mastodon 4.7.3Rescuing, rebuilding, repairing, and retromodding vintage #bikes.
The goal is to re-home them in #Portland, Oregon.
Also happy to work with you on refreshing or retromodding your ride!
Established April 2026.
Time to reintroduce myself.
I go by Wolf online. I just started a small local business this month (April 2026) called Milk Crate Custom Bikes.
You can find out more about it and me by visiting
If you are looking for a vintage bike, I have a couple for sale right now until May 2026. If you're interested, please let me know.
Also happy to work with you on refreshing or retromodding your current ride!
#bicycle #bike #BikeTooter #cycling #introduction #PDX #Portland
For the love of everything #bicycle related, can anyone please tell me if the #Portland #Oregon metropolitan area has any sort of of a regularly occuring #bike swap meet going on?
If not, why the heck not?
Anyone want to get together, have some coffee, and help me organize one? I can't be the only one with a parts bin full of stuff that could be out in the world and being put to good use!
Please respond. Boost for visibility. I really want to get something going here.
It's almost the end of March. I still havent sold any bikes. Kind of bummed out. I'm sure the right people are out there. I want these bikes to go down the road to good homes.
More details can be found on my Buy Me a Coffee page.
One last thing before I unplug from the Fediverse for the rest of the day.
I want to work. Even if it's part time. Ideally, I'd have a role at some kind of a non-profit. I'm thinking a bike co-op. Either as an "apprentice" bike mechanic, or doing something in IT (which doesn't require driving between different sites).
If you can help, please let me know. I need to start making an income. We want to move closer to Beaverton where my partner works.
Rusty the Specialized HardRock being a pain in butt. But that is the story of this bike since I bought it. Seized bottom bracket aside.
I have been struggling with what to do with it. I can't sell it. It's not a forever bike either.
I'm debating tearing it down to the frame and fork, and starting over again.
These two bikes are still on sale until the last day of April. So if you're interested in either one of them at the discounted prices, please reach out to me soon!
They will go back to full price, which includes build time and labor, on May 1st.
More information on my Buy Me a Coffee page, pinned to my profile.
Doing bike stuff.
As I tooted about earlier this afternoon, Walter the Raleigh, the 1991 Technium Heat bicycle is for sale!
I've posted an image gallery and the price breakdown to my Buy Me A Coffee Web page. The link is below.
https://buymeacoffee.com/wolfinpdx/walter-raleigh-sale
I would appreciate it if y'all could spread the word. I want to make sure this bike goes down the road to a good home!
I made some progress with the Rusty and River Specialized HardRock bikes, and I'm honestly pleased how far I got today.
I need to cable the brakes for Johnny the Samurai HardRock next. Then that bike is done. I am looking forward to taking it for a test ride.
I also worked on the Nishiki Tamarack a little. I got the SRAM grip shifters off River on to it. I might try to sell it again. Otherwise it's going to the bike co-op.
Low on spoons. Going to take a nap until 4pm.
Original crank from Rusty the '98 HardRock, 32t Surly chainring, and orange DMR V6 pedals.
Stoked.
I have a Google Mini smart speaker in our living room, hanging on the wall by our kitchen sink.
Asked Google to play the theme from Psych on Pandora. It played the extended orchestral old school Mission Impossible theme song from the TV series.
I'm not even mad about it.
I really wish I had gotten into riding bikes much sooner after moving to Portland when I was 30. I don't think I would have commuted, I'd have ridden for fun. I just felt like it'd be a hassle to store one in all the places I lived. One more thing in the way in an apartment. I definitely missed out on almost two decades of fun.
(Don't mind me, just feeling old and grumpy today.)
That's enough working on bikes for one day. I've not been feeling well this week. I've been pushing myself to get further along with these bikes. I am going to stop while I'm ahead. Going to eat a late lunch and take a nap.
Slept in until almost 9am. Got up and had coffee and breakfast. Partner is working from home today. I managed to cable Barney the purple Specialized RockHopper, save for the front derailleur. It doesn't fit. I think I have spacers from another one somewhere. I just need to look through my parts bin. Still need help with the bike from the bike co-op. Not going to be until next week now though. We have a busy weekend of things to do that are taking priority.
Photos later today.
Sofa king full.
Ate a half pound of steak seasoned ground beef easy. Piled on two mashed potatoes with all the fixings. Cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, chives. Had a Caesar salad on the side.
Gonna go pass out in a food coma now. Hopefully wake up and have room for dessert. We have chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cones and banana cream pie popsicles.
Put a couple pounds of ground chuck into a container. Marinating in salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, Worcestershire sauce, and olive oil.
My phone had been a pain in the ass for the last couple of days. Finally restarted it and it works again. I have no idea what changed.
I'm trying to wind down before bed. Under the covers. Cat is snoozing in my lap.
Looking at these before and after pictures. The Charge Spoon saddle just isn't working on the new blue Specialized. I will probably keep the black seatpost to go with the black Origin8 handlebars.
The saddle is going back on Rusty, and the orange components will stay on that bike as well.
That's all for today. G'night, y'all. Take care out there. Be safe and be well. 🐺
Feeling overstimulated. Too much being out in public, too many people. Going to lay down in bed for a bit and try to chill before dinner.
My partner and I went out for the day. We ran some errands. We also went out to her job site to do something.
On the way back, we stopped off at the local bike shop on that side of town. I got a new Surly 32t 94 BCD chainring to fit Rusty's stock cranks, and some chainring bolts. Came in at $40. I'm very excited. I'll take pictures later.
Spring cleaning today.
I have a bunch of beginner level #homebrew stuff that I bought from Northern Brewer a few years ago, and a bunch of 12oz bottles. A couple glass wide mouth bubbler fermenting containers, a couple glass cider jugs, other odds and ends.
Let me know if you're interested. Looking to sell it all for about $100, but I'll take a reasonable offer.
Can't sleep. Really hoping the insomnia from two weeks isn't back.
PC may have died this morning. Just shut off randomly after 4 hours. Not sure what caused it. Heat maybe. Wasn't gaming. Was just doing college coursework.
Going to have to take it apart completely, clean everything, put it back together, and hope it fires up again. That is not going to be today. I don't have the patience, let alone the energy. Maybe tomorrow.
I have a laptop I can get out of storage that will be a satisfactory substitute in the meantime if I need it.
Last pictures for today, then I really need a nap.
Johnny the Samurai HardRock with the stock Specialized saddle I swapped off of River the blue HardRock. River now has the black Charge Spoon saddle that was on this bike.
I dig it. The stock saddle has a bit more cushion, which is great.
Take care out there. Be safe, and be well.
I'm sitting here thinking about how I have River, the blue Specialized HardRock, and Barney, the purple Specialized RockHopper set up right now. I realized that I could swap some parts around and make the HardRock a 3x8 again. It'd bring the asking price down about $150 or so, if I chose to sell the bike in the future. I kind of like the idea of the RockHopper as a 1x7 coffee cruiser as well. Going to think on it a bit. But I may need to order some new chainring bolts ...
We decided to treat ourselves and order wings for everyone for dinner. Mango habanero for me. Hit the spot. One of those things we get rarely. Makes it more special when we do.
Scumbag brain is being extra scumbag right now.
The insomnia is one thing. The migraine precursors are another.
The tinnitus is another level entirely. My ears are basically screeching right now.
Sleep schedule is not as messed up as it was prior to the weekend. I was up too late last night, but I think I got about 6 hours of sleep. Hopefully won't need a nap this afternoon. I also want to get to bed no later than 11pm today.
Project+ studying continues.
May have pushed myself a little too hard. Feeling brain foggy now. I'm hoping the nap helps.
If I could just get one of the bikes in the inventory sold, I'd be able to pick up this one I've had my eye on for two weeks. Price is reasonable. Just don't have the space.
I would clean it, get it all fixed up, lubricated, and then put all of Rusty the Specialized HardRock's orange components on it. It should only take half the day.
Ideally, I'll have three bikes gone by the end of the month. One is getting donated to the bike co-op.
Sleep schedule is completely on graveyard now.
Been up all night studying for a database course. SQL is not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it is tedious.
So what I thought was a sinus headache the other day was the start of a head cold. Stupid immune system. Terrible timing. The weather finally gets reasonable, and I can't go ride my bikes. And I don't have the energy to work on the blue Specialized HardRock either.
Just some thoughts and quotes on #resistance -
(In no particular order)
Be the change you wish to see.
Dancing and music are required for a good revolution.
Do only what is necessary.
Quick. Quiet. Clean. Pick two.
Help yourself before you help others.
Observe, orient, decide, act.
Adaptability can surprise you.
Get organized. It helps.
Move slowly and fix things.
Money alone doesn't solve problems.
Lawyers complicate things.
When you protest, stay off the street.
It has been pouring rain all night tonight.
Hoping the weather stays on the cool side, but we get some sunshine next week. I really need to take new pictures of all three bikes I am still trying to sell.
Okay. I'm going for it. Bought a pair of yellow Origin8 Hex pedals on clearance, sale priced for $17. Also getting some purple single chainring bolts for $10. They'll be delivered tomorrow.
Going to make Barney a 1x7 coffee cruiser instead of a 3x7 commuter. I like it. River will be back to 3x8 as well.
Going to swap coffee cup holders around between a couple of bikes also.
More bike shenanigans next week.
Might be putting River up for sale after all ...
