I haven’t had a bike project since the Villain wrapped up in advance of my daughter being born. I don’t have a lot of time, and certainly have to keep costs down. But this time, the name of the game is slow and easy. There’s no race to finish like the last time, so i can experiment and see how it goes. The concept this time is to build an old timey bike. For awhile I thought about an overhaul of Fix-e, but the fact that Fix-e’s frame is a little small for me, and I’ve already overhauled that bike at least once, it was more about working with what I had rather than an optimal build frame. I didn’t, however, want to dive into a new frame and spend the cash on the outset until I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. In addition, I’ve been jonesing to build an S&S Coupler frame, but that’s an even dicier prospect: it’s expensive, so you’d better be working on the perfect bike from the get-go. This wasn’t going to be that project anyway. Old Timey doesn’t necessarily equate with the simplicity and general leanness of a good coupler bike as I envision it. So, two project concepts, no clear starter component (every project starts with a signature part… around which you can wrap your build) and so I’ve been plotting and scheming, but that’s about it. Plus, with a newborn, plotting and scheming time is plentiful, but doing time is scarce.

Then I noted a Tweet from an e-pal of mine in the East Bay. We met through Flickr, noting the similarities in each other’s bikes, and a generally similar taste in bikery. he had been attempting to build an XtraCycle out of an old Fuji step-through frame. Eventually, he decided to build off a new frame, as the flex he was experiencing in that build was sub-optimal for heavy loads. So last week, there was that Tweet: selling the Fuli frame for a song. I shot him a note, and he gave it to me! So I went down to Oakland this morning around 8am and picked it up, and had coffee with my e-pal for the first time, and met his wife and daughter. It was awesome, and now, my Old Timey project has begun.

I had always been interested in these step-throughs, almost buying one from Don Stolas a few years ago, but frankly, i never found one that was perfect, and it’s quite a risk when you try a geometry that’s substantially different than what you’re used to. But I tell you what, it’s hard to argue with a whole lot of FREE. There will be challenges: the seat post is not just seized, it’s super-seized. A bike shop has already gone at it with flame and tool. I will need to get crafty. But I’ve got some time to sort things out, and it’s great to have a project in the garage to tinker with when I can.

Plus, pie plate!

I’ll update this post as I go…

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