Smokinapankake

Here's another quad crank for your viewing pleasure. Don't know exactly which brand the adapter is, but it uses a thread on Suntour freewheel cog (18t). Mounted on an old Shimano crankset from about 84 or so....





I seem to have had trouble making the whole shebang work okay, if I recall correctly I couldn't get a front derailleur to span cross all 4 rings.... My old XT thumbies were not the culprit, I don't think. It's sitting in a box on the shelf for now.

Rings were (from the bottom): 18, 24, 36, 48.

wrk101

At least your quad does not throw the chain into the riders leg.

frantik

what was the purpose of that 1/3 "bash guard" ?

wrk101

On the homemade quad, my assumption it was to keep the rider's pants out of the chain. Realize the fourth chainring is mounted outboard of the original large triple chainring, and it had spacers underneath it. So the large chain ring was much closer to the rider's leg.

Imagine your right foot on the pedal, and you are wearing pants. That guard is right where your pant leg would be exposed to the very close chainring and chain.

frantik

at least there was a method to the madness

superj

here is mine, its still in the process of being made nice but at least its ride-able right now.







i need to get brake levers for front and rear, run the cables for the rear brakes, get better shift levers that actually fit the stem, get black cable sheathing, and get bar tape on it. i am just happy to be able to ride though since i took everything apart but didn't realize how much stuff was sized differently. this thing rides so nice though

IthaDan 

Loving the scott drop-ins.

Chris_in_Miami

Yes, you're into no man's land with sizing when you start mixing road & MTB standards, but you'll get it ironed out eventually... Looks pretty cool so far, love those Scott bars!

rodar y rodar

A buddy and occasional riding partner set up his SWB recumbent with a quad crank and very small (20t, I think) granny ring. Following suggestions on the Mountaintamer website, he chopped his FD cage and soldered in an extension in order to accomodate the huge span. I haven`t ridden it personally, but apparently it`s working for him.

Go get `em!

Anybody here using drop bar mtbs with skinny tires as basically a small "roadie"?

Captain Blight

I used to build 2-3 of these a month when I was wrenching for a living. There's a bunch running around Minneapolis under very petite women who wanted to ride and couldn't get a decent bike for decent money any other way. 16-18" frames are tolerably rare in the road bike world, but in MTB they are a glut on the market.

They all seemed pleased with the conversions, and a couple women even came back for upgrades to better components and in one case a better frame.

I wish I had more time for this sort of thing, I have an I think '86 Schwinn Impact in black chrome that is begging for 650B Hetres, Tektro 720s and a set of GB Rando bars.

rodar y rodar

Thanks, Cpt Blight. If the customers from your old shop had looked here, they could have found a lot of 50cm and slightly under bikes in 700C! Well, I shouldn`t say a lot, but they do pop up pretty frequently on my local CL. Funny there aren`t more 559 road bikes on the market.

>16-18" frames are tolerably rare in the road bike world, but in MTB they are a glut on the market.<
Yeah, tons of OLD rigid mtbs around in those sizes (which won`t bother anybody here), but AFIK you`d have to go with a custom frame to get a new one that didn`t need an extra long fork.

I disasembled an 89 Rockhopper and refurbed the wheels, crank, and BB over the weekend. Will do the deraillers and brakes and sart reassembling as time allows. The bars I have out in the shed are 26mm clamp dia, but the stem is for 1 inch bar, not sure if it`s going to go or not. Well, I figured I`d need a different stem anyway, but it would be nice to have a base line to guess from.

neo_pop_71

I'm lovin' this bike, I really dig the build!!!
I have a Cimarron LE that I keep flip flopping parts trying to figure out the direction I want to go with the build. Yours is inspiring, kinda' lit a fire under me to get movin' with the build. Thanks for sharing! I'll upload a pic of mine and a couple catalog scans...

Gravity Aided

The Cimmarons would be great bikes for this project , I think , Lightweight , good geometry and build quality for this purpose, and lots of good examples for ideas and inspiration .

wrk101

Then this thread is a success! Part of my purpose was to show some love for conversions, and encourage others to give it a try. The old rigid frame mtbs continue to be great values IMHO, and while not racing bikes, they can be turned into nice commuters, recreational rides, whatever.

frantik

they make the perfect city beasts. Small wheels allow faster accelleration from stops, fat tires allow you to power through obtacles and a more upright posture allows for better visibility in traffic.

it's so funny to me how road/racing bikes are valued more highly when 99% of bike riders don't race. no matter.. i'll happily continue picking up top of the line frames and components for pennies, thanks

I do notice in my area is there is are at least a handful of people who know quality mtbs since the real high end stuff does get snatched up

danec99

To my surprise this Grizzly has become more than I ever intended. Odd squarish geometry, short TT and a wide flat bar made for a cramped ride. But it was Celeste Bianchi and in extremely nice condition. I put some Tom Slick's on it and used it for Coffee, Family rides. Then I stumbled upon this in BF and got to work. The bullhorns stretched the cockpit out perfectly. Went from Deore 6 speed to XT 7 speed, upgraded the RD with bits from a busted XTR. Now it's viable road rider. Was in Napa last week and used it for winery touring but got a chance to go into "road mode" on a favorite loop and enjoyed every moment.

striknein

If only it had drop bars...

wrk101

Another U brake beauty. I am starting to seek out U brake MTBs. I like the era, I like the various trash talk they get, etc. Some of the best from that era came with u brakes. While for mtb applications, they definitely have their problems, on road applications, I like them.

hairnet

I cant get the sweet spot for my U brake, so frustracting. Maybe I will have my buddy braze on some canti studs

Tulok

I love that grizzly, how much do they normally sell for?

frantik

Just took my Univega dropbar mtb out for an errand run.. tweaked the seat height and bar height, still trying to dial in the sizing and even the brake positioning might need to be changed a bit. I'm not used to drops any more so i'm not sure what feels "right".. I can tell I'm working different muscles too.

I really like the fat Kenda K838 tires (same tires as on Thifty Bill's Cimmaron) on my 86 Diamondback, but for the Univega they just don't feel right. I think some of it is the fact the DB has a much more cruisery geometry, while the Univega's head tube angle is pretty sharp.. consequently I'm riding on the sides more, especially while making quick turns. I dunno why but i just feel like this bike needs skinnier tires... i feel like i'm pedaling through mush (which is weird because i don't feel nearly the same way about these tires on the other bike). I also really really need to get my gearing figured out cause i'm not feeling the current set up since i don't have a gear I can spin comfortably in.. the 52t ring is overkill for sure, but it's what I got


I agree that the era of chainstay rollercam & ubrake brakes (86-88) definitely offered some great frames and components. The main downsides of this era are biopace and uniglide, though they can be swapped out easily enough. In 1989 almost all high end bikes went to rear cantis (I also notice alot of straight forks offered this year only) though some lower end bikes more intended as street cruises kept them for a few more years. 1989 is the last year you see high endd thumbshifters from shimano too.. in 1990 they went to trigger shifters.

The main downside to ubrakes is the lack of clearance.. at least with the pads and tires i have installed, I have to release the quick release and find the exact right place where the tread is slightly indented to remove the rear wheel, otherwise I have to deflate the tire a little bit.

They also are a bit tricky to set up, but easier than cantis imo..

I think Sheldon has some info on how to set them up.. the basic strategy is to get the straddle cable as short as possible (so you can just barely remove the quick release) and then adjust the main cable. When set up right i have no problem locking up the rear wheel

IthaDan 

I don't think I've ever set an already used one up without putting the springs in different holes on the mounts. There was never enough travel in the return spring fine adjustment screw to use the center hole on both sides.

3speedslow

I'm possibily feeling stupid here, are we suppose to have the springs on canti brakes inserted into different holes ? Not the same on both sides ? Which hole for which side ?


Let me have it

LesterOfPuppets

Depends on the springs. Probably has something to do with the alignment of the planets also.

Working on old junked bikes at my volunteer gig I have to bump 'em up to the top holes, or run one middle/one top all the time.

IthaDan 

No, they SHOULD be in the same holes, but all of the U brakes I've adjusted (granted they've been through a lot, I work at a coop) have needed adjustment past what the preload screw could afford, so I had to move one spring tip to an adjacent hole in the mount to get them to balance properly.

E: exactly what Lester said.