fixed1313

I would be willing to bet that most people just don't have the knowledge/skill to do the work. Once you have to pay a shop to do the work I would think the cost savings goes out the window. Both of my conversions cost about $75 each to pull together, most of my parts came form the extensive parts collection that has accumulated over the years.

Uncle Randy

I bought a set of Reynolds wheels off Craigslist and asked the seller if he had any other components for sale. I ended up buying a bunch of stems, bars, brakes, pedals, derailleurs etc. for next to nothing.
Check out these SRAM 10 speed shifter for $10. The ad is still there but the shifters have been sold.

fixed1313

[QUOTE=Uncle Randy;17130717]I bought a set of Reynolds wheels off Craigslist and asked the seller if he had any other components for sale. I ended up buying a bunch of stems, bars, brakes, pedals, derailleurs etc. for next to nothing.
Check out these SRAM 10 speed shifter for $10. The ad is still there but the shifters have been sold.
[/QUOTE

Nice, wish I could stumble on deals like that. Most people around here want an arm and a leg for whatever they are selling.

Uncle Randy

That's true. One of my LBSs charges $279.95 for an overhaul which consists of:
Frame polished & waxed
All parts removed, cleaned, inspected, lubricated, & reinstalled
Bearings cleaned re-greased & inspected

You would think that an overhaul would include a new chain, cables, housing and brake shoes. Why are polishing and waxing first on the list? By the time you add these new parts and labor you're probably looking at $400-500 total.

This same shop charges $159.95 for a Tune up which consists of:

Drivetrain Removed & Cleaned

fixed1313

Wow, I gotta up my shop rates. Granted, I am just a guy working in his garage for fun, but seems like I am $180 light on what an overhaul should cost.

alecjahn

Does anyone make modern (don't really want chrome, but maybe silver) 26", full fenders that are less than 1.6-2.1" width?

I run 1.25" Paselas and don't plan on changing.

SKS' site has their Bluemels in 26" x 1.0-1.75'... except I'm pretty sure that is a typo (I'll have to ask) since that's the size in black and the size in silver is the more standard 1.6-2.1"...
SKS Germany
I thought maybe the silver one is the wrong one (again assuming one is wrong), as the B60 is a 60mm wide and that 1.6-2.1" size. So you'd think the B53 is a size smaller, thus perhaps the 1.0-1.75" is correct. I haven't been able to locate any SKS fender that is 26 x 1.0-1.75. Or any brand for that matter... but that sounds like what I want.
Side note: Iam going to take a wild guess and say their Bluemel and Commuter II are the same.

Currently I have the big honkin' Planet Bike ones - I was originally going to put them on a mtb with equally honkin' knobbies, but that never happened. They look kinda alright from the side, but pretty silly from the front and especially while riding, seeing this skinny tire with a giant turd of a fender dwarfing it.

SJX426 

@alecjahn - I understand completely! I use my RockHopper for commuting and thought I would get some street tires for it. Went to a Specialized shop and bought "FAT BOY" tires. You tell me if they are fat!
[IMG]Picture 116 by superissimo_83, on Flickr[/IMG]

Barf me out the door! Fixed that!
[IMG]Truck with packw by superissimo_83, on Flickr[/IMG]

alecjahn

I do like how that looks... but my weakling legs just love these tiny tires.

I emailed SKS to see what the deal is. If they have a 26" 1-1.75 fender they can just have all my money.


unacceptable!

due ruote 

On this bike I used tires that size, and PB 700c fenders. I just pulled in the radius with the stays. Worked pretty well and gave good coverage.

alecjahn

Y'know, I had that thought at some point today but forgot to ask if it would work. Looks pretty damn good to me.
Heck, I love that bike.
Thanks!

eom 

@ #3512 due rote

That is one colorful bike, and really sweet composition of the picture

bikemig 

That the bike is just hot in a color challenged kind of way, . Nice touch with the blue flowers in the background.

neo_pop_71

Holy cow!
This thread is by far my favorite in C&V, I can't believe I had to go to page 5 to find it!
Here is a bump of love back to page 1 with a tasty bit of eye candy from the X0-1 Registry blogspot... drooling!

Velocivixen

I absolutely adore this bike! Especially the color scheme. Very bold. Choice of bar tape color is outstanding.

due ruote 

Thanks for the compliments. I liked the bike a lot but in the end decided it was a tad too big so I sold it. New owner had been thinking about doing a conversion himself and was psyched, so I didn't feel too bad about it.

inkandsilver

Ooooh, looks like my size...

Well bumped!

pcdmiele

here is my latest conversion. 1992 TREK 750 single track. not a 26" but 700c(early 29er I really like the rude and handling. most comfortable bike I've built so far. I swapped out the original suntour XCE for LX and an 11-30 8 speed cassette. even with the 48 38 28 chainrings it goes pretty fast. I would like to try a 48x30 double up front but will have to change or space the bottom bracket to keep the big ring from rubbing the chainstay.

royal

lotekmod

Nice! I just picked up a 1995 750 singletrack with plans to do something similar. I'm loving this frame so far, it has braze on mounts for everything, even braze-ons for an anti chainsuck plate under the chain stays. I have a few questions:

- What are you using for shifters? It looks like downtube shifters mounted to brake levers. Please fill me in. I have a set of indexed down tube shifters I'd like to use but can't figure out how to mount them other than using Rivendell's bare= end mounts for $38 + shipping, almost what I spent on the rest of the bike.
- It looks like you are using a threadless stem adapter? How do you like that setup?

pcdmiele

shifters are 7speed 105 mounted to Home brew RETROSHIFTS. I really like them. I've been using them for a couple of years now and prefere them to shimano brifters. I have yet to try the campy brifters. I would like to try a shimergo setup but haven't found Ergo's cheap enough yet.
like you I got the bike cheap($20 w/o wheels) I did a complete dismantle/clean etc... and just moved most of the parts over from my previous commuter(miyata quickcross) I really like to use threadless adapters I know it is a bit of a heresy here but I like the way they work and they make it really easy to try different bars and bar positions. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with your 750. please post it up when you are ready.

Royal

ksryder

I had a similar experience with my '94 750 Multitrack; bought some clamp on DT shifters without realizing the downtube diameter was too big. I just ended up biting the bullet on 8-speed ultegra bar ends which aren't exactly a budget option but I got impatient waiting for a good deal. Story of my life. I guess the upshot is I have an unused set of DT shifters for the swap meet next weekend.

Quote:

even with the 48 38 28 chainrings it goes pretty fast. I would like to try a 48x30 double up front but will have to change or space the bottom bracket to keep the big ring from rubbing the chainstay.

I'm going to upgrade at least to the 48-38-28 too; the 42 tooth big ring is fine for the gravel roads but I spin out pretty quickly on the pavement. And even on the steepest hills I rarely need the 24-tooth little ring.

Here's some pictures from my second long ride after getting everything set up; sorry I don't have any good closeups of the bike yet cleaned up. Was hoping to get to that this weekend but the Kansas City Royals have been taking up some of my free time.

pcdmiele

nice pics, what deraillers did you use? did the 94 come stock with shimano? what cassette? I find the 48 to 11 ratio feels as fast as my previous bikes' 50 to 13. I thought about going 48/34 on the front but I would like to have the lower gearing and less gear redundancy of a 28 or 30 instead of the 34. I'll post up here when I figure it all out.

ksryder

Still using the stock STX derailleurs that came with it. Rear 7-speed freewheel (I think maybe they switched from freewheel to casssette in 1995 possible?) is 11-28.

I think I'd be fine with a compact double, 48/34 or something. Like I said, I never use the little ring even on the steepest of gravel roads. This bike is heavy, about 27 pounds, so I think there's some limitations on how fast it's ever going to be but it would be nice to spin a little more on descents than I can now. We'll see if anything shows up at a swap meet.

The FD doesn't always like to shift from the middle to the big ring when I have any kind of load on the pedals, I have to soft pedal to get it to work. Since I'm going to swap out the crankset anyway I'll wait to see if that makes a difference, if not I'll probably put a new FD on. I've got 8-speed ultegra bar ends and the FD is friction so pretty much anything will work, I think.

Interesting and slightly annoying fact about Shimano STX in 1994 -- for one year, and one year only, Shimano made the STX crankset with a 95 BCD. So I can't just throw a bigger chainring on there because there is no such thing as an aftermarket 95 BCD (unless I went custom and I don't want to spend any more on this bike than I already have; other projects are taking priority.)

No one asked but I'll say it anyway -- I had some no-name 700x32s on there that weren't very much fun; I got a set of Vittoria Randonneur 700x38s from a BF member and slapped those on there and this thing is a gravel grinding BEAST now. I had so much fun on this thing this weekend it shouldn't be legal.

I also got a big laugh Sunday morning when I got on asphalt for a couple miles and caught up with the slow group of the local bike club ride. My budget-build 27 pound fat tire moustache bar gravel rig has no business keeping up with all those expensive plastic bikes, but I sure did. Hell they even slowed me down. (disclaimer: I have no problem with carbon and will probably buy a carbon bike at some point but I always get a kick out of outrunning carbon on my steel bikes.)

pcdmiele

bummer about the crankset. hope you can find something soon. I also run the Vittoria Randonneur in a 32. I really like these tire too. very fast and smooth.

lotekmod

Those retroshifts are interesting, I've never seen them before. I feel stumped on shifters for this budget build- I have 7 speed DT shifters, gripshifts, and thumb shifters, none of which play nicely with drop bars. I feel like I should be able to make something like those retroshifts, I even work for a metal fabricator with a machine shop, but we're so busy getting a personal project done is next to impossible.

I'll probably be leaving my 750 with a flat bar and thumb shifters for now anyway (so I can't post it here). I'll be using this bike partially to tow my daughter on her trail-a-bike and I know from experience the flat bar gives me better control that the drop bar. But as soon as she outgrows the trail-a-bike... drop bars it will be.

I've been considering heresy with the threadless adapter too. I have a nice set of compact drop bars that would be perfect for this bike but they are 31.8 diameter.

kimpw

What kind of tires are you guys running on the 26" MTBs for pavement? Is there a difference between 26x1.5 and 26x1.75? I need tires to be under 1.95 to fit fenders on them. I was thinking of Pasela 26x1.5, but always liked wider tires...