building pocahontas

capt. dordai has been ever so gracious as to extend an invitation to me so that i might "contribute" to this blawg. his express desire was that i chronicle (with ample photographic supplementals) the creation of a legend. well, kind of. i wanted to build a fixed gear bicyclette and was searching high and low for a suitable frame with which to begin the process. one day, biking to work, i came across an abandoned tange-tubed norco frame lying at the side of the road. it looked pretty garbagey - no front wheel, rear wheel taco'd, whole babycakes covered in sludge, but i saw - I SAW - the pure steel fire hidden beneath the ooze, and took 'er home. sadly, i didn't have the foresight to document the arduous tearing apart and cleaning and hand sanding the frame, but below i have included pics of what i did after all that. primed, painted, clear coated, built back up like a phoenix from the ashes. why pocahontas? well, who among us doesn't like the story? the myth? the legend? the neil young song? the name is native american in origin and means playful one, and that's exactly the feeling i get when i hop on board. sorry, haters, she ain't fixed......she's free........but what she really is, is a BICYCLE.

- the original colour (which was mainly scratched and dinged) is on the steerer tube. the new colour, the one which was lovingly applied by mine own hand, lays upon the fork.











- more frame paintage, coat 3, shit seat post inserted to keep paint from slippin' inside that
seat tube.











- oh yeah, baby, cream stripes applied by hand. don't look too close though. old glove stuffed in bottom bracket shell to prevent paint from etc, etc.....









- it's called hobo single speed. double chainring, and a regular ol' 5-speed cassette rear-wheel. that a straight chainline just happened to work out nicely with the gear ratio i wanted was pure chance.









- classic cloth bar tape tied down with a nice wrap of twine. kind of tricky to do, but oh, so worth it. beauty, eh?











- and the requisite b.17 to top it all off. pretty much the only thing i bought on the whole bike. and i loved it so much, i even bought a second one! that's cuz some beautiful person thought they needed my first one more than i did. anyhow, the second one i bought is now worked in nicely and has an accompanying lock.







- and here's what she looked like this afternoon, on the toronto islands (post about that ride to follow). fenders added for the upcoming wet months, new nitto technomic stem (the old one that my brother tap gifted me was causing great neck strain - hey, beggars can't be choosers), new set of conti ultra sport tires, and new cork bar tape with a couple coats of amber shellac that give it the look and feel of leather at about 1/10th of the cost.




information/inspiration for this build came from sheldon brown's site(natch) and grant peterson's (rivendell bicycle works) special place on the net. it's surprisingly easy to do all this stuff yerself - let's dispel the myth that the shop is required for every little adjustment. i did 95% of the work on her in the summer sunshine on my balcony, and the other 5% in my kitchen. thanks to my understanding partner for putting up with that part. if i can do it, you certainly can. take charge.

every night, and every morn, some to misery are born
every morn, and every night, some are born to sweet delight
- wb

see you on the road, vv