FINISHED TREK 800

Well, here it finally is.  The old Trek 800 from the dumpster now lives a second life as a 28:17 (soon to be 28:14) single speed with a new custom paint job.  I rode it to work today, and no hill even came close to making me stand up in the saddle. I really like the way this bike came out, but unfortunately it must be sold to finance the next project (halloween fixie?). The total cost came out to $50.00- not too bad. I had a great time building this bike; please enjoy the pics!

Before:

After:

Bars chopped to 15.5"

Custom 28:17

CHAINRING CHOPSHOP

As I wrote in my previous post, the TREK is almost finished... all but the crankset.  Last week I decided not to use the triple that came on the bike originally, since the 48 and the 38 tooth rings are both significantly damaged, and since the rings are welded together instead of held together by bolts (and thus they are non-removable.) After spending a great deal of time on the internet and after consulting my LBS, I determined that there was not a decent crankset to be had anywhere for under $40. The problem is that, since I found the TREK in a dumpster to begin with, I would like to keep the re-building cost as low as possible, and I am already approaching the $50 mark due to some unavoidable expenses such as paint, freewheel, bar tape, chain, etc. So today, after nearly a week of frustration, the time came to take matters into my own hands.  I decided to use the original crankset, but to modify it by cutting off the 48 and 38 tooth rings, leaving only the 28.  This is a little bit crazy, especially as it leaves a gearing ratio of 28:17 which is pretty high, but I figured I'd try it and see how it goes (worst case scenario I buy a new 14 tooth freewheel or something.)  So I grabbed my grinder and started cutting. When the smoke cleared, I was left with a custom crankset that only needed a bit of careful filing and a couple coats of matte black Rustoleum to reach full badassness.  I won't be able to finish the build until monday due to a wedding and an open bar, but as of right now I'm pretty optimistic that my little chopshop crank job will work great.  Here are the pics: 

Before:

After:

All you need: Grindalero, Roland Pliers, Roland File

SCORE!

So I've been working on converting the TREK mountain bike I found in a dumpster (see post "Dumpster Diving" below) to a single speed, and, with the exception of the cranks, everything is pretty much done. Yesterday, I drove down to GoodWill to see if I could score a cheap bike to pirate the final necessary parts from, and I came across a near mint condition Schwinn Sprint, circa 1975, which I bought for $70.  The bike must have come from some sort of estate sale or something, because it had an auction tag on it.  My trusted colleague TaTas reckons some old guy owned it, never rode it, and then kicked the bucket, causing it to be sold to someone else who never rode it and who eventually donated it.  So here's why it turned out to be such a sweet score:

  

First, I took off the bitchin' vintage Christophe toe clips (made in France, worth about 20-30 bucks) and put them on my fixie. They are shallower than my old clips, so my toes don't rub the front wheel on sharp turns, which is a definite plus.  I also took off the near perfect wheels (27 1/4 Arayas) and traded them out with the older, crappier set on my wife's World Sport, thus making amends for arriving home with yet another random bike. Then I tuned up the brakes and front derailleur and re-sold it within 24 hours for $150.00- an $80.00 profit. Not too shabby. Here are some pics:

Schwinn Sprint (as it was when I bought it)

Christophe clips

FRESH INK

I took a break from building bikes today to get a new tattoo. "Like the sixgun loves the street" is a line from a song that I wrote for my wife when we first got married. The original line is "I love you like my heart loves to beat / like the sixgun loves the street." I like the image of love as something both dangerous and protecting, peaceful and tumultuous.  Thanks to Jake at Tiger Rose Tattoo in Pismo beach for the design and beautiful execution, and to my wife for the great early birthday present. Check it out!

CREATIVE BRAKING SYSTEM OF THE YEAR

I finally got my front brake lever in the mail yesterday, but when I went to put it on I realized that the curvature of the clip (middle piece in the first pic) was not wide enough to fit around my bars.  The pictures that follow show how I was able to modify a few things to make this awesome vintage lever work for me. 

1. The first picture shows how the brake lever and its components (lever, clip, and bolt) looked originally.  The clip hooks into the slot in the brake lever and wraps around the back of the bars, connected underneath by the bolt.  Everything is made of steel, which, luckily for me, can be reshaped pretty easily with the right tools.

2.  In this picture you can see how the curvature of the clip has been flattened (and thus the length increased) so that it conforms to the diameter of the bars.  I used a padded bench vise to do this.  I also used a rattail file to lengthen the hole for the bolt so that I could get some extra clearance on the bottom.  I then selected a longer, thinner sex bolt (courtesy of Sun Valley Bronze passage hardware) from my box-o-random parts, which just barely snuck under the bars.  The unique aspect of a sex bolt is that it has a threaded tube-like nut (designed to connect two escutcheon plates on either side of a door.)  I like how the nut gives the whole thing a very weird industrial look.

3. This is another view of the sex bolt, complete with random washers, from the underside. Basically what this whole operation proves is that:  a) steel is no match for a flexible mind, and b) you should never throw away old door hardware just in case you ever need it for your bike.

FINISHED FIXED

So here she is, all finished.  All told, the cost was right around $320.  I am still planning on installing a front brake, although I've been riding it brakeless while I wait for my vintage steel lever to arrive.  I am stoked on this bike; riding a fixed gear is a completely different experience, and I'm addicted.  I can't wait to build another one. 

DUMPSTER DIVING

I got up this morning and checked Craigslist (as usual) and found a posting for a free bike in a dumpster behind a housing development out towards Los Osos.  I drove around for a while until I found the place, and then wandered around for a while longer until I found the right dumpster. Sure enough, this little beauty was waiting for me, right next to some questionable potato salad. Behold, my new Trek, soon to be a single-speed of a new color.

A SCHWINN RESURRECTED

This bike was an old Schwinn World Sport that I bought for my wife at a thrift store a couple of years ago.  For Christmas '07 I took it apart, painted the frame, buffed out all the rust from the components, and put the whole thing back together.  This was the first bike project that I undertook on a large scale, and I think it came out pretty nice.  I still want to apply new decals and put new rims on it at some point, as well as some chrome fenders and whitewall tires (both hard to come by for 27" wheels.)  As always, thanks to my dad for his advice and assistance.  I definitely caught the rebuilding bug on this one.