going to canada and finding a beater bike!

i've finally found a convenient way to blog, so i guess i'm going to set out on seeing if i can't type the nonsense that i do on the internet. i'm using the blogger widget for os x that google provides and i hope it doesn't leave me disappointed -- i already wish i could make this text box larger.

i'm going to halifax, canada to brattleboro, vt then on to my new home in west asheville, nc. i wonder if this link will work. leah will be traveling with me, and by this point i'm pretty sure that she's the only one i'd ever be willing to do this trip with. we're taking a smartcar fortwo. eight cubic feet of cargo space which i'm guessing means no camping.

i'll be taking my newly CLA'd Agfa Record Billy II. I bought it from Jurgen Kreckel of http://certo6.com fame.

Kind of like that up there, but with red leatherette and red bellows. I'll post a photo. But in order to use it I have to find 120mm film, which has been far harder than I had previously imagined. I hope to get some good shots of the coast, especially. Unfortunately, I didn't have this camera when I was in Thailand and near the border. There could have been some great opportunities.

In to bicycles! Having problems with that damned Gary Fisher Paragon moutain bike -- the disc brakes have been a nightmare that entire timed I've owned it. Guess it wouldn't be so bad if I fully understood the brake system, I just don't see the advantage of it. But I did pick up a new/used bike! It's a 1992 Cannondale SH600: blue, terribly dirty aluminum frame, swapped out crankset, ridiculous suspension stem, too many things mounted on the handlebars. The 1992 Cannondale catalog is here. I'm going to replace the stem, put some new shifters on there; maybe test out a different type of handlebar style (not drop, not straight bar); just overall deck it out to commute with in Asheville.



I hate that it's aluminum, but its all I can afford. And honestly, I got some really great stuff with it! I paid $100 for the bike which is originally all I thought I was buying. When I showed up to swap dollars for bike, the guy had brought along a bike stand (worth $100), the bike (probably $200), and two boxes of Park tools (easy $100)! So if nothing else, I'm going to use the bike until I can save enough money for a new Surly Long Haul Trucker frame then move all the parts over. Shouldn't be too hard since the LHT is a touring frame.

So the Cannondale SH600 shall be my new beater bike until something nicer comes along. Just needs a few parts, listed here with the most important items coming first (most of this comes off of Rivendell Bikes website, other prices from Jenson):

= Silver Shifters Downtube kit, $38
= Nitto Periscopa threaded stem, $30
= Nitto Albatross bar, $40
= Seat tube, $15

That stem would be a silly investment since the Surly would take a threadless. And the shifters can be subbed out with $13 (which also includes housing and cabling). And I can get a cheap threaded stem for about $15. Keep the same bars and then its a total of $28 opposed to $108 with the other stuff. I think I have a seat tube that fits the bike, too. One day I'll pick up some Panaracer Pasela tires, 700c x 37. Thats a Carradice bag on that LHT.

Gracious, I've got to go to sleep.