The great hybrid bike conversion project

I have a Ridgeback Adventure 502 GS hybrid from the early nineties. I bought it new, to cycle from home to the railway station when I lived in Sheffield (and foolishly worked in Nottingham). I chose it mostly because it was cheap, and not having owned a bike as an adult, I wasn't sure that I would use it at all.

I can't really remember how long I used it for, but it must have been at least a couple of years, almost daily. Then it was off the road for a while having various bits replaced, and it was never quite the same again. I also was expected to wear a suit more often, so the bike became much less convenient than the bus.

Then I passed my driving test at the grand old age of 33, left my job in Nottingham and moved up north where I travelled to work by car.

The bike lived in the shed mostly, and occasionally went to the shops, but no further. Then one day when I rode it to the shop I realised that it wasn't just the weight that was slowing me down (we are not talking about a light bike here, it is heavy steel), in fact it seemed to be like cycling through treacle.

And so the project began. Without me knowing that it was a project really. The problem seemed to lie in the transmission, and more specifically the pedals... or the bottom bracket. So I bought tools, did some reading, removed the BB and found the source of the treacle. I cleaned it, re-greased it and reassembled it. Lovely.

Then I looked at the chainset (crankset) and thought how nasty it was, a bit rusty with the chain rings spot welded together. It was thin and light and sharp. So I replaced it with an Alivio one... a bit better, but not, unfortunately, compatible with the existing BB. So I bought a new cartridge style BB and fitted that.

And then I couldn't get the front mech to change properly, so I replaced that with an Alivio one.

Then I replaced the tyres, decided that I needed a new front wheel (at least) replaced the original straight bars with some butterfly bars I had previously on the tandem, and added some funky (or perhaps not) yellow bar tape. Oh, and a new rear canti brake.

Then I realised I had a bike I could use... and a project.