The Cave of Bad Ideas
 

The title is, of course, a h/t to Russ at The Path Less Pedaled.

This thread is for bike hacks, things that shouldn't have worked but did, and assorted "hey, wouldn't it be cool if..." weirdness.

Since I'm staring the thread, here's the first entry:

Use one of those stem-shifter adapter mounts, along with interrupter brake levers, to build a 1x cyclocross bike.

Like-a dis:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...52af4dbe82.jpg
Seems like it might be cool, neh? With the brakes right there on the tops if you're there, which it seems like you would be a lot on a 'cross bike... they invented special brake levers for it, after all.

Anyway, when the gnomes from the Cave of Bad Ideas throw one up into the light, toss it on the pile over here by the mouth of the Cave. If you've actually implemented your Bad Idea, that's a bonus, but it is not needful.

Let's see some WTF!

--Shannon

Depending on whether I can source something, I might have an entry at some point.

I'll have to post my double brake levers that both operate the same caliper. Mechanically, I can see no reason why they wouldn't work, but I have had several bike friends who wrenches at various shops respond very negatively to my idea.

The only thing I'd worry about is that, when I'm riding, and especially when descending, I'm always and constantly adjusting the balance between how hard I'm squeezing the front and rear brake levers. Changing the bias changes the bike's cornering line in various useful ways that you really can't get any other way. A dual-pull lever, with its fixed brake bias, makes this impossible.

I bet it'd feel really weird. But I'm very willing, nay, eager, to be wrong about that. It'd be cool if it works.

--Shannon

While not really "hacks" per say, the primis was the idea here.

Terrible Campy barcons

9 speed

Modern Campy SR Ti crank

Braze on NR FD

Soma caged NR RD

NOS MKS black SL copy pedals

"Hack" super drillium Nitor SP


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c897bddae3.jpg

It's gettin' mighty hot down heah, I do declare! <waves_fan> <sips_mint_julep>

Stunning bike.

--Shannon

:thumb: Tx man, glad you like it.

That's what I was going for but I know it ain't everybody's cupa. ;)

It's on a fixie with no rear brake (the actual real bad idea). So both levers operate the front brake. One pushes housing and one pulls cable.

Another 'Not a hack per say, but mounting a thumbie inboard with inverse brake levers causes gear change when braking. :innocent:
Actually, if it shifted to a lower gear it would be better. But it doesn't..so it's not. :crash:


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f0579e330d.jpg

And we have plenty of purists here, I get it but we are so far down the line I feel there is an abundance of correct ones on the ground that can be had or one can be done ifn you have to have one. :eek:

Frankly, I don’t like the name. The idea is only “bad” if it doesn’t work and even then you learn something. As someone once told me, “you can always talk yourself out of an experiment.”

That said, I got a bunch of them. A touring bike (or any bike ridden by normal people, for that matter) doesn’t need a 130” high gear or a 52/11 combination. I like going fast downhills but 130” is mostly unusable. A 100” to 110” gear is still too high for most people’s tastes but, like I said, I like to go fast downhills. A 44/11 hits that sweet spot but 44 tooth outer chain rings are on mountain bike cranks and those have a wide chain line which isn’t compatible with road front derailers…too far out. Shortening the spindle of a square taper or moving the spacers over to the other side of an external bearing bottom bracket moves the crank over enough to allow a road front derailer to work

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3b92ce3ca.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...21494b98c.jpeg

While I like to go downhill fast, I also have to endure riding up hills…sometimes with more than I really should be carrying. I can stay upright at near zero speed and would rather pedal than walk so I need low gears. A 20 tooth inner ring will work on a 104/64 BCD mountain bike crank but not without a little bit of surgery. If you carefully file down the chain side of the standoffs for the inner ring, you can get enough clearance for a 20 tooth ring to work.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3a81b83fc.jpeg

Shimano will tell you that this exceeds the capacity of the derailer but Shimano lacks imagination. It works beautifully and has for the better part of a decade.

A 20 tooth chainring may seem like it’s enough of a low gears but if you can do something, it is worth over doing. A 36 tooth cassette gives a low enough gear for just about anything and a Wolftooth Road link does the job to make an old XTR rear derailer happy with working way past its supposed limits. The result is a bike with a

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6e877a2ba.jpeg

The result is a bike with an 720% gear range.

That’s just a couple of ideas.

IMO THE dumbest idea of all time is the downtube shifters. LOL. My 1973 Raleigh 5d had a stem shifter. A SA 3 speed actually is far better.
Getting stabbed by bar end shifters?? LOL.
46or 50T pie plates with 1x is a good idea?? LOL
Now all 3 of my IGH have a top tube mount. Which allows using either hand with various effectiveness at least. Perfect for my Rohloff14 twist shift.
Rod pretend brakes were on Raleigh's till 1982, what a farce.

Spotted in the wild


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...98725aacea.jpg

I took a Campy bar end shifter to the inside of my thigh on my way over the handlebars once ! Buried it up to the end of the handlebar, I still have that scar. I still can’t figure out how it actually happened it was all too fast . There was flesh on the nice blue shifter covers and a hole in my left leg . I actually kind of liked the shifters until that happened.

Depends -- I rode one today, and a different one yesterday. Both 50T 1x. Then again, just over 300 ft of elevation change for the whole ride.:o

Now I want to try (just for proof of concept) using a shortie interrupter brake lever to allow me to shift my front derailleur momentarily while I sprint from a stop, up to the top of a bridge, then across the street onto the Schuylkill River path.
I use a large mount new Sturmey 5 speed shifter lever as both shifter and seatpost clamp on my overkill Raleigh Twenty. Once I fixed the shifter's milquetoast indexing, it works perfectly.
Phil

I use an old 10 speed friction shifter mounted on my Jeep's stick shift as a hand throttle so I don't need to work the gas when off roading. I focus on brake and clutch, but can goose the engine if needed and/or set the rpm before starting something. I ran the bike cable to my throttle body and connected near the foot pedal cable.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...15bde0862.jpeg

My frankenbike, 70s steel road bike with flat bar, mountain bike quick shifters, long brake levers, rack, fenders, spd pedals etc, is likely a bad idea. It started with a $10 bike, forks that didn't quite line up (some cheater bar and BFH straightening), and a pile of leftover bike parts from other projects. I've ridden it 2,500 miles so I know it works.

This is likely just my personal ear speaking, but the name "Ultegra" just makes me wince. It sounds like something Bill the Cat would cough up after a bad night.

I rode one-brake track bikes on the road (including in races, back when the ABLA allowed such if they had at least one working brake) starting in 1964. Rear brake only (bad idea, but I survived) until 1983, which I bought a drilled fork for my new Bianchi Eco Pista and installed a (single) front brake.

In 2005 I got a first-year Specialized Langster and promptly removed the rear brake. Five years ago, I came to my senses and put the rear brake back on. I enjoy the bike far more now that I don't care about the unwritten rules.

My recumbent used to have a 20-38 low. 3.8 mph at 90 rpm. Still beats trying to stand. :)

Shimano's thinking might have been to mix "integrity" with "ulterior motives."

More than a decade ago I replaced the single crankset on my 9x3 SRAM Dual Drive IGH Cannondale (i.e. originally a 27-speed), with a triple crankset. And it became an 81-speed. :eek:

Needless to say there were many redundant gears, and thus it was a bad idea, but the lows were mighty low and I could climb any grade hill--- at a snail's pace. And of course the top end high combined with a steep descent provided a terrifying experience.

Eventually I replaced the triple with a double and continue to ride it regularly, only now as a downgraded 54-speed.

I understand it to mean Ultimate Integration. I can understand where it came from but geeze it is an ugly word.

On my tour of the Misssippi, I reached a point where it just wasn’t possible to find camping sites. Camping sites that would take bikes and tents, that is. At Perryville, MO, I decided to just stop trying and sent all my camping/cooking gear home. I went from this

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e7a97599b.jpeg

to this. I was carrying just clothes in the front and my street shoes as well as rain gear were in the bag on the back. Much lighter but my Tubus rack has a very open rack. That’s not a problem with a tent and sleeping bag laid across the top but with just the bag, it can slip down and rub the tire…which it did. I rubbed a hole in my dry bag and didn’t want a repeat so I started looking around for something to close the gap. I thought of stealing a campaign sign and cutting it up. But there are a couple of problems that kept me from doing that. First was the message of the campaign sign. I didn’t want to advertise for a cause I didn’t like and I didn’t want to steal a sign from something I might support. Plus people get a bit defensive about their signs and I didn’t want someone exercising their (supposed) second amendment rights on me. I kept looking.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...64edd8cc7.jpeg

Somewhere down in the Bootheel region (which I read as “boothe el” and wondered who the heck Boothe el was:rolleyes:), I found an old broken up milk crate on the side of the road.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8db3f53a5.jpeg

With some judicious breaking of the plastic and zip ties (I always carry zip ties), I was able to fashion a grid that would keep my bag from dragging on the wheel

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...97c30b308.jpeg

Worked a treat!

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ac37bc9e8.jpeg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...af1148f779.jpg
Adverts for businesses that have blown away are fair game IMO. I had the same issue (dragging bag on tire) in the middle of a climb, and found a coroplast sign sitting in some weeds.