Folding Bikes - Rockfish bike[Minibike not folding light is *flashing*]

Posted today on the FGG (http://www.fixedgeargallery.com) is a replica F1 bmx frame (http://www.leys.com/basic/rockfish/sales.html#f-1) all gone fixie. (http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2007/mar/ThomasGrinder.htm)

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2007/mar/ThomasGrinder-1.jpg

FYI F1 BMX was a shortlived 'race series' in the late 80s where adults raced bmx in car-parks on hopped-up frames with 7 speed derailleurs. (lookup 'Schwinn Qualifier' (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=189992) for the real period McCoy)

So nearly twenty years on there's this small legacy of weird old frankenstein bike frames out there with a mix of bmx and roadie D.N.A. (high bottom-bracket (relative to the 406 axle) so you can bank those corners without pedal-clashes, a 'track/pace' esque frame geometry). And the Rockfish is a replica you can buy now for not a whole heap of cash. These were kinda the original blueprint for the Dahon Hammerhead et al and I reckon they could be the basis for a really nice urban assault bike. If I was speccing, I'd have 451 rims, (what's with those fat tyres!?!?!!) steel forks with a disk brake, skinnier-than-a-razor tyres, singlespeed freewheel hub geared to about 75 inches, nice retro bars/saddle combo, Trick nuts. (Ok so I lied about the last one.)

Shiny.

Just a heads-up really. Nice to see a small-volume frame builder doing a small-wheeler. Would that there were more.
Were it not for the (undoubtedly hideous) shipping cost to the UK I'd be interested in one as my fun bike.

What is with those Fat tires? An Urban assault bike in my humble opinion should be used to jump kerbs. Fat tires provide cushioning for rims. Also fat high pressure tires can help smooth out the ride and will not necessarily make a bike slow. :D The frames with fork are $259.00 actually that is not bad but if i see a new Raleigh 20 at my LBS I may grab that.

Mini MTB? But you can also set it up as a mini velo with road tires. It would go really fast. I'm looking forward to trying mine out.

http://leys.com/basic/rockfish/sales.html Interesting.

http://leys.com/basic/rockfish/sales.html Interesting.

His F1-style frames are available for $259. Very interesting for those wanting to build up their own mini-velo.

--sam

I picked up a Schwinn Qualifier off CL. There were only 200 of them made. I plan to change the bars, saddle and get road style tires - perhaps Schwalbe Kojaks. I wanted to get a Bianchi Mini Velo from Japan but the shipping price is prohibitive.

A rigid 20" minibike is a cool project.

20" Schwinn Speedster hadnt sen one of these before. http://cgi.ebay.com/schwinn-speedster-20-bike-dec-1974-stingray-fastback_W0QQitemZ320440532156QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9bbe7cbc

There's a qualifier in Monterrey...

http://monterey.craigslist.org/bik/1423185811.html

If only it wasn't on the wrong side of the Atlantic!

That's the one I bought. I got it for a sweet price.

I know the person who owns the orange one... Name is Jon Grinder (his Blog http://grinderswheels.blogspot.com/ )... Totally nice guys. I want to give him a bike frame if I ever make it to Denver. He builds "Grinder Original" bikes http://www.grinderbikes.com/. Mr. Grinder didnt build that frame but it came from a guy around the East Coast (think one of the Carolinas). I was going to buy one of those frames but the original builder didnt follow up. He had built quite a few some years ago and told me he had them in storage but they werent completely finished. I really wanted to try to get some parking lot races together. These A1 frames had a short lived history. A1s where actually sold in bike stores some years ago. Guys would race them in parking lots. They would put out some cones and go for it. Some would put two different length cranks on the BB depending on the race course. An older buddy of mine lived in cali back when it was trying to take off. This is just another frame I want to add to my collection... :)

Folders - Chicks dig em', So I ride em :)

Come check the lack of progress :)
http://web.mac.com/phatatude/Green_Space/Raleigh_Twenty_Blog/Raleigh_Twenty_Blog.html

Looking at the Rockfish website, it appears that they had some connection to Xootr at one time. I lust after both a minivelo of some kind and a Swift....