Chrome Molly

[us56456712]

I find 2:1 pretty spinny. Good for going up all those hills you mentioned though

It can never be too spiny, according to my 75 year old legs. I marvel at riders who push the new one by mountain bikes with 50 x 30 gearing. I have to use 46 x 21. I can’t get enough speed to clear some stuff with this gearing so anything lower won’t help. The legs really turn to junk with age. This is why I have been more gravel and less single track lately.

 

[Wildcat]

That's true, I've lowered my optimum gear inches over the years. When I used a bike to ride 5 miles to work, it had an old 3 speed hub stuck in high with a 52 tooth chain wheel. 98.75 gear inches is what the calculator says. My dad borrowed my bike to run to the store and thought something was seized up on it. I flipped the bike over and showed it spun fine. I said he could borrow it anytime I wasn't using it, but he never did after that one time.

I had an 18 tooth cog on the kickback, but I put the new 22 cog back on the kickback because the only and best crankset I have is a 48. So I calculated what my 2 speeds would be. Low is 57, high is 78. So that should work ok with the lighter weight of this bike.
https://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches

 

[Wildcat]

It is very shiny. With that front end and the layback seat post and seat with chrome undercarriage it sure is a headturner.
By the way is this an expensive seat or one of those $20 imitations? If the latter how does it feel, is it comfy? Because it looks quite nice.

My new seat posts showed up and I redid the old seat yet again. I took off the red finish and brought it back to it's original black color, and made it look more vintage at the same time by going over it with sandpaper. I added the heavier springs previously to keep from bottoming out.

 

[Wildcat]

So, now that I finished the Nishiki I can focus back on Molly. I ordered a new crankset and 39t chain wheel after getting a new sealed BB. Still waiting on the chain wheel. The spindle is too long, but I think I can position the chain wheel inside and install the cog concaved outward to make up the difference.
The cog doesn't seem to turn freely, even though the cones seem right and the wheel rolls well. I posted a question on that on the How To forum.
I'm hoping the restrictions ease up so I can go out riding pretty soon. Riding in the office is getting old.

 

[Wildcat]

It's all ready to go for a ride tomorrow morning. I'll have to use a mask and face shield so it won't be too long of a ride. The weather is great, the northeast monsoon, the Amihan, brings the coolest and driest air of the year. I need to recheck the rear hub anyway so I won't be going any real distance. I keep getting a server error message when I try to upload pics. It might be my computer, maybe a restart will work.

I thought the chain line would be an issue, but it lined up nicely. The 22 tooth cog was way too low a gear and was changed to a 19, then an 18 when the chain wouldn't fit. The 39/18 combo is a good gear range though, 56 and 77 gear inches . Then everything went together fairly easily. I had hoped to keep it under 40 lbs. Surprise when it weighed in at 29.7 lbs! 13.5k.

 

[Wildcat]

Pic upload works again!

Upgrades include:
New alloy cranks and chain wheel, and pedals. New front hub. New sealed BB.

New alloy rims and spokes. New alloy handlebars and stem, seat stem.
NOS cromoly fork.

 

[Wildcat]

I finally was able to go out riding, but might as well been with a hazmat suit on. It was early but was starting to get hot as I finished and walked it home up the hill. That made for a good workout. The hub shifted fine and everything was spot on. The gearing is good too. I used the big padded seat for this test. Time to dig out another frame and do something with it.

 

[Wildcat]

Still no luck finding Thick Slicks, but I did find a pair of Kenda Kartridge 1.50 tires. 2.0 like the Thick Slicks would be just the right size, but these seem to be pretty good. I'm going to give them a ride in the very near future. They lowered the bike weight to 27.5 lbs. I also have a pair of alloy upright bars coming, these flat bars are too far forward for me.

 

[Wildcat]

Here's a better look at the tire, 50-85 psi. They didn't need any tweaking to be perfectly round on the wheel. If they ride well, I'll get more at about 12 bucks each, even though I don't have another bike that would use them. They have blackwall and gumwall too, but were out of stock, otherwise I would have gotten gumwall to match the 87 bike.

 

[Verrt]

I didn't know Daft Punk were in the Philippines

 

[Verrt]

Upgrades include:
New alloy cranks and chain wheel, and pedals. New front hub. New sealed BB.

New alloy rims and spokes. New alloy handlebars and stem, seat stem.
NOS cromoly fork.

This is awesome. I'm going to copy you.

Just need a fork like that, and some tires and I think I have all the other parts!

Gum walls would look good.

 

[Wildcat]

Thick slicks are still my choice if I could find them. 26 x 2.0. Kenda Kwests are available here but I'm waiting to see how these 1.5's ride.
I checked to see what my large chain wheel and chrome cog that came with the hub would be, ratio wise. 48/22. It came out almost the same as what I had on 39/18, so I swapped them out and am using the heavy duty K1 chain again. That gives an gear index of 55/75.
Still waiting on handlebars, they should show up any day.

 

[Wildcat]

I have the new bars and chain wheel finally, both in black. Also a new chrome fork, almost the same as the old one, just not BMX style dropouts. I didn't cut the new fork tube to size, I just added spacers and washers to the whole thing. That gets me a couple inches of height on the bars.
It's a 47 tooth chain wheel with an 18 tooth cog. With a 138% high gear on the 2 speed kickback, that's a 65/90 gear inch range. Good thing the tires roll easily, I've got them at 60psi but could go higher. I have a set of CST 26 x 2.125 tires coming. If they are good, I can easily change out to the larger size with this frame and fork.

 

[Wildcat]

I couldn't resist making it klunker style with the 2.125 whitewalls and BMX bars. This is the setup I'll probably stay with, it fits me just right:

 

[Verrt]

I couldn't resist making it klunker style with the 2.125 whitewalls and BMX bars. This is the setup I'll probably stay with, it fits me just right:
View attachment 157126

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Mo fatta, mo betta!

 

[Wildcat]

Too bad it's so hot, heat index way too high even early in the morning. This is the hottest part of the year here until the rainy season kicks in in a month or so. With the SA kickback, this bike will be a blast, but the heat is too much right now.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

This has really evolved into a great looking (and probably riding) bike.

Hope you ride the tires off of it when it stops raining


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wildcat]

I'm upgrading the bike again, with 7 speeds, new cluster with a vintage Suntour derailleur. Side pull brakes and a couple other things will lighten it up and give me more of a gear range. I noticed markings on the lug at the top of the seat tube. Anyone have any idea of what it is?

 

[Wildcat]

My new gold hubs showed up! They are sealed bearings just like they said. At the price, about 20 bucks for the pair, I thought they would be standard. I tried to adjust the axle over for the cluster but it must be pressed in right where it is with the fixed cog, I loosened the cone nuts and there's no way to adjust the left or right position of the axle. It's set right down the middle with not enough threads on one side to use a cluster. but I only planned on using the front hub until I considered the weight reduction from leaving off the SA 2 speed. I now plan to use a 20 tooth freewheel cog on the new hub. Single speed. I've got both the front and rear wheels laced up already, and have a 47 tooth chain wheel, also in gold. That gives me a Gear Index of 61, might be just right.
I'll have the wheels trued up next.