Been a while since I posted any pics...
Seems that with my ever changing health and the ups and downs of that certain bikes have undergone changes as I found that riding a fixed gear is often too difficult and then found that 3 speeds and then a dual drive lacked the range I needed to keep spinning like a gerbil on crack.
Will still ride the remaining fixed gears and 3 speed whenever I can but for the day to day I need some extra gears.
Anyways...
Came across a beautiful set of vintage wheels... XT hubs with a 6 speed 13-30 uniglide laced to some beautiful Araya RM20 rims and decided to do something different and build up a Shimano equipped version of my UAV.
I have enough NOS Uniglide cogs to keep this drive running forever so there are no worries about not finding spares for this.
The original equipment on the 1988 Shasta was Exage 6 speed with indexing but I went a little retro with some Deore XT friction thumbies mated to a light action long cage with an XT front and sourced out a nearly new Sugino VP with a great 28/38/48 set up and have always loved Sugino cranks for their stiffness and excellent chain rings.
I almost went with a Biopace on a Shimano Deore crank...
So here is the UAV version 5.0... it spent a little time as a 1 by 6 (version 4) as I looked for the right triple crank which polished up beautifully.
Deore XT shifters... almost as smooth as Suntour thumbies. The 105 levers and canti / u brake provide some incredible 1 finger stopping power.
Night shots...
I am also really pleased with the Schwalbe Silentos... running a 1.75 / 1.95 combination and at 65 psi they roll out smoothly and live up to their name... they handle wet conditions beautifully and the bike corners like it is on rails. They may not be as fast as Schwalbe Hurricanes but do not give up much speed in a trade off for much better ride quality.
Gearing is damn near perfect for touring too... 25 to 95 gear inches and I could go lower... have little need for anything higher than the 95 which is a downhill / wind at my back kind of gear.