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A while ago I promised some pictures of my builds. There was not much time to post new pictures lately (a new familymember is coming :) ). And a lot of picture hosting sites are not free anymore, or only temporarily.

I always have some bicycles to build and create, so I thought: Let's just create one build thread!

An overview of my current projects: (November 2019)

1: My girlfriends mommy-bicycle. In short: This was a Lapierre Sit & Go bicycle. Mounted with Hope brakes and a Topeak rear rack. A lot of expensive stuff. My girlfriend wanted a sturdy bicycle to haul groceries, kids and camping equipment.

2: My Concorde American Eagle. A retro mountainbike with some self-made racks for bikepacking.

3: A future project: An American "Ranger" bicycle (beach cruiser).

4: My 24inch klunker, quite finished, but happy to share. Still biking everywhere!



(I hope these pictures actually work)
1: Girlfriends bicycle:

The original bicycle is a custom built Lapierre Sit & Go with Sram X0 drivetrain, 27.5 inch wheels, and purple Hope parts. She really liked the bicycle, but she wanted something sturdier and with a lower frame.
I went searching for a second hand "donor" bicycle with 26inch wheels: It would be a Sparta Amazone:

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This is how the original Sparta bike looks like.

I removed all parts from the frame, sold the wheels and fabricated some parts to fit the disc-brake:

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Disc brake conversion. It is bolted on, because I don't like welding aluminum without heat-treating.

After a general fit of all components, I brought the frame to a powdercoater, which painted it RAL5021 "waterblue":

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Lookin' good!

Last weekend I started the (dis)assembly of all the parts: From the Lappiere to the fresh blue Amazone frame. And this is how it looks at this point:

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2: Concorde American Eagle.

I always wanted to buy a "Achielle Oscar" or a "Surly" bicycle frame to convert it to a bikepacking rig. After a while I saw this bicycle: A very cheap, retro mountainbike, sold by a old lady in my town and it came in my size! The frame has the right length, but is a bit lower.

This is how I bought the bicycle:

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After removing all the parts, I found out that the frame is in mint condition: Only some scratches on the outside, but no rust on the inside!

I decided to keep the original paint and I waxed the entire frame on the inside, to keep it in good shape.

I also welded some stainless steel racks/panniers to carry bags. I am very curious about a front loading bicycle, so the rear racks are much cleaner and lower, and mounted on the rear rim-brake mounting points.

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Front rack fitting with bags.

The next set of pictures shows the bicycle in its current state. Just some finishing to do.
I am still thinking about the fenders: Put fenders on the bike or not?

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The American Eagle features these parts:
-Felt front fork.
-BMX CrMo handlebars.
-Shimano Alivio Shadow derailleur. Narrow wide chainring on the front.
-Sturmey Archer hubs with drum brakes (inspiration from the "Hack Bike Derby").
-Brooks saddle.
-26inch mountainbike wheels with stainless steel spokes.
-Stainless steel racks and carriers.



3: Beach cruiser, brand unknown. A possible future project.
I got this bike for free a while ago. It says "Original American" and "Ranger" on the chrome frame. It does not feature a "Ashtabula" bottom bracket, although it is threaded.
It is a very heavy bike with a coaster brake.

I am thinking of keeping it original, but I don't know if this is a rare special bicycle or not. Does any of you forum members know?
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So if you guys know anything on this bike: Thanks for the help in advance!




4: My 24inch steel Klunker mountainbike.
This project is done, but I like to swap parts and pieces from time to time.
How did my klunker came to be? Well, me and my friends like mountainbiking. There are some sweet singletrack trails in my area.
After some time people started buying more expensive stuff for their mountainbikes and everybody seemed to forget the fun part... It was all about discussing parts, weight and price.
So I sold my 26inch Cube mountainbike to relive old times: A cheap singlespeed, steel bike.
I bought a cruiser bike, sold remaining parts and got a cruiser frame almost for free!
I ditched the cheap ashabula crank (a big fan of good quality ashtabula's here!) and re-fitted a adapter with a square taper shaft. + an extra cover to keep mud away.
With a Sturmey Archer S1C rear hub (the coaster brake bites!), Felt Berm Master tires (24x3) and 24inch BMX staystrong wheels, this thing is by far the most fun bicycle I ever had!!

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Thanks for taking a look and feel free to ask questions!

More updates will follow.
 
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It seems like there was more than one manufacturer using the name Concorde. Check this link, but I'd ignore the Canadian stuff, yours seems to be made in partnership with Ritchey, as evidenced by the original stem and bars.
https://forums.mtbr.com/vintage-retro-classic/concorde-history-240170.html
Being associated with Ritchey is a good thing.
Looks like they had a pro team and you need to get a jersey!
a-e-1-small-720x720.jpg
 
It seems like there was more than one manufacturer using the name Concorde. Check this link, but I'd ignore the Canadian stuff, yours seems to be made in partnership with Ritchey, as evidenced by the original stem and bars.
https://forums.mtbr.com/vintage-retro-classic/concorde-history-240170.html
Being associated with Ritchey is a good thing.
Looks like they had a pro team and you need to get a jersey!View attachment 109147

Thanks for the info (late reaction from me, sorry).
At this point, a well known dutch mountainbiker picked up the brand name again.
 
A little update:

It took some time, because my wife gave birth to our wonderful daughter the 5th of December. After that, it is quite some work looking after a baby, but also very rewarding.

After a couple of weeks I started working on my bicycles again:

The chrome cruiser bicycle got some new parts:
New bearings, seals and a lot of grease!
Rear hub is repacked.
New "Schwalbe Fat Frank" 26x2.35 balloon tires.
A new seatpost and a saddlebag.
Some cruiser handlebars I had laying around with grips which you can clamp firmly with bolts.
Now it rides like a dream!


This is how it looks right now:

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And my 1957 Gazelle Pathracer is finished and sold! This is how it looked when the new owner got it:

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Thanks for taking a look!
 
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Many great builds, thanks for sharing. Chrome cruiser white tires and matching seat bag looks cool. It probably wouldn't stay white very long if I owned it though!
Gazelle is fantastic. Interesting seat post on it. :113:
 
Thanks guys, appreciate it!

I have some updates:

I sold some bikes, the yellow Gazelle pathracer, the brown Union transporter bike and soon the chrome Cruiser bike.

I had fun klunking again: The FAT tires made me float :p The video is nothing special.


The American Eagle is almost finished, I just need to fix the chain length en adjust the derailleur and some finishing touches. I will post some pictures of the bike underneath these message updates!

A next project has begun! I will give you a small story:
I want a can-do-it-all bicycle for some time now. A indestructable bike which can carry stuff, go offroad and looks pretty cool too.
Older Dutch bicycles are pretty indestructable, but they lack a "sporty" seating position.
Then I looked for a "Surly Disc Trucker" but it could not ride with FAT tires.

Besides all this, I am a big fan of cross-frames or large cruisers. Large 28" cruiser bikes do not exist and the "Azor Abdij" bicycle again was not suited for a sporty seating position (seat tube angle around 73 degrees is important for me here).

And I hate the bicycle industry for producing parts which need "special" tools for every part. :)

So I decided to build my own bicycle: A cross frame, CroMoly, large, heavy, very serviceable indestructable apocalyptic bicycle.
After some sketches I created a unfinished 3D model.
The model features:
Ashtabula bottom bracket.
Thick wall CroMoly tubing.
Long effective top tube length: About 700mm! So I can ride with a shorter stem.

The bicycle will get a 29+ "Surly ECR" front fork, with the "Tubus Tara" front rack. 29+ tires.
I have not decided to go with a internal gear hub, coaster brake or a derailleur yet. I do not need many gears.

Currently I am building a simple effective frame JIG.

Enough chats, you are welcome to ask questions.

First the American Eagle:

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And the self build bicycle:

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Unfinished 3D model!
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I am going to create a dustcap/seal for this bearing!
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The frame tubes tossed on the ground for a impression! :)
 
UPDATES are going a bit slow when building a bike for the build off 15, but there are some:

I almost finished the first part of the "rough" frame jig for the crossframe bike. I clamped the tubes in there and it fits perfectly! Now I need some shims to tack everything in place on a flat workbench.
I happen to be a member of a automobile-club near my town where they have a steel flat workbench and a MIG/MAG welding device.
I always service my car here.

My thoughts when building this frame JIG: I wanted a functional tough frame for bikepacking etcetera. So the most important parts to be correctly aligned are: Headtube, Seat tube, bottom bracket and the rear axle. The alignment of the remaining parts will follow.

Maybe I should place this cross frame in the: "built from scratch" part in this forum...

Picture time:
Remember: The frame is at a horizontal/vertical position at this point, the seat tube wil be hanging about 17 degrees backward when the bike is on its wheels! Just an perspective thing when placed on this cabinet for now.

I taped the tubing that creates that "crossframe" feel on the center tube, it still has to be straightened out.

The frame roughly placed with the "Surly ECR 29+" fork:
This is going to be a big bike!
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And I am probably going to use this hub: Sturmey Archer S2C duomatic or "kickshift" hub.
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Currently checking, cleaning and measuring it.
 
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I'm going to like this one, Bart. And I read back, that AE build is nice too. Does the kickback hub also handle braking? How does the hub "know" the difference between a brake movement and a shift movement? I see problems in aggressive situations.
 
I'm going to like this one, Bart. And I read back, that AE build is nice too. Does the kickback hub also handle braking? How does the hub "know" the difference between a brake movement and a shift movement? I see problems in aggressive situations.
I cycled with this hub a year on a commuter pathracer (13000 miles). The only things I hate on these hubs:

1: When braking, you also shift down or up, that can be a good thing, but when someone lets you pass in traffic, you are kicking again to select the right gear (well what is a extra seconds or two? In the Netherlands everyone is always in a hurry).

2: The large dustcaps let dirt through to easy. Even when greasing the insides of the dustcap. But to me, this occured after thousands of miles in all weather conditions.

Cycling with these hubs feels fairly natural, slight backpedal for shifting gears and a bigger backpedal stroke for braking.
 
Do you have vintage BMX bikes where you are? SE Racing made a classic back in the early days, so cool they keep on building limited editions of it nearly 30 years later. Here's the SE Racing Quadrangle.
View attachment 121275
Want one sooooo badly!
I can always keep an eye out for you, but vintage bike stuff is for a small group here unfortunately. Goods news is, vintage is cheap! I have a 90's Gary Fisher Marlin frame laying in my little shed. It is a bit rough though.
I really like that fat 29er too Matti! Reminds me a bit of the mafiabikes bomma 29.
 
Bart, I think I love every bike you've posted here, I don't know which one to drool over most. That klunker with the berm masters, that path racer with the belt drive, man...

I'm going to like this one, Bart. And I read back, that AE build is nice too. Does the kickback hub also handle braking? How does the hub "know" the difference between a brake movement and a shift movement? I see problems in aggressive situations.
Kickbacks can be an acquired taste.

Small push to change gears big push to brake.
So you change gears whenever you brake, you do get used to having to double tap when you stop so you start off in the low gear again.

EDIT: Just realized Bart already answered the kickback question.
 
Bart, I think I love every bike you've posted here, I don't know which one to drool over most. That klunker with the berm masters, that path racer with the belt drive, man...


Kickbacks can be an acquired taste.

Small push to change gears big push to brake.
So you change gears whenever you brake, you do get used to having to double tap when you stop so you start off in the low gear again.

EDIT: Just realized Bart already answered the kickback question.
Thanks man, appreciate it! If one of you guys is in the Netherlands, just try some bikes, no problem :rockout:

I also have some sketches laying around for some crazy coasterbrakes which I ought to put into 3D models and drawings someday.
One is a coasterhub with a discbrake fusion.
The other is a coasterbrake with sealed industrial bearings, as indestructable as a hope pro4 hub. (I think Simplex built one in the 60's, called cycloïde back then).
 
After finding out that my 24 inch “Staystrong” rims with “Sturmey Archer S1C” hub is not properly laced and nipples start breaking, I decided to buy a second hand 26 inch wheelset.



By the way: Does anyone know why the nipples hit the rims holes on the sidewalls? Are these Staystrong rims supposed to be laced with very different hubs? Thanks in advance! Pictures:



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The 26 inch wheelset consists of:

-26 inch 2+ inch (55mm) wide steel rims.

-Shimano CB-E110 rear hub.

-Union steel front hub.

-26x1.95 Maxxis tires, which are too thin for my taste:



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So I bought some 26x2.4 Continental Trail King mountainbikes tires. The “Felt Berm Masters” were great, but not that suited for mountainbiking (klunking).



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The aggressive tires look massive!!



The bottom bracket is changed back to the “Ashtabula” / one piece type, because it matches the chainline of the shimano coaster brake hub.



The one piece crank has a different thread (1/2 inch 20 TPI) than the (9/16 inch 20 TPI) pedals, so I am drilling the holes 13,1mm and tap new 9/16 threads in there.



Thanks for reading/watching!
 

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