Bam42685

After reading this thread on the VO frame I'm curious to see what everybody has built up. I especially like that Portage in the thread.

Post 'em if you got 'em.

nlerner

I'm not in the market for the V-O bike because I already have a French 650B city bike: a 1970s St. Etienne frameset set up w/ a single-speed rear hub, upright bars, chainguard and front porteur rack (not shown in the photo below). Right now it sports a front wheel with Shimano Dynohub and a lamp mounted to the rack. I do most of my commuting on this bike though once winter sets in, I'll be using a couple of other bikes that'll have studded tires.

Neal

treebound 

Neal,
What is the gear ratio on that? I'll guess about a 48x14.

I might pull this Bridgestone 100 back and singlespeed citify it:
https://images.craigslist.org/3n63oe3...15912d1c90.jpg

(not sure how to image link/load with the phone)

nlerner

Nah, that's much too muscular for me. I have this one set up as 42/16. I find a 65-70-inch gear works best for me for city riding.

Neal

norskagent

my primary city bike is probably not typical for most here on c&v - a '76 fuji track, set up w/ period suntour superbe pro and dura ace, and a modern front brake. Gearing is 50x19. It is somewhat hilly here, but I like hills. I commute on this bike ~%90 of the time.


The other 10% of the time, when it's really hot, or the streets are wet, or I feel the need for gears, I take my '80 mclean. Campy SR w/ cinelli bars and stem, brooks swift saddle, nitto rack, honjo fenders. 28mm tires

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I really only go into town to run errands so I've got some capacity on mine with the Big Wald baskets

flammenwurfer

I like this thread. I'm working on my city bike at the moment, but I will add pics of it as soon as I am finished. It is a Raleigh Technium 480 converted with 700C wheels, Sturmey Archer AW 3-speed hub, north road bars and a homemade led headlight inside a classic headlight housing.

Coming soon is an SA dyno front hub and fenders. Probably after Christmas.

It looks pretty sloppy in this photo, but here is a teaser.

7speed

Everybody Loves Raymond?

flammenwurfer

Lol, yep. The wife was watching it while I was in my bike room.

High Fist Shin

Zaph, lovin it. What a great transformation! What wheels are those? And does it have hub brakes?

-Shin

mkeller234

This is my errand bike and daily commuter. It was a lower end Lotus that I converted so 99% of the parts are from something else. It's one of my favorites that I have owned so far but I don't ride very long distances on it.

Oh man... it WAS clean at one time:

flammenwurfer

mkeller, I LOVE that Lotus! They are really beautiful frames. Wish I could find one around here.

flammenwurfer

Also, what fenders are those?

Bam42685

These are some good looking bikes!

Flammenwurfer, did you build that rear wheel with the 3 speed hub? I remember you asking questions about spoke length and selection, but I'm not sure if it's the same project.

Bionicycle

I went the Mixte route for ease of mounting/dismounting on my city bike, and just because I really like the frames. The handle bars are off a 1950’s Schwinn cruiser that was (sadly) rusting away in my parents basement. I had to remove what was left of the chrome, and just spray paint them flat black for now. Someday I may get them re-chromed, or color match them to the frame. Improvements in the next few months will include a different rear rack, triple crank set, and head and tail lights… Eventually I would like to convert to 700c, or maybe 26”wheels and get some nice fenders for it as well.

flammenwurfer

Yep, I got it built and trued it up last night. All that's left now is to grind off the ends of the spokes that are sticking out of the nipples and I'll probably re-grease the bearings in the AW hub before I put it on the bike. Hopefully I can get that done this weekend.

mkeller234

Thank you! The fenders are the sks choromoplastics, they have been great. The rear fender got caught with a shoulder strap that fell from my pannier, the fender bent all the way around and stopped the motion of the wheel. Once I got it untangled the fender swung back into position without any real damage!

For being such a ho-hum frame material with some ho-hum parts it really feels nice. The whole goal was to have all the amenities of my Schwinn Collegiate in a faster package.

I have to give credit to DirtDrop... his beautiful bikes were what put the idea in my head.

squirtdad

my utility/short commute/city bike

82 or so nishkiki, rebuilt (only the frame and seat post are original) 1x8, thumbshifters, brooks b17....soon to have new sks fenders

David Newton

This one will have to suffice till the Hercules Popular Roadster is finished.

gomango

Our Fuji works for everyday run around stuff. My kids and I have rebuilt nine of these in the last two years.



Our Schwinn Racer makes a great "go to the beer store" bike. Slack chain! Horrors. Kids, get on it! Seriously though, they are really getting into the "let's work on the bikes" thing.



I say "ours" because the whole family grabs these for errands. Easier than using the car in many cases.

mkeller234

Gomango, I really like that Fuji

Bam42685

That's really cool. I get crazy looks when I claim that a bike can be more convenient than a car.

gomango

Thanks mkeller234. I don't know which shop or shops sold these locally, but the Twin Cities are crawling with these at garage sales. They are often priced dirt cheap, and are quite often in nice overall condition. That's because they have been sitting in garage rafters for twenty years. My kids and I rebuild them and then offer them on CL. I sold another one just like it earlier this summer to a young man who uses it as a daily commuter. He was going to buy a Salsa casseroll triple, but picked this up instead. Hard to beat the price!

DVC45

Mine

mkeller234

Oh yeah! Those chromed Ross mountain bikes are sweet. I have a really soft spot for Ross after having a signature series. I love cheering for underdogs... ross, cleveland Browns what have you