The Story

I call this the “Proto Shitbike” because it was my first foray into bike restoration and customization. The backstory goes like this: I spent a lot of time volunteering at, what was then, the young non-profit called the Boise Bicycle Project. They have since evolved in huge ways, and are an incredible force for good in the Boise, Idaho community. It was before I had a drivers license, and I knew that it was time to get a skinny tire bike. Riding my mountain bike to get to friends’ houses sucked.

A 1993 (I think) Specialized Epic Comp garage-hanger came through the shop and was put out on the floor for people to purchase. I hemmed and hawed on it for a while, as $200 was a LOT for a teenager in the mid-oughts. But nobody picked it up for a few days, so I dug through the couch cushions and was able to put together the 200 big ones in order to buy it. I bought it off the shop floor, and I’m sure that it had all 100% original factory components. The whole driveline was Shimano 600 with the integrated shift and brake levers. I slapped some new 23C tires and platform pedals on it, then proceeded to ride the piss out of that thing for the next 10 years. I had never had a road bike before, and it felt like I could just fly on pavement. The shifting was smooth and snappy, the 600 hub almost silent, and it felt like I could turn and stop on a dime.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I still believe the era of aluminum lugged, carbon tubed frames (Giant CADEX, Vitus 997, and many others) created some of the coolest looking rides out there. Carbon was still novel at the time, so most of these frames had a finish that would promote and catch the light of the composite weave. My Epic was no different, and had a great blue/purple fade finish on the tubes.

After finishing college and getting a real job, I was invited on a group road ride with colleagues that had MUCH nicer bikes than the old Epic. She was able to keep up, and after the ride someone said “Damn, that thing’s pretty fast for a shitbike!” The name stuck, and I’ve used it ever since.

However, the SB was showing its age, and years of deferred maintenance was starting to accumulate. I decided I wanted to spruce things up and give the bike a little bit of a refresh. I went with bright blue everything that I could find. This included cable housing, saddle bag, bar tape, bottle cages, pump, and a bunch of other little fussy bits that I paid too much for. At some point along the way I found one Bontrager Race Lite wheel for the front (cuz bladed spokes, duh).

This refresh was far from the full on frame-up overhauls that other Shitbikes have gotten, but I would argue this is where I tipped over the edge of the proverbial rabbit hole. The bike still sits like this, and I’m trying to figure out what fate will befall it. I am sentimentally attached to the bike, so I don’t want completely blow it apart, but as it sits it currently doesn’t have a job to do when compared to the other bikes in the stable. Who knows, I’ll come up with something!