Late October in Tsali - Part 2

Them there trail shots I was talking about. You have to use phrases like 'them there' when describing North Carolina trails.

I took the full rigid Phoenix this time. Matt and Paul and I were joking that we have more EWRs between the three of us than any other group of friends and yet only one EWR was on the trip, Matt's. Paul had the full suspension Ventana.

First day on the trails, just me and Paul. Friday was Right and Left loop, so we started out on the Right and went to it.

I had no idea that yellow and Sunset 217s would match the fall foliage so well. I should be a style consultant.

The view of the Blue Ridge from the trail, away from Fontana Lake.

And toward the lake on the other side of the trail. Water was pretty low this year, but not as bad as last.

Groomed.

Second day was Mouse and Thompson. These two shots are from the same switchback stream crossing on Mouse, the first looking up toward the trail to come and the second looking back where we'd been. Not as many pictures of the second day. More focus on riding instead of photos.

The temperature in the daytime was a nice 70 degrees or so, a welcome change from the freezing temps overnight.

Late October in Tsali - Part 1

Fall in North Carolina is a wonderful experience. We had not been up as a family of three in two years so we took off Thursday and Friday and drove up for a nice four day weekend of changing leaves, excited children and twisty trails.

First morning was 28 degrees and damp, but still a peaceful sight. We dusted the leaves off the car and went to River's End for breakfast and hot coffee.

There just isn't color like this in Florida, unless you're 'lucky' enough to have Virginia Creeper in your yard, and even then you have to wait until January for the temperatures to get cold enough to force the colors to change.

Leaves and Rocks. Rocks and Leaves.

And curvy roads.

I even took pictures on the trails... (that's what them smart wordy types call foreshadowing.)

EWR on the Flea!

This little beastie sold on the flea yesterday for a pretty good chunk of cash... Not exactly Klein money, but nearly 600 bucks isn't a slouch amount by any means. Looks like a Ringle stem, IRD post, Cook cranks too. Not bad at all.

That Manitou EFC fork would be a sweet little bit for the collection also.

Time to sell your Kleins!

Kleins have always brought a premium on the Flea, but this is preposterously preposterous. These two Klein Attitudes, just a few years apart and sporting similar parts, M900 XTR and ready to ride, sold for some quite large coinage-itude.

This linear fade model... $2,860.00. Upon checkout, you will need to check the box on your Pay Pal account that says "spleen".



And this little gem in the team storm colors, a very strikingly pimpy splattering mimicking an Oklahoma tornado inducing downburst. Ironic as only trailer park Oklahomans (or sponsored riders) craved such a nightmare on wheels. Your low low price for having your retinas burned from your skull?...

...$2,527.87

Start draining your plasma and stashing it in spaghetti sauce jars under your bed...you have lots of saving to do.

Brodie gets a fork!

Normally these Brodies would sport a Brodie Gatorblade fork, and probably a tig Brodie stem too, but my Brodie came with no such animals. So a quick trip to eBay turned up a Kona P2 fork, and a Tioga cantilever brake hanger and I had the Syncros stem...

WTB built!

I'm getting quite the reputation for taking way too long to build up a bike. Well here's the proof/pudding thing...er.... Whatever.

Arrived via Fed Ex on Friday and built by Sunday. WTB Phoenix.


Nice proportions.

Sunset rims and Sram X-0 goodies.

Race Face Turbines in XTR slate blue, with NOS 9 speed rings.

M950 XTR hubs, rear spaced out to 140mm to fit the fatty WTB dropouts.

Front is also a M950, although standard width.

Altek sidepull brakes. These are my first brakes by Altek. I've always loved their levers, that's well documented. This will be the first experience I have with their brakes. So far so good.

And like everything I do...Altek levers and an SDG saddle.

Its a pretty bike and my initial impressions are good. I've never given much credence to the whole California birth of the mountain bike thing, and these Phoeni are the last vestiges it would seem, of that mythical ethos. Other than a full blown modern Potts, which I guess is what I'll have to buy if the Phoenix here lights my uterus on fire. If I had a uterus, I mean.

At any rate, I figured, why not. We shall see what all the WTB/Potts hullabaloo is all about...

Stay tuned.

Brodie frame refresh - Finished

Painted.

Polished.

Decaled up and done.

eBay Out Door

My structured deal to sell the Amp-Benz has failed, so I am pimping it out on eBay in bits and pieces. These are the first bits. Pieces to follow...


RD-M739 Shimano rear derailleur. Excellent shape. Not its fault that it is the ugliest derailleur ever made by Shimano...and they made some uuuuuuugly crap.

Ignore the blurry picture. *waves hand*...you have been drinking, you have been drinking!

ST-M739 STI. These things are in great shape for a component that should have never been created in the first place. Shifter/Brake Lever combos.... what's next, a breaded hot dog on a stick?

Oh wait...

And the M739 crankset. The first iteration of the poorly conceived 4 arm cranks from Shimano. These even feature that beloved riveted outer chainring that requires you to replace half the damn thing in order to put on a new ring. They are pretty, but they are as pointlessly stupid as possible.

Basically M739 series parts are almost all crap. Should I be saying all this about crap I'm trying to sell?

AMP rebirth

I rebuilt the AMP F1 fork that I got off the flea a few weeks back. This is for the white EWR, which I think I am going to build into my woods attack bike, with a frisky low travel suspension fork and gears... much like it was built when I used it as my primary bike. At least that's the plan. The reality is that I will probably hang it from the ceiling with the other bazillion bikes I own and look at it with my right hand in my pocket and my left hand holding a beer.

Rim brakes only. Too old for discs.

Old girl cleaned up well. Somebody had drawn silly faces all over it, and they used some kind of doughy children's paint to do it. Poor thing endured that indignity though, and now its back for more!

Bottom out elastomer and retention hardware is missing though...anybody got a spare?

Brodie Teaser!

Last shot you'll see on this blog of the Brodie until it's ready for parts! Here I've finished the second coat of paint but net yet sanded or applied the last two coats. The final finish will be 4 coats of Refrigerator White...

...my favorite color.

Then I'll rub it down with a pair of my BVDs and some 3M compound, apply the stickers, and then build her up! Should be ready by my North Carolina trip in late October!

Santos Homegrown

Travis and I hit the Santos-Barge Canal trail system on Sunday, with the intent of riding the entire route end to end. It was a beautiful day, and we were having a ball, at least until we got to just past the land bridge and discovered that the last 5 or so miles of trails were closed due to some sort of 'scrub restoration project' or some such weirdness. The government of the great state of Florida is broke, and we're restoring scrub. Hmmmm...

At any rate... back at the trail head, while the typical midlife crisis nitwits were all strutting around their Trek Fuels and Stumpjumper FSRs, stroking each others egos, I approached this shiny little morsel of historic mountainbike-dom. The Schwinn Homegrown URT. Bad Ass.



Complete with long travel RS Judy and RS coil shock from back in the day, still pulling daily driver duty. Also, LX and XT parts and KORE goodies, back before KORE was a bastard import crap nameplate.


The Rock Shox Deluxe rear shock.

Factory trim, baby. Factory.

Schwinn's marketing term for sculpted stays was 'epicenter'. Beats the piss out of hydro formed.

Still has the tomato top cap. Cool.

Made in the USA! All you need to know.

Brodie progress

Striped and primed the Brodie this weekend. Boy was she a pig.


Glossy from the failed Citrus stripper application. Needed heavier artillery for this job. I did a little snooping online and discovered that Permatex Gasket Remover, part #80646, works great for removing powder coating. Boy did it work...

Shot of the chainstays before the real work begins. This frame is in dirty shape but it seems 100% solid.

Spray on the gasket remover and skidoosh! Powder Coating literally JUMPS from the frame! Your skin jumps off in ribbons too...crazy strong stuff.

Here is a testament photo for why you should not powder coat frames. Moisture wicks along under the paint and stays next to the metal, starting all these little rust spots. mine were all surface and nothing to worry about, but this frame was clearly on its way to the crapper.

Clean like baby butt.

And Primed. Next up...Paint!