jgedwa

Now, I just have to wait and hope for lots of snow.

I put together my winter beast:

-Old rigid GT Outpost frame (bright orange, in case they have trouble finding my body)
-Some ugly old wheels
-Hodge podge fixed gear drivetrain; geared way down
-Mean looking studded tires
-The cheapest fenders money can buy
-whatever other parts I had laying around (seat, seatpost, stem, bars, brakes)

Come on snow.

jim

ghettocruiser

Pics?

JeanCoutu

+1

Also, plz snow do not come yet for I am far from ready. kthx.

Tude 

hehe - oh yeah - you soooooo owe us a pic!

I have my "project" in the basement - haven't touched it in a year or so - it's a little Giant Acapulco mtb - that I want to use as my commter mtb (I'm kinda tired of using my other mtb's for commters - just for repair purposes, etc) and so the darn thing sits in my basement - and not a freaking blemish on the teal blue/green fraime (ugly v-brakes though) and no seat and needs a rizer in the handlebars, etc - but that is ONE DAY going to be mah commuter.

But I'll have a hard time putting my not cheap fenders on it, not AT ALL cheap studs on it, NOT CHEAP seat, etc ......

sigh

I think my project will remain a project - in the works

jgedwa

here is a lousy phone-camera shot of it. jim

tsl

The Hyperbole Channel™ was threatening snow yesterday, but we got rain and 35 instead. I left the Nokians in the basement. Never even occurred to me to bring them up.

CastIron

I'd rather remain prepared than tested. Having said that, my deadline for being good to go (in a day) is Nov 1.

jefferee

Tuning up the winter-beater is on my weekend to-do list. Hopefully, I won't actually have to ride it anywhere for at least another month.

JeanCoutu

I likes

Cars were covered in snow/frost this morning in quebec city.

Machka 

As far as I'm concerned, the snow can hold off till January 6th.

pinkrobe

I hope you're right...

funrover 

Got a little dusting of snow today.. not enough to stick to the roads/paths... but I took the beater out anyway... I just did a few upgrades to it last week..

tmoritz

I can't believe how much drag these Nokians have. I've had to shift down about 10 gear inches and my legs still burn.

jgedwa

Yeah, I noticed that. I have put a handful of miles on them; because I am a bit over-eager and also because some makers recommend that they be ridden for a bit on pavement to set the studs.

I geared the bike way down from where I usually ride, and I suspect I may have to drop it down even a bit more.

jim

macteacher

I 'readied' myself a couple weeks ago. The bike is old, but a wash cloth and some new tires did the trick. Now im just waiting for the white powder, before I unleash the beast!!!! By the way, I love the orange frame. Looks sharp!!!!

Glottis

Where are those ice bottles?

Original, I know...

Tony.

jgedwa

I have a thing for old GT's. I have a couple of nicer/lighter GT frames, and this one has always been the odd-man out. So turning it into the dedicated winter beater seemed right. I picked it up a couple of years ago for peanuts and used it as my grocery trailer puller for a while, but even for that it was unnecessarily heavy. So it hung from the rafters for a while. I hoarded all the components for a snow bike over the summer and planned on hanging them off another old frame I have (a Mongoose. It's white, therefore it was to be the snow bike.) But I think I did not have the right headset-mounted canti cable stop the day I built it up, so I switched mid-stream to the GT. Yup, changed plans because of a part that costs $1.50. I really wanted to do it that day.

jim

coldfeet

I always liked the look of those "double rear triangle" GTs. Look heluva strong, whats the ride like?
Almost bought one for my Winter bike, missed by few minutes, the "new" Winter beater was given to me by a neighbor, still have the regular bike ready to go with a wheel swap at the moment.

jgedwa

That particular GT is no great shakes. It was a lower-level model. Unbutted cromo frame. Pretty heavy (and my frame of reference here is pretty generous, since I am a C&V person). I would hate to actually have to horse that thing around on a trail. But as a reconfigured city bike or winter bike it works just fine. I have a couple of nicer GT's (older Tequesta, and a very old chrome one that is prior to the triple-triangle years) that are very nice and nimble bikes.

I have my doubs that the whole triple-triangle thing does any magic. But I like the way they look, and GT's of that vintage tend to be pretty good bikes. My only real complaint about GT is that they stuck with odd braking systems far too long. U-brakes and under-stay brakes. Nothing really wrong with either type. But that kind of brake is sort of ugly and readily upgradeable since the posts in the wrong places. All the more reason to run them as fixed gears without rear brakes though.

jim

modernjess

Me too, the Halloween hangover will be tempered by prepping the bike for long winter bulls**t fest.

jgedwa

Snow!

Just a dusting tonight so far. Not enough to get out the beast though. Is it totally uncool if I shovel snow out of peoples' yards into the street so that I can play?

jim

Chicagoan

I'm almost ready too. I know a guy who has atleast 50 ten speeds in his barn for sale. He has a few old GT mountain mountain bikes all tuned up too. If the price is right, I might use one of these instead of my '08 Transeo which is all ready except for tires. It has 28c slicks right now.

It sprinkled a little bit here in CHicago sunday and Monday. We had a hail storm on Sunday. I'll be completely ready mid November.

Chicagoan

Maybe the newer GT will be for wet weather, and the mountain bike for ice and snow?