The bike would be a ~78 Motobecane Mirage. 27" wheels. It's currently stock and doesn't seem like it was hardly ever ridden. Due to how clean it is and I've read that they're decent enough bikes, I thought it would make a good candidate for a build. I'll be riding it on the road/sidewalk, and I currently have been riding a ~73 sears free spirit three speed. I know, not the best bike, but I like it, it's clean, and it was only $5 from original owner at a garage sale, works great, nice paint and all.
I like the simplicity of the 3 speed and having the gear lever right at the handle bars and it seemed like a simple and cheap way to get what I want out of my bike. The LBS said it would cost at least a couple hundred at minimum with cheap parts to put the multi-gear shifting on the bars because I'd need to upgrade rear wheel, rear shifter, and shift levers, and possibly more. I'd keep the ten speed set-up if there was a way to put the rear/5 speed shift lever on the bars and have it shift smoothly and definately (no half way between gear grinding, etc). I'd like a generally more "road bike" style bike, but with wider straight handlebars to make it a little better for going up and down curbs and generally more abusive riding than a typical drop down road bar would be ideal for.
I wish I knew more about this, as I used to be Really into BMX in high school and knew exactly what was made for them and where to get a decent price for it, but I'm very new to road biking and rather uninformed as to what's even available. Thanks for all the help.
Last edited by 3speed; 09-03-09 at 01:00 AM.