WorldPax

You are correct sir. Only modification I had to make was to stack a couple small washers under the bolt. I could have also shortened the bolt, but I fear commitment. I'm now wondering if a J-tek/retroshift combo might be possible with an 8-speed.

I got the build kit from Traitor Cycles. It's your basic Sturmey S-RF3 and the Sturmey barend shifter mounted to a Retroshift lever. After today's commute, I can tell you it works beautifully. I am going to be embarrassing some roadies on the group rides in the spring. I can hear it now,

"Is your hub broken? It's clicking."
"Nah it's a 3-speed."

bigbenaugust 

I did not need this information. If only I could just pick up the wheelset and shifter...

katcorot

My 2 commuting bikes for now:
MTB soon to be upgraded to a Surly Big Dummy.

1974 Apollo Deelite.....35lbs


2008 Giant Rincon.....40lbs without pannier

WorldPax

I had very little luck finding someone who would sell me a wheelset with the bar end shifter. What I paid for the build kit was not much more than I would have to buy the parts to build only the rear and have it built up.

jacobinchina

It's not the most beautiful thing on earth, but it's mine. It gets me through Beijing traffic and country roads with sheep, too.



and, yes, I know the picture's blurry. My phone has its limits. That, or I was afraid of the sheep.

starkmojo

kona jake with borrowed pannier

jrickards

It looks like you stole the basket from a balcony in Venice! Nice bike, surprised about the weight though, thought it'd be at least 5lb less.

RubeRad

Looks pretty beautiful to me, especially for China. My buddy spent a year in Beijing teaching English (and wrote a fantastic book about it!), and he was paranoid about bike theft. He wrapped his entire frame in duct tape to disguise it, and I think it was just a Mongoose, not a tricked-out commuter with fenders and a leather saddle!

turky lurkey

Here's my commuter bike here it is in Saturday form

RubeRad

Love the DIY trunk. Probably what, $5 from home despot? Did you just cut holes and ziptie it to the rack? Is it waterproof enough that way?

jacobinchina

RubeRad: Thanks! neon single speeds are all the rage now. Plus, I live and work somewhat near the airport - hence the lack of skyscrapers in this picture - and keep my bike locked in my apartment or office.

When I was living in busier areas, I had a Forever that nobody would've wanted anyway.

downwinded

Thought it was supposed to be the sheep that were nervous.
I like the bike.

Murray Missile 

I have the same basic trunk on my foul weather/beater bike so my cargo won't get wet. Mine is solid black though, $6 at Wal Mart, I put Adel clamps around the rack frame then drilled through the bottom of the tub and used machine screws with fender washers to attach it through the clamps then put a layer of high density foam in the bottom. Mine has a carrying handle in the middle of the lid that rattled, I wrapped it with electrical tape until the tape was thick enough to wedge it against the side of the recess it sits in, no more rattle. I could have removed the handle but it makes a nice additional attaching loop for light items that are to big to go inside.

turky lurkey

Cool! I also considered using screws and large washers, but went with heavy duty zip ties instead (simple yet effective). I've been using the same tub and same zip ties for about a year now ~ 3-4 thousand miles of carrying full loads on pretty rough terrain and its still in great condition. I actually got mine from wal-mart as well $6 + a little change. I am actually surprised that I don't see this more often, in fact I have never seen anyone else do the same thing, your the first. It's so freaking cheap and works really well. It is a bit ugly but IMHO looks better than a milk crate, which I have seen a lot of. Good idea on the foam, I have thought about putting something soft on the bottom but haven't bothered yet. One draw back to mine is noise if hard objects get loose inside, but I try not to let that happen.

To answer RubeRad's question above, yes it is waterproof, I've been through some crazy rain storms with that thing. A month or so back when Colorado was flooding everywhere, I was carrying my textbooks and other valuables in that thing without any problems. I guess a few drops of water got in from the small zip tie holes underneath but it was extremely minimal and that could be easily rectified with a bit of silicone caulking (hasn't been enough of an issue for me to bother with it yet). I did just install the rear light so a bit of water might be able to get in where it is attached, so I think I will give it the silicone treatment soon. The tub also works as a fender .

Murray Missile 

Yeah, same here, I figured it was probably pretty common so I never bothered to post and never gave it any more thought. When I saw yours tonight it hit me that it is the only other one I've seen so far. I prefer to think of it as "utilitarian" rather than ugly however.

I was originally going to use J-bolts to make it so I could remove it fairly quickly but then realized I really had no need for that feature. I also had no J-bolts but I did have a bin full of Adel clamps just the right size I'd probably never use, I had bought an assortment for an automotive project 15-20 years ago and these were the leftovers. Zip ties would have worked just as well though and had I not had the clamps would have been my next choice. Glad to hear it's as weatherproof as I had hoped, I haven't had to test mine yet.

gregjones

I finally carried a camera on a ride.



Details and a few more pics here.

deeth82

Welp, I did it...I went through this entire thread, starting from page 1. Took me about a month and a half, but I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of your lovely/new/old/beautiful/unique/hardworking commuter rigs. I haven't taken many proper pics of my fleet, but I'll drop a quick snap from this morning, taken after the ride into work:



Rode the Tank today...not pictured: Topeak MTX Beamrack (E-type) and MTX trunk bag (the one without side panniers). The roads here are a mix of loose gravel, cracked magma field-like asphalt, and smooth sailing fresh paving...with a surprising number of hills, so the Tank's gearing and big, balloon-y Fat Frank's were perfect for an easy cruise this morning.

Bonus pic: The sunrise this morning over Columbia Metro Airport:

RubeRad

That is quite an achievement! Looking forward to more pics from your stable...

bigbenaugust 

A month and a half continuously, or did you pause to eat, sleep, and ride?

gregjones

deeth82

Thanks! I look forward to seeing more awesome rides on this thread!

To quote the wise prophet, @gregjones:

That brought to mind so many images of internet binges gone bad.

mconlonx

Oops, this was a while back...

Basically, it was just the right deal on a used folder which works out perfect for my new commute. Happenstance more than anything else.

I've liked the Birdy design forever but never really had a good excuse to need a folding bike. I posted a WTB: folder in the folder subforum here on BF and this turned up. Price was right and it matches my needs, so it is now mine. There's not many times when reality exceeds expectations, but the Birdy is one of them.

...and, one of our cats died this past May. Cat's name was "Birdy." So in a way, this is a tribute: one Birdy gone, another stops by for a while...

MileHighMark

Volagi Viaje in daily rider mode:

RubeRad

Oooh, pretty. Volagi Viaje is my N+1! (Probably not for 5+ years though).

I wandered through your flickr stream, and I see you're running a lot of Microshift. How's that workin out? Did you put that on the Viaje, or just on your Dillinger?

Also I saw your tire stack and recognized Vee Rubber V12, among other Vees. I was disappointed as my V12 29x1.75 basically 50% wore out after about 500 miles, mostly asphalt. I took them off to reserve them for trails only.

MileHighMark

The Viaje came equipped with 105 and a 9-speed XT rear mech. The latter was needed for compatibility with the 11-36t (10s) cassette. Since it's a demo/loaner, I've pretty much left it stock.

My Black Mountain sports a microSHIFT Centos/R10 mix, and I really like it. I'll get burned at the stake for saying this, but I prefer the microSHIFT interface over the Campy levers I was previously using.