Suited Up

Since I quit Scottish Widows at the end of last year I've had 3 months of being home trying to work out what to do with my life; 3 weeks in Brechin starting the new job; then 3 and a bit months of working from home. I'd chuck on a shirt in case of a Skype call, but now we have a new office in Edinburgh, and I'm once more suited and booted in town. Felt a little weird.

Tomorrow the suit will be in panniers as I'll get back into riding to work, and as I lamented the lack of any parking (there's a yard out back, but has to be accessed through a Spanish language school, and they won't always be open, so it's out in the elements on railings across the street) Mel said I should just get another bike that wouldn't worry me too much if it got nicked.

She knows me so well.

Of course I've got an 80s Peugeot frame hanging in the garage that I had vague notions of getting resprayed and turning into a fast-ish road bike, but that may be shelved in favour of its shabby-chic being adorned with scrimped parts for a new commuter. Of course it's not that my Kaffenback is particularly fancy, indeed it has bangs and scrapes all over, but certain bits of it were rather expensive. And N+1. Always N+1.

Setting myself a goal of building it for a max of £150 (and it really is just the frame, nowt else, not even forks) which may be do-able if I'm canny about things (and singlespeeding it would immediately remove gear costs, though a friend has suggested I might be able to obtain a 3 speed hub geared wheel for reasonable cheapness).

This post has turned more into pondering a bike build than being back in an office. Read into that what you will....