Sammyboy

So, last year, I had this old Falcon frame laying around. It's a little small for me, but it was just so ORANGE, that I really thought I ought to do something with it. So I set about building a single speed urban assault bike - fenders, 26" wheels that were narrower than average mountain bike wheels, but wide for a road bike, and a set of bullhorns, and a rack. I thought to use it as a go anywhere, anytime bike, offroad, on road, all winter, that sort of thing - low maintenance. Then the other day, I was given an old Raleigh womans bike with a tiny frame, onto which someone had attempted, but failed, to bodge a set of Sturmey Archer 5 speed wheels with hub brakes, and of course, they screamed at me to be put on the still unfinished Falcon. No loss of brake effort in the rain, 5 speeds, but maintenance and adjustment free? Perfect.

So today I start doing the job, and it is SOOO frustrating the amount of proprietary stuff on a Sturmey rig! I knew the shifter was going to give me problems on road bars, but I figured I could probably cludge the mount, and it looks as though I'll be able to. Then I realised that the entire brake cables were also proprietary, having a threaded oojah on the end, rather like on an AW shifter cable, but rather than being attached with a clamp, it's actually part of the cable. This means I have to use those cables, and of course, they have the ends that go with upright bar brake levers, rather than the barrels for road levers, so I have to use the levers too. And of course, they too are for 25.4 mm bars, and don't want to fit. I'm doing my nut! I'll no doubt get there in the end, and have an awesome bike, but what a hassle!

Here are the bikes in question: