Project BR

2010 was an intense year for bike projects. Absurd really. No, very absurd. I changed the cockpit of the Cannondale 29er to be more comfy for longer rides (i.e. gravel griding), and began the process for the IF Club Racer, a bike I need to give a full intro coming up. Today we show the mostly final result of a tweaking and retweaking of my 12 year-old Litespeed Blueridge. I bought this is 1999 as a combo cyclocross/long-distance bike and it has served both of those efforts somewhat, but never as intensely as promised. With 'cross I was always scared of trashing the thing like many 'cross folks do with their 2-yr 'cross bikes, and as a roadie I could never quite get it as dialed in as I wanted. Henceforth the Bleriot and now the IF, which is very dialed.

I've set up the BR now as the dark-and-foul training bike. It's Ti so there won't be rust problems. It's not the primary show bike so I'm not afraid to rough it up. I'm a bit more comfortable with the geometry, seat and cockpit, so it's pretty good on the road. And finally I've made some upgrades to let it serve its purpose, as the do-all junk bike.

• Barely noticeable is the right downtube shifter. The right STI was on the fritz and I refused to spend for STI, which I've grown to not like that much. Give me my friction or at least a Campy lever (spoiled?). I bought the shifter for $5 and it's serving the purpose. The long-term is to put downtube Silver Shifters on, but not yet.
• Nitto M-18 rack. We- OnYourleftCycles and I- ordered a Mark's Rack but their supplier sent the wrong one. It works and is pretty similar to the Mark's with less flexibility, but it works for this project. The shop found some surplus mounts to use on the fork. More on that later.
• Acorn Boxy Rando Bag up front. Right now I still have interrupter levers on the top of the bar, so I can't connect the Rando Bag to either the rack loop or to a decaleur. It's lashed on with the four velcro loops and the side bar strings/supports. I am going to use a leather strap to lash it to the loop for a bit more stability, but it seems pretty solid. Long term maybe I remove the interrupters if it's a problem, but I don't envision using the bag to haul bricks or anything. I'm not Jan Heine.
• And finally, an IQ CYO for the training bike. It's the 3rd one on there. PeterWhite verified that the first two had standlights that were non-functioning. Take a look at the pic. Drew found a bracket which looks good. We'll see how sturdy it is in the long run, but we're both confident. I might guide a sturdy ziptie through that extra hole and the rack to give it a bit more support.
• As before, we have SKS fenders and 32c Paselas, along with a rear PB Turbo, to round out the training look. 
• And I should mention as well, I'm running new hoops as well. That's important. Drew built me up a nice pair of wheels with: SON front hub, HED rear hub, both with Velocity 23s, the newer wide ones in a 3-cross pattern. The wheels are built to withstand, if you know what I'm saying. The IF is for flying. The BR now is for slogging, but slogging in a good way slogging.

Full package with Rando Bag but with Baggins Bag removed

Drew's front bracket. I'm very likely to run a thick ziptie through that hole and the rack frame for a bit more top support, but we pulled on it and it's sturdy. Nice even wiring job too.

 Light on the right.