I'm starting to get a few project finished of late. The first is the single speed conversion of my old Bianchi Grizzly II.

I've had this thing since '89 and we've been through a lot together. It was my my Saskatchewan offroad machine, my commuter when I first moved to Toronto, my touring bike in Newfoundland and BC, and now it's returned to it's roots, minus a few bits.

The Mag21 fork is new to the bike, a Craigslist purchase, tuned up by Phil at Cycletherapy, but everything else is old (school). The Hite-Rite, the Scott Mathauser pads, even the Panaracer Karthoum on the front wis circa late 80's (which may not be my wisest idea in the case of the tire, but it looks fine). It'll be hitting the trails this Tuesday on the dirt version of devil strip rollers.

The next one is completely new, both to the fleet and to me. It's a Vision R65 short wheel base recumbent.

I got this, again off Craigslist, for touring mostly. The Bianchi (see above) was super heavy, and a bit of a white knuckle affair on descents, on tour. I'm just getting it dialed in right now. I've adjusted the boom and chain length and now need to recable it. The brakes are goo right now, as I found out the hard way.

There is definitely a learning curve. When turning you need to coast or else you'll hit your heel on the wheel. Speed bumps are also interesting as your feet go straight down when you hit a bump with your fleet slipping off. So clipless pedals are next.

But it's fun so far. I need to spend some more time riding it to get used to it, particularly when turning. It'll be great for summer touring though!