I wondered whether to post this here, or start a separate thread - But it IS a mountain bike,and it IS vintage, so ......
I'm blaming this acquisition on my wife -
We went up to the flea market again, yesterday, and there was a guy there with a whole bunch of bikes (I'm beginning to think this might be a trend?) -
He told me he picks up a lot of bikes and other stuff from police impounds.
Anyway, his bikes were mostly BSO's, with a couple entry-level hybrids thrown in - But there was THIS .......
My original intent was to just get a photo of it, for the record, NOT to buy it, but my wife ruined that plan -
I don't have a phone with a camera, but Patty always carries a little pocket camera in her bag.
I asked her for the camera, but wouldn't you know it - Dead batteries! And she couldn't find any more in the bag.........
All this time, the guy is talking away about his bikes - Blah, blah, blah, etc.
So I was frustrated, and about to walk away, and he says "You want to buy this bike? - Look, it has a pedal missing, so how about $20? "
So here it is, back at the car (where we found batteries) - A mid 90's, MacGregor Power Trac
2 wheel drive mountain bike. Made in Taiwan.
Aside from the interesting cable drive, the components are just base level Shimano stuff .
I weighed the bike this morning, and it busts the scale at 29lbs - Which is surprising, as thought it would weigh more.
The whole thing seems to work as designed, and looks like no to low mileage on the bike, although I think it should probably be taken down and the old lube cleaned out of the cable, etc .
I bet this could be just the thing, for commuting in the snow !
AND, it's got a cool crackle paint job !
Regardless of whether this is a practical design, I'd never even heard of it before, and at least I know I'm the only kid on the block with one - So I thought it was worth $20
I did some research, and virtually no info on it, except for this old article, about the inventor :
https://books.google.com/books?id=w8...20bike&f=false
The drive is pretty simple - Just a ring and pinion on the rear, then the big cable shaft -
And a front ring and pinion, with a freewheel hub .
