Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I need opinions: would you bother to upgrade a really cheap, gas-pipe frame with quality components?

Let me explain where I'm coming from with this:



Now, even as an adult (the first mod I did was a longer seatpost) I really find this thing fun to ride: it's tossable, reasonably nimble, and handles well for what it is.

But although I couldn't detect any flex in the frame, this thing still rides cheap. It feels cheap. Even the noises it makes - the chain rubbing on the inside of the shroud, the saddle's springs creaking - sound cheap. There's little in the way of sophistication here.

I've already put a better rear rim with a better (but far from truly good) hub on it; I've been meaning to replace the 18T freewheel with a 16T or 15T to get some more speed out of it. But I've been thinking of putting some quality, brandname componentry on it: I wanted a better square-taper crankset to replace the one with pins on it, with a 48T chainring to replace the 46T, I wanted better BMX-style handlebars and stem, better brake levers, and a better saddle.

But that does sound like a lot of money to spend on what's basically a gas-pipe frame, as opposed to holding out for an actually better-quality bike like this one or even this one (which would be very expensive to buy and ship over.)

I'm also thinking it would be a good way to polish my rusty mechanical skills and learn new things that I didn't know in the 1980s and 1990s.

What do you think?

Upgrade with what?

Are any modern 'quality' parts even going it fit it?

Would leave as is, unless something is broken or is worn out.

a cheap frame is a cheap bike no matter how you dress it up. I'm putting lipstick on a similar pig that will never be anything but a boat anchor with wheels no matter how much money I throw at it. I'm not physically able to ride a two wheel bike so I can remain sedentary or try to make this clunker ridable. if you can afford good components for your gas pipe bso please put that money toward buying yourself a real bike

Why that's easy, it totally depends on your objective:

If your objective is to have fun riding it, do whatever you think is cool and don't listen to anybody else including me.
If you just like to screw around with bikes, do it. Cheaper and probably more fun than bars and you'll get yourself into less trouble.
If your plan is to flip it and make money, it's the worst idea ever.

The POV at bikeforums is mostly from an LBS standpoint and ignores the equipment made by "suppliers to Walmart".
You are basically looking for bottom feeder stuff that might cost $30 to 40 for a crankset and sq taper BB, $5 for a
single tooth sprocket and $20 for a saddle. In the US Niagra cycles has such stuff (as does Walmart) but in Saudi
you may have to deal with Chinese suppliers, with prices even lower than those listed. If you can find such I would
say go for it. Chain rub on the chain cover is another matter.

This thread can pretty much end right here as Retro nailed it with his response. I'd only question whether or not you can be sure the two you referenced would really be significantly better (frame wise) than what you have? How much better would the welding be, or how much lighter the frame? It's so small to begin with that surely any weight difference would be minimal. Is there a possibility that you could spend the dough and import one of them only to discover it's not much better than the one you already have?


-Kedosto

1 logical change , better braking power.. Aluminum rim wheels and Kool Stop continental brake shoes ..

crank you got real Problems (antiquity) Cottered cranks (with the chainring fused on .. (I suspect))

Gear too high? maybe a bigger cog on the back ..

the upturned loop of brake cables are known to fill with water,
grease the cables so it wont rust as fast maybe add a V Brake cable rubber bellows

between the side pull brake arms , less water entry is the goal..`



...

That's an affirmative. Speaking of cool, this thing might be as cheap as a length of gas pipe, but it sure as hell is a great conversation starter! People ask me questions about it wherever I take it!

Very much so. Especially that having a good time at a bar ain't an option (look where we live! )
I'm particularly interested in exploring just how much I can improve on this dog - do things to it with my own hands and call it my own.

Nope, no chance of that every happening. It's a very cheap bike that won't make me back even half of what I initially bought it for, let alone the few (and also cheap) "upgrades" that I made (better tubes, better brake cables, a pair of pedals, and a better rear wheel.)

I don't know, but I would be interested in finding out what works (if and when the economy - and the cashflow - improves a little, that is!)

I do have "real" bikes (see my profile) but this particular bike serves a very specific purpose for me: it's my "chase bike" - that is, it's the bike that I find best suited to circling around my wife as she rides her trike. It handles surprisingly well for what it is, it's very responsive and maneuverable.

Yes it is; it's a 46T ring that I can't possibly change to anything larger, since it's already spinning just about a millimeter or two from the chain stay...

Quite the opposite, actually; it's a more than a little too slow to be useful for, say, anything longer than a short jaunt to the store around the corner. Given the situation with the chainring ^^^^ my only option is to get me a 16T or 15T freewheel to replace the stock 18T, which I can source locally with ease.

Could work, but that's not too high on my priority list at this time, the stopping power on this thing being already more than good enough for what it is right now.

Good call, but that's not much of a concern over at where I live; it rarely rains to begin with, much less my wife and I going for a spin when it does!

Pretty much sums up the situation. Look, guys, I'm not about to start ordering Campagnolos here - this thing will never become a masterpiece, nor is it my intention to try and make it so. It's just a cheap bike that I intend to have (reasonably) cheap fun with. If I could upgrade it with some even slightly better components that are priced reasonably enough to be justifiable, then why not?

Which is driving me nuts. I'm thinking of losing the shroud altogether - problem is, the shroud is the single component that's giving this thing so much of its character!

Sounds like you are having fun with it just like it is so why ruin it with upgrades that will do little to improve it. You have other good bikes so why try to make this one like those? I used to have an old beater single speed cruiser I got for 5 bucks and kept it on the porch for years as a grocery getter. It had a giant basket on the bars. All I did to it was keep all existing parts in top tune. Repacked bearings, rebuilt coaster brake, trued wheels, greased crank, etc. It was real fun just keeping it original but in better than new tune. Upgrading parts would have ruined the fun. After the initial 5 dollar investment I put maybe another 5 in it over 3 years until it was finally stolen.

It's only a little bit of money, and maybe you like doing it. So do it.

At car show cruise nights, I see people showing off cars that I once owned 30 and 40 years ago, and I knew they were junk and was so glad they were gone, but you know, those owners are having fun and 80% of the crowd is high fiving them anyway.

Change what you need to make the bike work for yourself.

Don't just do upgrades like a new crankset without a purpose. You may have troubles getting the chainguard just right with a different crankset anyway.

If something is rubbing, then a little judicious bending can help.

One thing you might consider is an internal gear multi-speed rear hub. It would mean rebuilding a wheel if you don't find the right wheel. Many have gearing from about 0.5 to 1.5, to give some "overdrive" for the small wheels, and smaller gearing for hills.

Absolutely not. But I would never do yoga either, or eat a strict vegan diet. If it's what you want to do go for it I say. Someone has to stimulate the economy.

If that were mine and I was gonna ride it lots, I'd get some decent bmx wheels with aluminium rims, some brake pads, grips, pedals, saddle. And I'd flip the saddle rail clamp, so that it's behind the seatpost.

I'd save all the parts I pulled in a box, so I could revert to original easily.

A better quality, whole bike will be more fun to ride.

Certainly fun is a subjective measurement.
It has to include a portion of satisfaction.
A satisfying outcome is always fun to ride.

Does the bike work well for you?
How much the upgrades cost compared to a new bicycle?
Are you doing the work yourself, or paying someone else?
How many parts are worn and will soon need to be replaced?


Pros, IMO:
Bike doesn't look like a thief magnet = good for transportation and leaving outside locked.
Decent square tapper BB is rather cheap and lasts long.
Same goes for stem, bars etc.
Good saddle is transferred from bike to bike - even if you decide to get another bike in the future, the saddle will go on it - if it's a similar seating position, i.e. not a road bike.

I'm active on a different forum and one fellow had a bike in his van photo that demanded further inquiry. It was an old Raleigh Twenty folder similar to your bike and he'd done a ton of upgrades, including the alloy rims and better hubs, 20" suspension front fork and alloy parts to replace steel everywhere he could. Neat little bike.

I say go for it.

He's already got a couple of those. The question is about "upgrading" this thing. My vote is to leave it as much alone as possible and just maintain what's already there.

sjanzeir, I'm sure that many of us have spent more on a bike than what it's possible monetary value could ever be.

Have fun with the bike, but I would remain realistic. You may want to take the approach I took with my beater bike; if it ain't broke, don't fix it, replace it, paint it,or upgrade it. I would change the drive train's ratio to something that's more to your wants and needs.

Brad

FWIW, a 3 speed hub cog, minimum, starts out at 13 teeth, in high gear the hub turns 1.333 times [4/3] faster than the cog,
because of the internal gear.