Un-Scripted Theater Company Bike part 2

My first adult bike when I was a kid was a 1984 Schwinn High Sierra mountain bike. I loved that bike! I kept it in great condition, added slick tires to it when I wanted a commuter bike, and basically rode it as my only bike for most of my life. Eventually, however, I decided it was time to upgrade to a bike which was actually my size, but when I started putting my Un-Scripted Theater Company bike together, there were certin aspects of my old bike I wanted to bring to my new bike. Namely an all-steel no-suspension frame and thumb shifters. Steel lasts forever, has a nice flex to it, and coming from my old bike (and the amount of locks I carry), I didn't care at all about wight. And with the shifters, I've never had index shifters, so I've never come to rely on them, and I love the feel of keeping your hands on the center of the handle bars and shifting with your thumbs. I don't know when the last time you've gone out to buy a new bike with an all steel frame and thumb shifters, but let me tell you, they didn't exist anywhere I looked. Thankfully, Surly makes a great selection of bikes all made with good old fashioned steel frames. From fixies to stretched frame bikes for Xtracycle parts, no matter how little or how much you want to bolt onto your frame, Surly not only has the bike for you, but they're well made, well priced, and have a real nice geometry. I chose a Cross-Check, a super-versatile short-frame touring-lite type bike, with every single braze-on you could ever want on a frame. There's nothing not to love about this frame. It's agile, it's sturdy, it takes front and rear racks, with a shorter headstock it's can give you an upright sitting position, and it's fun to ride. The thumb shifters, on the other hand were a bit harder to come by. Fortunately, Paul Components makes adapters just for this situation. Paul Components Thumbies takes standard bar end shifters and turns them sideways allowing you to mount them right in the middle of your handle bars. They work great! I even got to keep my index shifting on my rear gears. I would have been able to keep the index shifting on my front gears too, but we added a granny gear to my front chainrings and my shifters weren't designed for 3 chainrings on the front so I just use it as an old tension shifter and it works perfectly. It was pretty easy to add a third gear to a two gear setup. Bryce from MT Tam Bikes just busted out a dremmel tool and carved down the gear stop a little on my front derailer and the bike easily slid into a lower gear no problem. So many people in San Francisco ride fixed gears, but I love having 27 gears. I can tackle hills yet still bust ass on long flats, and having a wide range of gears allows me to ride in a pack with my bike loaded up with cargo and still keep up. It was a lot effort to put together a bike that fit my style and my riding style, but in the end it really worked out great.

Surly Cross-Check
http://surlybikes.com/bikes/cross_check_complete/

Paul Components Thumbies
http://www.paulcomp.com/thumbies.html

MT. Tam Bikes
http://www.mttambikes.com/

Un-Scripted Theater Company Bike part 1

Probably the most distinctive feature of my bike are the red and black the front and rear wood slat racks. Not only can I carry 5 bags of groceries, or deliver a cooler and a case of beer to the theater, or load-up a giant picnic basket and a blanket and a couple of coats for a day in Dolores Park, but the racks make my Un-Scripted Theater Company bike look amazingly beautiful! People are always asking me where I got them, but unfortunately nobody ever has a pen when we're stopped at a light riding down Market Street (not that I could spell Ahearne even if they did have a pen). So here's all the information online and I'll just start handing out my business card with my blog link on it (nice meeting you today, fellow bike guy or cute bike girl). The front rack is called a Flatbed. Made by Paul Components in Chico CA, the Flatbed doesn't come in black and red. I called them up and had them send it to me with un-varnished wood so I could paint it my self. I had a similar conversation with the guys from Ahearne Cycles in Portland Or, when I ordered my rear rack from them. Normally the wood comes pretreated, but everyone was super cool about sending me wood ready for paint. The rear rack turned out really nice. It's designed around a 24 case of beer and even has a built in bottle opener. It was a pretty standard rack for them. If I had to order one again I would have them add the u-lock holder and I would have chosen to have them make it a little lower to the wheel. I was worried that I would want to put fenders on my bike so I had them leave room, but it puts the weight of the stuff in the rack too high on the bike making it top heavy and hard to manage when full of heavy stuff (which it always seems to be). I've repainted both racks several times as the paint gets scuffed from normal use, and they still look amazing. The Ahearne rack came in a black powder coat and the Paul Components rack I had to spray paint myself using that super-hard glossy black refrigerator spray-paint. It was a pain to use, and chips way easier that that powder coat one does, but at least it looks good. The racks on the Un-Scripted Theater Company bike are probably my two favorite bike purchases ever!

Ahearne Cycles Bike Racks

http://www.ahearnecycles.com/pages/racksgallery.html

Paul Components Flatbed Bike Rack

http://www.paulcomp.com/flatbed.html