Hey fellow Rat Rodders- I've been lurking this forum for a while but haven't ever had anything to share until now. First off, I'd like to thank those of you who have given me much inspiration with your awesome builds. I'm about 1/2 finished with my latest build and wanted to share my progress, as well as solicit some recommendations on a few parts I'm undecided on.
How it started: I saw this Madwagon cruiser on the local craigslist and immediately was drawn to the frame. It's a freewheel cruiser with V-Brakes! I don't have any photos of how it looked when I picked it up but it was similar to the one at the start of this thread, except with the current handlebars already installed and in much worse shape. For $30, I had to have it! My initial plan was to keep it relatively unmodified and just use it as a pub bike so I could keep my nice bikes out of harms way. The seller was a guy who was into building gas-powered bicycles but for whatever reason had decided this one wouldn't work for him. After I got it home, it didn't take long to figure out why- the rear hub was completely shot from lack of maintenance and the fork was all bent out of alignment. I'd need to replace the wheelset but this proved more of a challenge than I'd anticipated, because the wheel was a 26" single-speed freewheel, spaced to 110mm. Nobody sells a wheel like that. So it was time to build a wheelset but after pricing everything out, I got discouraged and had to shelf the project for the winter.
Finally, this spring, with the wallet a little heavier, I picked the project back up and amazingly found a prebuilt wheelset that met my requirements, (except spaced @120mm, but close enough), and for only $150! I took the fork into my local co-op and had that straightened out too. Next, I peeled all the trashed stickers which really made it look much better. I secured a used Brooks B72, added Oury grips, a bell, a bottle cage, a kickstand, and was ready to roll! Here are some photos from that stage:
Everything was riding really well but with the money invested, the bike had already outgrown it's original "disposable" pub bike role, so I figured why not just do it right and finish the project!
A couple too many trips like these and I decided I needed some sort of cargo carrier:
So I added a Wald 139 basket which vastly improved functionality
However I found the stock support on the Wald to be much too flexy for anything more than a light load so my most recent upgrade was to support the basket with a Origin8 Classique Cargo HD rack, and now you see the bike in it's current form:
Recap of mods:
*Removed worn decals
*Eighthinch Bueller Freestyle Wheelset
*Brooks B72 sprung saddle
*Oury grips
*Incredibell Saturn bell
*Cheap no-name rear light from ebay
*Greenfield kickstand
*Waterbottle cage
*Origin-8 Classique Cargo HD Rack
*Wald 139 basket with bungee net
Here's where I need your help: I need some advice on how to finish off the look. My next and most pressing upgrade will be to replace the crankset and pedals as they are lame and worn. What would you go with if this were your build. I don't mind using an adapter to get modern three-piece cranks on there. Obviously, black is called for to keep it all murdered out. I'll probably throw on a black chain while I'm at it. The tires are going to get upgraded to skin walls soon. The brakes and levers are all mismatched and will get replaced someday. I was hoping to pickup a layback seatpost, but in a most unfortunate twist, this bike uses a 25.6mm seatpost, severely limiting the options. Probably the last thing to tie the look together will be replacing the stem with a BMX style and possibly getting black BMX cruiser bars with a cross bar. Oh, and the U-lock just bounces around in the basket all day- what are some good ways to secure it that don't look god-awful?
Future upgrades:
*Skinwall tires (Compass Rat Trap Pass, when they're available next month)
*Better quality and matching v-brakes and levers, probably Avid FR-5
*Alloy Crankset & bottom bracket
*Platform pedals
*BMX style stem
*Cook Bros style handlebars
I'd love to hear your ideas and feedback on how to finish this right! Happy trails from sunny Oregon!
How it started: I saw this Madwagon cruiser on the local craigslist and immediately was drawn to the frame. It's a freewheel cruiser with V-Brakes! I don't have any photos of how it looked when I picked it up but it was similar to the one at the start of this thread, except with the current handlebars already installed and in much worse shape. For $30, I had to have it! My initial plan was to keep it relatively unmodified and just use it as a pub bike so I could keep my nice bikes out of harms way. The seller was a guy who was into building gas-powered bicycles but for whatever reason had decided this one wouldn't work for him. After I got it home, it didn't take long to figure out why- the rear hub was completely shot from lack of maintenance and the fork was all bent out of alignment. I'd need to replace the wheelset but this proved more of a challenge than I'd anticipated, because the wheel was a 26" single-speed freewheel, spaced to 110mm. Nobody sells a wheel like that. So it was time to build a wheelset but after pricing everything out, I got discouraged and had to shelf the project for the winter.
Finally, this spring, with the wallet a little heavier, I picked the project back up and amazingly found a prebuilt wheelset that met my requirements, (except spaced @120mm, but close enough), and for only $150! I took the fork into my local co-op and had that straightened out too. Next, I peeled all the trashed stickers which really made it look much better. I secured a used Brooks B72, added Oury grips, a bell, a bottle cage, a kickstand, and was ready to roll! Here are some photos from that stage:
Everything was riding really well but with the money invested, the bike had already outgrown it's original "disposable" pub bike role, so I figured why not just do it right and finish the project!
A couple too many trips like these and I decided I needed some sort of cargo carrier:
So I added a Wald 139 basket which vastly improved functionality
However I found the stock support on the Wald to be much too flexy for anything more than a light load so my most recent upgrade was to support the basket with a Origin8 Classique Cargo HD rack, and now you see the bike in it's current form:
Recap of mods:
*Removed worn decals
*Eighthinch Bueller Freestyle Wheelset
*Brooks B72 sprung saddle
*Oury grips
*Incredibell Saturn bell
*Cheap no-name rear light from ebay
*Greenfield kickstand
*Waterbottle cage
*Origin-8 Classique Cargo HD Rack
*Wald 139 basket with bungee net
Here's where I need your help: I need some advice on how to finish off the look. My next and most pressing upgrade will be to replace the crankset and pedals as they are lame and worn. What would you go with if this were your build. I don't mind using an adapter to get modern three-piece cranks on there. Obviously, black is called for to keep it all murdered out. I'll probably throw on a black chain while I'm at it. The tires are going to get upgraded to skin walls soon. The brakes and levers are all mismatched and will get replaced someday. I was hoping to pickup a layback seatpost, but in a most unfortunate twist, this bike uses a 25.6mm seatpost, severely limiting the options. Probably the last thing to tie the look together will be replacing the stem with a BMX style and possibly getting black BMX cruiser bars with a cross bar. Oh, and the U-lock just bounces around in the basket all day- what are some good ways to secure it that don't look god-awful?
Future upgrades:
*Skinwall tires (Compass Rat Trap Pass, when they're available next month)
*Better quality and matching v-brakes and levers, probably Avid FR-5
*Alloy Crankset & bottom bracket
*Platform pedals
*BMX style stem
*Cook Bros style handlebars
I'd love to hear your ideas and feedback on how to finish this right! Happy trails from sunny Oregon!
