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I found an abandoned bike in the park near my house. It was an old Repco RT Sport. Back in the 80's, when Repco's still made decent bikes (at least according to my granddad) I had a Repco 'Tracer'. It was an awesome bike. But it got stolen one day, and police later reported the corpse had been found in a bush by the lake in my neighborhood. These thoughts immediately returned to me upon finding this deserted soul. Had it been stolen? Vines growing through the wheels suggested this had been laying in the bushes for months. In fact, I think the owners of the adjoining property had just tossed the unwanted bike over the fence. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as bike cruelty. I decided to take it in, and give it a new life. Well, I have been on the lookout for a beater... but the frame is too large for me, so I decided to rebuild it for a family member.

Unloved and deserted

I took it into my awesome local bike store - Bikeforce in Richmond - who through many previous visits and repairs have proven themselves knowledgeable and professional without being elitist, and above all friendly and helpful (despite numerous tire-kicking visits by me). And my dog is always welcome there. They helped me flesh out a plan for re-fitting out the RT Sport as an urban commuter. We decided repainting the bike would lose some of its appeal.

Some goals for the rebuild:

• I'm a little over derailleur maintenance, and for an urban commuter I wanted to try out an internal hub. The Shimano Nexus three speed was not available in a 29" wheels, but Bikeforce got me a decent deal on a Alfine eight speed hub built into a wheel from Shimano.
• However, internal hubs are only now becoming more popular on road-ish bikes with drop bars. I felt using the regular flat bar grip shifter was a bit awkard, as were the trigger shifters. Online I found the marvelous little company Jtek Engineering, who make some innovative custom-machined bike components, including bar-end shifters for internal gear hubs! I ordered this directly from JTek.
• I ride with a messenger bag, because I never wanted to detract from my bike's appearance, or add additional weight. However, I was quite smitten with the Tubus Fly rack when I first spotted it on a handsome Orbea Arama tourer in the store some weeks prior. It's not chunky, has nice sleek lines that rather accentuate a road-come-commuter frame.

Steve of Bikeforce Richmond presents the finished rebuild

When the bike was ready for pickup, I was pleased with the result. Fitting it out with predominantly black components allows the faded blue frame and decals to make more of a statement. It definitely retains some charm, and is understated but handsome. I'm glad we decided against repainting the frame. I love the old decals.

The ride is fabulous. The bike rides nicely, and having the Alfine with bar end shifter makes it a breeze to take a relaxed cruise around, or really put your back into it. It feels very efficient, and somehow I'd say a little 'classier' feeling than a derailleur. Great fun!

Here you can see the rather understanded Tubus Fly rack. The black Alfine eight speed seems to be a little more covert at hiding it's bulk than it's silver counterpart.

JTek Engineering's bar-end shifter for the Alfine eight speed hub... brilliant!

How could you repaint over this? Gorgeous!

Fixie nerdlery meets commuter nerdlery

Old-school charm

Maiden voyage... the Repco lives on!

Thanks to Steve, Leight and Alistair of Bikeforce for their help!