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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What, if anything, did you do about the lack of an upper mount for the rear fender? That is certainly an unusual looking MTB!
ReplyDeleteI thought about mounting an L-bracket on the frnder, then attaching it to the brake bridge (which is a flat aluminum plate on this frame). After looking more closely, I saw that the aluminum plate had a lip at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteSo, I carefully aligned the fender and the bracket, and drilled a hole for a self-tapping bolt. This was made a bit more difficult by the fact that the fender was a tad wider than the spacing between the stays, forcing me to flex the steel fender into shape as I drilled.
It all worked out, and the fender pulled up nicely, and is now rattle-free.
Shiny! Hey, I wrote about my XO-2 on my (brand new) blog today. Thought you might be interested. Just click my name link - I used to comment as ummbnb.
ReplyDeleteHey, good to see you back. I'll be adding you to my blog list, soon (can't do it at work).
ReplyDelete