The Russian.
Almost two years ago I bought the Russian titanium frame off of eBay.
This was shortly after I broke my collar bone riding the Storck on the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the trip home, TSA managed to add a dent to the Storck's downtube, which pretty much doomed it to a life of trainer-only rides. I should have never bought that bike, but it served as an education in everything I hate about modern bike design. I needed a bike TSA couldn't damage and would hold up well against use and abuse. When this Russian frame initially popped up on eBay, I didn't go for it. Then Lynskey started dumping their excess production onto the market, and prices started to fall drastically. The Russian frame dropped $100, and in my usual impulsive manner I snatched it up.
If the Storck was a bad purchase, the Russian titanium frame was anything but. It arrived just before I went to Mississippi for school, and while there I rode the hell out of it. It was rugged, easy to work on, and cleaned up easily (which is always appreciated when you essentially live in a hotel). I was sold on the material, which explains the two Moots that now sit in my garage.
However, now that I have the Compact and Vamoots DR, it's time to pass on the Russian to someone else. I've been slowly stripping it down and cleaning it up, while acquiring parts to build it up for sale. Instead of depleting my cache of SRAM components, I decided to go Shimano this time. I've been trying to do the frame justice with the level of parts I slapped on it, while still keeping the price somewhat reasonable in the local market. We'll see if it sells when I'm done.
I'd kinda like to keep it, but I realize that I'd never ride it. The Compact is just more suited to my tastes. It would hang in the garage, and it truly deserves better than that. It really should be ridden- a lot. I could certainly mount it on the trainer, where it would see a lot of use, but I just don't think that's fair either. Besides, what would I do with the Storck? No, it's best to move this one on to a rider who will appreciate it for what it is and allow the Storck to corrode slowly into a fine white powder, as befits all bikes with press fit bottom brackets and poorly-executed internal cable routing.
It won't be my last bike to be set free out into the world. I'll probably be thinning the herd a bit over the next year, making room in my garage for activities like... walking. Maybe even wrenching on my bikes in the dead of winter. That would be magical.
This was shortly after I broke my collar bone riding the Storck on the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the trip home, TSA managed to add a dent to the Storck's downtube, which pretty much doomed it to a life of trainer-only rides. I should have never bought that bike, but it served as an education in everything I hate about modern bike design. I needed a bike TSA couldn't damage and would hold up well against use and abuse. When this Russian frame initially popped up on eBay, I didn't go for it. Then Lynskey started dumping their excess production onto the market, and prices started to fall drastically. The Russian frame dropped $100, and in my usual impulsive manner I snatched it up.
If the Storck was a bad purchase, the Russian titanium frame was anything but. It arrived just before I went to Mississippi for school, and while there I rode the hell out of it. It was rugged, easy to work on, and cleaned up easily (which is always appreciated when you essentially live in a hotel). I was sold on the material, which explains the two Moots that now sit in my garage.
However, now that I have the Compact and Vamoots DR, it's time to pass on the Russian to someone else. I've been slowly stripping it down and cleaning it up, while acquiring parts to build it up for sale. Instead of depleting my cache of SRAM components, I decided to go Shimano this time. I've been trying to do the frame justice with the level of parts I slapped on it, while still keeping the price somewhat reasonable in the local market. We'll see if it sells when I'm done.
I'd kinda like to keep it, but I realize that I'd never ride it. The Compact is just more suited to my tastes. It would hang in the garage, and it truly deserves better than that. It really should be ridden- a lot. I could certainly mount it on the trainer, where it would see a lot of use, but I just don't think that's fair either. Besides, what would I do with the Storck? No, it's best to move this one on to a rider who will appreciate it for what it is and allow the Storck to corrode slowly into a fine white powder, as befits all bikes with press fit bottom brackets and poorly-executed internal cable routing.
It won't be my last bike to be set free out into the world. I'll probably be thinning the herd a bit over the next year, making room in my garage for activities like... walking. Maybe even wrenching on my bikes in the dead of winter. That would be magical.
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