Old 08-16-12, 10:38 AM
  #203  
cooperryder
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Thanks for the compliments folks.
And thanks to Andrew / realestvin7
Two of my fav frames have been provided courtesy of him.

I now have about 200 miles on the Cimarron since completing it & am digging it more & more.
Those fat street tires absorb the rough road shocks so well.
It is fun to be able to easily drop down from curbs as well.

I would like to eventually get a better set of wheels for it.
I ruined the rear one 2 weeks back that I was using with wide flange hubs so I used the hollow axle, bearing, & cones
from it to convert a nutted solid axle wheel I had on hand to one with Q/R.

At least the bike shop mechanic said he could not retrue it.
I expect a good wheel building person could do it. ..or at perhaps even rebuild it.
That's the next thing I would like to learn how to do.

Cockpit component list & why I picked them.

Over the years I have found my preferred position is a flat area on top of road bars and
usually 44 or 45cm wide bars work best for me. I tried a 48 cm road bar once & found it too wide for my likes.
About the only time I go to the drops is if facing a pretty good headwind or just needing another position
on a long ride. The Biomax drops seem made for my hands.
I just like the available hand positions of a road bar better than any mtb bar or swept back style bar that uses hand grips.

It's so cool to run across this thread & get inspired & decide to covert a mt bike to road bars.
I like the results a lot.

*Ritchey Biomax handlebars 44 or 45 c-c ...I forget.
They were all black & I spent about 1.5 hrs sanding only the center section using 220, then 400, then 600, then 2000 grit sandpaper & then some of my wife's silver polish to finish off to get a shine acceptable to me.

When wrapping the bars I ran out of tape about 1.5 " shy of completing so I just used the brown cloth
tape I had left over from a previous project. The look is kind of growing on me.

*Tektro RL340 Aero Levers with Q/R (Wasn't sure I would like as well as the 200A levers I had used in the past but I do like them even better.
www.tektro.com/_english/01_products/01_prodetail.php?pid=67&sortname=Lever&sort=1&fid=3

*Tektro RL720 Top Mounted Cross Levers ...I spend so much time with my hands in this area
these are just flat out convenient for me & I get great grip leverage when using them.
I now have them on 3 of my bikes plus my wife's bike.
www.tektro.com/_english/01_products/01_prodetail.php?pid=58&sortname=Lever&sort=1&fid=3
When trying to build up a frame on a tight budget it sure helps me to have these economical brake levers available.

*VeloOrange Stem
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...0-17-rise.html
I went with a 8cm stem since I usually prefer a 58cm TT on my bikes but this Cimarron has a
60cm TT so I went shorter on the stem accordingly & it is working well for me.

*Soma High Rider Stem Adapter
http://store.somafab.com/sohiristad.html
Getting the bars up higher is easier on the old back & this thing will certainly get'em up there.
At first I tried the VO Orange Stem Adaptor but it did not get it as high as I desired. I do like the VO Orange adaptor on on my 25" frames
but this Cimarron is a 23" frame.

*Bar Ends are Microshift like RivBike offers although they offer only left side levers because the right side has no friction mode.
The right side is for 9 speed indexed & I am running a 7 speed rear so I have to double click on a couple of gears.
Anyone want to trade a left lever for a right indexed lever?

*Cable housing Silver braided from Velo Orange.
Someone mentioned the canti's. They are some vintage Dia Compe 981's that were take offs from some other bike.
They are working adequately with the levers but the pads are not great so new pads will be a soon to come upgrade.

FYI…Derailleurs are some early 90's Suntour XCE that were also some I had on hand & they are working well even they I guess they are not exactly high end but they helped on the budget factor as did the used wheels & older Exage Mountain Triple Crank with 28 x 38 x 48 Biopace rings I also had in the parts box. Thank the Lord for a decent parts box when doing a tight budget build.
That Tange Nova 300 headset is also original & I kinda like the unusual look about it.
Safe riding to you all & apologies this turned out so long.

Last edited by cooperryder; 08-16-12 at 10:40 AM. Reason: typo
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