Personal preferences in bicycle setups run deep. Once you find a setup that really works, you tend to replicate it with each new bike (unless you’re setting up a very specific purpose-driven affair, like a time-trial bike).
Here’s a photographic rundown of my preferred bicycle setup. What’s missing is a photo of the very first bike I set up myself, my “apprentice” bike from when I worked at Q’s Bike Shop in Waldport. I loved that bike, but it got wrecked in a collision with a truck door a few years after I built it up, and after that I transitioned to turning mountain bikes into city bikes.
Peugeot Orient Express, round one. Built up in the early 2000s while I worked at Citybikes. I loved the frame and bought it from the shop. Even though it was too big for me, I made it work for several years until forced to switch to a smaller frame. Still one of my favorite builds, with a Brooks B67 saddle and WALD 8095 “touring” bar.
Also missing is a photo of the 70s Gitane road bike I rebuilt with upright bars, as a stand-in for the Rivendell LongLow I had on order. I rode that bike for the year I waited, and left it with a former roommate who’s bike had been stolen when the LongLow frame set arrived. It was light and fast, and fun to ride.
Then the Rivendell LongLow arrived in September 2000. I bought this frame set with money from the settlement from the collision that destroyed my “apprentice” bike, and built it up from the frame. It went through a couple of drop-bar interactions before I rebuilt it with another WALD 8095 bar. I was happier, and rode it that way for several years. It was a beautiful bike and I loved the looks I got from folks who knew what they were looking at.
In 2006, I was invited by Matthew Grimm of Kogswell Cycles to be one of five test-builders for a new frame design of his. Called the Porteur, it was envisioned as a bike that, depending on the fork selected and the build, could work as a randonner, a front-load “porteur” delivery bike, or a full-on, loaded touring bike. I was given a frame set and fork in my size, and instructed to build it up with my choice of parts and write up a detailed report on the process and the test riding afterwards. I enjoyed the process, was honored to be the only woman on the test-build list (he needed a tester under 5’10”!) and learned a lot from the experience. It took 650b wheels, a wheel size I wasn’t prepared to live with long term and saw no need to support; at my height, there wasn’t enough of a difference in ride quality between 650b and 559 (normal MTB 26” wheel size) to matter. After trying it out in various configurations and submitting my reports, I eventually sold the finished bike to a fellow randonneur rider. She passed away a number of years ago and I have no idea where that bike is today. (Sadly, Kogswell faced a number of financial and technical issues and closed down some time in the 2010’s.)
In 2007, I obtained a Rivendell All-Rounder frame set from a rider who no longer used it. Built the same year as my LongLow, it accepted 26”/559 MTB wheels and had plenty of room for fenders. the All-Rounder was the precursor to the Rivendell Atlantis, the frame I’d really wanted in 1999 when I went frame shopping. But the Atlantis was still in testing and the All-Rounder was no longer being made so I’d chosen the LongLow. At the time I’d gone around and around with Grant [Peterson] about the frame geometry, and was assured he’d honor my wishes. When the frame arrived I built it up and spent a long time swapping parts in and out for a good fit. Finally, I assumed that it was as good as it could be, and I lived with it.
When thenAll-Rounder arrived and I built it up, the perfect fit that had been so elusive on the LongLow was achieved with my first choice of stem and bar. After finishing the All-Rounder and riding it a little while, I measured the LongLow — something I should’ve done when it first arrived, admittedly — and discovered that Grant had changed the geometry to fit his ideas anyway. I’d been riding a bike with a top tube that was three cm too long for me. No wonder I couldn’t get a perfect fit!
I tore down the LongLow and sold it on eBay, with no regrets. I’m still riding the All-Rounder, and it still fits me perfectly. I occasionally still dream of owning a Toyo-era Atlantis, but that ship sailed long ago. So I get to be very happy with what I have.
While the all-Rounder was running drops, I bought a Bridgestone MB4 from a guy in trade for a Thomson seatpost. He’d set it up for racing, and I tore it down and rebuilt is a heavy-hauler (I had no trailer at the time). I’m especially proud of the homemade cargo rack I built from scrap parts; I once used it to bring home a bedroom nightstand I found at curbside. When I put uprights on the All-Rounder, the MB4 became redundant, so I sold it to a college student.
At the same time I was fiddling with the Bridgestone, I had a recurring gig in Kansas every June for six years. I was gone for a month at a time, and needed a bike and trailer to ride between my homestay and the synagogue I was hired by. For my second summer, I built up an abandoned bike and shipped it to the synagogue, where it lived for six summers while I came and went. At the end of my final summer session, I let the rabbi know it would be my last, and I boxed up the bike to ship it home. It eventually was tuned up and donated as part of my little Refugee Bikes Project.
1988 Peugeot Orient Express. I missed my old ‘86 Peugeot and I’d spent the better part of a decade looking for one in my size. I couldn’t find an ‘86 in my size with its beautiful, medieval-looking fork crown for under five hundred dollars. But I lucked out with this ‘88 model in very nice shape. It had been overhauled by a home mechanic who was fixing up old bikes to help make ends meet. Bike prices in 2023 are much lower than they were in 2019 so I was able to buy this bike for $120, ready to ride.
Of course, I swapped in some parts, including new upright handlebar, Nitto stem and a beautiful Suntour freewheel. Still to be done is changing the big and middle chainrings, which can wait. I added fenders and a rack and dolled it up a little. It rides great, and feels solid. And when I go to overhaul the All-Rounder in the spring, this will be a more-than-adequate “absolute replacement” bike.
Do I plan anymore really significant builds in the future? I’d never say never, but it’s not likely.
I’m down to two geared bikes and a singlespeed, and they all bring me pleasure when I can ride them.
I also have a Burley Travoy trailer that I’ve used fewer than ten times since I bought it in 2020, but chalk that up to Covid. I have hopes that I may yet use it now and then. (If I don’t use it much by the end of summer 2024, it’s likely I’m not meant to use a trailer anymore and I’ll likely sell it.)
I’m pleased to have found my groove with all these builds, and happy to own comfortable bikes that fit me so well.
Happy riding.
(Below: riding the old Peugeot during the snowstorm of 2008, when I was made of sterner stuff and willing to commute to the shop five miles away. In the snow. Both ways. I love those days and sometimes miss them.)
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