I used an aluminum road drop bar, old suntour 6 speed friction barends, an adjustable stem and some old brake levers with suicide levers. I know these are a no-no for bike builders in the know, but the heart wants what it wants!
For the drivetrain, I used the early 90's Shimano Altus groupset I had sitting around since I stripped down my old undergrad bike, with the addition of a SRAM X7 front derailler.
Rims are no-name aluminum 36h 26 inch, with no-name hubs. The goal is to attract as little attention as possible so this bike can be used for errands and surf trips. Nashbar slicks pump up to 100psi and really make this bike go fast considering it's weight! The difference in ride between the 26" rim from 27" or 700c rims is obvious - much faster acceleration, quicker turning, more sturdy feeling over bumps and up curbs, with a tradeoff in top speed. Definitely a good bike for hills and stop/go urban riding.
My trusty Brooks flyer got swapped onto this bike too - it's remarkable how comfortable these saddles are. I've got a b17 too, and couldn't really say which I like more.
Triple A powder coating out of El Monte again did the color job. They are consistently excellent with their detail work around lugs and threaded braze ons.
Anyways, a very fun, sturdy feeling bike that rides alot better than I was expecting!
WHOA. The bike's looking real nice! I wouldn't have been able to recognize it at all. I really need to get back to working on my projects...
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, the police auction that I mention in my posts is actually online. The URL is propertyroom.com, and their pick-up location is in the City of Industry. I think they either don't ship the bikes from the other locations, or the shipping is ridiculously expensive.
They post bikes individually and in bulk. The individual ones usually attract lots of bidders, and don't turn out to be too good of a deal. But if you closely browse through the pictures in the bulk section, you can sometimes spot a really promising bike or two. The only downside of buying things in bulk is that you're going to have to pay a bit more (but it's usually cheap if you think about the per-bike price) and you're going to have to load all of them up in your car somehow. But check it out and I'm sure you'll find it worthwhile.
And please keep those awesome posts coming!