05 August 2008

Bike Makeover #4: Western Mixte

mixte bike makeover rebuild bicycle
I'd like to share with you two bike makeovers completed by a friend of mine who calls himself "Baldman" on the internet. He's made a new hobby of converting unloved ten speed mixtes into artistic statement pieces. Our first example, this bike was purchased at a garage sale for $12:

before photo Nishiki mixte bike bicycle
For this makeover he had to buy new wheels and tires. The rest of the new parts he had lying around and a few were donations from a buddy. The handlebars are painted aluminum, to match the bike.

This makeover cost about $25 in spray paint, sandpaper etc. and took about 4 days to finish.

leather accents on bike bicycle
The leather handgrips, accents on the frame, and fender mudguards are DIY by Baldman. I'm hoping he'll share his process/pattern for the mudguards here, so we can all make some! They're sure pretty...

As if his bikes aren't cute enough, here's his dog:

cute dog

1 comment:

Fern said...

I love this. I wonder how much he spent overall? The new bike looks really snazzy.