Hi,
I'm new here, but I've been poking around. I've been biking as a commuting device for the past for or five years. Santa Barbara is very bike friendly, and I have a ten mile commute to the University where I work so I thought I'd start biking. I was previously biking off of clunkers I found off of CL, that didn't ride well. I put together my first road bike using parts sourced from ebay, an old Miyata frame. It felt really good to ride something that I put together... Since then I've put together an old Schwinn speedster with a Sturmie Kickback which is a blast to ride, but heavy as heck.
Since I've started accumulating parts I've become obsessed with belt drives. I want to convert an old spaceliner to take belt, 700c wheels and possible track or sliding dropouts (I don't ride fixed but prefer single speed/hub setups). I think it would make a lovely commuting bike. The problem is... I don't weld or braze. The local framebuilders are expensive and/or have insurance that prohibits them from upgrading frames. I'd be willing to shell out the cash to do this, but that really ruins the bike's narrative (I've worked with a lot of architects and designers in the past). Any suggestions on how to get started? I don't have a garage, my workspace is outside behind my apartment and is really small, but I'm itching to build things! I don't have a 26" spaceliner frame either...
In my past life (career) I was a Civil Engineer.
My current day job is computer engineering (graphics) and I like to draw:
http://www.onsequitur.com/
I don't really contribute to forums and avoid social media like the plague so pardon any awkwardness.
Anyway, thats me.
John
I'm new here, but I've been poking around. I've been biking as a commuting device for the past for or five years. Santa Barbara is very bike friendly, and I have a ten mile commute to the University where I work so I thought I'd start biking. I was previously biking off of clunkers I found off of CL, that didn't ride well. I put together my first road bike using parts sourced from ebay, an old Miyata frame. It felt really good to ride something that I put together... Since then I've put together an old Schwinn speedster with a Sturmie Kickback which is a blast to ride, but heavy as heck.
Since I've started accumulating parts I've become obsessed with belt drives. I want to convert an old spaceliner to take belt, 700c wheels and possible track or sliding dropouts (I don't ride fixed but prefer single speed/hub setups). I think it would make a lovely commuting bike. The problem is... I don't weld or braze. The local framebuilders are expensive and/or have insurance that prohibits them from upgrading frames. I'd be willing to shell out the cash to do this, but that really ruins the bike's narrative (I've worked with a lot of architects and designers in the past). Any suggestions on how to get started? I don't have a garage, my workspace is outside behind my apartment and is really small, but I'm itching to build things! I don't have a 26" spaceliner frame either...
In my past life (career) I was a Civil Engineer.
My current day job is computer engineering (graphics) and I like to draw:
http://www.onsequitur.com/
I don't really contribute to forums and avoid social media like the plague so pardon any awkwardness.
Anyway, thats me.
John
