My dad picked up a few bikes in his travels. One of them is a beat-up BRC, which has been through the recycler shop at least once - a good example of the state of the art in the early 90s, with U-brakes and flashy brand names (Exage! Hyper-drive!) but nothing really special.

The other bike IS something special - a pre-Kona era Kona. It's a Cascade Fire Mountain, designed by Joe Murray, made in Taiwan - with some cromoly tubes and bottom-of-the-barrel components.

But, it's a Fire Mountain, and we are going to restore it (using guts from the BRC) out of respect for its stolen brethren.

Theft and Recovery (of sorts)

On Jan 19, thieves "broke" into our unlocked shed and covered garage and made off with two mountain bikes - both 21" Kona Fire Mountains, on aluminum and one steel.

Neither one was extremely valuable, the aluminum one was my "personal" bike and the steel one I had been rebuilding to sell. But it still sucks. As of today they are still missing.

In my grief I immediately scavenged two more bikes - an '80s Raleigh Campus and a little Wal*Mart special:



This bike is only noteworthy because I swopped it recently for a much nicer early 90s Fiori MTB (pictures soon)

Although this was satisfying, I still do not have a mountain bike for myself. Today I have taken action, and obtained this:


Now all I need are all the rest of the parts!

Radial Off-By-One Error

Built a wheel tonight.  32-spoke, front hub - seems that the spokes aren't quite right.  Half seem too long and half seem too short.

I'll take another look at it tomorrow night, to check the spokes.  I bet that something isn't quite right about it.

New Tool: Third Hand

Got this for Secret Santa from John. It's New And Improved! I have done without a cable stretcher so far, which just means having to tune everything up after the cables have settled.

The one I've used before doesn't have a ratchet lock, so I'm hopeful to see if this becomes a popular tool or if it just decorates the tool board.

Jealous? Get your own from MEC!

Bike Built: Norco Pinnacle

Finished off this bike for Recyclistas the other day. Tuned up, installed new cables and bottom bracket. Replaced all the rusty fasteners with fresh ones, and rebuilt the wheels. Replace shifters, crankset, etc.

Not too happy with the brake levers - they're plastic and really spongy. Chain's still rusty too.

It started out as a junker with a stuck seatpost. Stuck seat posts are becoming my specialty, so far.

http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2002&Brand=Norco&Model=Pinnacle&Type=bike

It's now on the block for $150.