I have no bicycles......getting better!

[Walker]

So we're talking about doing a family day to do some biking down at the seacoast and I have nothing that will work, which is pathetic since at last count there were 12 or so here.

We've got 3 young boys and only one is riding on his own so the wife and I each have to haul one. Her MTB has a baby seat on it so she is set as well as our youngest....

We're hitting some bike paths, probably paved...but potentially hilly and I'll be dragging along 20lbs of trail a bike and 35lbs of "I'm tired".

So here's the problem..lets see, the Kona Hei-Hei 29er is not pulling the trail a bike on paved trails...period

I cant use anything with a rear rack so that rules out the 36 Rollfast and the 53 Western Flyer. I could remove the racks but the seat post on the Rollfast is too skinny for the trail a bike mounting bracket and the WF has a gigantic front chainring...

My old Specialized S works could work but I have no cranks for it. I had started mocking it up in the style that we saw out in Ketchum Idaho. 8 speed rear, single front and giant cruiser bars..

The Decoliner is nowhere near ready, nor is the Cadillac. Same seat post issues as the other oldies anyway, plus bike rack issues..

There are 3 tandems in the shed but no way to transport those given the current vehicular situation. And that's kind of a long wheelbase with a trail a bike attached :shock:

There's a rusty Columbia somewhere but I wouldn't trust the wheelset..

Wait! There's that department store Kalana beach cruiser with a 7 speed rear wheel and V brakes that looks like it got run over by a car. It's not abad option....Lets see, install new bars, stem, brake levers, tires, seat and thumb shifter (everything on the bars is damaged), add a front basket perhaps, I think it will even fit on the rack...This could work..

 

[weekend-fun]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

:wink:
I know how it feels having to thin the herd, but sounds like your doing ok 8)

 

[deorman]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

Rental. :|

 

[Walker]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

Rental. :|

Noooooooooooooo!

 

[Walker]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

Seriously though, when I owned my shop or was working at one, there were great deals right and left. Unfortunately now I'm spoiled. This is a hobby that allows you to go as far as you want, spend wise and is extremely affordable compared to other outdoor sports, IMO.

I think my kids will be riding my S-works M2, and I bought it used when it was 6 months old, full XTR right down to the headset and seatpost. Well that was 1993, and I can honestly say that bike has traveled far. It has been ridden in the North East, California, Arizona, Mexico (TJ), Vancouver, Japan, Hawii, Abu Daubi, Trinidad, Thialand, Australia, nearly around the world...and they said it would break! I think I'm getting my money's worth out of that one.

 

[Walker]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

Well, I got all the heavy wrenching done late last night. I was waiting for paint to dry on the Decoliner's tripplestep's so what else was I going to do. Plus the basement is like 65 degrees compared to upstairs which is in the high 70's!

I was hoping my old Dia Compe levers would work with the V brakes but not nearly enough lever travel, luckily I had a pair of Avid's in the drawer. I'm hoping to flip this bike on CL or at a Old Home Day / Fair early next month so I dont want to put too many goodies on it.... A set of Kenda small block 8's for rubber look good on it, need to dig out a seat and maybe some kind of pedal upgrade from the plastic ones, maybe just for the trip I'll throw on some bear traps and then replace the plastic's.

Tonight I'll dig in the scrap pile, I think there is a Collegate in there with a bolt on rear deraleur. Somewhere I have a Suntour thumbshifter set (the orig grip shifter was siezed), and maybe find a seat to replace the bent one. I thik it will work..

Kind of wishing I had time to throw some color on it but pulling the decals would take too long.

 

[Critter1]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

Its like your own little scavenger hunt! Lets some some pics of this "throw together" when its ready. Cool story BTW, thanks for sharing. Good luck

 

[Walker]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

3 more hours into the Kalana cruiser tonight, where does the time go...rear hub overhaul, found a good bolt on rear deraleur, found some cheapo V brake levers one even has a parking brake which I like, tried to center up the front V brakes and the adjuster screw broke off so I'll need to do something there..ran new cables and housings, installed a NOS KMC chain, found that the cranks were in fact bent so removed and swapped out the crank arms, overhauled bottom bracket, installed some Redline aluminum platform pedals, swapped out the cruiser seat for a felt sprung mtb seat, installed the trail a bike coupler........ Midnight, quitting time.

Assuming nothing else blows up on me, the short list is..

1. adjust rear shifter
2. swap out front brake with something..
3. install front basket
4. test ride.

take pictures..

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

I know what you mean about "not having any bikes".

There are 50+ here and maybe 10 of em are rideable. A couple are only rideable by me. When we have friends over and they need to borrow something, I'm always having to explain this or that. Why is it that I can't keep just a pair of mountain bikes that are ready to go? The good ones keep getting donated or sold.

My wife's bike behaves itself pretty well- a Specialized with 700c wheels and v-brakes. A little warp to the rear wheel unfortunately, but otherwise a good all around bike. Could tow a trail-a-bike since it's fitted with front basket. Recently went on a trip with in and ended up removing basket to fit 3 on the car's bike rack. What a pain getting it back on around all the cables!

Wait a sec... there's a bright green Nishiki mountain bike... and a purple GT with a crazy rear rack to fit around the triple-triangle frame... I guess a couple more friends could come with us. Everything else needs 1 tire or 1 cable or something.

Have a good trip!
--Rob

3 more hours into the Kalana cruiser tonight, where does the time go...rear hub overhaul, found a good bolt on rear deraleur, found some cheapo V brake levers one even has a parking brake which I like, tried to center up the front V brakes and the adjuster screw broke off so I'll need to do something there..ran new cables and housings, installed a NOS KMC chain, found that the cranks were in fact bent so removed and swapped out the crank arms, overhauled bottom bracket, installed some Redline aluminum platform pedals, swapped out the cruiser seat for a felt sprung mtb seat, installed the trail a bike coupler........ Midnight, quitting time.

Assuming nothing else blows up on me, the short list is..

1. adjust rear shifter
2. swap out front brake with something..
3. install front basket
4. test ride.

take pictures..

 

[Walker]

Re: I have no bicycles......sort of

as found

99% ridable, just need to dial some stuff in.

For safety's sake

 

[KOTA]

Good job! Looks like you pulled it off.

 

[deorman]

Yep, that's a bicycle alright. :|

:mrgreen:

 

[Walker]

It was all going so well until the wife's van puked up a starter motor friday evening. Kind of "threw a wrench" into our travel plans. On the bright side I have a bit more time to sort out the basket and some other stuff.

I was riding it around the yard with the kids on the trail a bike and I keep hearing this klunking noise, it's the crank arm tapping the chainstay. Pretty sure the rear triangle is bent. I'm going to measure it up and see just how out of wack it is. Not really a big deal to cold set a steel frame anyway.