My commute build thread.
 

I decided I wanted to start commuting to work. For some reason this thing caught my eye although it's not really what I was looking for. I'm located not too far from Fort Hood here in Texas and this was listed by a soldier who was moving to another base in Alabama and didn't want to take it with him. He said he bought it while stationed in Germany and used to get around the base there and Fort Campbell in KY once he got back to the states. It was well used and I offered him half of his asking price and so it became mine for $20.

Once I got it home and aired up the tires to take it for a spin around the block my first reaction was that this thing is a tank. It's really solid. And really heavy. It really did feel like it was crushing the ground beneath it. The rear cogs looked to be pretty worn and the BB felt pretty crunchy, along with the hubs and headset. So I decided to tear it all apart to go over everything. It was pretty evident that it had never been serviced since the day it was built. All the grease was hardened and the BB was full of grit and twigs and gravel.

The brand name is Fischer, it didn't have a model name. It was made in Germany according to the sticker that was on it. It's all steel. Heavy steel. I weighed it prior to taking it apart and it was over 37lbs. Once I got it stripped down I was curious so I started weighing things. The bare frame is 8lbs, stem and handlebar together was over 5lbs! and so on.

Anyway here are some pictures of it the day I brought it home.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...de6c3d50bf.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...31fd31db06.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...973be26555.jpg

Once I had it stripped down I decided to paint it. I removed the stickers and scuffed up the factory finish with 800 grit. The paint is Rustoleum covered with Rustoleum Matte clear coat. Because it's German and really heavy and it rides like a tank I've decided to call it "Panzerkampfwagen" Anyway it seemed like a fitting name to me. This is what it looks like now.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...105d9cea73.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7b504fc19d.jpg

Everything else will be painted flat black.

While the paint was curing I rebuilt the hubs with new bearings. Retentioned the spokes and trued the wheels. I managed to break two but luckily had a couple extra DT swiss SS spokes and nipples left over from when I rebuilt the wheels on the green bike and they where the correct length.

I have now reached the stage of analysis paralysis. I've built the bike a million different ways in my head and haven't pulled the trigger on any replacement parts yet because I keep changing my mind. Gearing, handlebars, stem, seatpost and saddle, lights, tires. All of it is up in the air.

The six speed freewheel is pretty far gone. The cogs are a little worn but the rust pitting is severe. It's a DNP unit. That is getting replaced with Shimano seven speed freewheel.

I'm leaning towards Treking/butterfly bars with and adjustable stem. I will be going to friction shifters. I like simplicity and they just work. Beyond that is still undecided. I will be getting some parts rolling in soon and start putting it back together.

I like it!

Keep the lights. Either keep the dynamo or replace it with a dynamo hub. I love dynamo hubs. Once I started using them, I wondered why I waited so long.

Great paint job! How cool to have such a custom-looking bike (even if it is heavy). Is the lettering from a decal kit or did you hand-paint it?

I agree with Tom, since you already have dynamo lights and are planning to buy wheels anyways, get a dynamo hub. I guess keep the fenders and rack too (maybe another cool painting project?)

Gearing: 1x is where it's at, with a superwide cassette like 10-speed 11-42 (hopefully 10-speed is not too close-spaced for friction). Personally I would go with trigger shifters, since I like those a lot. Unfortunately disc brakes are not in the cards for this frame, so V-brakes, at least those will be cheap.

Yeah, cuz it makes the bike even heavier. ;)

And definitely keep the fenders. Fenders are under-rated.

I'm not so sure I'll be keeping those particular lights. I mean things have come a long way since these dull 6V lamps were considered decent. I think some modern LED lights will allow me to see and be seen a lot better than these.

I'll need some convincing to keep them.

Okay, been digging around for a solution to the lighting issue. I do like the how they looked but hate that little bottle Dynamo. So noisy and terrible.

What I've come up with is to run the lights off of a 6V 2000mah battery pack. I also realized that the headlamp uses a standard 6V flashlight bulb, and there are many LED replacements out there for those. I can get a brighter whiter light that only pulls .5W instead of the 3W it pulls now and keep the nice pattern that this headlight has. The rear is already an LED. The frame is wired internally for the lights so all I'll need to do is Fab up a battery box that'll mount to the Dynamo mounting boss on the frame.

I've also decided that it would be prudent to actually ride the commute for a while to ensure that my body will be able to handle it before I spend a lot of money on replacement parts.

So at this point I'll only need to source tires, tubes, saddle, shifters, shifter cables, and a chain to get it on the road.

Oh and the fenders and rack are definitely staying and have already been painted and are ready for installation.

The wife was getting tired of me having bike parts laying around in the living room so I decided to start putting it back together.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4d928dbd7d.jpg

I love it! Can't wait to see what you go with! It's gonna be a great tank (Panzer) commuter for sure!

[MENTION=489622]NiGoCo[/MENTION], how many miles is your commute?

The most direct but most dangerous route is just a little over six miles. The more safe but slightly hilly route is a little over 8 miles.

I would have to leave the house at 5:30 in the morning so I'm hoping that I don't have a traffic issue on the way to work in the morning and can take the shorter flatter route. On the way home I'll let traffic dictate which way I go, likely trying to stay on neighborhood roads instead of the main roads.

OK so if you end up taking the 8 mile route normally, that's bordering on a long commute in my view. Some commute much more than that, but they are pretty exceptional. If it is difficult at first, it will become easy over time. I commute 6.5 miles each way, and I love my commute. I don't own a car, and I'm in the middle of NYC, so the alternate mode for me is the subway. I like my ride so much nowadays that I prefer it to the subway even when the weather is bad. I'm willing to get cold or wet. There's a bumper sticker saying a bad day fishing is better than a bad day at work. Similarly, a bad ride into work is better than a day without riding at all. And it's great for my health.

For some reason, I thought the lights on your bike were modern. So I would recommend you seriously consider getting new Bush & Müller lights, or at least one of their headlights. I have a few different bikes, but I generally pick the one with the dynamo lights because they work so well and reliably. I leave them on, so they come on when the bike rolls.

I remembered that I had an old remote controlled truck that runs off of a 7.2V battery pack. The LED replacement bulb is good up to 9V and I'd have to imagine that there is some type of voltage regulator in the circuit because it runs fine at 7.2V .

It's been running for two hours so far on a partially charged pack. It'll be interesting to see how long they'll go.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fa743b1209.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f0486c1c76.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1062e1e6b9.jpg
It might not be the brightest light but I like the pattern. All in all I think they'll work fine. Maybe I'll supplement then with a set of flashing lights.

Great progress! So cool to hear about your successful tinkering with lights and batteries -- I don't have the electronics-fu for that.

Thank you.

I let it run for six hours and it dropped only .2V. It'll probably last a week in a single charge. Or more.
A couple 18650 cells would be much lighter so in the future I may upgrade to those.

Brilliant. Pun intended.

Made a little more progress. Got the shifters and cables installed. Just used cheap sunrace friction shifters. Super easy to set up, basically just set the high and low stops in the derailleurs and you're good to go. Brake noodles and a new seat will be here Monday. After that I just need tubes, tires and a chain to be back on the road.

​​​​​​I was going to need a set of grips but had a set that came off of my motorcycle laying around. I still plan on going to butterfly bars in the future so didn't want to spend money for grips I'm just going to be replacing soon anyway. I had to pad the bar out with tape for the throttle side grip but they fit nicely.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b486b44494.jpg

I think I'll tackle the wiring for the lights tomorrow.

Nearly finished!

Quick test ride around the block tonight. Handlebars are way too low for me. Definitely will need a much taller stem. Shifters work great, will need to fine tune their position in the bars. Brakes work great. Everything is tight with no rattles.

Went with a set of 26x2.00 Kenda Kommuter tires the LBS had a decent price on. New tubes, KMC chain and metal caged shin killers err...I mean pedals.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fa67275f2a.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6703e03611.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d4503eb491.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2d4d00c599.jpg

Still need to finish up the wiring and mount the battery for the lights, just threw it together quickly so I could test ride it tonight.

Hoping to get a test ride into work this weekend to see how it goes. Maybe even get to ride it in next week.

That's pretty cool. Nice work.

Sweet! The headlight pattern reminds me of my old setup which used a Malibu Yardlamp with a 20-Watt Halogen bulb. LEDs are definitely better.

That looks like a terrific commuter...great job!

If you ever take it to Germany just be aware that the phrase 'it rides like a tank' commonly does not translate to something involving a tank. It will make sense but will carry a militaristic connotation.

Also I'm happy to see you having success with those LED replacement lights. I used to own a battery light built around 6V 3W bulbs (I.e. 5 x AA rechargeable batteries lasting a long time but very heavy. I also replaced with an LED and that light never died in winter. Unfortunately I lost it and now I'm using an LED light with integrated lithium ion battery that is much much smaller. Hold on to your solution!

Armored combat/attack vehicle works just as well.

Just weighed it and it's sitting at 36.8lbs so about the same as a low end mountain bike.

Finished routing the wiring and mounting
the battery. Ended up just zip tying to the bottom of the rack. I'll just charge it on the bike when the time comes.

​​​​​​Took it out for it's first real although short at five miles ride. Had a couple issues. It's a little slow to shift down to the 14T sprocket so that'll need sorting and the seat post started slowly sinking down into the frame and by the time I got home it was slammed all the way down. Surprisingly it wasn't as uncomfortable as I would have imagined that position to be. Anyway need to get that sorted too. I plan to ride it into work in the morning.

Much success!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1ebc2c4e26.jpg
The bike did great! A couple bolts loosened. The handlebar clamp and one of the fender supports backed off. I've done a nut and bolt once home just to snug it all up again.

The route was good. There are no bike Lanes but it's almost all four Lane roads with a 30mph speed limit. There are a couple miles where the limit is 40 but I feel comfortable that there is another Lane going my direction.

This is the first time in my life that I've ever worn a bicycle helmet. It's a little uncomfortable and sweaty but I guess I'll get used to it.

The biggest problem is I've got to figure out what's causing my arm pain and hand numbness. I've been home a couple hours and my pinky and ring fingers in both hands are still numb. That won't do.

Cool bike.

Probably around 200 EUR new or so.

Great commuter as was to live at the train station outside.

Yeah it's got low end components on it. But the thing is built solid. It has no give in the frame at all. I'm not sure that my old Dyno freestyle BMX bike was this stiff. Not sure if the guy I bought it from got it new or second hand in Germany but my gut says that it was marketed to American soldiers that were stationed there.

I debated keeping the brakes setup as it was but ultimately changed it to the American setup. Strangely I setup my green bike with the right brake as the front. I'm not sure why. When I redo that bike I'll probably switch it back.

Like! Very nicely done.

I assure you that it's a standard bike that would be mostly bought at a supermarket or department store. Think HEB in the US. That would be where most bicycles would be purchased rather than a bike shop.

Germans like durable goods and stuff that is build to last and that bike is solid.

I'd see at least 10 a day in Frankfurt which and they have nothing to do with the military.

Enjoy it, I would have simply picked up a dyno powered wheel shipped to your front door rather than deal with the hassle. Of batteries.

Cool, it's hard to find any information on them so that's interesting to me.

​​​​​​I still don't know if I'm going to physically be able to do this everyday. But if I can then a Dyno wheel may very well be in the plans. It not then a hub motor may make it feasible.
Time will tell.

Okay, it's the day after and my fingers are still numb.

While my knees are not painful, and they didn't complain at all during the ride, they are what I would call tender or raw today.

I think it's best to build into this slowly. It may turn out that I just can't do it. But I'm not going to give up until I just absolutely can't do it.