Andy_K 

For the past two weeks I've been gradually cleaning and organizing my man cave. This week I've gotten to the bookcase that serves as my parts bin. Two weeks ago, it was like one of those games at an arcade where you drop a nickel into a pile of nickels and hope that it will knock off a bunch of other nickels, except that I had a bigger pile of stuff at the base of the case, so I couldn't easily retrieve the parts that fell.



Today, it looks like this:



So much nicer!

But here's the really cool part and the reason I thought it was worth sharing. As I was sorting the parts into various bins, I came across three Ziplock bags containing headsets (or parts thereof). Two of them were unremarkable, unbranded headsets with no locknut, typical of what was on these shelves. But the third? The third was a complete Campagnolo Super Record headset. Score! The really weird thing is, I have absolutely no memory of how I came to have this. I'm pretty sure I didn't take it off any frame that has passed through my garage. I don't remember buying it. I literally had no idea it was there.



Now I need a frame to go with it.

merziac

Get to it.

Cougrrcj

And THAT is how N+1 happens!

Andy_K 

Yeah, it is. Someone once described it to me as the doorknob problem -- you find a doorknob you really like and then you've got to build a house to go with it.

Pcampeau

What happened to the Raleigh International in the first photo? Did you find enough parts to build it?

natterberry 

Thats clearly a rag hanger with fancy decals.

xiaoman1 

Andy,
Show us the other sides of the MC...I hope you are not like me just moving stuff from one side to the other.
Best, Ben

merziac

You could have easily avoided all the organizational nonsense by adding a big lip panel to the front of those shelves in the first place.

Andy_K 

Well, I was going for a state of maximum entropy, so that any time I moved anything it made the room cleaner.

Charles Wahl

But that already has a headset. He obviously needs a new frame to put the immaculately conceived Super Record headset on.

Andy_K 

Well, that's why it has taken two weeks to get to this point. I've been shifting things back and forth, throwing out trash and putting a few things in their proper place as I go. Here was the other side two weeks ago:



That was after a few days of cleaning to get a spot on the floor where I could stand. I built some shelves in the corner that I had been using for long-term block styrofoam storage.



And, as previously seen on another thread, I cleared the bench and currently have it set up for wheel truing.



The portable AC unit you see in this picture is what started the whole project. I've been working at home since the first week in March, and this is where that happens. There were a couple of weeks in early August where it was just too hot (because this room isn't on the HVAC system that regulates the rest of the house). I took my laptop inside for a week, and my wife (who had been used to having the house to herself before all this happened) gently suggested that I should get an AC for the man cave.

xiaoman1 

Mad Honk 

Andy,
I kept wondering where I had misplaced that headset, now I know. It will work nicely on my newly acquired 89 paramount. Smiles, MH

merziac

Happy wife, happy......

Andy_K 

I knew someone would claim to have left it here. I thought it would be someone who has been here!

canklecat

Yup, I had the same experience this year. In February I had to clear out my apartment to replace the old carpet with laminated wood grain flooring. So all my semi-organized bike stuff got completely discombobulated. I'm slowly getting it recombobulated -- sorting saddles into their own box, handlebars/stems into their own box, etc.

A couple of weeks ago both shifter cables on my Ironman started fraying at the shifter barrels. Probably been close to two years since I replaced them, and the cables and housings were mediocre quality anyway -- the cables stretched like cheap fence wire, and the housings compressed like Slinkys.

While sorting through aforementioned discombobulated parts bins for new cables, I found a couple of components I didn't remember buying -- although a peek through my bike forums private messages confirmed I did indeed buy them, and not even long ago. There was a nice Shimano 600 Tricolor that I didn't realize until last week is an 8-speed early Ultegra. And a Shimano L422 Light Action downtube friction shifter pair. What the heck, says I, let's try those while I'm replacing the cables.

So I temporarily removed the original Suntour GPX stuff and am riding that Ironman with a hodgepodge of Suntour GPX front derailleur, Shimano 600 Tricolor rear derailleur, and the L422 Light Action shifters. And a new-to-me wheelset, courtesy of another BF member. Took a few rides to tweak everything to my satisfaction, but now I kinda like it. Rode 65 miles Wednesday on that setup, and plan to ride a full century this weekend, weather permitting.

squirtdad

I under stand...... I am starting on the garage.....have cleaned out 3 drawers of nails/hardware etc. good stuff went to into a plastic bin, lot got trashed. But it is like a shell game move stuff to clean then clean up what you moved I organized all my small bike parts a year ago, best thing I did, but no campy headsets

jdawginsc 

In my organizing I found I have too many components and too many frames, and ne’er the two shall meet unless I buy more frames, and more components to bridge the gap of compatibility...

if you can understand that you can explain it to me!

Andy_K 

One of the revelations I had during this process is that there is nothing so useless as something you can identify but will never need. For example, at some time in the past ten years, and probably multiple times, I've apparently said to myself, "That's not trash. That's a reflector from an old Sears Free Spirit."

verktyg 

Before and after shots of the Bat Cave from the last time I did this a few years back:




After reorganization of the bikes in the Bat Cave:




I have to go through and reorganize my work bench and shop. Every time I start on it I find a new project to work on instead...

verktyg

Lascauxcaveman 

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

BTW, I'm pretty sure it was me that accidentally left that SR headset just lying around in your garage. I was there a couple years ago that weekend we all rode out to Vernonia and then drank all the beer in your basement fridge...

I had a small miracle occur in my own man cave not too long ago. I finally got the workbench clear enough to set about rebuilding the top end of my chain saw. And the saw actually works now.

Andy_K 

Plausible. I'll accept the headset as a gift of appreciation for the beer. I fear you'll find no such offering for the hospitality you've shown me in Port Angeles.

Andy_K 

I’m actually in the process of unbuilding it. It’s on a hook on the other side of the room. I need to find a gear puller to get the stupid Power Torque compact Athena crankset out of it. There was a shop about two miles from me that had the right tool, but they’re going out of business. Tomorrow is their last day and they aren’t doing anymore service. The owner said something on his Facebook page about starting mobile service. I plan to stop in and ask about that.

Andy_K 

Thanks for the idea of looking through old messages. I just did that, and now the mystery is solved.

I got this as part of a larger multi-component SunTour Superbe for Campy Super Record trade I made with @nesteel just over two years ago when I was building up my Gios. I guess I decided the black Specialized headset that was already on the Gios was somehow better than the SR. Even now, I’m on the fence. I guess the proper solution is to get another Gios, build it with the SR and see which one I like best.

seedsbelize 

And it's broken .....