29" Orbea bmx

[GTHOtrod]

I picked up this Orbea as a donor bike for its 8 speed nexus hub.

I re laced the hub from the 700c into a 26" hoop for my E stay bike.

That left me with this interesting frame asking for a new life as a bmx cruiser

 

[GTHOtrod]

Laid some colour onto the frame. Black base, dust coat with gold for a fleck look, then red anodised colour over the top.

 

[GTHOtrod]

Clearancing the 26"landing gear forks, to take a 700x42c tyre.

 

[GTHOtrod]

Initial mock up using the 'pro class' 29s I build for my ORBO bike. Side by side with my 26" Repco Ranger bmx, shows a very similar geometry.

 

[GTHOtrod]

My initial plan for this bike, was to build my own version of a fast ripper.
But I am somewhat allergic to traditional derailleur's

 

[GTHOtrod]

Decided to borrow the Brooks saddle and wheelset from my e stay, returning the 8 speed hab back to where it came from lol.
Going from the 700c, down to a 26 now possess a problem for the v brake posts.

 

[GTHOtrod]

Installed a set of cheep brake post extenders, upside down and back to front. This got me close to the correct place. I dug through the parts pile to find a pair of brake arms to fit in just the right place. Then still needed to slot the pad holes an extra few millimetres, to get the pads low enough. With some odyssey clear pads on there, it's stops amazing!

So there it is, my take on a multi speed retro BMX cruiser.

 

[JA331]

I saw where you were going with this before you mentioned you were building a fast ripper clone. As an owner of a 2021 FR, the similarities between the 2 frames gave it away really quickly. Too cool and well done.

 

[GTHOtrod]

I saw where you were going with this before you mentioned you were building a fast ripper clone. As an owner of a 2021 FR, the similarities between the 2 frames gave it away really quickly. Too cool and well done.

Thanks dude. I'm sure there will be plenty more mods in the future, nice thing to ride.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

The tan on the Brooks compliments the paint nicely. I like the beefy stem too. Nice looking ride

 

[Sean A. Garrison]

It's an absolute triumph, man. Five stars.

 

[GTHOtrod]

Thinking the next upgrade with be white walls. Help bring out the colour.

 

[Starnger]

You always have an option to run this hub with roller brakes to avoid the v-brake bosses problem

 

[JA331]

I would run the v-brakes over the roller brake. I have 2 roller brake 7 speeds and find the braking power very weak plus the feel at the lever is quite spongy. You would need to run a front brake in combination with the roller brake to get good braking. I don't know if the 8 speed with a roller brake is any better.

I like the tan walls on the bike.

 

[GTHOtrod]

I would run the v-brakes over the roller brake. I have 2 roller brake 7 speeds and find the braking power very weak plus the feel at the lever is quite spongy. You would need to run a front brake in combination with the roller brake to get good braking. I don't know if the 8 speed with a roller brake is any better.

I like the tan walls on the bike.

I do like the tan walls, but I think I need to try the whites, To satisfy my curiosity hahaha.

 

[JA331]

I do like the tan walls, but I think I need to try the whites, To satisfy my curiosity hahaha.

Electra Retrorunners are decent whitewalls but the DTH’s are a far superior tyre

 

[Starnger]

I would run the v-brakes over the roller brake. I have 2 roller brake 7 speeds and find the braking power very weak plus the feel at the lever is quite spongy. You would need to run a front brake in combination with the roller brake to get good braking. I don't know if the 8 speed with a roller brake is any better.

I like the tan walls on the bike.

Depends on a model and a condition of a brake. You might have seen my build thread of an e-bike. The combination of front and rear roller is good enough to stop a fast and heavy e-bike. Though i am running the biggest cooling rotor model out there. In general there is a big performance gap between early and late generation brakes and also between the entry model and the rest of them because of the small cooling rotor on the cheapest versions.

 

[JA331]

Depends on a model and a condition of a brake. You might have seen my build thread of an e-bike. The combination of front and rear roller is good enough to stop a fast and heavy e-bike. Though i am running the biggest cooling rotor model out there. In general there is a big performance gap between early and late generation brakes and also between the entry model and the rest of them because of the small cooling rotor on the cheapest versions.

I’m glad to hear Shimano improved the performance of the later roller brakes. One other point to consider is the weight. I remember weighing an early rear roller brake assembly and it was close to 1kg. The later units may be lighter as I believe they used more aluminum in them rather than steel.

 

[GTHOtrod]

Got the white walls fitted up for a trial.

 

[JA331]

I like both but the tan wall Maxxis dth's look more bmx