I’m building my own bike from parts! Not the actual frame, as some people thought. Also, I didn’t build the wheels this time. Jim at Gladys Bikes built them which I am super happy how they turned out. Thanks Jim!

I made several trips to Universal Cycles to pick up parts. I tried to do it all by bike.

taking home a bunch of parts for the build on the Surly Straggler/Grocery Getter

I learned a lot throughout this process, like how to install a headset using a headset press (thanks Kenton Cycles!):

at kenton cycles getting help installing the headset

What was funny about this was at the time I did not have a car accessible to me. So I biked my frame up to the bike shop.

I was told that I should use some frame saver to prevent rust. The guy at Kenton cycles was nice enough to let me borrow a can since a little bit goes a long way.

frame savin' my new polyvalent frame

I didn’t take too many photos of the build process, but here’s how it turned out!

final build of the lilac polyvalent at a rose garden in portland