mix and match parts

[w2zero]

I was at my buddy's ebay warehouse the other day and wrote up some wheels he had.  Didn't dawn on me that I could use them at the time.  Woke up in time to pick them up for 35 dollar bid.  Sun Chinook rims, DT 2mm spokes, three cross on XT hubs with a seven speed cassette.  I got to thinking..... ouch.  Picked up a nine speed cluster from my infamous stash and pruned the 34t granny off which left me with an 11/28 x 8spd on a seven speed hub.  Everything is a fit and looks good.  Did have to chuck the 7sp lock ring in the lathe and turn it down to allow the 9sp chain to fully seat on the 11 though.  Spare wheels is  a good thing I am thinking.

[orange]

proper mix and match

[shovelon]

Excellent.

Saving the planet one piece at a time!

[w2zero]

My own selfish type of recycling, never minding the pun.  My buddy is back in chemo so I do all the cycling related ebayage for him and then pick up wheel boxes or bike boxes for him from another bud who owns a pro shop.  Keeps me occupied.  Lately I am looking through my stash for a big enough chunk of T-6 to fab another upper pivot so as to upgrade my old Vector 2.  Then I can sell the carbon fork to increase my parts inventory.  Eventually plan on disc brakes on the main tool.

[fyrstormer]

I wish I had a lathe.

Nice to meet another American who actually makes stuff work instead of throwing it away and buying something new instead. I roll my bike into the bike shop every couple years when I need to test-fit something and I usually give up explaining my custom 2-chainring setup when I see that "oh, you must be poor" look in the bike mechanics' eyes. Should be fun when they see my welded-on rear disc mounting tabs too; obviously I live in someone's basement, since I couldn't afford to buy a whole new bike.

[w2zero]

I am exceedingly thrifty.  If it costs a nickel to sh!+..... well I'll puke thank you.  My fundage is fixed & time is limited to the rest of my life so I prefer to build or modify.  The 855 in the stable is the one I bought new when it went on sale to make room for the new models.  The new bikes are really sweet but at twice the price and nearly the same performance?  I would like to convert to disc but the wheel investment is a bit of a killer when there are spare rim brake wheelsets in the garage.  I'll keep an eye out for some disc hubs and then maybe think about it.  I will eventually put disc on the 855 with Vector fork but it will be a long while with all the extra wheels.   Although with two extra 856's for guest abuse, I might use those up.