u/dave3lions

I took the AlpineStars out for a nice jaunt along the canal towpath this afternoon. Nothing too adventurous; primarily hard pack and some very light gravel, except for the small stretch of really jagged gravel that I had to traverse to get to the blacktop that I was planning to take up to the woods. I felt the pop as the rear tube let go. I think it’s a pinch flat. I’m calling it user error as I’m running Michelin 1.1 Wild Run’r’s that aren’t cut out for that type of terrain. At least the 2 mile walk back to the van was absolutely beautiful. The ice cold Diet Coke served by the one and only Ronaldinho helped too in the 33*C heat.

I had a couple of mates who had the early Al-Mega XT’s back in the day. This was the era prior to the elevated chain-stay versions alpinestars introduced across their range around 1992. Sadly they haven’t faired well over the years with many of the aluminium frames having cracked and since become wall art. So when I saw this Cro-Mega pop up on MarketPlace I snapped it up. It hadn’t been looked after and most of the original parts had been replaced with low end junk, but it retained the forks thankfully.

I stripped it down, cleaned and greased everything I wanted to keep, which was just the frame, forks, headset and seat post. So this is my parts bin build, except for the cockpit and cables which I bought new. I’ve intentionally left the frame a bit ratty as I think it wears its scars well. I took it for its maiden journey today and it rides fast, smooth and quiet. I’m waiting on some 27.5 SunRingle rims to turn up then I’ll call it finished for now. Well, actually I want a front rack or bar bag and I need to find my Power-Grips that are in the loft somewhere.

Thinking about it, are these things ever finished?