The Dawes
Last Christmas, sjwalters left me his bike. He had acquired a broken down 10-speed and was using it during his co-op term. It was in a sorry state. Walters still managed to haul it up Mount Madonna (and survived the descent with only half a brake).
He locked it to my back gate and when I got back to the city in January, I took it down to the Bike Kitchen and started work. After four months of spending a couple nights a week in the shop I had stripped the bike down and rebuilt it as a sweet city bike. I've ridden it to work once but made the mad dash down the Civic Center bus many times. It is fast and it has a personality.
From the original parts, I kept the frame, fork and handlebars, the saddle, the pedals and the brakes: all got a good scrubbing. I ripped off the entire drivetrain and replace the heavy heavy cranks and front chainrings with a single 52. I replaced the cassette with a lightly used 13-32 5-gear cassette from the Bike Kitchen's part room.
I repacked the bearing in the headset and both wheels. The chain, cables, tires, rim tape and bar tape are brand new.
I promised Walters I wouldn't repaint the frame, so it is still faded green and orange rattlecan. I did try the clean up the Dawes faceplate, but it is still tinted orange.
Next up, I would like to build a new set of wheels, but that might be a project for next winter (winter in San Francisco, ha!)