The Strip Down

I've decided to rebuild The Purple Trail Eater -- that heavy monstrosity of a bike that I rode for the Dirt, Guts, and Donuts race. I mean, I gotta give the bike props. For a P.O.S. that was likely manufactured by child labor in a developing nation, assembled by a minimum wage earning high school student, ridden for a few years, bought at a yard sale to be refurbished by a guy that earns his living doing such things as refurbing Walmart bikes, and bought by yours truly who got a crazy notion one day that she should start cycling the twelve odd miles to campus...it held up like a champ in the 8ish miles of DG&D. Of course, I suspect this is because the bike is composed of metals once used in Cold War era Soviet tanks. Anyway, another crazy notion hit me tonight. I want to put new life into this bike. The initial plan: strip the bike down to the frame and rebuild it into a single or fixed gear (to be determined) mountain bike. This is also a solo project with minimal expert (read: professional) or technical (read: manly) help.

Step one, the strip down, was completed tonight. I learned a lot of things tonight...mostly about using tools whose names do not exist in my vocabulary (but have made up my own names...kudos to anyone who can give the real name to the "shiny metal locking clamp thingy" and "the clicky wrench"). I did have to dig into my limited reserve of technical assistance for brute strength tasks like cutting the brake and shifter cables and removing the crank turned out to be a two person job. But 99% of the strip down was completed sans help.

And here is all that remains of the Purple Trail Eater.

I haven't decided whether to keep the purple or do a repaint, I'm kinda digging the idea of some WWII mat Jeep green, complete with white star. But ignoring the aesthetics for the moment I think the first task is a new crank. It was the last thing to come off, so seems right that it should be the first to go back on. Lucky for me Nashville has a bike shop that sells slighty used and lightly abused parts, and I imagine that will be my first shop stop. Steve pointed out a few obstacles which may kill this project. He thinks there is a possibility that the frame may have proprietary (that's the word he used, but I prefer non-standard) sizes which may make shopping for cranks and downtubes an impossibility. But we'll just have to wait and see.

Stage 1, The Strip Down: Complete

Stage 2, The Crank: Standby