Had about an hour and a half before the maintenance guys closed up the shop today. I just barely got what I wanted to finish done today but I'm feeling great!
First, clamped my stock handlebars in the vice.
Cut the down tube leaving as much straight length as possible to adjust the height later if needed.
Also removed the steering lock since, well.. without a key it doesnt serve much purpose and just takes up space.
Used a little redneck ingenuity, because sometimes.. you just gotta improvise. Especially when you don’t have a lathe laying around. Let the pipe free spin on an oiled section of pvc with cap in the vice to take off the 2-3mm I needed to allow the stem to fit.
Not sure if the video worked or not, but we'll see.
"Borrowed" the handlebars off my mountain bike to test fit everything, they have a very low rise.
I lowered the forks about 3" in the front, that's about the maximum I feel comfortable with and still having enough usable clearance. I'm going to look for some shorter shocks to bring the rear down to level it out as well.
During down time at work today, I was looking for paint ideas and I'm consiering something like this.
Also found some brake and "clutch" (rear brake) hardware to clean up my handlebars, once i get some I like. Came across these today and absolutely LOVE them. If they had a set with dual hydraulic cylinders, I'd put them on my daily bike.
Until next time.
