My new wheels!

Ever since I was a young boy growing up in southern California, I've found the bicycle as a great way to explore the world around us. I fondly remember the exhilaration I got when my parents first let ride my block around the neighborhood. This my first really opportunity to be free and on my own.

My relationship with the bicycle soon blossomed in junior high when my parents gave me my first road bike, a 1985 Peugeot PH10LE 'Tourmalet'. Now I had the means to ride even further, and faster, and see even more of the world around me.

The fascination with the bicycle was also shared by my younger brother. Chris's first real bike was his 1987 Diamond Back Ascent. We spent many hours on those bikes and on many occasions we'd borrow the other's bike if we wanted a taste of the other side.

So much for the little UberClydesdale history side lesson, let's move on to the point of this blog entry. In case I haven't mentioned it, I recently advanced in my career and took a job in Laramie, Wyoming.

Since we were rushed in getting things packed and moved, I had to leave my stable of bikes in a storage unit back in California. I hope in the next one to three years that I will be established enough up here that I can bring those bikes up here.

Knowing this, my brother offered a 1993 Cannondale M700 frame that he had acquired but it was too small for him, but it was my size. (He rides a size or two larger than me.) He volunteers with the Fort Collins Bike Co-op regularly and it comes across stuff like this regularly.

So today Chris and I spent the day working in his garage on my new ride. As I mentioned earlier, it is a 1993 Cannondale M700 mtn bike. The frame has been well used, as it has a lot of scratches in the paint, but otherwise it looks to be in great shape. We got some cloths out and started to clean the frame so we could inspect it for any cracks or breaks in the frame. Luckily for me, the prognosis was good.

With the bike on his workstand, we discussed our options. Digging around in Chris's collection of parts he's scavenged from bikes that were in need of salvaging, we settled on using the Shimano Deore XT 9 speed gruppo. It will have Deore XT V-brakes and brake levers, along with the Deore XT crankset with 46/36/26 chain rings. Up front it will have a Profile carbon handlebar. We took the opportunity to start test fitting the parts, to be sure they fit correctly. Everything looks great!

So now I have a shopping list of the usual stuff that wears out on bicycles: tubes, tires, handlebar grips, and chain. It will also need a new saddle, so this time I think I'm going to try a seat that I've long heard the praises of but have never tried: an English made Brooks saddle. Chris has a Brooks B17 saddle on his commuter and he loves it. So after payday I think this ubercyldesdale is going to be getting a Brooks for this ride. 

I'll post more information on this project as it progresses!

--UberCyldesdale