Bike Forums - santa cruz got me drinking the bike riding kool-aid.

caveat: post is not organized well and grammar could use improvement; sorry in advance.

as the title suggests, i just moved out here a couple weeks back and could not believe how popular commuting on a bike could be; coming from smaller town in connecticut. i started searching google for ways to ship my bike out here and ran into many threads from this forum. i eventually used greyhound shipping as they were the least expensive that i could find. i do not see many people mention greyhound as a viable option so i made a point to put it in this post; saved about 30$.

any who ill post up some images of my project trek 1000 when its done; circa late 198x's. still trying to get the crank with the sprocket side pulled from axle =/ after that ill be able to finish preparing the frame for paint. i will be painting the bike white and will use some clear packaging tape around high wear areas to help increase the resilience of the finish. i shaved the bracket for the front deraileur(sp?) and removed all stickers and trek emblem. i also filled in the rear brake line passage in the top tube with epoxy; i stuffed a little piece of styrafoam(sp?) in there to act as a plug so that only a pencil eraser sized amount of epoxy was used. i also filled in the water bottle bracket holes. i have already sanded those flush.

the ultimate goal with this bike is to have a hardcore commuter. i have removed rear brakes and a couple other parts to reduce weight. im compromising some weight for style and will be doing lime green 700c x 25's and will be dying some handle bar tape and a white seat a similar lime green to match.

i will ask here and also make a want to buy thread, if this forum has a section, for a front sprocket. the one on the bike is ovalized and 52 teeth. the bike shop today said it was probably a 110 spacing(what i call a pcd - pitch circle diameter). i would like to maybe source a used 47 ish tooth sprocket. the goal with going smaller is allow me to conquer steeper grade hills easier. i did keep the 7 speed cassette in the rear and if its possible to go 8 speed and get one used id consider doing that as well. depending upon if the extra gear is less or more teeth i will factor this variable into my decision for sprocket.

typically when comparing 7 to 8 speed casette where does the extra gear fall?

priorities for parts are in this order:
used front sprocket
used white seat
used rear cassette if i can use a 8speed

thanks for your time and if this is better suited for another forum feel free to tow it for more traffic.

i will post images of bike when its done.
- dave thompson