Hi Jim,

Alan Bernard sent me. The bike I'm submitting looks an awful lot like his, but has accumulated a bit more beausage. I'm not a copycat, though -- in fact, it was my bike that inspired his project.

So, here's Molly III. She's descended from Molly, which was my old Univega Hybrid. I rode Molly for 10 years, and then I got into recumbents. But Molly was still a good bike that I had a great deal of affection for. So I cut apart the frame, and used the old plans for a homebuilt TE that Easy Racers sold years ago to turn that old bike into a recumbent. Thus, Molly Jr. was born. I rode Molly Jr. all over the place, and even did a self-supported cross-country ride on her. Alas, my bike fabrication skills lacked some key element, and my homebuilt frame failed. But I had everything I needed for a Tour Easy except the frame, so I called up Easy Racers, and they sold me a frame for a very reasonable price. So I got a frame replacement, re-built the bike, and dubbed it Molly III. Molly Jr. had been painted British Racing Green, and sported wood fenders, but when I built up Molly III, I really wanted to complete the effect, so a year after I got the frame replacement, I spent the fall tracking down the stuff to really deck her out (in addition to having the seat back and frame bag custom made!) I finished the bike more or less as you see it here in the winter of 2004.

Here are the specs:
Chris King headset
Suntour XC Expert 8 speed thumb shifters
105 front deraileur
105 rear deraileur
Shimano M-900 XTR crankset w/ TA rings, 48/36/24
Shimano 8 speed 11-30 cassette
Avid SD-7 front brake / BB-7 rear disc brake
Avid SD-7 levers Sun CR-18 rims w/ SON hub front & XT hub rear
Terracycle Idler PC-48 Chain

- Michael

cyclotouriste@gmail.com