humancongereel

i have two projects for the summer. one is to buld a ss/fixed mtb/urban assault bike (heh), and the other is a to build a beater conversion from a road frame, so i have options for bikes to use depending on the fall/winter weather and how i feel about abusing a bike in it.

a couple i've thought about are heavy-ass schwinn suburbans...and i hate the idea of using one, but i realize a better one will cost more and defeat the purpose of building a beater. still working that out in my mind.

but i kind of wondered how others felt about beaters and what sort of beaters people are rocking. i know there's been a "post your crappy conversion" thread, but let's just talk beaters in general. how crappy do you all go?

edit: this thread will either rule or, possibly, drool.

DoshKel

I think a beater will be decided on how crappy it is by how it has been used. In other words, I would say get some cheap but somewhat durable parts and build it up, and then ride the hell out of it and not worry about it much. In a couple months it should be a beater .

humancongereel

but do you have a beater? what's yours like?

trons

so crappy you will let other people ride it

teiaperigosa

fuk this concept of a 'beater'...
who makes a bike to be subpar...

there should be a word made for a bike that people baby (ie...don't leave it out of their site, wipe it down after every ride)...a prize piece per say

but to denegrate a bike that you ride either verbally or in terms of how you put it together is complete disrespect to the bike and yourself

I mean...I treat my prize piece like many here treat their 'beaters'(leave it out in the snow, don't have a fit when something breaks)...but I would never call my bike a beater...'s my ride

unless you are crashing your bike into walls, do not call it a 'beater'

thiskidgotmoxie

Yes! I agree! Can you all please stop direspecting inanimate objects? "Beaters," as you so calously call them, have feelings too! Fascists!

humancongereel

"bad weather workhorse"?

thiskidgotmoxie

Do you have to use the word "bad" though? I mean, I think that's exactly the type of hurtful word choice that taperigosa has so bravely exposed! Why not: "aestheically challenged yet equally valued respect object"?

Oh wait, do you mean "bad-weather workhorse"? Doesn't that disrespect the weather, and yourself, by extension?

DoshKel

Yea I do, but sadly it is also my a) work machine and b) main bicycle. It goes as:

- "Blue" rusted, chipped and dented Puch 130 frame
- non name seat post
- Fuji Track '06 seat, crankset (48t), wheelset, BB and stem
- Renolds 531 red fork
- Blue Czar CST tries
- no name flip and chopped road drops
- Surly 15t cog
- Surly lockring
- half-link chain (don't know the brand)
- Stock fuji pedals
- MKS toe clips and single leather straps

Love it to death though.

I am now saving for really nice build up though. I have around $800 and am shooting for around 3k so that I can build up a Bareknuckle or a Nagasawa.

humancongereel

hmmm...that reminds me of my friend's bike...nitto bars, njs sugino cranks, deep v's laced to surly hubs...and he doesn't even know what kind of frame he has. thrift-tastic!

DoshKel

Hell yea

humancongereel

that's sort of what i'm thinking i'll do over the summer. but probably not as nice of parts. i might even just leave the original cranks and chainrings on.

still, when i pick up a bike and it feels like it weighs 40 pounds, part of me shrinks back. of course, i'm also dealing with craig's list, where people want 100-ish for bikes like that. i hate how people on CL tend to have no idea that their bike is practically worthless. in a monetary sense.

oh, and moxie...how is saying the weather is bad disrespecting myself? oh, wait, saying i'm not man enough to handle the weather, so i call it bad to disguise my own weakness? good thinking. you're probably headed someplace with ideas like that.

dkb

I'm building up a Magna Fugitive mtb frame with its 1 piece crank and riveted chainrings, as a 1x6. I found it out by the curb on trash day. I'm going to spot paint the (some) rust spots with flat black without regard for overspray. And I have to keep slapping my hands when I think about getting maybe a new seatpost or seat or pedals or whatever. reuse, reuse. New tires and tubes and grips, ok, brakepads, brake cables is it. Ok, a $5 rear shifter from Nashbar. And chain from Walmart.

born on a bus

I think a beater (or beer powered jalopy) shouldn't cost anything. Free bin parts, some wheels from your parents basement, a frame found in the trash (my roomate's trash frame is real purdy), and viola you got yer self a rad scrapy bike that probably won't break (it might not brake either) and can take all the abuse hurled at it.

Hobartlemagne 

My cheap fixie is a Spalding Blade. The major problem with it is the non-standard sizing of everything. That, and the fact that the chainrings were riveted together and I had to cut the big one off with an angle grinder.
I bought it for $30 and spent as little as possible for the conversion. Whatever word you want to call it, this is a bike that can be abused without me getting upset about it. I still love that bike.

humancongereel

those last three posts are exactly the sort of beater (or whatever word) tales i was looking for.

Sinfield

dude, F craisglist. It's yard sale season and that's where you're gonna find the cheap ten speeds at. I've been thinking of building up a crap bike too since I'll be at PSU next year and I'm not really sure I want to lock my bike up there everyday. That said, it's not like an effing IRO is the nicest bike in the world. It's just kinda flashy

humancongereel

yeah, and flash attracts eyes. like my ****ing chrome bike with "whitewalls" (white deep v's...but a lot of people think they're cruiser style whitewalls)

but yeah, yard sales. i keep looking through yard sale listings, but only the ones that say "bikes" in them catch my eye, and so many of the yard sales here are so spread out. **** if i'm going to gresham for a yard sale.

means business

as many parts for free/used as you can get.. just don't try and cut corners on the wheelset or the cog/hub/lockring. a few friends can probably chip in a stem/bars/seat post/pedals they have lying around.

tacks

I've met people with the same sub$400 bike as me and they calls theirs "beaters". I understand the sentiment in that I don't care if my paint gets scratched and I ride the **** out of it everyday, everywhere, but the term sits uneasy with me.

I love my "beater" and I treat it so well that people always think it's brand new even though its logged some serious miles.

like others, I prefer the term "workhorse".

p.s. I passed 4-6 yards sales today with dept. store road bikes out for sale on my 20 miles jaunt to the st. john's bridge and back. just go ride around and you'll find them.

humancongereel

i think i'll go do that now. that's my neighborhood, more or less. i loathe riding on lombard (the only place in portland where i almost got in a fistfight with a driver who tried to cause an accident with me, and the scene of 90% of all bad stories i have with cars in this town), but if i stay on willis...

ka12na

IMO I call a beater a road bike you find in a yard sale, or the dumpster for under $15 bucks. Redish the wheel, take off derailleurs, and clean it up. Viola- I call that a 'beater,' since I really wouldn't care about it, AT ALL. I use that for quick errand runs, or in bad areas of town, etc.

I don't have too much money to play with stuff. My 'nice bike' is my Fuji Track 06, mostly stock-$500. After that I dropped $300 on a new wheelset, IRO Deluxe. About $100 on misc. parts- new stem, seat... masterlink type chain.

wahoonc

I have a couple of "beaters", one is an old Mongoose Aluminum MTB with slicks on it. Picked it up at the local LBS for under $50 on their last big clearance sale. I have another one that I built up out of a Motobecane Nomad it has a Sturmey 3sp hub, 700c wheels, cut down road bars, mismatched fenders and what is left of an old Avocet gel saddle.

Aaron

mcatano

Hi, it's "differently configured," ok? Thanks.

humancongereel

hm. i really want to see pics of that.