SHOW US YOUR KLUNKERZ
- Thread starter Rat Rod
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The bike didn't break during the 28 mile "wimp" race. My buddy who is 69 came in 2 hours and 1 minute and another 65 year old buddy came in 2 hours and 11 minutes, pretty fast, but they had gears. I came in 2 hours and 22 minutes on the Klunker. I got passed during the last mile of the race by 3 guys that were in the 48 mile race and they started 45 minutes after us. It ended out being more of a cross country race with only about 2 or 3 miles of easy single track. The rest was pavement, gravel and a lot of smooth 2 track. There were quite a few rocky washouts on the hills and a lot of sand. The times were fast as we had rain all day yesterday and last night which made the sand rideable for light riders like me. No dust either. I would have had a lot faster time if I would have had on a 36 tooth sprocket instead of the 32. I flew by a lot of people on the downhill washout areas only to be passed by them again numerous times where the course got flat and fast. I just spun out and it felt like I had the freewheel on backwards. Good fun though. Fifty's bike technology is robust enough for this level of racing, and harder riding. I think a 1x6 or 1x5 hybrid Klunker would be pretty fast on this course. Now I'll have to build one.The bike is all ready for the short "wimp" race this Saturday. 28 miles. 2000+ riders. I might be sorry that I didn't use the 18 tooth cog?
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One of the guys from the bike club took a picture of my old decrepit self with the Klunker about half way through the race. The section where he took the picture had 330 feet of climb and 347 feed of descent. I passed quite a few people here. I passed more but they passed me again when it got flatter. I put my posterior behind the seat, bent forward between the bars and tucked in my knees and elbows in on all the downhill sections as I could get no power to the road with my low gearing. The interesting thing I noticed was that I was able to keep up with those who sat upright and peddled down the hills and in a lot of cases I gained on them, no brakes allowed. This gave me a rest and I was able to coast part way up the next hill and pedal up and pass more folks. Of course by this time I was racing against other old folks or the weaker younger riders who didn't seem to ride quite as well as I was. Cat and mouse as on the flats they would pass me again. I was not very tired at the end as I rested on all the downhill sections using this technique but I wondered a few times if I would fly off the gravel on the washboards. I will use this method if I race cross country again. Very surprising discovery. The real fast guys pedal hard all the time, but those days are long gone for me. I have to ride smarter and be a little more daring to keep up with the mostly young out of shape heaver folks that I ended out in a pack with. I passed two younger tandem guy teams as they got bogged down on the hills.
Awesome that you're racing that thing! 
I think you might benefit by gearing up a few inches, @us56456712 . You're running an extremely low gear there....
I think you might benefit by gearing up a few inches, @us56456712 . You're running an extremely low gear there....
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Your right. I tested it on rough areas of the course that ended out being bypassed by two tracks. It was just right for the type of terrain that we didn't go over. I made notes for next year and hopefully I will remain healthy enough to try again but there are not too many folks who race after 70 so we will have to wait and see. 36 by 19 would have been faster than my 32 x 19. Local racers advised me that 36 x 19 would be too steep for me, but I think they were referencing the 29 inch wheel and didn't consider I was running with 26? Anyway I had a blast, even though I was a little frustrated with my gear choice. I figure I would have to walk up part of two more hills with the taller gearing but on the smooth parts I would overcome the small amount of lost time.Awesome that you're racing that thing!
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Holy wah! The results of the race have been posted on line. I couldn't be happier. I got in the upper half of the lower third in the 65 to 69 year year old group, about my graduation status in high school. Something like 18 out of 25. The only way to improve this next year is to go in the 70+ group in the 48 mile instead of the 28 mile race. If I came in last I would probably be in the top 10. This could be another benefit of advanced age. The only other benefit form advanced age I have discovered is that I get less migraine headaches. My doctor informs me that this is from hardening of the brain arteries, which are too stiff to expand and swell the brain and cause a migraine. It is also a cause of dementia but my mind seems to have been partially lost for decades.
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Thanks. The old pre kick-back Bendix 2 speed manual came with either 19 or 18 tooth cogs and I have each. I'll look at the various combos and see what comes closest to your suggestion. Got to be better than what I used. Perhaps using the 18 with a 34? To do that I would have to change from a one piece crank to 3 piece as I can't find anything between 32 and 36. I have both of these.
Get yourself a one-piece spider and a 34t 5-bolt bmx chainrng; you'll be set.
http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/redline-spider-for-one-piece-cranks-110-x-5mm-black
http://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/alloy-bmx-chainring-3-32-34t-x-110mm-black
The spider makes it easy to swap sprockets without removing your crank....
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Last Friday someone gave me an old 3 speed frame. Since the Shimano 333 three speed was shot I thought I would build a reproduction of my first trail bike. From 1969 to 1971 I worked as a cartographer for a company called Geotech. In 1969 they had a contract to make an Orienteering map for the National Orienteering Championships. We sent up our plane and had aerial photos done and I had to draw up the map and field check it. The area was a rats nest of old trails, logging skids, and long abandoned RR grades. After walking around in the area I decided I needed a light cheap trail bike I could use to check the trails and throw down in the woods and not care if anyone took it. Most of the trails were not actually there, but they showed up on the infrared photos because of the compaction of the earth and the different amount of moisture. I still had to walk because sometime there were partial trail sections in the woods. I walked on parallel compass lines 10 meters apart to check everything and make corrections on the base map. I had 2 trail bikes. One was an old 10 speed with 26 x 1 3/8 inch tires and the other was an old junked out not working 3 speed that I made into a single speed. For the 10 speed I just got rid of the derailleurs and wrapped the chain around the small front chainwheel and large rear sprocket for a single speed. I enjoyed riding the trails so much that I kept these bikes or built similar ones for 20 years. It never occurred to me to use 26 inch balloon tires because I don't recall ever seeing one back then in the junk stores. Twenty six by 1 3/8 was the widest easily available tire I saw. We used to throw them in my boat and use them on camping trips. I always wish I had kept one but now I found the parts to make a repro. They were real bad in sand and I fell quite a few times in sand washout at the bottom of a hill. The 10 speed trail bike had bad center pull brakes so I liked the coaster bike better because it would stop better. Technically it's not a Klunker but it served the same purpose as the Klunker or a cyclocross bike. At the time I was not aware of either. I had two so I could lend one out so I would have someone to ride with. I used them canoeing to ride back to the river access to get the car. The repro is going to our cabin to ride to the store for ice cream. I ran into one of my old riding buddies recently on the local trail system and he mentioned that we were doing this before any one around here. There were probably others.
3 speed light luged frame. The rear wheel has a Bendix coaster from a Woman's department store bike. I think the wheels are from my original trail bike. I'm going to have fun with this.
3 speed light luged frame. The rear wheel has a Bendix coaster from a Woman's department store bike. I think the wheels are from my original trail bike. I'm going to have fun with this.
What frame is that???
It looks like the same frame I'm messing around with. I had 26x2.125 knobbies on it now I'm toying with the idea of bontrager hanks which are FAT. They are in there but I'd have to spread the frame to actually get it to work.
Is the bottom of the bottom bracket shell welded together? Like it was rolled from sheet and welded together.
It looks like the same frame I'm messing around with. I had 26x2.125 knobbies on it now I'm toying with the idea of bontrager hanks which are FAT. They are in there but I'd have to spread the frame to actually get it to work.
Is the bottom of the bottom bracket shell welded together? Like it was rolled from sheet and welded together.
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It's a Japan built Royce Union, an entry level bike from the 60's. It is a copy of the old English 3 speeds with the peaked fenders. It is a very small frame as they were built primarily for the smaller lighter Japanese of the 60's. I am 5'8" and it is way too small for me, but it is light. It is the same kind of frame I rode on trails in the 60's. I always thought back then that a small frame was good as you didn't have as far to fall. It is a little cramped around the knees and handlebars. It has a short seatpost and I don't have any longer ones in that size, burt I will be looking for one. There is a seam on the bottom of the bottom bracket but it is hard to see. I had to spread the front forks a few mm so my new hub would fit. I don't want to go and get a new taller gooseneck or a layback post as it is a repro of an earlier bike. It is good for woods trails but as soon as it gets steep or rough you have to push. This type of bike was disposable for me and I made and trashed many, my son even broke a frame jumping one in the woods when he was about 12. I would pound in seat posts if they were a little too big, take a pipe wrench to the fork race and grunch my own threads if the fork I was using was too long, no respect for them as they were beaters and tossed about every year or 2. I'm glad I have another now for the nostalgia factor.
Here is another picture that shows another angle of the frame.
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It looks very similar but I do see a few differences. Like on mine the dropouts are welded and ground. The frame brace and brake mount on mine are plate not tube. But it's all lugged with a similar crank, dropouts look the same, and an integrated seatpost clamp.
Sweet ride! Is that a Philippine flag saddle, looks cool. Are you Pinoy?
