grolby

I finished my "new" beater a week or so ago, and just got some pictures taken. Here it is!

The frame is a rusty old Rampar R-Two that I was able to obtain for free. It's pretty much crap, which is the whole point: I don't care what happens to it! A good thing, too; the headset is pretty gummed up, and the bottom bracket is less than perfectly smooth, itself. I don't dare take it apart, because of the cottered cranks, and it probably wouldn't be worth the effort anyway. The front wheel comes from my other bike, which I think is going to sit out the winter at my parents' house. In order to make it fit, I had to file out the fork dropouts to fit the QR axle and spread the blades out to accomodate the 100mm axle length. I used nothing fancier than a file and my bare hands, but it's working great!

The real centerpiece of the bike is the rear wheel, which I built up myself using a Sears 3-speed hub (basically a Sturmey-Archer AW), a crappy Nashbar rim and DT spokes. It's my first wheelbuild ever, and I'm rather proud of myself. The rest is mostly cobbled together from used or cheap parts, resulting in a real "Frankenbike." I'm pretty sure that only the cables, housing, rim and spokes and handlebar are new. As for the handlebar, it was 24" when I bought it, but I chopped it down to 20" before installing it. I only have a couple of miles on the bike so far, but I think I like it. If you can't tell, I'm using the old derailer as a chain tensioner so I can shift the front chainrings. This gives me six speeds, though there only really four distinct gears, since the spaces between the chainrings and the hub gears is the same (33%). This required some unconventional cable routing, but it's all working very smoothly. A 22-tooth cog in back won't let me go too fast, but I should be able to climb any hill I find. This won't be hard, since I live on a huge one.

All that's left is to scrounge up some fenders, probably from my good bike since I don't want to pay another $30-$40, and install a rack.

So... what do you think?

2wheeledsoul

As a fellow frankenbike builder/rider, I can honestly say that she's so ugly, she's beautiful. IMHO, all frankenbike homebuilds have one thing in common: They're like the ugly girl every other guy passes up, but turns out to be the most passionate lover you've ever had. The steel platform rat-traps, niiiiice!
Manage to find another old wreck or two, esp with oldschool cotterless cranksets and you've got a source for replacing the wonky cottered cranks and headset.

d2create

Pure genius!

grolby

d2create, that's high praise coming from a guy who just took delivery of a gorgeous custom-painted Atlantis! 'Course, I paid less than you did .

Thanks! And, say, that's a good idea!