I was going to write this up as a how-to article, but it's ridiculous. The first line would be, "start by digging a 30-year-old touring frame out of your parts collection, then..." and you can imagine how useful that would be to the cyclists of the world. This project is more of an object lesson on an attitude: figure out the end goals, then rearrange your resources to fit the goal. If you can't do that, then change the goal.

Thanks to an inspired name suggestion from Jak, The Cane has been renamed and repurposed as a cyclocross bike. I knew I wanted a 'cross bike, but there wasn't much to worry about because I didn't have any serious cyclocross tires, and it seemed silly to build a 'cross bike at the end of cyclocross season.

Then brother John got me some tires. Casting about in the pile brought up the Motobecane as my only road bike with the frame clearances to handle 'cross tires, and since frame clearance is the single most important feature of a 'cross frame, this bike is now my 'cross bike.

This is version 1. Version 2 of this bike will see STI shifting, a new handlebar (thanks to Dave), 'cross levers, and hopefully a rat-tail fender and a new saddle (the current seat is a classic leather model). I have plans to convert this bike to a single front ring, especially since the 44T "small" ring on the cranks is a good size for a single 'cross ring. But I think that will wait for next season.