Re: Inception of M3 (M-cubed)
OK, so the mockup has begun...
Q: What's the best thing about being a grown-up?
A: Being able to work on your bike in the living room, without having your mom get on your case (at least that's the PG-13 answer, for this site).
PS my girlfriend is great...She thinks it's sexy when I do projects.
Anyway, it's a learning experience. All these old parts don't necessarily go together very well, nor do they take the addition of new parts very well. And then, as soon as you try to mix/match something that wasn't supposed to go somewhere in the first-place...it causes a ripple effect that creates hurricanes in the South Pacific, not to mention a bike that doesn't run...yet.
So I like a lot of things about this bike already. But there are some aesthetic, and some mechanical, things that have to change:
I don't have a long enough chain yet...and I want a black & silver one, (haven't found one in town yet). But I threw an old/short chain over the tops of the gears and there seems to be insufficient tire clearance. I thought it was OK with the old sprocket. Hmmm.
Plans to fix this go like this: 1. Get a skinny 3/16" chain. 2. Skew the rear wheel a tad in the dropouts (but I don't have much wiggle room). 3. Ask a pro if there is a way to adjust the crank/sprocket position by where the bottom-bracket bearings are set in the frame (possible?). 4. Go back to the original spider and sprocket and try to flip it around to move the sprocket to the outside to gain offset. Then, if that works, get one that I like the looks of. 5. Purchase another sprocket that is designed purposefully for creating offset (I have a link to a source in Denmark), and hope that I can run the chain at an angle, or get an offset cog for the SRAM hub (Unlikely, huh). 6. Pull out all my hair and give up.
It's not that I'm stuck on the iron cross chainring (though I am a bit impressed by how retro-rat it looks against the red frame), but I'm planning something cleaner looking and couldn't find a plain solid sprocket without some silly graphic or another (no offense to anyone building a Hells-Angels looking chopper). But If I have to go to the spider to get offset, so be it.
Other mechanics: I have a bad feeling that the shocks will bottom out on the 700c front tire. (Yea! 700c...Tell me you've seen 24x3 and 700c together before. Oh, you have? Well then tell me you've seen a 700c white wall tire before. Really, that was a hard thing to find.) Anyway. I had some new dropouts for the Monark cut out, but the dude didn't have the right gauge metal. I said it was OK to use thicker...it wasn't.
You see, the pivot bolts have over-sized shanks above the threads, it keeps the nut from pinching the whole thing too tightly to pivot. The nut bottoms out on the shank instead of the plate. The thicker pivot plate means that the nut clamps down on the whole stack and the thing doesn't move. I need to just ride carefully for a while (no potholes, or I'll end up over the bars), and then eventually cut some new pivot plates/dropouts. It was pretty cheap actually.
The seatpost is really tight in there. I want to be able to adjust the seat easily, from "show-low" to rideable high. Remember I said I want this bike to be rideable. I'm willing to have that QR clamp to have to options. Do you like the seat? Vintage Motobecane, pretty good shape, black, with that great flying-M logo (nothing to do with the name of the bike, which may change).
Those pedals are junk. Dont buy them unless you "have" to have the teardrop look. You can get just as good (er, bad) rubber block pedals for 1/3 the price. Oh well...spend and learn. (speaking of spend and learn...more on the Monark fork later.)
The handle bars? I have mixed feeling. They were practically the first part I bought (when I knew what kind of frame I wanted, but didn't even have it yet). But now, I'm thinking more board track and less utility tanker. Hmm. Anyone have opinions? I do like them...but I'm gonna keep my eye out for cooler. PS these are new reproductions and the cross-bar is not even welded in place. Don't be fooled when you purchase your's.
The stem is a great, retro, art-deco thing. But again I might want something less dainty and cruiser...and more muscle-y instead. And I want to be able to flop the bars (if I get other bars) from donkey-ear to upright easily (showable vs. rideable). I'm thinking one of those BMX front-bolted plate stems. Opinions?
Anyway, I need to figure-out the chain clearance issue before I go any further with aesthetics, or even shifting for that matter. It's fun...and that's half the point...the other half will be riding the thing.
Peace!
