Mother's Day Gift

I had a great TreasureBike experience on Mother's Day.

Earlier the week before I had been in one of local shops where I am known. I was just chatting with one of the guys and we talked about "project" bikes. I showed him TreasureBike and he told me about a SunTour XC Pro bike he was building up -- and his hard time finding shifters.

We'll, I was a huge SunTour fan back in the old days. I owned and loved Campy, but greatly admired SunTour -- especially for their Superbe groupset. Next to Campy, I considered it to have the best finish and function. Heck, much of it was "Campy Copy". Shimano, for a long time, had adequate functionality, but poor finish quality. Of course, that all changed. However, when I started into off-road cycling, I held these notions and stuck with SunTour for a while. It was on my bike, and the bike I bought my brother (pro-deal discount during my bike shop days). Shimano now dominates and the SunTour of yore is long gone.

It turns out I had a few SunTour parts around waiting for something and this was it. I gave to my shop friend some XC LTD thumb shifters (2nd tier -- not XC Pro) and an XCE rear derailleur (3rd tier) on Mother's Day on the way to our celebration. It was a "pay-it-forward" TreasureBike experience.

What goes around come around. That's definitely at the heart of TreasureBike.

"Chain Tensioner"

This one is "hors categorie" TreasureBike stuff. Calling it a chain tensioner is a bit of a misnomer. However, functionally speaking, that's about all its good for. Aesthetically, and as a statement, however, its pure treasure.

My dad bought this 20+ years ago when it was already NOS. He had plans of building up a lightweight super-bike, or French-ish super-bike anyway. This would be controlled via Simplex Retro-friction shift levers (which he is still using on his bike). Eventually, the dream of that project slipped away with the acceptance of the Jubilee's limited functionality. I have never seen one on a working bike -- probably because the design (pivots) wasn't great. Though we didn't know it then, it turns out the special frame hanger was missing, so it never would have worked right.

I had it in a TreasureBox for a long time. I was cleaning up a while back and offered it to the shop I had worked at years ago -- a "thank you" for still offering me discounts -- in case someone needed it. The "boss" (owner and still friend) looked at it and said simply "for a single speed". Many might not have understood the significance of that fragment, but I did. How did I not see it previously? Ah, the wisdom: use it as a chain tensioner for a single-speed conversion. Brilliant.

Now with "the" pedals, a TreasureBike is starting to take shape. Next up, some thoughts on brakes. Then musings on frames.