Written on August 13th, 2024 By Summer Hanson
I got a set of 2 his & hers 90's Motiv rigid MTBs from a neighbor, about a month after starting my job at Cycle & Coffee last July. They belonged to a husband and wife duo who were both 5'5". I ran to pick them up, thinking they'd be easy to roll on home, but with 4 flat tires and lots of steep hills, I definitely struggled to get them back. I called my friend/neighbor Kevin (also Ben's roommate), who came to the rescue and helped me push them the last part of the way home.
As a newbie, I wanted to take my time to restore and customize a bike, learning along the way, without worrying too much how it would turn out. Motiv bikes weren't super high end at the time or anything, but I think these aged beautifully, with fairly lightweight Tange MTB steel tubing, and pretty colors. My untrained eye liked these bikes, and looking back a year later, I still do! I especially love the understated salmon pink color of this one. The purple step-through found a happy home with another friend of mine, Céleste! More on that one later.
The set I got were barely ridden, with the original tires and components, and barely scuffed paint. They were dusty and dry, but overall in good shape, no rust or anything like that, which was great since I was able to just clean up and restore most of the components! Even the tires were still in decent shape, albeit a bit dry.
This was my very first bike project, so it taught me a lot! I didn't build this one with anybody specific in mind, because I wanted to take my time to learn, and just let the bike and the process guide me. I was working alongside Ed a fair amount while I built this one up, and he suggested I do a gravel bike resto-mod on it. Ed's kind of the king of resto-mods, and I appreciate his influence on this build!
I grabbed some Ritchey Pro drop bars we had laying around, and some integrated shifter/brake levers to go with them. I meticulously wrapped the bars while watching the Park Tools YouTube tutorial, and painstakingly adjusted the derailleurs while asking a million questions, probably annoying Ed to no end.
I easily got distracted with walk in customers while I was working on this bike, and was on & off as a barista and working on the shop's website and listing the countless bikes in our warehouse at the time, but after some months of Justin and Ed's persistent pestering me of "when are you gonna finish that Motiv?" I finally wrapped it up!
And then, the very next day, my friend/neighbor Ben came by with our other neighbor Alex, for coffee, and this bike caught his eye, and after a quick test ride he bought it on the spot, before I even photographed or listed it! This was a super proud moment for me. By this time I had sold a lot of bikes for the shop, but this was my first time selling a bike I restored and customized myself!
Me and Ben back in January, a proud moment for me as a new bike builder, and Ben with his new gravel bike resto-mod, which he now refers to as "the Pink Pony"
I couldn't be happier that my first build went to a good friend and neighbor of mine, so I get to see it often and know that it's being enjoyed. Thanks Ben for boosting my confidence as a new bike builder, and for lending the bike back for a post-sale photo shoot!
Happy riding!
-Summer