I just finished the rough build up of my new rain bike...
Since I already have a Kuwahara Cascade that has been converted to a fixed gear I know just
how great a frameset and bike they are... it's a mtb that was designed for epic touring so it has slack angles and long stays that contribute
to giving the bike a stellar ride.
The beautiful lugged frames were handbuilt from Ishiwata quad butted tubing and used Tange forks.
My Cascade fixed gear with her original 1987 paint job:
So I was at the shop a few weeks ago and re-painted frame got dropped off as a donation and as soon
as I saw the K on the seatstay and the braze on for the pump I knew this was a Cascade... imagine my surprise and joy when I found that the
rear stays had been cold set to accomodate a 3 speed hub.
So the other night I found a Shimano 3 speed hub that had been laced to a Mavic double walled rim and decided that it was time to build myself a new
rain bike / commuter with that Cascade frameset.
My old Raleigh 3 speed hybrid donated it's stem, bars, and brake levers and then I had to scrounge around to find a crank and chainring and some
cantis for the front...the rear u-brake was stil intact and I settled on a Shimano crank with a 42 tooth Biopace chainring.
I'm still missing the fenders and have to touch up the paint but I think she's looking pretty good after a few hours of work.
My 3 speed drive...
As was expected the ride is superb and I was really surprised by how well the bike handled on the Kenda 26 by 1.5 slicks and the bike is also
much faster than I expected it to be... the 3 speed is as smooth as silk and runs a really nice gear range that I have yet to figure out. All I know
is that she climbs like a goat and is a screamer on the straightaways.
When all was said and done my cost was a whopping $0.00 as I traded in a perfect set of SA wheels with an AW hub and dynahub and a nice road frame... the SA wheels will be going on a Raleigh Ladies rod brake roadster that I am restoring and rebuilding for sale at the co-op and the road bike will become a fixed gear (also for the co-op) as soon as I bring in the spare wheelset I have in my shop at home.
The bikes I build for the shop should fetch some good money.