free time

Being unemployed, I get to structure my time as I choose. Last week, I was sitting outside the 'Goat, having a coffee, reading Savage Love and watching the train pass, when my friend Sammi called:

I want to get Kyle a bike for Valentine's day and it's only two days away! Help me!

Never one to turn down a lady in need, I assured her we would be able to make it happen, hung up the phone, and went back to my coffee.

The next day, we set out to buy a bike. There's Sammi, being all Hollywood on her cell. The red bike is hers, but the sweet Nutcase helmet is borrowed.

She picked it up from the UO Bike Loan Program for a refundable $5 deposit. That's their resident mechanic, Noah, guarding his hanging helmet plant with a mullet and a sneer. He's actually quite friendly and approachable.

Sammi and I were going to ride five miles into Springfield to look at a couple mountain bikes from Craigslist, but found this tall road frame from a friend at a local bike shop. She paid $50 for the 59cm steel skeleton with fork and headset. We picked out lights, a bottom bracket, crankset, seatpost, stem, handlebars and grips at Eugene Bicycle Works for another $70.

After digging the remaining parts out of my garage, I put it all together and ended up with what you see above...And I got these sweet BMX platform pedals from my homie Ian's parts box. He was kind enough to hook it up for free! What an awesome guy.

Kyle was more than pleased. His car died a few months ago, and he's been hoofing it everywhere with a bum ankle. We set him up with big 27" wheels, which have a low rolling resistance, a 5-speed rear, a small single front ring and short cranks for easy spinning. Taking a page from the UO BLP's book, I made sure he had fenders and a rack as well.

While in the garage, I started another project. Our mail carrier was slipping our post through a slot in the door, as we didn't have a mailbox.

So I made one. Both items are from Goodwill. The yellow box contained a bunch of maps and must have been a promotional item for National Geographic subscribers. I glued the little blue box on top for spillover.

Also:
Here's someone's sweet cargo setup, spotted outside Sundance.

It's an old Trek road frame, with almost entirely custom components. Note the poppin' yellow risers and hot pink fenders. The rear brake is disconnected, but the front sports a big fat disc.