My best friend Wayne from high school got married in 2007. He is a jet-setting consultant working for a leading firm. I told him at his wedding that when he is more settled (in one location). I will build a bike up for him as part of his wedding gift.
He is now probably going to settle back in the Bay Area. We talked about what kind of riding and his budget (I will pay for the frameset and help him build the bike up, and he will pay for the components). I looked around for a high quality pre-owned frameset that has attributes I prefer--steel, good tire clearance, braze-ons for fenders and racks--as well as one that will suit him and his riding style--he has been pretty active all his life and did a 2-day bike trip 5 years ago; while he won't be racing, he would like something that is comfortable yet not sluggish.
After considering and searching online for a while, I think frames from these makers--Soma, Surly, Salsa, Masi, and Rawland--form a good pool to choose from for him. Rawland was closing out their 2008 stocks of Sogn frames with slight cosmetic blemishes at an amazing price. I talked to Wayne for a bit and showed him some pictures on flickr and we decided to pull the trigger.
Now we have to collect parts for it. I looked through my parts bin and thought about what kind of build this might be. I presented a few options to Wayne to decide, and came up with these decisions:
- Triple crankset
- 9-speed drivetrain
- wide-range cassette for climbing
- quality parts that balance cost and bling
To continue a tradition I started with my Ebisu build, I will start a thread on the progress of the Sogn build. As I get parts and the frame, I will update it and add pictures.
2 comments:
Rivendell has quite a good deal on decent wheels...
Jim,
I bought a rear wheel from Universal Cycles because I only needed the rear one. I did buy the front rim from Riv and will now build it up with a hub I have in my parts bin
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