I made use of a small 19" 1982 Trek 720 frame and fork that was actually quite a bit small for me. I fit into a 22" range frame better, somewhere around 57 to 58cm, but tough to find and they NEVER go cheap!
This beauty was a buy it now of $300 plus $50 shipping (frame/fork/headset), and was mistakenly presented as a 620 model, but i'm not complaining! When i checked out the serial number it is the much preferred '82 720 touring frame!
As small as the 19" frame is, the wheelbase is a super 105.5cm long with 48.5cm chainstay length from center of the crank to center of the rear axle in furthest back position. The Reynolds 531 tubing and fat tires gives a Cadallic like ride!
I decided i wanted to build it up into a medium low geared single speed, as most of my daily commutes along the sidewalk involve a lot of slowing and speeding up to navigate the driveway bumps and also the intersection transitions of 1/4" to 1/2: mini curbs.
I made use of one of my many dura ace 7400 group cranksets and bottom brackets,....one of my favorites as i find them easy to work on, smooth, and look pretty nice. They are easy to refinish also when needed.
Here's an overall view of the almost finished build, and i'll post more details and pics as we go along, with some unusual features added for practicle reasons:
I wanted to avoid having to tie my pantleg, and don't really like most of the chain guards i see. Instead i decided to recycle one of the worn out Dura Ace chainrings, as the fit to the spider is tight and looks great. A sort of pseudo 2nd ring, but does the job to keep my jeans out of the inner chainring. The 53T outer teeth were extremely worn anyway, so i had no qualms about taking them down more to where they have just a hint of their former use.
The work was done mostly with a flex shaft machine (i use my jeweler's Foredom unit), and a 1/2 inch rubber backed drum sander available at Sears stores. Takes an hour or so to reach this look, and i finished with several grits of sandpaper and elbow grease, ....finally a 0000 gade steel wool to put a shine on.
Those are Shimano Deore XT Deore PD-M730 mountain bike pedals on the Dura Ace crank FC-7400 arms. They are my favorite pedal, and i have them on 4 of my bikes. Bulletproof bearings that can be repacked, and a sturdy platform with good grip without straps or clips.
It took awhile to find the shorter 165mm crank arms, but was needed to lessen the toe overlap of these smaller frames. (19") Bottom bracket is the nice Dura Ace BB-7400, square taper interface.
You sharp eyed folks might notice the 2 chainrings look a bit different in color. The larger outer one converted to a chain guard is the usual aluminum, the inner 39T actual drive chainring is Dura Ace in some form of Titanium alloy i believe, as it is grey in color and slightly magnetic.
....a bit closer view:
Because i wanted to lessen the effects of toe overlap and still get some benefit of fender coverage on this commuter, i decided to split the front fender at a point that would allow my feet to clear the fender part attached to the front fork. Then i made use of the handy twin bolts "under" the downtube, which were originally a 2nd water bottle brazeon. The coverage is pretty dang good. Slop doesn't build up on the bottom bracket shell like it did before, even though the fender is in two pieces.
The usual frontmost part of the fender was also removed. It interfered a little with the very long reach front brake caliper. I did leave enough to completely cover the hole at the bottom of the head tube, however, to keep it dry and more rust resistant.
A set back rear fender is similiarly installed outside the rear brake caliper, also to avoid interference and it allows use of most any reasonable tire size. Currently running a Michalin City (with Protek) 700x38c, but could go a bit wider if wanted. A 700x32c Serfas Drifter tire up front.
I'm using the White Industries 18T "Trials" freewheel out back, with 6 pawls and 72 points of engagement for almost immediate power hookup. A side benefit is the sidewalk walkers hear me coming, sort of a cross between a swarm of angry bees and a rattlesnake!
Out to the rear i found fenders were interfering with the rear brakes, and also the wider tire i wanted back there. I'm currently running a Michelin City with Protek Plus in 700x38c, although in these pics i have Serfas Drifter 700X32c tire on. A Serfas Drifter (32mm size) remains up front for now. I ran the main part of the rear fender outside the brake caliper, so no interfence and i can run up to about a 40mm rear tire if desired.
I made use of the rear rack's covered area as part of a rear fender "unit", and used a few zip ties to connect it at the rack. The other end is snapped over the lower chainstay brace and bolted to it. The pics don't show it now, but i've since added a small tail section of fender at the very rear, to keep water off my back!
A Brooks B17 "aged" leather saddle with a Thomson Elite seatpost makes for a very comfortable perch. The storage at the rear is actually an old camera bad i had laying around. It wraps around the seatpost at the front, and has 2 leather straps at the rear connecting it to the back of the rack.
I much prefer an uprightriding position, and having a too-small frame didn't help in that regard. But by using an Origin-8 22mm quill stem to 1-1/8" converter it raised the height a little. I didn't use the original cap as it overhang, and the quill part would have to come out of you wanted to experiment with different threadless stems.
I decided to leave the original cap off, and picked up some thick steel washers to make use of the inner ledge on the Origin-8 converter to lock in the quill bolt. This left the side free to add or remove threadless stems at will.
To get the stem up even more, i used a Delta threadless 3 1/2" stem riser that clamps to the top of the Origin-8 unit. It completely covers the Origin-8 converter, and now we have a comfortable upright riding position. A Thomson Elite 90mm mountain bike style stem with 25.4mm bar clamp and 15 degree rise hold the "Sunlight" 3 inch riser mountain bike handlebars just where i need them!
