I was on the lookout for a vintage bike that I could turn into a gravel bike so that I'd have something for my boys to ride when I went on gravel adventures or bikepacking trips.  When I saw this touring bike come up for sale, I decided I had found the right one.  

I had to make this bike more comfortable and safer for gravel bike riding.  It needed better brakes.  I replaced the nylon/plastic things that were originally on it with some nice aluminum cantilevers.  I also replaced the brake pads with some very effective Kool Stop pads.  It also needed a more upright riding position for the trails and wider bars.  I installed a nice Easton stem with Easton gravel specific drop bars.  The 7-speed rear derailleur and cassette were replaced with an almost new 9spd Deore XT rear derailleur and cassette to give it better gears and shifting.  As well, I didn't want my boys to have to take their hands off the bars on rough trails in order to shift at the downtubes so I hunted for some shift/brake combos.  The only ones I could find in 3x9 were on AliExpress and called MicroNew.  I was skeptical but I have to say, they work really well, shifting crisply with a nice loud click.  I wanted nice off road tires but was limited in the width by the rear chain stays.  These Continentals work quite well and have been ridden over 400km of gravel with no issues or flats.  New shift cables and housing, a Brooks C17 saddle and bar tape finished off the build.  So far, two of my three boys have gone on adventures with me.  It was an excellent investment!

Status:  Sold
Size: ​​20"/51cm
Frame & Fork: Cro Mo Mountain Tubing
Groupset & Brakeset:  Shimano Exage 300 LX
Wheelset:  Weinmann 2121 rims on KK Tech hubs with Vittoria Randonneur 26x1.5 Tires

This is my second Diamond Back Topanga rebuild.  The owner of the first one I sold was really happy with it so when this one became available, and in such nice condition, I decided to go for round two.

The paint on this one restored quite well and the groupset cleaned up nicely as well.  Unfortunately the front shifter was broken so I had to find a replacement.  Luckily, I had one on another bike so I took that one and will deal with it later when it finds its way to my work stand.  This Topanga has a pretty relaxed geometry, so I decided to equip it with some really nice hybrid tires.  They'll offer a smooth ride around town and handle the gravel of the Greenway and the Rail Trail with no problems.  It has new cables, housing, grips and saddle and nearly new tires and tubes.

When I saw this Giant for sale with a full Shimano STX groupset, I just couldn't resist.  It had been babied and was in near mint condition.  A little TLC from MBW was all it needed to be showroom beautiful again.

This bike was barely ridden and always stored indoors so it was in excellent condition.  The paint on the frame restored so well that someone who came to visit thought I had painted it.  The components just needed a good ultrasonic cleaning and they were as good as new.  I really didn't care for the look of the stem that came with it so I replaced it with one that I thought gave it a better look while maintaining a comfortable riding position.  The original seat had one tiny flaw that was hardly noticeable so it didn't need replacement.  It even has the original reflectors.  This bike looks like it time-travelled off the 1995 showroom floor and found it's way to today.  Someone is going to really enjoy riding this bike on the local rail trail, greenway and bike paths around town. 

Status:  Sold
Frame was made in Italy by Colnago for the 1972 Canadian Olympic cycling team
Size: 52cm
Frame & Fork:  Columbus SL tubing with Campagnolo dropouts
Rear Derailleur, Shifters, Brake Levers, Cranks, Bottom Bracket, Headset, Seatpost, Pedals:  Campagnolo Nuovo Record
Front Derailleur: Zeus
Brake Calipers: Universal Extra (Brev 453949)
Saddle:  Selle San Marco Rolls​
Wheelset:  Ambrosio 19 Extra Elite rims on Rino hubs with Michelin Dynamic Classic 700x23c tires

This bike comes with an amazing story.  It was 1971 and olympic cyclist, Jocelyn Lovell, was dating olympic discus thrower, shot putter and javelin thrower, Carol Martin.  Lovell was working with CCM, bringing in frames made in Italy by Colnago that were to be painted and built up for the Canadian olympic cyclists.  Lovell acquired one of the frames in Martin's size, had it painted stealth green, outfitted it with a mostly Campagnolo Nuovo Record groupset, and gave it to Martin as a gift.  Martin says that in its original configuration, it had drop bars but as she got older, she needed a more upright riding position.  It's seen some some wonderful days and was well loved by Martin, for sure.  The finish is in rough shape now and will need to be repainted.  I also think I'll try to find drop bars and brake levers so I can return it to its original configuration.

I put more hours into this bike than I could count but they were all worth it!  I couldn't be happier with the result. 

The frame had no obvious Colnago identifiers, such as the club cutouts in the lugs, since it was intended to be branded as a CCM Olympic bike, but it has signs of a Colnago  build nonetheless.  The lug work is beautiful.  The vent hole under the top tube at the seat cluster is something that was done on early Colnagos.  The crimped chainstays with the tubular chainstay bridge is also similar to early Colnagos.  As well, there were some early Colnago Supers made with the same bottom bracket cutouts that are present on this frame.

The paint turned out beautiful and the decals from velocals.com look very classy.  It is definitely NOT a stealth Colnago anymore!  I painted it with a vintage red colour and decorated it in the style of the Colnago Super.  I left off the "Super" decal on the chainstays as it is not actually a Super model.    The parts polished up beautifully, and as typical for Campagnolo, work really well.  I replaced the original wheelset which had rusty, steel Zeus hubs and Weinmann concave rims with this nice set of gold anodized Ambrosio rims that I had from a previous parts bike.  The gold anodizing was still in excellent condition so I decided to build around that with the gold decals, gold bar tape and gold accented Rolls saddle. 

I am super happy with the result.  This bike is absolutely stunning to look at and it is also a pleasure to ride.  The only thing that would make me happier is if Carol Martin could take it for a ride.  I'd love to see the smile on her face!

When I saw this sad bike for sale, I couldn't help but feel like a Bianchi deserved better.  Right away I started seeing it with an appropriate groupset and celeste green.  I knew I would have to replace everything except the frame and fork but I also knew that I had to take on the challenge.

I had no idea what the model was of this Bianchi but I liked the look of the 1987 Bianchi Brava so I decided to model this rebuild on the Brava.  All the decals on this one, except for the MBW decal, came from www.velocals.com.  The removal of the poor, white paint and all the decals was very satisfying and the paint turned out really nice.  The rebuild went well with only one glitch.  I found a 1987 Trek 1200 with a broken frame and a complete 1050 Shimano 105 groupset so I bought that for the groupset.  The components polished up nicely and I was pleased with the appearance and the way they worked.  Everything from the Trek fit perfectly until I put the rims on.  That's when I discovered that the calipers wouldn't reach the rims.  I guess it had originally had 27" wheels.  Lucky for me, the local used bike shop had a really nice Dia-Compe long reach brake set and they polished up nicely and fit perfectly.  This build has new paint (PPG Shopline primer/base/clear), new cables and housing, new brake pads, seatpost, saddle, chain, bar tape and tires.  I am super happy with the result and know that somewhere there is a person much shorter than me who is going to love this bike!