Old 09-19-11, 09:59 AM
  #25  
Staldinej
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I was in the process of trying to find out a little more about my frame, consequently exhuming this thread from the dead, again.

My Criss Cross has been built up into a commuter/light touring bike, and I love it. I'm currently in the process of repainting it a metallic British racing green with a celery green panel for 'Schwinn' decals I had made and silver lug-lining.

I built it with 40mm wide tires, a silver 44cm ergo drop bar, chrome quill stem, brown Velo-Orange model 5 saddle (just like a Brooks Flyer, but all chrome rails), brown synthetic cork bar tape, suntour barcons, a NOS fluted sakae seatpost, chrome binder bolt, 52t-42t Suntour Cyclone crankset, shimano sealed bb, suntour f. Derailleur, Sora (run in friction with old school barcons) R. Derailleur, Velo Orange stainless steel fenders, and the original 7 speed wheelset for now.

This is a great frameset because it is so versatile. No, it's not road bike responsive in terms of steering, but that long wheelbase makes for a very comfy ride. The fork has a really heavy taper and a smooth radius that really lets it work beautifully. I have mounts for racks & fenders, and canti brakes. The angles really work well for me, the bike is reasonably lightweight, and it will be gorgeous when I'm done with it... I was looking at the Masi Speciale Randonneur, but really I've made everything I want with the bike for much less money; less money is a good thing as I'm nearing a decade of college.

I bought the project bike for $25 in a state of ugly functionality. I have about $200 in it, and will probably have about $450 when I'm done. To finish the project I'd like to pick up a Campy NR front derailleur (I have a rear), build a wheelset around the Campy NR 36h hubs I already have and Sun CR18 polished rims, and I'll probably go with a wide range 6 speed or 7 speed freewheel. The final touches will be a Jim Blackburn silver vintage rack (or F&R set!) and a Campagnolo crankset, probably NR.

The point being, these are amazing frames available at next to nothing prices. You could have the rear end respaced for 9 or 10 speed clusters if you wanted a modern drivetrain since they're steel. You could set it up as a lugged steel cyclocross bike, with some lowrider bosses brazed into the fork, you could run it as a full tour bike. This frame pretty easily fits my 40mm (36mm actual) tires and 45mm VO fenders- no problem, meaning you can actually fit some fatties for tires. Since they're double butted tubesets, these frames actually don't weigh a ton, and the stock wheelset isn't terrible (but certainly not campy smoooooooooooth either). The Accushift components are actually fine, just kinda ugly and not compatible with other systems. There is a nice Tange headset stock, but the stock bottom bracket is garbage. Oh, and the seat and seatpost are a weird non-standard system also. A 26.6 seatpost fits and you can have your choice of sadde.

This is a great start to a multitude of projects. I would definitely put the money into my project if I had it to do over again, my only complaint about the frame is I wish it had semi-horizontal dropouts so I could run a clean singlespeed if I wanted to do so.
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