WNG

My first Winter project is nearing completion. I need to see if I can fix the RD I want to use, or ultimately go with an alternate.

RANT: Why can't bar tape manufacturers stop being so stingy and provide enough length to actually cover the handlebar?!?!?!
We should create a database of brands that skimp on tape.

Here are a few teaser shots.


Not Ready For Primetime-006 by WNG555, on Flickr

Not Ready For Primetime-007 by WNG555, on Flickr

Not Ready For Primetime-005 by WNG555, on Flickr

Not Ready For Primetime-003 by WNG555, on Flickr


Update:
The XT RD pictured seems to be damaged beyond repair. The upper and lower pivots are not aligned. Too bad, it went better with the theme of this bike. Instead, it got an XTR unit, threw on the chain, and my Desert Rat II is finished.


Giant Smurf-001 by WNG555, on Flickr

Giant Smurf-011 by WNG555, on Flickr

Giant Smurf-019 by WNG555, on Flickr

3speedslow

^^^^^ Nice looking Sekine ! Your Titlist rear DR should be a great shifting component. Mine works quite nicely.

DetroitSchwinn

Here is my Motobecane I set up as my first fixed gear... I re-dished the rear wheel and took off the rear brake. Has good pedal clearance when turning and it's a blast to ride. it's got a 52 tooth chainring up front and a 16 tooth cog in back. I haven't regretted the gearing yet and I've ridden it to and from work a few times...

Vonruden

I'm planning a garish purple and orange extravaganza.

gomango

You did a top notch job.

Very cool.

Give us a ride report after you get her very dirty.

TheDavid 

I really like this. Looks great. Is the bar tape Fizik?

TheDavid 

I have a couple projects that will be wrapping up soon.

The 'Townie' for cruising around with my daughter seated comfortably in the wee ride. Need cassette and better tires. Coming soon!


And this one. Since this picture was taken I have replaced the saddle and I am shopping around for Cinelli 64-42 to replace the bars that are on the bike right now.

WNG

Thanks guys!

[bar tape] It's not Fizik, it's a brand called Cutter.

Vonruden

the build looks great!

the_tool_man

The blurple bike is finally done. My daughter absolutely loves it. I took a few more pics when the sun was out to try and capture how deep and reflective the paint is, but pictures don't really do it justice:







More pics in the build thread here (I hope this doesn't count as cross-posting):

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ialized-Hybrid

I got a lot of inspiration and help from you guys. So thanks!

sloar 

little winter project update. pinarello is painted. forks are cleared. ordered my decals from velocals but they are closed until the 7th. after that i can clear the frame and assemble the bike. i sold my trek y-glide frame and after a long search. found a nice carbon frame with v-brake mounts so i can use my trusty xtr's. for more days tip the frame gets here.

debit

I love how that bike turned out. The white touches just make blurple pop. Lovely bike!

non-fixie 

My first winter project to be finished will be: a winter bike (what else )

I wanted something I could hop onto in my street clothes, and I wouldn't feel too bad about when riding it in salty conditions, yet still be a bit of an occasion to ride. So when this 1979 Raleigh Grand Prix showed up in my size and what seemed a good, original condition, I bought it. When I picked it up I still thought all I needed to do was put a nice Brooks on it and replace the foam on the bars by some black cotton tape.

However, om closer inspection it appeared to have been worked on previously by someone whose ideas on what makes a nice bike were slightly different from mine. All the bearings were too tight, lots of nuts and bolts had been replaced by stuff that didn't quite fit, the left crank didn't match the right, the wheels didn't match and lots of other small niggles.

I ended up taking most of the thing apart, replacing the saddle, the wheels and tires, the crank set, the rear dérailleur, the brake levers, the cables and housing (had some NOS dark green laying around).

The one thing I still need to decide on is the lighting. I usually ride with battery operated LED's that clip on, but as this bike is already fitted with a front and rear light, I am feeling an urge to mount a Sanyo BB generator from the parts bin.

otg 

I picked up this (I think) 1973 Columbia on my way home yesterday. Saw it in front of a second hand store and got it for ten bucks. First Sturmey Archer 3 speed, but I got it working in all three gears with a bit of tinkering and a splash of oil. Going to redo it and give it to my daughter to ride on the Airline Trail here in CT.

jeirvine 

A couple orange bikes are projects this winter. They have their own threads, bit i thought I'd add 'em here:

70's Coppi:


'80 Trek 414:

DMC707

Marin Team Issue, '95 model ---- this is the victim of a botched aand discarded early single speed project --- I have had this bike since new-- so am responsible for all the frame's bumps and bruises --- it has many, but no dents ----

Tange Ultimate Prestige tubing helps keep the weight of this project at 17 lbs 13 oz as it sits, mostly just needing bars and cables to be rideable -- guessing I could squeak it in at 20 lbs ready to ride, but the wheelset is dreadful, as are the steel seat and basic micro-adjust post -- there are quite a few places to shed more weight

Quick and dirty singlespeed conversion at the rear end with a single cog and a bunch of spacers on a stock hub with a Surly chain slack device ----
Bike is wearing a cartridge bottom bracket and the original White Industries crankset, but it squeaked, -- there was an issue with the bottom bracket shell as I recall, and that's when I abandoned the project --- need to have the threads chased and the shell re-faced

Has the cool for the time Marin house brand canti's, which were good stoppers, but given the distressed condition of this bike's paint, I may have disc tabs welded on the back ---- I am going to use a carbon threadless rigid fork with disc tabs in place (my other option which would save some cash and also be trick - would be to run the Magura 33 hydraulic brakes to go on the stock canti posts )

Undecided on the drivetrain --- The White Eno hub would clean up the back end and look sweet, but I like gears, so a 1X11 SRAM setup would also be nice if I can divert funds towards this project from other things

blilrat

How about some pics of the Nishiki funny bike? I keep telling myself I'll pick one up if I can find one fairly cheap.

blilrat

Finally finished up my wife's bike for putting around to the farmer's market and on the local MUPs. I'm not real happy with the grips and will probably find something to match the saddle to pull it together.

87 Schwinn Cimarron - bought the frame from inkandsilver here on the forum

PeregrineA1 

The first one of the winter was a rush job. My GF's daughter came home from college and said she wanted a fixie. We said no fixie, but you can have a single speed. She was OK with that. I thought, perfect I haven't bought her a present yet. Took her to the bike cave to see what she did and didn't like about the various bikes. Red was a strong like. Then I showed her a couple of bike photo threads on BF, both on C&V and SSFG, to see what style she liked. She was consistent in liking classic style (no florescent orange and green....). So far so good, off to Craigslist to find a suitable bike. Monday the 30th it showed up. 14 minutes after it posted I responded and 45 minutes later I was there. He held it, even with 6 other e-mails. Got a little off the price and down the road.


Showed it to her when I got home and did a test fit. She loves it, says "don't change a thing, I love the tires and the USA sticker". So we have a patriotic '85 Trek 400.

I spent New Years Eve and Day doing a complete tear down, polish and rebuild. Took off 3 generations of bicycle license, new cables and housings, and a new rear derailleur. Tomorrow it heads to Eugene. Hopefully she remembers its on the roof rack...

The goal for the winter is to get more projects out of the line-up. There is a 1980 Lotus Excelle and a 1985 Centurion Ironman which are tentatively sold. I want to finish the Wizard and the Ed Litton. Then we will see about the rest. Just need fewer 75* days that tempt me into riding or fishing.

DMC707

How about some pics of the Nishiki funny bike? I keep telling myself I'll pick one up if I can find one fairly cheap.




Sure --- I actually used this bike for wintertime fixed gear training -- and to replicate the pursuit position of my track bike --- the stem is more upright so I can get in a bit longer ride if I needed to (long meaning maybe 10 or 15 miles --- not being Laurent Fignon, that was quite enough )

sadly , many of my race bikes from the 80's and 90's have been slowly scavenged of good parts here and there, -- and that seems to be the fate of a lot of old warhorses



This is a pic from a decade , maybe more, ago when the bike was still being used regularly --- my nephews younger friends see my bikes and sometimes will say - "Cool! A Fixie !" - and it makes me cringe , many of us just used these to improve our spin or ride the rollers decades before dudes in converse sneakers decided to put bumper stickers and pink wheels on vintage Italian steel and call them "fixies" --- but hey, if it gets more kids riding, so be it

If you like these old funny bikes , Shogun also made one in the price range of the Nishiki, if it helps broaden your search -- the Shogun was also a triple triangle style frame design



This is the bike I had in mind when I was pounding out miles on flat lake roads on the Nishiki ---- I refuse to drill a hole for a front brake in this one

Orrery

Looks great!! Any additional details on the make of the front rack? I'm looking for something very similar.

blilrat

Awesome! Ah, the Bianchi in the background - I remember that attic, there's a Yeti hiding up there somewhere.

Thanks, it's a 70's era Jim Blackburn.

DMC707

you have a good memory for bikes ---- the YEti was the replacement for the Marin that was the subject for this post submission --- it only got ridden half a season until I rode a first generation Santa Cruz Superlight -- I had resisted the miscellaneous AMP research bikes, Schwinn Homegrown "sweet spot" bikes, and a few others (Cannondale Super V's, - and others) --- the single pivot Santa Cruz was magic to my way of thinking


- Yeto PRo Fro with Judy SL fork w/ Arlo Englund cartridge conversion---- since its in "survivor" condition , I'm likely not touching it except to ride it occasionally -- I have a couple of sets of the PAnaracer Smoke re-issues I keep around for these old bikes so I never have to disgrace them with modern rubber - -- they are gnarly in the mud

DMC707

The Santa Cruz that replaced the Yeti is sliding into old age too ---- its wearing relatively current stuff , but only because I bought a Superlight at a blowout price from Co. Cyclist a few years ago for not much more than a bare frame would have cost -- re-did that frame with dream components (for me) - and used the cast-off's to re-do this one for a buddy bike, --- my brother has been using it for 4 or 5 years and it just came back into my shop for a tune up -- still pretty cool, but the bottom of the range Shimano/Rock Shox kit on it means its a bit porky (30 lbs) -- but its wearing Smoke re-issues and thumbies though for a vintage touch





Since you mentioned the attic, and this is a thread about projects, I guess you could say my bike room is an ongoing winter project ---- It will be finished before that Marin Team will be I think -- I just ran out of laminate wood for the floor and need to find more just like it ----
--- when I ran the attic thread, I started feeling a bit guilty about all the bikes gathering dust up there, so I got a Rubbermaid rail system at Home Depot and started re-doing a little exercise room I had built off my garage -- most of us know how well home based exercise rooms work for the populace, so I think a bike room is a better way to use the space ---- keep the lighting soft, and have a comfy chair or 2 to curl up and read a book or watch a bit of tv to boot

Lascauxcaveman 

Decided to finally build a fixie/SS that fits me, rather than getting my hipster mileage on the cramped, dog-eared world's ugliest fixie.

Yesterday: find a frame and fork in the junkpile; an early (mid?) 70s Apollo Prestige CDN market Ishiwata 012 Hi-Ten frame and misc Tange fork


Today: partially assemble with parts bin refugees and donor crank from the worlds ugliest fixie


Tonight: disassemble, & polish a suitable vintage front brake; the rusty parts are currently bathing in Oxalic acid, will get to the polishing soon


Had to go to the big auction site to buy a 26.2 seatpost and replacement straddle cable for that brake, as the LBS across the street was 0 - for - 2 today on finding oddball vintage junk for me. And they are usually so good at it. Ordered a 17T freewheel for the flip side of the rear hub while I was at it.

I was also going to get some of those shortie hand grips for those nice polished alloy bars but haven't figured on a color scheme yet. If i like riding this thing, I'm going to take it in for my first-ever powdercoat job. I'm leaning towards a metallic pewter and then adding myself a crimson panel on the head tube and seat tube in the manner of some nice looking early 80's Treks I've seen.

Any other suggestions?