Marc Kitteringham
I like to work on my bikes the way my dad likes to work on cars. Not just as tuneups, but as restoration projects. Some of them get the full restoration treatment, finding all of the right parts from the era and building it up to original spec. Some, like this one, just get turned into a hella fun ride, with no regard towards what should be on there.
I've mentioned this build before on here, and I've been kinda working on it for the better part of two years. Kristen found the frame in a dumpster behind her apartment and let me know. We nabbed it and since then I've been planning and gathering parts. I knew it would be a single-speed because the cable routing has been mangled, but the rest took a while to figure out.
For gearing I am running a 34 tooth in the front and an 18 in the back. The cog is a surly extra wide cassette cog. The chain is a KMC bmx race chain -- something bulletproof and good looking. The cranks and ring are an old set of Sugino triples that I found and converted to a single speed. The wheels are Araya rims on a Deore LX hub in the rear, and a Suzue hub in the front. Some Kona Break and Enter tires are on it right now. The pedals are V-Sixty sealed bearing flats. Some Tektro CR720 cantilevers make it stop. The bars are a set of Ritchey-esque bullmoose bars with Avid levers and some black Oury grips. For now the saddle is a WTB pulled from a discount bin, but it isn't the most comfortable thing in the world. I also have a Blackburn tall boy cage because this is definitely a beer bike.
Restoration projects can go one of two ways. They could be period-correct builds that look exactly as they did in the catalogue 40 years ago, or they could be a bit more fluid. I like a combination of old and new parts on my builds, bringing the best of what was out there before and combining it with the reliability of new parts. Going for the full-on catalogue build is commendable. It is super hard to get your hands on some of the parts from years back, and fiddling with old tools and parts is a pain. However if you can pull it off it comes out amazing. I choose the lesser route, partly because I want to be able to ride the bike, and because I am cheap as shit. Getting a pair of avid brake levers is much more cost effective than trying to hunt down the proper part.
