Got this 10 speed for free at a garage sale down the road on Saturday
Good size for her and matches the colour scheme of the cruiser bike I built for her so a fixie it was.
Spent most of my day on it and had some fun with the angle grinder and now it looks like this.
Frame: Stock. Did some googling but I couldnt find it. I’m guessing its a cheap roadie from the 80’s. Feels like ChroMo though and its lugged. If anyone could Identify it that’d be sweet.
Forks: Stock. Wierd sized wheels though. Couldn’t get 27 inch tyred on em.
Bottom bracket: Stock bracket that came with my Fuji Track. Just a little sealed bearing square taper. Should do her fine.
Crankset: Original with some mod. Decent seeming 170 cranks but the outer 50-ishT ring was one piece. Not even sure how the inner ring was secured.
So I had some fun grinding the outer ring off with an angle grinder.
The clearance of the ring against the frame is about 2-3mm but it makes for a nice chain line.
Front wheel: 700c wheel I scavanged of a giant cypress
Front tyre: some white walled fat thing I got off ebay
Rear wheel: Took it off this bike I bought cheap off ebay as a ‘fixie conversion’. Ended up being part of the 70’s batch of malvern stars with the stupid bottom brackets. Had a free wheel on it and I figured I’d try this ‘suicide lock’ I’d heard about. Cog only just made it on there and there was no thread left for an old bottom bracket lock ring. So I this ‘Plastic Steel’ stuff I used to fix a cracked engine once and figured that’d do.
Everything else is pretty much stock.
Weirdest thing is the brake set up and bar tape.
They’re those wierd roadie breaks with the extra level so you can use them in both riding positions.
The bar tape was really nice on the left side and she liked the white so I kept it on and ran the front brake to it. Running a roadie break cable from the left to the front brake was a bit wierd tho.
Best I could come up with so it wouldnt interfere with brake operation was to loop it over the stem.
Advice on better cable positioning would be appreciated there.
Then as I really wanted to get the bike rideable in a day I made the right hand side bar tape out of an old tube and some leccy tape.
She had a few tentative scary rides around the block today and she seemed to enjoy it. Got some cages to give her but I’m sure she’d like the odessy flats with the wranger dave straps better.
Thing is I didn’t actually spend an actual cent making this bike.
Just spare bits and a full saturday.
Be nice to keep it that way.
Though she does want one of those top tube protectors to keep the minge safe.
Should probably encourage her to take a ride down to Gear shop next time she gets a pay cheque.
consider a new dual-pivot brake and an auxilary lever for extra stop-stop while she’s learning, esp. while she’s riding on flats in the city of hills. Maybe even leave the other one on for now?
do you want her to get into riding or not? open your wallet you cheap bastard and drop coin on some new tape or grips - consider risers, or chopped down MTB if there are more garage sales
did the bike come with a lid? might need a new one
I’ve always hated those old double brake levers… Never seem to give you a good feel for the brake in the top position. Why didn’t you grind off the back brake cable guides when you had the parks flying? Overall I reckon its not bad looking except for the bar tape. I like it.
Awesome way to keep the misses happy without spending a sent, I need to do the same for mine. I’m thinking a three speed, she had a go on my fixie and had a small heart attack.
I put some reversed MTB V brake pads on for some extra stopping power.
Don’t have any spare front dual pivots but I’ll keep an eye out.
Auxillary lever? What do you mean? Like put a back brake on too?
-heh I let her take things at her own speed. This is the third bike I’ve built her so thats plenty of encouragement. First one she left for a week in the city with a little cable lock which was promptly pinched. I’m not sure she truly had understanding for a loved bike being stolen. Plus she’s been unemployed for ages and I’ve been the sugar daddy. Next week she’ll be gettin more money than me and she can = pimp out her bike outta her own pocket.
She wants matching tape but I put the tube on there just so it could be ‘finished’ in a day
-What is this ‘bike lid’ ? Never heard the term.
lol its not my living room its my bedroom
I’ve never really used the double brake levers and they intruige me. Plus I would’ve had to remove the nice bar tape to take them off.
I’m all for grinding off cable guides but she liked the original kinda cleanish look to the bike. Random exposed bits of grinding would probably detract from that.
There was talk of getting one of those top tube padding bars that seem fashionable.
That’d probably solve the issue.
Yeah a three speed is her other bike. Does her well for the shops and getting to work. She’s been coming to polo lately and I think she may be catching the fixie bug.
my girlfriend went from not owning a bike her whole life to riding fixed and playing polo in the space of about year. now she’s all look no hands and skids and stuff.
probably the best move she made was to put some risers on her road bike. made it way more rideable around the city, not reaching down so far for the brake etc. also having about 60-65 gear inches on the fixed gear bicycle makes it more fun and easier to control/skid.
drops really are made for racing, and those auxiliary lever brakes on the tops of the bars are pretty shit really. If you don’t have brake hoods to put your hands on, i think drops are a bit useless, unless of course it’s a track bike, no brakes etc.
so i’d be looking for some risers/flat bars for her, especially since that frame looks pretty long for the height.
She’s got a nice low ratio and she wants to try out the drops.
Got some risers for her when she tires of them though.
She’s takin it home for the first time tomorrow so we’ll see how she goes.
and drop coin on some new tape or grips - consider risers, or chopped down MTB if there are more garage sales