I was shocked when I saw this frame/fork at Recycled Cycles for $20. I figured it must be cracked or something. Apparently not. I don't know why they were given this guy away, but I bought it. This is just a great frame. It's big (52cm)...well, big for a downhill mountain bike, so it works well as an all rounder. It's got Ritchey Logic Presitige tubing with Cromo seat/chain stays. Brazed. Lugged. Last a lifetime. It's got plenty of eyelets for fenders and racks and all sorts of stuff. You can't go wrong with this guy.
This is my hauler, store-runner, pull-the-kid-trailer, bike. I've got unnecessarily huge, knarly, ridiculous tires on it. I tell myself that they are for the snow, but really it's my own little version of a Hummer. It fulfills some inner wanky need in me to have an over-the-top, unnecessary waste-of-energy component.
Aside from the frame, the only other stuff I had to actually pay for was the seatpost. I didn't have another 27.2 mm post laying around. I even got a cheap version of that. SO the total out of pocket expense for this bike was $38. Of course, as my wife reminds me, I had to pay at some point for the other crud that was laying around in my basement to put this bike together, it's not like it fell out of the sky... anyway...
Actually, most of the drive train, brakes, wheels/tires came off of a bike a friend of mine gave me. In fact, this is my first bike with v-brakes. I have to say, I like these guys. Super easy to set up; they stop on a dime. I may be a convert; I definitely would if the brakes didn't require their own special brake lever. That's a bummer, but that extra pull is what makes them so stinkin strong.
Other notable bits... I've been holding onto these shifters for about 6 months. They are NOS suntour LCD 7 speed thumbie; I got them off Ebay, so I guess this should be added to the total if you're counting rigidly, but they have been laying around for a while. These were not the same quality as the Suntour XC pro or comp or experts, but they work great. I would love to have a thousand sets of these to give out to all my friends and family. I've only got one NOS set left. They're reserved for a friend. The seat is an old Brooks plastic jobber. Although it's nice and wide, it's still pretty uncomfortable, especially on climbs, where you don't want to be thinking about your aching ischial tuberosites'. The front rack is a fancy one: Nitto with the tubular steel that the Rivendell folks like to go on about. The light is an old Night-hawk. still holding charges for a few hours at a time.
Look at these tires.
Ridiculous. I'll put the Vittoria Randonneur's on there in the spring. But I need to wank out for a while first.
Here are the components: