HandsomeRyan

**Edit:** here's some new pictures-

The bike assembled.


Custom graphics for the Pink TaCo Cycle!
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This bike started life as a late 60's Bridgestone 10 speed. I'm in the process of converting it to a fixed gear for my wife. Frame was in good shape, steel tubes with aluminum lugs. Not a rare or valuable bike by any means, but a fun project no less.

Love on it, hate on it, whatever; I just wanted to share where I'm at now:





• frame stripped and painted an incredibly cliche color of pink
• knock-off northroad bars
• IRO crank, BB, and cog
• new chain
• new grips, brake levers, and cables
• seatpost is a ridiculous "quill" style with no retainer bolt on the seat post.
• original stem and brake calipers

Got question? Ask.

FreddyV

Might be a cliche color, but I'm thinking of painting mine that very shade of pink. Might be a bit girly, but it's cool.

Basil Moss

Dont you need to get tyres in a similarly nauseating shade of pink? And grips, and a saddle... You could even look for 72 of those little spoke doo dahs, used to come in the box of rice crispies, find 72 pink ones, now that would be impressive!

astroman

it's gonna rock! fixed/free, neat city bars, that whole low top tube thingy. my wife would love it. she's riding my old monocog, i should make her up something similiar. hope it goes well.

timothyday

I just built up a new ride for the Mrs. for Christmas. It's a great thing to do for a loved one. The color is great, you'll have no trouble finding it in a crowded lock up. Enjoy.

cobrabyte

nice build, she should like it
you could call it the 'pepto' bike

devilshaircut

I like the pink color, and I actually like the mixte geometry ... I would ride this bike myself. Did you paint it yourself? Spray paint? I can't tell.

HandsomeRyan

I like the mixte style too but it's very hard to find one in my size (I'm 6'2").

I did paint it myself. I used 2 different types of chemical stripper to prep the frame then carefully rattle-canned it in my garage. The finish won't be terribly durable but it was cheap and this bike will spend the majority of it's time being stored in my climate controlled basement since my wife isn't as avid of a cyclist as I am.

I'm hoping to buy or make some graphics to put on it that will hopefully tone down the 'loudness' of the pink color. One of my pet names for my wife is "TaCo" because it's the first 2 letters of her first and [new] last name. She's acts like she's embarassed by this nickname but I think she secretly likes it. I'm thinking some graphics that say TaCoCycle would be fitting.

[threadjack] How's your latest project coming Devilshaircut? [/threadjack]

rotharpunc

you do realize that the bike would then become known as your wife's "pink taco"? (or was that the intention?)

HandsomeRyan

...and I was afraid this was too subtle and might go entirely unnoticed.

fixedude

mixtes can be cool!

e.g.,

Sixty Fiver

We whipped this up in an afternoon for my friend's girlfriend... she has since added a Brooks B17 and riser bars and a new crank are on the list... she absolutely loves this bike.

She does not do pink.

Those old Bridgestones are cool bikes and those quill type seat posts are a bit of a pain to dial in but are totally serviceable.

anthegreat1

no clips?

HandsomeRyan

I'm trying to talk her into going clipless but she doesn't want to run clips or straps.

Since the bike is built for greenway use, and it has both hand brakes, lack of foot retention isn't as much of a danger as it is on 'tarck bikes' being ridden on the street. (You can always lift your legs away from the pedals and stop with just the hand brakes if things get away from you.)

rotharpunc

sometimes people forget dealing with non-cyclist wifes/girlfriends take special care just to get them riding regularly. with dual brakes I don't see clips as necessary

aMull

They still can help prevent your foot from slipping and getting a nasty blow to the leg. Depends on how fast she's going though and what gearing she uses.

HandsomeRyan

I love my wife with all my heart, but I'm pretty sure that "going fast" on a bicycle is not going to be an issue.

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I went home on my lunch break and started getting it put together. The BB went in with no problems at all. The chainring cleared the chainstay. The headset bearings were regreased and the fork was reinstalled. I installed the stem and new bars but I ran into a problem when I went to put the grips on. My wife doesn't use hairspray....?! I improvised a new method of getting the rubber grips on by using plastic zip ties [flat] shoved between the grips and the bars to reduce the friction when sliding the grips on. Once in place, I pulled the zip ties out with a pair of pliers. Not as easy as hairspray but it worked. I got the brake calipers bolted on but no cables have been run yet.

After work I need to install the seatpost clamp and saddle, hook up the brake cables, and put on some pedals and we'll be in business! I'm excited that my first 'complete build' is going this well and I promise I'll post some pictures of the completed bike.

Sixty Fiver

Foot retention is a must.

aMull

Yeah do that or at least make it a single speed.

SpaceFace

Nice bike. Did she ask for pink or did you just go for it?
I've been trying to get my girlfriend to ride single speed. Lately she has been trying out my fixed gear but nothing more than down the street.

HandsomeRyan

I offered to buy her clipless pedals [and shoes] since that is what I run on all my bikes, or buy her whaever toe clips/straps she wanted but she refused both saying either would cause her to fall. As I said above, since it has 2 hand brakes, she can move her legs out away from the spinning cranks and stop with just the hand brakes if the pedals get away from her. It's a fair-weather greenway bike that will likely see less than 100 miles a year. If she were going to be alleycat racing with it or something I'd insist she use foot retention but for slow greenway rides she can have it her way.

She wanted "purple glitter finish" but since I was funding the project and didn't have the money for a "real" paint job we were limited to available rattle-can colors. I purchased the pink and showed it to my wife. She did the typical wife thing, "That's nice dear".

Honestly, I doubt this bike will see much action as my wife is pretty much indifferent about it and cycling in general. Really, I just wanted to work on a bike project but didn't want to get nagged about how much time and money I was "wasting on bike stuff". I figured if I built a bike for her she wouldn't complain about the time or money I was spending on it because it was a gift for her. Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if she would take an interest in cycling, but she doesn't currently and I doubt this bike is going to change that.

If you have the financial means to do it; building up a bike for a lady-friend is a lot of fun. I would guess that I spent a little over $300 on this project but I had to buy several tools and I replaced almost everything except the frame, fork, stem, seatpost, saddle, and brake calipers. If you could find a donor bike that needed less new parts and you already owned a lot of bike tools you could easily do something similar for a lot less.

FreddyV

Seriously... That's just something a wife would do.

Us men have to respond to that beforehand though.
"What color would you want your bike to be?"
Give them an option, but don't give them too many choices.

I read you did some rebuilding, any pictures of the progress yet?

HandsomeRyan

I'll get some tonight; I ran out of time on my lunch break.

All it lacks is the pedals [cleaned and] put on, the saddle and saddle clamp installed, and the brake lines installed and adjusted. I'm really happy with how it has come out so far. It's not the build I would have done if money wasn't an object; but for the coin I spent I think I did okay.

I gotta get those TaCoCycle frame stickers made before I'll really consider it complete.

HandsomeRyan

Pictures!

I don't have any crimp on covers for the cable ends to they were left long and zip tied to the brake calipers until I can stop by the LBS and pick some up. The saddle is sprung so although it looks liek it's at a weird angle, it's almost perfectly level once the rider sits down.

alheim

i'd like to know how she likes the fixed-gear riding experience, assuming she hasn't ridden before. i hope she gets into it. if she can't or is intimidated by FG, you can always throw on a freewheel.

anyway, i think it came out really well, nice work - you're a good husband.

is the seat high enough? also, that type of handlebar looks way uncomfortable for anything besides riding around the block a few times. so maybe you'd want to let her try straight bars one day.