ShadowGray

After months of tinkering and adding little parts, I have finally finished everything on the bike.

Before:


After:






Changes:
Original bike $110
Replaced stock saddle with a spare $0 ($45 for my SLX on the road bike)
Swapped out knobbies for slicks $20 (tires and tubes)
Fenders $15
Ergo Grips $20 (impulse buy )
Retrofit kickstand $8
Rack $20
Milk crate $0
Nice alloy pedals with toe clips and straps $25
Forte Tensioner and chain $30
Sumo Horn $7

So, all in all.. about $250 for everything. Not a bad price, considering some of those costs could've been passed on (if you skip the single speed conversion and ergo grips). I wanted to make it a full single speed conversion with the cogs but I found out the rear hub is a freewheel so it would've been more work and expenses than needed. Gearing is a nice 44x14 for about 78 gear inches.

I have yet to add lights to this bike, on my to do list but never got around to it... on my next LBS trip though!

And yeah... this is the local white garage door... not mine though. Had to sneak in a pic or two on my way out the commute... hence the difference in lighting!

And here's my other commuter:

Hydrated

Yummmmm... milk crate sweetness!

ShadowGray

And this way I don't have to worry about pumpkins rolling off the edge of a soda crate!

Hydrated

Yassir... you don't have to worry about stuff bouncing outta there!

I went and got myself one of those stretchy cargo nets for my Coca-Cola crate... BRING ON THE PUNKINS!! *flex*

Hydrated

I must admit that the sumo horn causes me to be consumed with jealousy. I must have a sumo horn of my very own...

nahh

ditch the kickstand. the world is your kickstand.

love the milkcrate and sumo guy!

rajman

How are the ergo grips?

ShadowGray

Very comfy. The only problem is that the little "wings" at the very tip of the ergonomic part are a bit flexy, I would rather the entire thing be stiff, but that's a personal preference I suppose. They do look and feel great!

prawza

love the horn!

ironhorse3

One cool commuter bike. Also like the brand on your road bike. My ironhorse was lifted weeks ago, and no longer have one of them. The single speed conversion you did was cool too. Tensioner -- why didn't I think of that?

Noted your choice of gears for the SS setup. Rough on hills? Tough man.

neilfein

Sweet bike. Squishy chew toy horn karma will follow you on the road and keep you safe.

Rob_E

Ditto on the horn. Where can we find one?

ShadowGray

I got mine at my LBS. The only two places I've seen it online is:
https://www.velo-orange.com/sumohorn.html
https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=2196

That sucks, generic name as it is I love my iron horse and would be devastated if something were to happen to it.

I got the tensioner kit thinking I could just use the cogs on my hub. Apparently this bike has a freewheel instead of a freehub, so the only thing I could do was just use the tensioner on the current cassette. A bit ghetto, but it works.

And yeah, I live in a flat city so I don't really need the gearing. I could switch it to a lower gearing if I really wanted to (new chain?) but this works fine for me and helps me keep up with city traffic.

arnijr

Great looking bike. Would look better without the multi-speed freewheel though. You know you can get thread on single speed freewheels that would fit that hub? Basically BMX freewheels. They don't go quite down to 14 tooth though, you'd have to move to the outer chainwheel and get a correctly sized freewheel to retain the gearing. See freewheels here and advice here. Might have to re-dish the rear wheel to get a good chainline and possibly move the large chainwheel to the inner position on the spider, if possible.

rando

^^^ this is what I did to my commuter. worked great, didn't even have to re-dish. I've got a 14 tooth. your bike looks great, though!

ShadowGray

I was thinking of doing that but then I'd have to buy a freewheel for ~15 and then a lockring remover for about ~7. Extra costs on a beater bike... maybe one day when I have to replace the chain I'll look into doing that.

doughboy

Where can I get a cargo net like that for my milk crate grocery getter?

ShadowGray

I got mine at Performance bike, but the one they sell only has two hooks... as you can see two hooks does not cover a square surface. I had to drill bolts on the other two sides for the net.

Apparently this one: https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=3537 comes with four hooks, but the picture doesn't show it? I'd check on that one, but either way, find a net with four hooks instead of two, it'll save you a ton of trouble.

TechRydr

Nice rides. I recently got the exact Iron Horse! So smooth and white is uber (cliche) sexy. at least in my imagination... too many gears tho, 27? and I have some major hills on my commute and weekend romps. I'm going to drop the front 2 smaller rings eventually...

Why do you need a horn?

ShadowGray

Eh, the normal gearset now is 2 x 10 for 20 gears, or 3 x 10 for 30... 27 isn't that ridiculous. And yeah... I hit my first heart attack hill the other day and I was glad for those lower 9.

I actually have never used the horn in traffic, but it makes for a great conversation piece!

itsthewoo

Where can I legally obtain a milk crate?

jrafael

Get file crate instead rectangular base instead of regular square base of milk crates.

https://www.officedepot.com/a/product...d-Crate-Black/

Take a look at my setup

ShadowGray

Behind wawa?

4SEVEN3

I like that!!!! Are those file crates as sturdy as the classic milk crate???
Just tonight I mounted a milk crate...If this works out good for me I may get the file box....at least the color will match the bike!!

Metricoclock

a tune comes to mind "Ghetto Single Speed" , i like it