Originally Posted by
Prowler
That could certainly be the "before" shot for my salty roads bike. A complete clean/overhaul does not improve its appearance - still UGLY - does not improve it's value $0.25. But its total lack of refinement does work well for my aerobic runs on messy winter roads and its 38 lbs works well for keeping me in some sort of shape given less frequent and shorter trips. At least I'm riding while my nice bikes stay salt free and dry.
Ya know? The stem shifters work surprisingly well moved to the down tube.
Did you pull that out of my recycling bin?
The thing that really shocked me with this frame was just how unrefined the rear dropouts were. They look like something I would have made in shop class in high school. I initially harbored dreams of "restoring" mine into a sub-beater, but I wasn't able to get the stem out of the head tube (even after cutting it multiple times with a hack saw) and the rear wheel (which if I remember correctly was 26x1-3/8") was beyond saving.