The vacations aren’t all about new bikes:
So what else are they about? Spending time with household? Nicely, certain, there’s that. However they’re additionally about engaged on the bikes you have already got:
Above is the 1989 Trek 1200, which I affectionately seek advice from because the “Normcore Bike” as a nod to its aesthetic unremarkableness in addition to its general ubiquity. I imply critically, they’re in all places. (Truth I simply made up: there are fourteen bonded aluminum Trek highway bikes for each one individual in America.) Right here in New York Metropolis it’s nearly inconceivable to discover a road signal with out at the least one bonded Trek locked to it:
In truth, for a quick second final 12 months, bonded aluminum was even poised to make a comeback as the newest customized bike fad:
Although this was scuttled when the builder was unable to construct a motorbike that neither the Desert Hipster web site nor the Escape Collective deemed passable. However, you recognize, tight tolerances or one thing.
Anyway, the Normcore Bike got here to me in 2022 by way of Traditional Cycle. See, I’d had a motorbike precisely prefer it Again In The Day…
…so once I occurred to note Paul had one listed on the market on the Traditional Cycle web site I inquired about it, and earlier than I knew it I used to be experiencing the bike in all its adequacy as soon as once more for the primary time in many years, proper right down to the BioPace chainrings:
[The bike as it arrived from Classic Cycle.]
I’ve all the time been beguiled by how un-beguiling this bike is, and I rode it fairly a bit, savoring its Golden Age of Aluminum glory and lavishing extra consideration upon it than you’d anticipate from somebody who has prepared entry to numerous far “nicer” bicycles. Most of that spotlight isn’t evident from trying on the bike, since aesthetically it’s so deeply boring that it has a means of swallowing up any visible enhancements like a black gap. Nevertheless, I can guarantee you that functionally it was buzzing alongside fantastically because of my efforts, and was a pleasure to journey.
Nevertheless, finally my elder son appropriated it as his college commuter, in no small half resulting from its excessive anonymity. See, youngsters aren’t seeking to entice consideration to themselves, particularly once they’re already doing one thing extremely uncommon, like driving a motorbike to high school. For instance, I’d been encouraging him to make use of the Homer for this function, which appeared excellent given its fenders and dynamo mild and capability for racks:
Nevertheless, he declined, noting that the looks of the bike was too “whimsical,” and it was then that I noticed that stuff like ornate lugs and cream-colored headtubes merely carry no cultural forex for the youth of at the moment. So the Normcore Bike it was, and he’s typically been driving it simply as you see in that opening picture of it, besides with flat pedals.
Lately although a few issues have begun to manifest themselves. The primary was the upcoming demise of the freehub physique, which isn’t shocking given the bike’s age and the truth that it now spends fairly a little bit of time outdoors. Ultimately it started to grab up, and whereas I used to be capable of resurrect it by way of considered software of premium Dumonde Tech lubricants, it nonetheless rumbled disconcertingly whereas coasting, and clearly its days have been numbered within the low-to-mid double digits.
The second downside was that the low-slung drop bars weren’t notably snug for commuting. Granted, as a motorbike dork this bothered me greater than it bothered him, however he did acknowledge it was one thing he wouldn’t thoughts being remedied. In order that’s what I did:
The bar is made by Nitto, and is what Rivendell used to promote because the “Dove:”
I’ve had it for who is aware of how lengthy, and it used to adorn the Scattante:
I attained correct elevation by deploying the Nitto Tallux stem that got here with the Homer in its authentic incarnation:
A noteworthy characteristic of the levers is which you can set them up for each lengthy pull or brief pull brakes:
Determining easy methods to configure the shim thingy the place you anchor the cable practically broke my tiny mind, however finally I managed.
However the true problem was the freehub physique. The Normcore Bike is supplied with cutting-edge late-’80s Shimano 105 expertise, proper right down to the Uniglide rear hub, and clearly I wasn’t going to supply a precise substitute on condition that Uniglide is profoundly out of date. (You’d be higher off reverting to thread-on freewheels than urgent on with Uniglide or every other deserted cassette hub system.) Now, with this specific 105 hub, supposedly it’s straightforward to easily exchange the Uniglide physique with a 7-speed Hyperglide one. Nevertheless, 7-speed can also be vanishing, and so far as I can inform the our bodies which can be alleged to be direct replacements are now not available. So I sourced one which appeared prefer it ought to work, however as soon as it arrived I had the hub aside I discovered it was fully flawed:
I did watch a man on YouTube who made it work, however it concerned stuff like making his personal instruments, and I watched lengthy sufficient to determine “Fuck that.”
Nevertheless, a few years or so in the past I’d changed the freehub on a 9-speed-era Ultegra hub, which appeared to make use of the identical spline because the 105:
So I pulled it off that wheel and whadya know, it bolted proper onto the previous 7-speed 105 hub, no downside.
When you’re questioning why I didn’t simply squeeze that very same Ultegra wheel into the Normcore Bike regardless of the totally different axle spacing and name it good, in fact I attempted that first, however the dish was means off–like thus far off the wheel hit the body and wouldn’t flip. It was additionally a little bit off with the freehub physique from the Ultegra hub on the 7-speed wheel, however solely by a little bit, and it was minor sufficient that I didn’t even have to regulate the brake. (Not having to unfold the bonded aluminum body aside was a bonus.) And with the addition of some spacers salvaged from an previous cassette the 7-speed Hyperglide sandwich match on there properly:
Is it excellent? No. Does it work? Sure. Anyway, you don’t discover a wheel that’s a couple of millimeters off middle, however you undoubtedly discover a easy, quiet freehub physique and the dramatic enchancment in shifting:
Whereas I used to be at it, I additionally went to downsize the unnecessarily-large-for-a-commuter 52-tooth large ring, however the entrance derailleur wouldn’t go low sufficient for the substitute ring and so I simply stored it on there:
And with that, the Normcore Bike entered a brand new period of consolation and utility:
And due to that new freehub physique I’m now not restricted to both Uniglide and even 7-speed cassettes:
Take that, Deliberate Obsolescence:
And I didn’t cease there! I additionally took the cockpit from the Normcore Bike and grafted it proper onto the Faggin, cables and all:
See?
This netted me nicer brake levers and a stem with a barely higher match, plus I put that second pair of Ultegra brakes on there whereas I used to be at it.
It now slots proper in to the area as soon as occupied by the Normcore Bike…
…although there’s actually nothing regular about it.
