Trek 520 Build - Part Two - I Strip and Get Blasted

Before I begin, if you are enough of a bike freak to want to follow my Trek 520 light-loaded tourer build from beginning to end, use the "Post Series" link near the top of the sidebar to the right. If, on the other hand you are only here for the "strip and get blasted" part, here we go:

The Trek 520 I picked up last fall looked like this:

The frame was going to need attention in the paint department, which meant it was time to strip. I mean, like, take it all off! WooHoo!

Before I did that, I took closeup photos of all the parts I thought I might have trouble reassembling. Then I put everything I meant to keep in little plastic bags. They eventually went into a larger bag.

Bars, stem and crankset will be replaced. Anyway, I and the 520 stayed in the bag for 6 months. Everything just sat in my tool room until this week. The paint and decals on the frame were in pretty bad shape. I have stripped a frame using a combination of chemicals and wire brushes on a hand drill. It was a lot of work and yielded acceptable but less than perfect results. I wasn't going to screw around this time. Given the situation, I knew in my heart that it was time to get blasted, which I proceeded to do a couple of days ago. I picked up the frame just yesterday:

As you can see, all that messy stuff was cleaned right up. Finally clean, me and my Trek 520 are ready for the next steps. We will try not to get all freaked out on powder...

Build $ Tally:

Used Frame + some parts I will re-use: $80.00

Used Wheelset: $100.00

Blasting of frame: $50.00

TOTAL to date: $230.00

R A N T W I C K

PS - I'm going on trains and planes for a few days. Be good while I'm gone, and maybe I'll bring you something back from my trip late next week.

Brakeless

I was interrupted while changing brake pads yesterday and forgot all about it. When I was engaged in my usual insane morning rush today, I discovered that my fixed commuter was, for the first time ever, brakeless. I had no time to fiddle around because I was already late. I grabbed the pads, made sure I had an allen wrench and hopped on my brakeless bike. Other fixed gear riders do it, right? Surely I could manage one ride into work and install the new pads at lunch time...

I managed fine, but I hated it. I lost time because I needed to be going slow enough to stop without blowing out my achy old knees and the thought of an emergency stop scared me witless. Thankfully no sudden stops were required. Even so, my knees hurt now. So, it is as I have always suspected: I am way too un-hip and old and risk averse to ride brakeless. Other than on the track, I don't know why the hell anyone would want to. I think I understand why at least some of those fixed gear riders seem so crazy... crazy is way easier to learn than stopping without brakes.

Never Stop Stopping...

R A N T W I C K