What Cycling Projects Are You Currently Overthinking?

[Lanternrouge]

I was just wondering what bike projects are other folks out there overthinking to try and take your mind off of more stressful things in life.

For me, the main things have been unloading things I need to unload and all my future projects generally involving building of some really nice frames of I've acquired from U.S. builders whose names start with SE.

[Andy sti]

Just got my new custom road bike last week and today on my ride I was designing the next frame I want him to build. Might be firing off an email this weekend and then trying to sell some stuff. It never stops!

[mhespenheide]

All of them.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by Andy sti

Just got my new custom road bike last week and today on my ride I was designing the next frame I want him to build. Might be firing off an email this weekend and then trying to sell some stuff. It never stops!

I have the same problem - I think I'd buy less bikes if I didn't ride so much...

Let's see: got most of the parts picked or bought for my incoming Kirk, but haven't picked the color yet; still thinking about how to build my Kirk 29er, but getting close to just taking a box of parts to the shop and letting them pick out the rest for me; not certain about putting more time into the Sachs vs. selling it as-is cuz it's inevitable anyway with other bikes I've got that fit me better; and then I've got a couple more inbound from BT that are needed or at least make sense with the traveling I'm doing and wanting a bit more size but similar themes to the Sachs; plus still thinking about throwing some cross tires on my Kirk and giving the racing thing another go, maybe use my single-speed stuff to change the flavor a bit on it.. And what to do with my Ellis OS that's getting pushed aside by the MRB? Oh geez, and I ready know I want to get a Onesto that's done up as an unapologetic race bike with room for 27c tubs and built for the giddy up, but that's gotta be a mid-2019 thing. But then I remember I got a deposit down at Rock Lobster and even going to the back of the line means I'll still get called up before too long, so maybe a monster-cross bikepacker is next, or a MAX roadie, or ??? And then what if I swing by Andy's place this weekend and get googly-eyed over one of his lesser-used rigs?

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Where's the door to the padded room? And how much for a week or two w three squares and a cot?

[soupless]

^^

That's some A+ bike thinking there.

Currently just fretting over handlebar tape. I just got my first very bright (orange on orange!) bike in quite some time. It's an orbea, so I thought maybe I'd do green tape with red plugs as a nod to the Basque heritage or the brand. Did a bunch of looking and got the Deda tape in jaguar green. A digression--Deda tape is very nice for about $10 on Amazon. Classy colors too.

So anyway I've got this orange bike with green tape and it NEVER occurred to me that it would look like a pumpkin turned on its side and that's the first thing my friend said when I showed him was "ooh pumpkin bike." And now that's all I can think about and it's gonna be back to black I think. Maybe perforated black with orange underneath, but that's a suede-y looking tape from Origin8, and I really think it wants a glossy Fizik look.

So tl;dr I tried green tape and it didn't work out (as of yet)

[henrypretz]

Trade Parlee frame for something with a bit more endurance geometry or sell the Parlee and buy a mountain bike or keep the Parlee. It really is a great riding bike.
Deciding just what I want to choose as my retirement gift to myself. It's going to be a custom frame, but change my mind regularly on just what I want it to be.
Assorted wheel sales and/or acquisitions.

[Alaska Mike]

I got a Ritchey Break Away CX that was pretty beat up. No problem, as it just will spend most of its life on a trainer. Slap it together with whatever parts came with it, replace the small bits that are missing, and roll.

...except, no.

I immediately tore it down and sold the groupset, brakeset, cockpit, saddle, and seatpost on Craigslist. Now I have a scratched-up framest and wheelset to start with.

I have multiple spare groupsets in the parts pile. Same with pretty much everything else, except for the mini-V brakes, which are on the way. Slap it together and roll. No need to overthink it.

...except, no.

Now I'm going to pull the headset, sand the paint down, prime it, and paint it in sort of a Flandria paint scheme (except in orange and white- my team colors). Clean it up, make some tube protectors for packing. Then build it with solid-yet-unspectacular components that are fitting for its ultimate purpose.

...except, what about that wheelset? Or that...

It's a steel trainer bike, and I'm acting like it was one of my Moots.

Oh well, it's an interesting mental exercise.

[Steve in SLO]

Which frame do I build up next?
Which bike do I sell to make room for the above?
Is it easier to answer the previous two q’s or just add onto my garage?

[rmk]

It is nice to read the posts on this forum and feel validated with respect to my desire to tinker with my bikes (and add new ones). Currently, I have two projects considered:

1. I have a steel all-road bike that I am considering making more dirt friendly by (1) adding a 10-speed MTB RD and 11X36, (2) putting on some 38 gravelking SKs, and (3) potentially getting a light weight disc wheelset like the Knight Race 29s. Other times, I think that I will never get the bike right, and I should sell it and buy a Stigmata or Open, and call it a day.

2. I have wanted a Peg. But I had a chance to get a citron OG1, and it was so much less $$$ that I decided to try the speedvagen. Idea was that I could wait and eventually pick up a Peg. Now, like others on this forum, I am thinking of picking up a Marcelo. I own 3 road bikes, however, and like to ride my bikes so the third project is deciding whether to sell . . . . the speedvagen or my carbon race bike (a 12.5 lb Trek Emonda). Maybe both?

(BTW, welcome thoughts . . . . not that I want to hijack the thread.)

Ryan--

[mhespenheide]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

I have the same problem - I think I'd buy less bikes if I didn't ride so much...

Oh, man. I think I'm the exact opposite. I'm generally happy with what I'm riding at the time, and all of my dangerous ideas come when I'm either stuck in front of the screen or messing around in the garage/basement.



More seriously than my last response, I'm currently overthinking:
[1] Building up a Kona Honky-Tonk as a second wide-tire road bike to back up my Felt F1PR. Do I upgrade to a carbon fork? Add one of the Canyon-style leaf suspension carbon seatposts? But then I think that I told myself it would be more of a blue-collar parts-bin build. But 9-speed? 5800? I don't usually like gold as a color, but there are tiny yellow accents in the paint, so maybe a seatpost collar? Bar-end plugs?

[2] Converting an old Ritchey Ultra into a drop-bar monstercross. I've picked up the stem and bars that I want to use, and think I'm committed to a 3x9 drivetrain. But shifting? Gevenalle? Older Ultegra, probably. What gears? Do I spring for Rat Trap Pass tires? Try one of the funky old "Travel Agent" cable converters, or use mini-V's? I didn't like canti's or mini-V's on a Poprad that I since sold; maybe the Paul's versions would be worth the investment?

[3] Resurrecting and updating my first good bike, an '87 Bianchi. I've already talked to a framebuilder about respacing the rear dropouts, raising the brake bridge, and dimpling the chainstays a bit. But the fork... I've picked up a beautiful Waterford fork that's threadless and have somehow managed to pick up both a 1" Chris King NoThreadset and a 1" threadless Chorus. Which one? The CK needs new bottom bearings, but I could add a second baseplate and swap in a carbon Kestrel fork for giggles. Cut threads into the Waterford fork and use it with a quill stem? But I already bought a Ti 1" threadless stem during one of the eBay sales... But quill is prettier on classic bikes...

[4] Resurrect an old Trek 660 as a sprightly 650b bike? That's a whole 'nother rabbit hole. But it would be fun to set it up in a way that would technically qualify for Eroica California while also raising the eyebrows of traditionalists as a neo-vintage semi-rando bike. It's made with Reynolds 531c and skinny tubes, so maybe it would introduce me to the mythical phenomenon of "planing"...

[alancw3]

deciding if i want a gravel bike or not. thinking seriously on a lynskey gr260. i changed the tires out on my beater/hybrid to 40mm from 32mm a month ago. at first i didn't like them. now i love them. found out lower tire pressure was better. could be my winter project.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Lanternrouge

I was just wondering what bike projects are other folks out there overthinking to try and take your mind off of more stressful things in life.

For me, the main things have been unloading things I need to unload and all my future projects generally involving building of some really nice frames of I've acquired from U.S. builders whose names start with SE.

Yeah, I do this all the time. My current disaster is that I wanted a nice 'town' bike to ride in regular clothes with some fat tires - running errands, going the 2.5 miles to work, saturday market, etc. I also had a set of 650 wheels that I spent too much money to have my LBS build to use on my CX bike that I never really used much but couldnt sell them for a price I was happy with... and of course the paceline classifieds.

Smart money would have been to grab a cheap Trek FX from my LBS & team sponsor, but that's ridiculous, I'm not smart. Instead I grabbed a soma triple cross (stainless!) here and a Hope BB & Headset to match my hubs... still need a groupset and I'll be ready. Tires are 650x42 and with the brooks saddle should be a magic carpet ride around town.

[weisan]

I am not sure about over-thinking.... I am thinking about something all the time and that's just how I work. I like to commit my brain to a time-shared program on multiple projects all going on at the same time at various stages of completion. I like to attack problems at multiple fronts. if I hit a snag, or not quite able to overcome, I will just let it sit for a while and come back to it later . But once I exit out of the thinking mode and get into the action phase, things happen pretty quick. That's the reason why I almost never let a new frame sit around for more than a day or two before it gets build up because by the time it arrives, I pretty much have everything figured out in my head.

So if you are asking what's currently inside my head - I am thinking on and off about how I want to approach building my first dynamo wheelset.

[stien]

Bikes for my daughter.

Her due date is in 4 weeks!

[R3awak3n]

My bike life is a mess right now

English needs a new tire

Open needs a new crank

Croll is waiting for dt shifters and a few other things

Parlee needs me to rebuild the shifter and new bars after accident


Yay bikes