My last post is now almost two years old and I have done absolutely nothing in the way of providing new content to my blog. This is a shame, I guess I can say that I was too busy riding my fantastic bike!
So as the title says, my Salsa Casseroll model 2009 is almost two years old and I’ve ridden it for over 8,000 km. I felt like giving a quick update on my impression of the bike.
Continue reading ‘Salsa Casseroll 2009, update after 2 years and 8000km’
It’s a New Year, and it’s a new bicycle!
Which I have put together myself, that was the main DIY project of last year and that was quite a big deal for me because I had never built a bicycle before.
So I thought of taking pictures, documenting it a bit and putting it online. I relied heavily on the Internet for information, so I guess I see this as giving back some of the information and experience I got off the Internet.
Actually, building a bicycle is really easy. I found it more challenging to choose the correct parts before building the bike and to tune up the bike once it is built.
A little bit of background information on the bike itself: I want to ride more in 2009, and I want to ride longer. In 2008, I took an interest in long distance cycling and ultracycling. I eventually would like to participate in Paris-Brest-Paris, if it is organized in 2011.
So I wanted a bike specifically for long distances. There’s nothing really wrong with using a racing bike for long distances, but a lot of people prefer using bikes that are slightly different, mainly with modifications / features geared towards improving comfort.
Why did I decide to build my bike myself? Mainly because it is not easy to find stock bicycles with the sort of requirements I had, and buying a custom bike from my shop would have cost me a lot more. Also, I thought I would learn a lot about the way a bike works and that would be useful knowledge for maintenance and repair.
I settled for a Salsa Casseroll frame, because steel is real my friends. It is a comfortable material, and all my previous bicycles were made of steel, so that was an easy choice. The Casseroll is sort of a “sport tourer” frame, with quite a relaxed geometry, longer chainstays and eyelets for fenders and a rack at the rear.
Before:
After:
Now for the building part, let’s see it step by step.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Nov | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | ||||
