SFBC Winterfest Auction Bike - Custom built by Pedal Revolution

SFBC Winterfest Auction Bike - Custom built by Pedal Revolution

SFBC Winterfest Auction Bike - Custom built by Pedal Revolution

This bike was assembled from the frame up by Pedal Revolution and given to The San Francisco Bike Coalition for their Annual fundraising party - Winterfest!

Lead Mechanic Todd B. with assistance from two our Youth interns Daniel and Josh spearheaded the assembly utilizing many donated components from Soma Fabrications. This is a signature example of a custom refurbished Pedal Revolution bike; a classic steel frame completely rebuilt with great quality new parts into a totally reconfigured city bike. Our focus is versatility, function, reliability, and fun! Early mountain bike frames like this one had a very high level of craftsmanship from Japan and had more of a touring bike geometry compared to contemporary mountain bikes. We love transforming these classic bikes into unique and utilitarian commuter style bikes, capable of carrying significant loads and accommodating racks, baskets, and fenders. Many of our customers rely on their bikes as their primary mode of transportation, grocery getting, commuting, and recreation. They want a bike that can reliably get them to work and back home and then be outfitted for a weekend bike camping trip or out of town adventure.

Pedal Revolution is a non-profit bike shop that has been in business since 1992 and hosts a paid work internship program for at-risk bay area youth. We employ 20 young people every year as interns in our shop working side by side with our professional staff. Our interns learn a combination of basic work-readiness skills and participate in a bicycle service based training curriculum experiencing bicycle repair, assembly, and sales in our own business. Interns assist our professional staff in the building of our new and custom refurbished used bicycles like the one you see here. Our refurbished used bicycles arrive from donations from individuals like you who want to support our program. The bikes are stripped, assessed, and then rebuilt with new components to assure a long and reliable life. These bikes are unique, one of a kind creations with distinct style and a character all their own. Please consider donating your old bicycles, frames, or bike parts to our program to support our social mission. Next time you are in the market for a fantastic new or refurbished used bike come visit us!

Here are some photos of the before and after bike build process:

Pictured below are two of our current youth interns Josh and Daniel holding the vintage Miyata “Terra Runner” frameset that provided the foundation for this build:

80’s Japan built, triple butted, lugged steel goodness.

The paint was a little rough so we sent it off to our friends at Champion Powdercoating for a super sweet repaint.

We’ve come to referring to this textured blue finish as ” Pining for the Fjords Blue”.

Service Manager Joel had the bright idea to have the stem painted to match.

Came out quite nice!

Here are Josh and Daniel again with painted frame, fork, and stem with the new wheels and Soma Fabrications New Xpress tires which they set up and installed.

Below Daniel carefully shellacks the cork grips designated for the bike. We love the classic look of cork grips.

Shellacking weatherproofs them and keeps them looking good for a long time.

Brand new drivetrain with Sugino touring cranks, Shimano and IRD mechanicals, and stylish MKS touring pedals.

Shop bottle/shop sticker steeze.

Sprung leather touring saddle.

Soma Fabrications Oxford Handlebar, IRD thumbshifters, Champs Elysees front rack, and Wald basket….gotta have a basket.

Those grips though!

This was a really fun project for the Pedal Rev crew. Hope you like!

Bike details:

 

-80’s era Lugged steel  Miyata “Terra Runner” early MTB frame

-Made in Japan

-Size 21”

-Custom powder-coated “Pining for the Fjords Blue”

 

Parts:

-Shimano 26” wheelset

-Soma Fabrications New Xpress Touring Tires

-Sugino XD500 Touring Crankset

-Shimano Deore M591 Long cage rear Derailleur

-IRD Front derailleur

-MKS Sylvan Touring Pedals

-Velo Orange Leather Saddle

-Soma Fabrications Oxford handlebar

-IRD 9spd indexed thumbshifters

-Shellacked Cork Grips

-Soma Fabrications Champs Elysees stainless front rack

-Wald basket

 

Riding South on a SOMA

One of the great pleasures of living in San Francisco is the ability to escape it quickly.  This is not to say that city life is bad or anything negative like that, but to acknowledge that many of us require regular visits to nature to maintain our well-being.

The other day I had a prime opportunity to get out of town under pedal power and wanted to share the route and its highlights for others to see.  The steed of choice was a Soma ES, seen here in the brilliant Pacific Blue.  We love Soma bikes here at Pedal Rev, and a big thank you to all the folks at Soma for their efforts.  This bike is among the best you could choose for a versatile all-around road bike. On this day it was Extra Smooth indeed….

The ride began here in San Francisco, about 7:30 A.M.  Getting out of town always entails fighting traffic a bit, but once on Skyline Boulevard you know you’ve made it through the worst of it.  On this day the real fun began after I dropped into Pacifica and began riding Old San Pedro Pedro Mountain road, or what’s commonly known as the Planet of the Apes ride.  It was about three-quarters of the way up this road that I came upon a young bobcat, which I felt as though I was chasing until it sauntered off into the thick brush.  Just the sight of such a creature conjured a sense of wildness that one can’t hope to find it the city, and seemed to help set the tone for the rest of the day.

From Montara, one can either continue riding south on Highway One or go north back to the city.  As it happened, I had no time constraints on this day and had determined that I would continue riding to Pescadero.  Though traffic can be a bit frightening on the One, south of Montara the shoulder is fairly reasonable and most motorists give cyclists a respectable berth.

The climb up Pescadero Creek Rd.  starts gradually, as if to lull you into a false sense of complacency.  Quickly, though, the rolling fields give way to forest and the going gets tougher.  But the calmness and scenery is incredible, so I tended to fall into a moderate pace so I might enjoy it more fully.  The wind was coming up from the coast, and a couple times it was strong enough to ruffle up the dead oak leaves on the roadside.  Dozens of oak leaves tumbled down the roadway, as though they were trying to race me.  I guess I won out, but not before the leaves got me thinking about how small I felt, just a speck winding my way up the asphalt.

Once you hit Rt. 84 and eventually wind your way back to Skyline Boulevard, the climbing continues but periodically you’re rewarding with quick, curvy descents that get the adrenaline flowing again.   Lots of car and motorcycle enthusiasts seem to enjoy these roads as well; I was passed by a number of noteworthy older sports cars, including a rare (though perhaps not in San Mateo County) early-90’s Porsche 911 Turbo.  Still running Porsche’s venerable air-cooled engine, the not unpleasant exhaust smell was subtly different in character than all the other polluters out there on the road that day.

While you could find a way to snake back north to San Francisco, it seems to be a lot more manageable to cut off the bad traffic and catch the BART out of Millbrae.  Though I was only winding my way around the countryside for a few hours, it was still a bit of a shock to return to such a built-up environment. Thankfully, this palm tree was there to help take the edge off just a little….

 

-Todd B.

 

Pedal Revolution Used Bike Update: Schwinn Sierra Drop Bar Mountain Tour Bike

Pedal Revolution Used Bike Update: Schwinn Sierra Drop Bar Mountain Tour Bike

It’s truly astounding the number of 80’s and 90’s vintage mountain bikes Pedal Revolution receives in donation (thank you generous benefactors). They are testament both to the number of these bikes sold during the original mountain bike boom and the quality of construction of these frames (FYI: their iron like strength, resilience, and durability is largely due to them being actually made of steel!).

By the standards of today, bikes like this Schwinn Sierra are terrible bikes for serious single-track mountain biking (ps. the flip side is also true that the super fun trail riding bikes of today are the absolute worst transportation bikes due to technological suspension overkill and lack of utilitarian features).  However, with some parts changes and updates these original off road specialty machines can be transformed into excellent city and transportation steeds.

Just to mix things up from the rote Pedal Revolution older mountain bike becomes city bike genesis (street slicks replace knobby tires, new drive train parts, etc), a drop bar was added to this bike to give it some long ride and bike tour potential.

The orange bar wrap gives the bike some seasonal fall flair.  Front and rear fork eyelets add more easy fender and rack options.

Suntour Bar end shifters are just fantastic.  They were on some very cheap back in the day bikes (the Schwinn Sierra was not originally cheap or equipped with these).  Every micro friction shift with these units is an utter delight.  They are what I (Joel) use on my own touring bike!

This is a great all-purpose bike for someone about 6′ tall.  The large tires and strong frame with plenty of accessory mounts make a great bike for carrying large loads on bike trips around the city or across the country!

Schwinn Sierra 23″ : $550

 

Fuji - Mt. Fuji Touring Bike 55cm @Pedal Revolution Custom Bike Update

Fuji, Mt. Fuji

Another day, and another gem of a refurbished bicycle is here at Pedal Rev.  This cycle started its life as a higher end Mt. Fuji mountain bike from what I (Nolan) believe to be a 1980.  This lugged steel steed was created in the magical time when bicycles were expected to do more: your mountain bike was your touring bike, your commuting bike, and your beverage bike.  Quality steel, comfortable geometry, copious eyelets and more made this bike an exemplary all-in-one eighties powerhouse.

While the Mt. Fuji is a great bike, this particular Mt. Fuji was in a bit of a bad way when it arrived at Pedal Rev as a donation.  Distressed paint, and parts worn beyond repair left us wondering: “What were we to do?”  Champion Powder Coating provided us with a screaming matte green paintjob (thanks y’all!), and a new parts build got this bike back in fighting shape. While the bike was originally built with a riser bar, we built it with the cockpit of a touring/randonneuring bike.  Randonneuring bicycles seem to be all the rage right now and the newly dubbed Mt. Fuji Destroyer falls in with the best of them.  Our Destroyer has traditional road bar/levers and bar end shifters to allow for multiple riding positions.  The wide range 3×9 drivetrain give the bike plenty of gears to tackle the hills, while a powerful set of cantilever brakes provide enough Umph! to stop after bombing down said hills.  26” wheels and the perennial Pasela PT tire round out the build. Just when you thought the Destroyer couldn’t get any better, we added some flair in the form of a color correct Velocity H2O cage, and wrapped the drive side chainstay with black Newbaum’s cloth bar tape for a real curated look. The Willys Jeep is (matte) green with envy.   

This bicycle measures out to a 55cm, and would work be perfect for a rider 5’9”-6’. Come in and put some fun between your legs.

$850.00        

Peugeot Canyon Express All-Arounder Bike @Pedal Revolution Refurbished Bike Update

last night was the longest night of the year. The sun set at 8:54pm and to celebrate all of the extra daylight the staff at Pedal Rev decided to go for a Sub 24 hour bike camping overnight. Otherwise known as an S240, the idea is that it isn’t always easy to get away for big trips, extended weekends, etc. but it’s not too tough to get out for a quick overnight, sleep under the stars and make it back to work the next day, albeit a little groggy. Touring bikes are a fine choice for this type of excursion accommodating racks and bags to facilitate bringing things like camping gear, food, coffee, frisbees, whiskey, bug spray, etc. Touring bikes are wonderful things but they are costly and there are other options out there if you dream of loading up a bike and venturing forth down the road for a little nature time. Older era Mountain bikes make for great budget touring bikes with their long wheelbases, rack mounts, steel frames,and sturdy construction. These can often be found used and modified to work as workhorse commuter bikes and yes, even touring bikes.

Below is a fine example of a Pedal Revolution rebuilt Peugeot Canyon Express rigid mountain bike into a more utilitarian machine. Reinforced asphalt friendly tires matched to new wheels and a comfortable wide, upright handlebar make for steady cruising on street or dirt, in city or country. We have modified Surly Long Haul Truckers in just way for customers who preferred a more upright but still efficient ride. Come check this one out and get your ride on.

22″ fits 6’1″ - 6’4″

$400.

Surly Disc Trucker Outfitted out for the Road @Pedal Revolution Bike Update

A super utility vehicle is presented in this mini Surly Disc Trucker. Our customer wanted a reliable touring bike to take her from California to Colorado. Upright riding position was key as well as carrying capability as she will be self-supported for the trip through various national parks. The 42cm Disc Trucker with 26″ wheels was a perfect match for her needs. This bike will do the job confidently over asphalt and dirt for miles and miles. When the next adventure is just beyond the horizon, a bicycle is fine choice to get you there.