Mother's Day Cruiser

Sometimes I sell a bike, and I have a hard time getting started on building it.  This was one of those bikes.  First, I put it off in order to go to Fruita.  Then, I was tired from the Fruita trip, all week, and I managed to never start the build until yesterday, even though I planned to every night last week.

 Plus, I knew it was going to be a challenging build.  The Voyager II frameset is a mountain bike frameset, even though it harkens back to the curvy cruisers of old.  It lacked the upper mounting point for the rear fender; the clearance between the seatstays was tight; I was working in a budget that precluded fixing problems with fit by buying different parts; I had to make what I had work.  That always adds up to extra time and effort on a bike build.

But, I always enjoy these builds and I am always proud of the results.

I spent a total of about 7 hours working on the bike.  I ended up buying a new saddle for it, because I just didn't like the looks of what I had in the shop.  Luckily, the Easy Rider cruiser seat was on sale, today.

I think it turned out sweet, though; well worth the effort of building it.  The bike has a cool mix of old (block pedals, 1960's cruiser bars, 6-speed alloy mountain wheels, 6-speed thumb shifters) and new (saddle, seat post, tires, Wald fenders, v-brakes and levers) that really appeals to the hot-rodder in me.

I don't think that the bike is intended as a Mother's Day gift (it was built for a work-buddy's wife) but, since I finished it today, I think of it as the "Mother's Day Cruiser".


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