First bike finished......

 Well - I finally got all the parts in the right place to build up the first bike. I rode it home from the workshop yesterday - about a 10 mile ride and was very happy with the way it performed. Nice upright positioning, good view of my surroundings. I very much liked the feel of the bike, the ride was smooth although I could easily feel the road surface below me - but it lacked the harsh jarring of more serious performance oriented bike. The big tires (700x35)- not overly full of air and the steel frame, fork, and handle bar worked well together.  The Shimano internal 8 speed hub shifted very well and easily carried me up the somewhat significant hills on my usual way home. I must say I initially had reservations about the not so comfortable looking brooks saddle - but it was very comfortable and I look forward to using it.

I tried my best to utilize components made by environmentally conscious companies, that pay a living wage - trying to avoid supporting the polluting sweat shop. It is hard to sort all this out, without actually visiting the communities - but I want to try. I utilized manufactures like Paul, Thomson, Phil, King, and DT Swiss. The frame and fork were built with True Temper tubing made in the USA . Some parts are very hard to source from environmentally conscious companies - and unfortunately were probably made in a sweat shop...

Someday soon I hope to weld up some racks for it, but first I need to get a few other projects finished.

I have also included a picture of the BOB trailer I modified to allow me to bring home the frame (BOB's stuff is made in Taiwan - not sure about the conditions... ugh..). I actually used this set up to pick up the frame and bring it home from the painter. The picture shown here was taken after that trip - as I arrived after dark and was not able to obtain a good picture. I got the idea to modify the BOB from a post on the FrameForum - overall it worked well. I do want to refine the attachment method for the bottom bracket and the steerer tube for the fork, I used a rag, some thick neoprene and a rope. It worked but it needed some re-tensioning along the way and could be improved.