NEW KLUNKER IN TOWN

[thad]

I thought you guys might get a kick out of it. Bikes are fun.

The schwinn medium duty bent entirely in the stays. Fork and front triangle seem fine. I was expecting the one-piece cranks to be the first weak link...

Don't those adaptors cost $30-40? That's your crank $$$ right dere...

This Bike Snob post sums up my attitude towards adaptors, in general.
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2007/10 ... ation.html

 

[thad]

Sorry to get off on the wrong foot. I will watch the language. Reading back, I came off more confrontational than I intended.

Are you trying to use square taper cranks with that bb? There probably is a mini bmx spindle that would work, though you need to be careful of odd tapers

 

[yoothgeye]

I just plan to use whatever crank I can find, and I will have the best klunker within 6 blocks of my house.

 

[CCR]

I guess it just depends on the mood I'm in when I get to putting a bike together, sometimes I get distracted by shiny stuff, and sometimes expensive stuff or "the good" stuff. I've got nothing against 3 piece cranks and I agree most sealed bearing stuff is trouble free most times. On the other hand, I've never broke a OPC, and I can get caged bearings to spin just as good (if not better :wink: ) than the sealed stuff I have/had. When it comes to looks, I dont think an old cruiser looks right with anything but a OPC but theres nothing nicer looking than a clean set of chrome profile or redline cranks on most other (BMXish) stuff :mrgreen:

 

[CCR]

Here's my only teaser pic until build off time. I love these grips btw, I want to put them on every bike I own.

 

[yoothgeye]

What are those grips? I love Oury grips for comfort, but I'm always up to try new grips. Whatever I put on this build will be flanged.

Here's my only teaser pic until build off time. I love these grips btw, I want to put them on every bike I own.

 

[CCR]

Cult / Vans waffle grips

 

[yoothgeye]

Cult / Vans waffle grips

Do they offer with flanges? Are they soft and comfy?

Like I said, I love Ourys for comfort (price doesn't hurt either) but I love old Serfas too for comfort, but they don't have the style of Ourys.

 

[CCR]

Flangeless only but they are soft and grippy, ourys still might be a little more comfortable overall but right now I am loving these grips.

 

[yoothgeye]

Wait a minute. You mean your only picture is a pair of grips. Sheesh. You are as secretive as yoothgeye. I'm not sure you guys even have bikes. At least show us a tire or something.

You're right, I don't have a bike, but I have a frame and 2 pairs of MX bars, 1 a used take off and the other NOS.

 

[CCR]

Wait a minute. You mean your only picture is a pair of grips. Sheesh. You are as secretive as yoothgeye. I'm not sure you guys even have bikes. At least show us a tire or something...

That's what a teaser pic is supposed to do isn't it. Besides you already posted a pic of my frame, what else of mine do you have pictures of PB :lol: We've still got 3 months before we have 3 months to build these bikes :mrgreen:

 

[CCR]

Well, I have some black-rimmed, heavy-spoked wheels if that is what you are using!

Thinking about chrome for mine but not convinced one way or another right now. If you have been watching the classifieds at all you should be able to tell what I've bought up though ... H/D Schwinn frame from chuck, bars from doublenickel, seat from tater, grips (shown) the rest is up in the air for now. I've got a stem but that could change depending on the fork, going with a one piece crank set-up but the pieces will depend on what I use for a hub and how i want it to ride in the end. Definitely "dirt bike" themed though.

 

[thad]

 

[CCR]

Awesome stuff thad !!! Hope the transition forks hold up better than the worksmans did The flag pic is nice too, is that a Micargi bike ???

 

[thad]

I can't remember the brand. It was a department store cruiser, with an aluminum frame, aluminum rims, 3 speed coaster hub, some weird chinese offbrand hub. Dean, worked at the Hub, community bike source. We threw two bikes together the night before the race. The race was on 3 mountains, Blanchard, Chuckanut, Galbraith. We had a uhaul truck to shuttle C'nut, pushed up the other two. Dean won the Blanchard race by 30 seconds, despite never having ridden the trail, or a klunker before. He got lost on Galbraith, or I think he would have taken the overall. That kid is good at bikes! He took off back to California at the end of summer. Sold his stuff, rode a bike back.

I have some pics of "race" bikes I'll put up. Most are pretty slapped together, but there's a few cool ones.

 

[thad]

Miers' bike. This bike has been on the podium a few times.

Last minute klunk build. He couldn't get the old grip and clutch lever off his moto bars!

 

[thad]

Morgan in B.C.'s klunk.

2 of Tony's klunks. Tony has 2 worksman, 2 schwinn heavy dutys, and a chromed out medium duty with mongoose 26" bmx forks. Lars and he worked on the new bike. It has the same geometry as a worksman, but full 4130 tubing, no dents in the stays, good tire clearance, tidy bmx style dropouts, welded brake mount, 1 1/8" ht, 27.2 st. It is a nicer frame than the standard cruiser. comes set up to shred with 3 piece cranks, moto bars, dh rims and tires, though the stamped steel sprocket is ghetto, and the fork could be nicer, the pinch bolt cranks look like what comes on $350 bmxs.

 

[CCR]

All mean looking bikes, the chrome bike looks like it has a porkchop landrace moto fork in it. The last bike with the checkered bar pad was the easiest to spot in the vids, I didn't realize how many bikes there were at one time until you posted the pics either. Just flat out cool stuff !!!

 

[thad]

http://vimeo.com/31413848

Yeah, he bought the fork off ebay for a pretty penny. One bummer about Tony being a FULL FACTORY klunker rider is he always had the coolest old bikes. But you do feel bad about ruining parts not meant for what you are doing to them. And the threaded headsets, quill stems and cheap seat guts are constantly loosening and slipping.

I kinda want to build another old school klunker. I volunteer at the Hub community bike shop. They have an insane amount of cool old bike stuff. I build up commuters for them to sell. Mostly take old proflexs with dead bumpers, cannondales w/bad headshoks, rob their decent LXish build kit, and build up bridgestone, treks, other nice cromo 90's mtbs, with new 2" slicks, swept back bars, cables, chain, and whatever used seat and pedals I can find that look right. There's quite a few of them cruising around town, now. I used to work in bike shops, and always enjoyed seeing bikes I work on cruising around. This is better, I get to build up bikes how I like, and then get to see people siked on riding them. Anyways, I have access to parts. I have a stockpile of 10 brand new 36h coasters, 3 sets of good condition Maxxis Minions, a few 1" quill bmx stems, cheapie 3 piece, couple of sprockets, etc.
Heavy Duty and Worksman frames hold up. The weak link is the fork, and to a lesser degree seat guts.

There is an old cruiser, I'm not sure what make it is, maybe 40's, I want to build. It has twin top tubes, like a heavy duty, but the rear end looks more like that roadmaster posted above. The rear end would need to be bent for more tire clearance. I want to weld 1 1/8" headset cups to it, and run a 4130 threadless fork with bmx stem and moto bars. Prolly use a Tank headset, and grind the male part that presses in to the HT off. I have a bunch of 4130 tubing in the garage, and want to delete the undersized post, and just weld on tubing that just fits over the existing ST. Fab up a little triangle steel piece, so I could put a Fly bmx seat on.

Then I start thinking I should weld a brake mount on. Then I think should shorten up the chainstays and make stronger/lighter/cleaner dropouts....

 

[CCR]

Just read where the 1st run of transition klunkers have been bought up (at least by the dealers) seeing prcies climb to $850-900 on them now for the next run with nothing but a paint job change ... yup ... sticking with the real klunkers now :lol:

EDIT I'm now realizing those are Australia and New Zealand prices