My Trek Lime city bike
Introducing my massaged Trek Lime. It went from this:
to this:
Using extra parts from old bikes and a bit of ebay, I did the following to improve the look of my Lime: removed rubber colorways (too iMac 1998 looking), added CETMA rack front and generic rack in the back, made custom slats for both racks using 1/8" mahogany plywood which I clear coated, added a flask and holder, threw crank bros 50/50 pedals on, swapped out stock seat and post for an old carbon post and Brooks B17 saddle, threw on Nitto moustache bars with matching Brooks tape, and took off the stock 2 inch wide tires for 1.4 inch Ritchey slicks.
I've enjoyed my Trek Lime since I bought it last summer (I reviewed it for the NYT), but I wasn't always happy with the look of it. After I attended the North American Handmade Bike Show in Portland (my photos), I considered building up a fixie or creating a frankenbike using an old track frame and bits of the Trek Lime to get gears and braking without any cable clutter. I've always loved the clean look of a fixie without its cables, brakes, or shifters, but I didn't want to lose the utility/easy riding of having gears and a brake.
I loved the city bike designs (like this one) from the bike show: nice useful racks, tasteful materials and details, and overall easy to ride bikes. So I rummaged through my garage, bought some parts on eBay and starting dismantling and re-assembling my Trek Lime into something better.
I'm happy with the results, it still rides easy, the bars are very comfortable, I can toss tons of stuff on the front and rear racks, and it has the clean cable-free look I was after.