Folding Bikes - Metamorphosis of a made in USSR folding bicycle

Greetings fellas

Remember this thread?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=167255

Well, I replaced all components except the fork and seatpost, frame and stem clamps.



Frame and fork - original
hub front - Campagnolo Record at least 5000 years old
hub rear - Dura Ace at least 3000 years old
Rims - Answer 28 holes 451 mm
Drive train - single speed
Crank - Old Shimano 105 52 teeth
Freewheel - AC racing 15 teeth
Chain - KMC
Seatpost - 25.0 mm Kalloy
Saddle - cheapo
brakes - cheapo
spokes - DT Swiss 2.0 mm
stem - Combination of seatpost 28.6 and Tranz-x
handlebar - road, steel, cut at the curve
cables - Clarks
brake levers - Cane creek 200 TT
Pedals - Coda SPD
Starting Weight 16 kg
Final Weight 10.5 kg

Well, I'm extremely jealous... How does it ride, and how does it fold? You should get a nice big yellow star for a head badge ;)

Ah yeah, I remember this bike! I also saw you posted in in the what bikes do we all have thread, and I wondered about it.

I think you did an excellent job. Light weight, considering the heavy frame! My R20 ended up heavier than original once I tucked it out for loaded touring... :eek:

And the handlepost - is that the Kalloy straight post that narrows to 22.2mm, from aebike! I mentioned this idea once... recently when I decided I wanted one of those straight seat posts, there were none left! :mad:

:D

With a paint job this bike looks like a U$thounsands bike.

Congratulations.

The bicycle rides very well and it is very fast. Saturday I will ride 55 km on this bicycle in a fairly flat place and then, I will let you know the details.

Ah yeah, I remember this bike! I also saw you posted in in the what bikes do we all have thread, and I wondered about it.

I think you did an excellent job. Light weight, considering the heavy frame! My R20 ended up heavier than original once I tucked it out for loaded touring... :eek:

And the handlepost - is that the Kalloy straight post that narrows to 22.2mm, from aebike! I mentioned this idea once... recently when I decided I wanted one of those straight seat posts, there were none left! :mad:

:D

Jur,

The stem arranjement is exactly as you explained to us in a previous post. I took a strait seat post 28.6 with upper edge 22.2 for basic saddle clamps. I inverted the seatpost, inserted inside the steerer and lock it with the stem clamp. On the "SeatStemPost" I assemble a 130 mm Tranz-x stem. The "SeatStemPost" is alloy and I do not know how strong it is, lets say I would feel more confortable with a steel "SeatStemPost" for standing on the pedals and apply as much force as I want on the handlebar.

Finally, I have these 28.6 strait seat posts at the shop, if you need one, I will post it for you.

With a paint job this bike looks like a U$thounsands bike.

Congratulations.

Painting bicycles is my weakness. The money I have is to invest in new parts for new bikes, or to improve the bicycles I have. One day, probably I will paint it. Right now the bicycle does not look like U$thounsands bike but I believe it preforms like one. After riding a couple of km to test the bicycle I start to believe Sheldon Brown's words that old frames R20 type with the right parts can give you a bicycle very similar to Bike Fridays and similars.

Dumpster bikes customized with care - Priceless. Nice Job! G.R.

What about the BB - any special tricks, or was it standard?

What about the BB - any special tricks, or was it standard?

Yes, the BB was difinitely different. I will show you my conversion to BSA BB with a set of pictures

What kind of size is this one? A nice bicycle I how will I convert it to BSA BB?!



Let's take it apart!



After measuring, I saw I could slide a childrens BB shell inside this Kama strange BB size



Right thought, but after grinding a lot the children's bicycle BB shell, the center of Kama BB shell is still to narrow to slide the new shell inside. So I was struck by the idea of removing the center part of the children's BB shell and only use the outer threaded edges.



It worked, just glue it with epoxy, use a BB cartridge Shimano UN 52 and voila!

Very creative. the cold fix allows you to retain that distinctive original paint coat.

One thought for the future: If the epoxy that you bedded the threaded section in ever fails.
Your gap space may be justright for flowing brass in with a brazing rod. A dummy spindle cups and races could be rigged to hold you alignment adn spacing, and then removed and replaced with the UN52 cartridge when you're done.

Heh, heh Caotropheus tidy job! Nice to see how things develop! :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: