Wifebot: Hey, what are you doing?
Self: I’m decommissioning Ghostal.
Wifebot: Why! I love that bike!
Self: Well, it’s redundant and I can use some of the parts for Carpetbagger.
Wifebot: Don’t take it apart. I love how it looks… all… white.
Self: Oh. I would have thought you’d want it to go away, considering, you know…
Wifebot: Know what?
Self: You know, uh, the ghost bike.
Wifebot: Ghost bike.
Self: Someone crashes and dies on the bike, they paint the bike white and chain it at the scene in effigy.
Wifebot: —
Wifebot: SELL IT.

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So today Zoe and I returned to Re-Cyclery in San Rafael, this time in search of a replacement fork for the Carpetbagger project. Zoe loved the place, predictably, screaming ‘bikeciccel’ and grabbing at stuff and getting greasy, not unlike your typical reader of a TLTC Bike Grrl thread. Anyway, there were no threaded 1" forks to be found, and what thy had were all pretty tall steerers.

However, upon learning of my challenge, the shop guy grabbed my fork, announced it was so old it was not tempered steel yet, and three it in a voice and proceeded to yank the arms apart. Two guys went at the thing and soon they were able to pretty easily mount the wheel. Excellent of all possible outcomes!

They recommended dumping the forks, which are bent in three directions ( not necessarily from damage or abuse, but because of the relatively primitive manufacturing and assembly of the day) and prolly the frame also. A twisted frame van never ride straight.

We of course are outraged at the proposition.

FOHWAHD!

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Two great things go together.
Well here, but not, you know, in actual practice…

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Rolled up to valet downtown SF (the one we always go to, near Lung’s office, that knows us and our car well) and mentioned that I had Crook Type 3 stashed in the back, and would be needing access after my meeting (I’d be riding back to Marin, leaving Longboy for wifebot(tm) to use)… they said ‘chure, I have de spot mang!’

ANd so they did!

AWESOME.

I’ve never had striped clearance on the concrete around my Secondary Launch Deployment Vehicle before…

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I’ve done a lot of riding, and a lot of events. I’ve never had bikini girls demanding my water bottle.

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Except for where only in specific conditions involving the fraction of a second before impact.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25716145@N … otostream/

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Mixtape rider/curator Ry and his pal, the kindly Murderface, came over to do a day of surgery on Ry’s ride. Sort of a skeletal replacement, I suppose, as I had picked up a Cinelli MASH frame from Team Sag’s Magnus for him in the city a few weeks prior, and he was on the scene to swap stuff out and get it rolling, with Murderface along for observation and movie quote provisions.

The day started with Ry over-eagerly stripping his Sugino 75 crank threads. Some of the blame may lay in my Spin Doctors puller, which, you know, doesn’t have the cachet of Park… but fortunately we stopped before it got too bad.

Murderface lost composure and began to panic.

One nice thing about my current domicile: never have I lived so close to so many shops. We ran over to Tam Bikes, where stalwart Dylan of MASH honor quickly extracted the cranks and confirmed their continued viability. Then, off to Pearls for burgers. Because we, you know, EARNED them.

Murderface was incredulous about my assertion that buffalo was what skinny, awkward beef looks at itself in the mirror and imagines it was, so that it could make out with Brad Pitt. But after he tried it, he was sold.

I enjoyed a Pyramid Apricot Ale. So what.

Like the thief in Conan the Destroyer, who stabs a dead body and then puts his foot up like he vanquished it, Murderface presents the Pista frame.

Ryan put his stacky reps to work muscling the living shit out of those pedal sockets. One of his tattoos actually CHANGED from his labors.

After we ran out of movie quotes, Murderface took repose, in order to recharge for another volley of same.

Ry was understandably excited when we took a victory lap down the bike path to check out the fruits of his labors. He may have sent Zoe to therapy.

He discovered that the ride was pulling hard to the left, but he wasn’t sure if perhaps he wasn’t familiar with the new geometry or something. No, I tested it, and it was pulling. Turns out, no crown race. Effing Team Sag!

A sweet ride, certainly Team Lope endorsed, and a fun shop day!!!

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Forthwith, I present the next project.
WrongBike is dead, long live WrongBike!

What we’re calling Operation: Carpetbagger was supposed to begin with a strip-down of wrongbike. A bittersweet process, to be sure, but I was prepared. I had my mental and emotional fortitudes.

Yep, the fork was still effed up. Thats after a year of constant riding, and it hadn’t stretched a millimeter. I was prepared to retire it. For the Carpetbagger project, I’d need easy wheel removal.

Somewhat surprisingly, it wasn’t getting the front wheel off that was the hardest, but rather the seatpost. If you saw how much work it took to get this thing IN there in the first place (Thatswhatshe….) anyway, lots of lube and it was out.

Here we are, wheels stripped, one crank off, working on the rest of the drivetrain…

And the deed was done.

I was bit twice that day: once by wrongBike’s resentful chainring, and once by Villain’s derailleur, just sort of hovering around the fight, and holding me while wB delivers liver blows… metaphorically.

Finally, I present the only TRUE Ghostal in the stable.

Next up, reincarnation!
But wait! Here’s an update: I’ve come to subsequently find that wrongBike’s old frame (A Vista, go read the original bike build notes) is of soft metal and cheap lugging… on the advice of our expert framebuilder, I’ve desided to abort the plan to make wrongBike INTO Carpetbagger. One upside is that I get to build up a fresh frame for that project. The other is that I get to keep wrongBike and it’s glorious nuclear yellow/orange cheddar color for more sweet, sweet ridery!

So, in the end, what we have here is a probably much needed overhaul and maintenance check on wrongBike before reassembly. HA! Stay tuned…

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must have. they talkin’ may. what y’all know?

and if you don’t know the song:
http://youtu.be/GeV0ewzoQ00

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Ever sat bolt-upright in bed and 3am and said to yourself, ‘self? what would wrongBike look like as a full-on tarcke bike?’

Wonder no more.

http://fixthecity.es/post/4713576800

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