New life for an old nail.

Not me. (The old nail that is.) A 1990 Specialized Hard Rock. Allegedly a contemporary mountain bike, but one not really equipped to stand up to much hard use. The bottom bracket alone was a serious weak point.

For a long time it was a light-use bike. It would go to the racetrack with my motorcycle. Racetracks are miles long and the pit areas can be vast. A bicycle is a great convenience. When I stopped racing the bike was rarely used. When I decided to start riding for fitness it wasn't hard to decide to get a newer, lighter, better bike -- one that is well built enough that it may be the last road bike I need to buy.

The new bike (Felt Z35) is great and a joy to ride. But recently it became an objective of mine to do more brick workouts. The optimal bike->run session would involve riding up into the Oakland hills from the house to the trails up top, and parking the bike there during the run. Leaving the "last road bike I need to buy" locked to a post just seemed like asking for trouble. Leaving a crusty old mountain bike is another story.

However, riding up an 800' climb on a 20 year old drivetrain (yes, the original chain, chainrings, cassette, derailer, etc.) was frustrating. The cranks wobbled, the chain jumped, the rear derailer walked across the gears on its own. Finally the shifter for the front derailer stopped being able to access the big ring.

A bit of internet shopping and a Deore crankset, new chain, new cassette, new Alivio rear derailer and shifters and some Park tools and it was time for a DIY update to the old bike, making it into a very functional sleeper. [Not to mention it taught me a ton about bicycle maintenance.]

It not only worked and made the thing fun to climb on again, but the parts are robust enough that you can cyclocross it if you dare and it can take it. Good times. This has really opened up my options for a greater variety of workouts.



Some knobbies might be a good idea for the steeper parts of the trail though (15% grade and up). It was a bit exciting with the street tires as seen above.

One last bonus pic just because the slight movement of the camera mid shot gave an impressionist quality to the trees.

[As always, click the picture to see a bigger version]