A few weekends ago, I was visiting friends and saw that a house down the street was having a moving sale. I managed to get my hands on a like-new, barely used, nearly mint-condition Fuji Sagres for 10 bucks.

Flash forward a couple of weeks and I've converted it over to single speed, removed the drop bars (hand positions be damned, I just don't find them comfortable), added a flat bar, cleaned and lubed everything, and have had a blast rolling around town on this thing.

All told, with the initial purchase and a few small additions I probably spent less than 50 bucks on this project.

Pix or it didn't happen.

You should flop-n-chop those drops, for ultimate street cred.

Pics later tonight.

And street cred be damned, flop-n-chop looks ridiculous.

In seriousness:

They only look ridiculous when people chop them too far down the bends. I'd take 'em over some boring old flat bars any day.

a mint condition should have been left geared.

but thats just me.

Maybe if it were Eddy Merckx TDF bike, but it's a low end Fuji. There were thousands of them made, and there is nothing inherently valuable about them.

I have a pristine Schwinn Varsity that has your name on it Killemall, it's like it was never ridden.

i have a soft sport for new/restored older bikes. doesn't matter if its a fillet brazed paramount or a varsity, ill ride it.

if it were say, a beat up sears frame i would probably say convert it.

i just hope he didnt throw away the derailers and such.

Folks,

Here's the little beast. The frame still has a few years of storage dust to be cleaned off, but otherwise it's perfect. For those concerned, anything removed has been cleaned up, boxed up and stored away. Nothing was destroyed or damaged and I can easily put this bike back to original condition in about an hour or two.

Great job! I like it. Sure can't beat the price!

Beautiful bike! And for less than 50? Not too shabby

Stubbs = the man. Nice.

Wow.. looks real clean. Nice job.

Looks great. Some fenders and pourter bars would finish it off right.

Trim that rear cable and it's all good!

Out of curiosity, I tried this last night. I didn't cut the drop bars, I simply placed some black electrical tape as a marker for where I would have cut them. Tried it out, played around with different hand positions, moved the tape marker around a bit, etc.

You're right. I could have saved 12 bucks. Oh well, at least all the original components are intact should I decide to return the little beast to the way I found it.

I was erring on the side of caution. Measure twice, cut once, leave a little extra just in case.

It's just something to keep in your back pocket in case you find the flat-ish bar to be too monotonous. My fixed beater has flats with MTB bar ends, and even though I spend probably 75% of my time on the flats I couldn't imagine not having the second hand position to keep things fresh.

Either way, looks good.

Thanks. I still have the set of bar ends I pulled off my Giant FCR1. They may find a new home, may not. Either way I see what you mean now. This bike was built to tool around town. Trips to the general store, buzzing around Bordentown, etc. It's all flat land, narrow roads and heavily travelled, so I like keeping my hands near the brakes. It's a confidence thing I guess.

Nice, and can I presume your lucky bastardness got the original higher quality Japanese version?

I have no idea. How would I know? (be nice to the n00b)

damn, thats a pretty slick find stubbs!