Bicycle recycling

When I first bought my touring bicycle in 2006, I decided to use racing components for the drivetrain. My frame is flexible enough to use either hard-core touring components or racing ones, and I opted for the racing group. My favorite kind of touring is called supported touring; someone else hauls my camping gear from stop to stop, so I can get by with a minimum amount of gear on my bicycle. Thus, the racing components made sense for me at the time.

Unfortunately, I have since decided that my frame is much too heavy to use for casual road rides with the local bicycle clubs, where everyone likes to hammer out the miles at high speed. My bicycle is an SUV trying to keep up with sports cars, and I'm tired of being dropped (or worse, causing some poor soul to hang back with me on a no-drop group ride while his/her friends race away and have fun).

I'm selling a bunch of stuff on eBay right now, and we're due to get a tax refund early next week. Between the two income sources, there may be enough money to buy a new bicycle for spring training. At the very least, I can replace my current bicycle components with some that are more suitable for a touring bicycle. That leaves a bunch of racing components without a home, and that leads to my third son.

J wants to have a bicycle of his own. Not a cheap one from the local store, which tend to break at the slightest provocation, but a real bicycle that will last a long time with proper care and maintenance. I have a suitable frame, but I didn't want to spend over $1000 on all of the components. The frame only cost $100, and there's little to be gained by spending ten times that amount on components that will likely outlast the frame. After a flurry of text messages, it was decided that my son would be perfectly happy with my old components, which are still in very good condition. He is even willing to take my pink-rimmed bicycle wheels! As he gets more financially sound, he can replace the wheels or other components, as needed. In all honesty, though, I think the pink rims will make the bike less attractive to thieves, and that is always a good thing. But if they really cause a problem for him, he can always paint the rims himself.

I've already purchased the fork and the headset for his new bicycle, and I will start dismantling mine soon. I need to decide what I'm going to do next (new bike or just new components). A lot depends on how much Sweetie wants to spend on his own bicycle, as well as how much J's bike ends up costing to build, ship, and rebuild. We will see what happens.

I'm really looking forward to spring this year!