Here she is. My new sub 300 dollar bike. Thanks to Kevin at Tribe multisport in Scottsdale for the free frame and fork. Thanks to Global Bikes in Chandler for doing most the work or letting me use the stand.
She’s a beauty! 42 tooth single front with a 11-34 rear. Gives me the gear inches to climb about anything or sprint for the city limit sign. Stealthy Deore shifting under the right hand makes for easy changes. Great looking Tektro, campy like hoods. Ultegra hubs with CXP 23 rims. Cheap 28 tires with liners and slime tubes (a dollar each, nice) make for smooth riding and no flats.
Sweet looking Peugeot steel frame with stickers for a German shop. sweeeet.
I call her Frenchy, and at 25.8 lbs, shes hard to handle but I like my women big!
That’s a thing of beauty. Though I think the frame may be a little bit big, if that’s where you ride the seatpost. But… for $300, WHO CARES! Nice ride.
The downtube lever is there just so I have something to play with. the shifter cable crosses the frame it order to run the housing better. I left the shifter just for fun!
It’s english 68mm. Easy enough. The seatpost was a BITCH! That’s the frame with the 23.8 post. It was about the only bike ever made with that size so there is just about NO WAY to get a new post. I used to run a 60cm Ritchey with a forward post for road training that was wicked sweet and thats what I was trying for here but I’m left with using the standard post.
I bet if you found an old Kalloy or similar seatpost, there’d be enough material for a shop to turn it down to the right diameter. Those things were SO thick…
Budget bikes are great but you should get a dog tooth for the front ring to make sure you don’t lose your chain. They are like $3 and can save you a lot of headaches.
He means a Deda dog fang-a device that clamps onto the seat tube and catches the chain if it flips off to the inside. There are other brands of similar devices. You don’t need one unless you are going to be riding over some horribly rough roads that would bounce the chain around. The RD should keep plenty of tension to keep the chain on.
I know there are cheaper things out there, but this was just what came up. If you want to research what I’m talking about check out a single ring cyclocross bikes.
When I was 19 I built an old Lotus this way. It was the most comfortable and smooth bike ever. That one had a double on the front with a downtube shifter and the thumb shifter for the rear. I built it for riding to work and for winter training. My race bike was a trek 5500 with DA.
Being in Boulder, the weather was not alway the best so I just sat on the tops and rolled through the hills around the area without ever having to change positions. That was by far my favorite bike I’ve ever had. Tough as nails, always shifted proper, adjustable on the fly… just sweet.
I used to ride with the CU team once a week and I would just sit on the front and pull them around. Finally one ride this other strong rider just threw up his hands and yelled at me “how the fuck are you shifting?!” I icked up my right hand and he just started laughing.
I crashed that bike, bent it all to shit. Put a dent in my head too. Didn’t know my name for a day. That was strange.
Long story long, I just like it there. I like to ride in the tops and that works. Bar ends look like crap to me and STI’s look out of place without the left with it.
