Getting ready for the Bike Winter Swap on March 3rd, 2012. I registered for this swap about 4 weeks ago, reserved a table and five spots in the Bike Corral. At that time I had zero bikes fully prepared. I now have 4 complete and a 5th that I am putting the finishing touches on as we speak. These bikes have been completely stripped down and rebuilt. Headset, BB and hub bearings cleaned and regreased, new shift and brake cables installed. I like to try and keep these bikes as original as possible. For example, if the bars have the original cloth bar tape and it is in "very good" condition, I keep it intact. Like on this Sekai 2500. This is a bike I had ready for the swap and ended up selling a bit early. I actually had another bike ready that sold as well. Which means I've actually completed 7 bikes in the last 4 weeks. This is possible due to todays thriving housing market. I have not had steady work as a plumber since around 2005.

Here are a few of the rehabs from the last 4 weeks.

A Trek Elance 310 that was bought as an incomplete at a swap 2 years ago. The frame tubing is Ishiwata EX, very nice stuff. I built this up as a single speed because I have have several single speed wheelsets and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It is my size and something I can play around with.

 A Fuji Sagres SP. The only year these were made was 1986. Fuji procured their own frame tubing and it is fairly well reputable. They made some very nice bicycles. This is one of the bikes that found a new home. Selling vintage bicycles in February is not common but it does happen. Jessica drove down from the Quad Cities with her brother to check this out and she fell in love with it. She's planning to do RAGBRAI this spring.

 Schwinn Traveler........I had a few of these Travelers (3) in a variety of sizes and conditions. I was able to take the parts from 2 of them and build this one. The bar wrap is pretty ugly is'nt it? It was some stuff I had lying around and wanted to use. I have replaced it. I also replaced the cables, saddle, pedals and done quite a few other things to. As I am writing this I just realized.............I have'nt taken a pic of this bike since putting it through the wringer.........oops! Pics coming soon.

 Their was a thread on bikeforums recently discussing Gravel Grinders, actually it was called "Show your Gravel Grinder" and it was the inspiration for this build. I had an '89 Schwinn World hanging around in the basement, one of the many that my wife feels will bring the house to it's knees (she says the floor creaks from all the bikes and frames down there). So I decided this would be a good candidate for a Gravel Grinder. Built from my parts bin or should I say part bins.

Currently working on a Univega Viva Sport that I bought at the Community Thrift for $8 about 5 years ago. I have loaned this bike out to a couple of high school kids the last couple of years and rode it myself in the Tri-City Challenge a few years back as well. It is much to big for me and it is badly in need of some fresh grease and new cables. It is very near competion. Still have the hub bearings to clean and grease.  Pics coming soon.

I also have a Sekai 2700 that I just completed last week. Will take some pics today. I usually go with black accents on these bikes because it's what I have readily available, but on this Sekai I chose to take a chance with white. It looks pretty good to the naked eye but sometimes pics can be unforgiving............we shall see!