What cyclist's blog is complete without an exhaustive, bike by bike, part by part rundown of every wheeled thing cluttering the garage? In honor of this long-standing tradition, I present to you... Bike 1 of 4!
Underneath the logo-less exterior is a Bruce Gordon Rock 'n' Road, circa early '90s (mine since '02), now wearing its second coat of paint thanks to Cedar Falls, IA framebuilder Rich Powers. The build is kind of "nuovo-randonneur minus the handlebar bag" using modern parts, taking inspiration from the fine French steeds in The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles by Jan Heine. (An aside: Do you own a bicycle and a coffee table? If the answer to both is yes, this book should be on the latter.)
Weirdness that makes it uniquely mine: A mountain triple crank with the inner ring left off for a 34/42 mini-double, the cyclocomputer mounted on the front fender with high-test Velcro (since the bar-end shifters on Paul's Thumbies take up a lot of handlebar space), and a homebrewed headlight mount on the left fork blade made from PVC and a threadless headset top cap.
Prior to the repaint, I used to pummel this poor beast on just about every surface imaginable: dirt, snow, gravel, daily commutes (and the resultant paint-trading in the bike rack at work), who cares? But now, it looks so damn good, I fear it's becoming a garage queen.
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