Sandy's Café Bike is complete

From this....

$5.00 from the dump shop

What started out as a 'Shop Bike' build quickly turned into quite a project but Sandy was determined to do it herself.  Having worked at Cyclezone in Darwin for sometime she had picked up a lot of knowledge of bikes but hadn't really got to swing too many spanners.

The disassembly begins

Sandy learnt about cup and cone bearings

Lose the derailleur components, they dont belong on a shop bike

A little bit of polishing was required

I dont think Sandy has seen a threaded headset before

Still polishing

Had to order a new seat post bolt

Still polishing

The mudguards look a bit past it and new ones only cost $40

Let the assembly begin

Expert supervision....note glass of wine

We were getting excited at this stage

Sturmey Archer bling

How could we not put Brooks saddle and bag on??

Leather grips

The masterpiece

An excellent result but we had a small problem.  The original intent was to create a shop bike.  You know the sort of dodgy looking bike you ride to the shop and not worry about it getting nicked because a) it costs bugger all and b) no one would want to nick it anyway.  To fix that I coined the new term 'Café Bike'.  The bike you ride to the café in your nice clothes and rest it near your table while you drink your coffee.