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Rat Rod

Rat Rod

Owner & Founder
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
18,502
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Location
Texas
I'm on the quest for the perfect bike....well, perfect for me anyway. :lol:

My goal is to find a quality built bike that I can use for daily exercise and general riding around my neighborhood and town. I'm not a road bike kinda guy and all of my cruisers are either too heavy or the fat tire situation creates too slow of a ride. I guess some sort of hybrid would be ideal, just not sure which I prefer. Nothing I have seen so far has really jumped out at me as being the bike I'm looking for.

If money were no object, I'd seriously consider buying a 2010 Electra Ticino. Just don't have $2000 to spend on a bike right now....or ever for that matter, ha ha.

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Dumb question here, but what exactly makes that bike worth two grand? It looks like a nicely refined aluminum version of a Schwinn Racer or a Raleigh. I'm not knocking it by any means, but even if it had a really nice component group I still can't see the reason for it being that much.

I'm currently putting together a bike so I can ride our local "Urban Assault" rides without getting dropped like a hot potato. It will be able to handle prettty much whatever I throw at it, and when it's all said and done I'll have about $300.00 into it. I started out with a freebie Giant Iguana hardtail frame that was a leftover from a warranty bike. The fork is a 100mm Answer Manitou that was a leftover after I upgraded the fork on my mountain bike. The handlebars, shifter, derraileur, slick tires, seat, pedals and front hub all came from my old mountain bike. I bought new Sun CR-18 rims, a new Shimano Deore rear hub, and a new cluster and built the wheels. I traded some old bmx parts for a Truevativ Holzfeller crankset, bottom bracket and front gear, and I traded some work on a friend's truck for a set of Juicy 5 hydraulic disc brakes. The seatpost and stem are from a Specialized bmx dirtjumping bike, and Cane Creek hooked me up with a headset.
I'll end up with a bike that fits me perfectly, won't fall apart if I look at it wrong, and I won't worry about thrashing it because it's not new or pretty and I didn't spend a ton on it. Again, I'm not knocking buying an expensive new bike, if you've got it and you want it go for it. But I know you have the skills necessary to build your own perfect bike for way less than 2 G's, and you could build one that no one else will have.
 
a used high end hybrid would be sweet. you know, one without the huge upright stem, and maybe some disc brakes. i've seen some hybrid/commuters that I'd ride, ie they were fairly sporty looking.
 
Korporal said:
I've said this here once or twice. Why not build what you want?
Click to expand...

Can be fairly expensive build from parts. Plus it nice have something built with something besides Schwinn gas pipe.


Your best bet is buying something used and then upgrade as needed or wanted. A hybrid w/700c would work well but not much style. Something with a 7 or 8 speed internal hub would be good.

Gary Fisher Simple City series is nice http://www.fisherbikes.com/bike/series/simple-city/
Special Globe series is nice but spendy.
 
Your Schwinn Cruiser 5 with a nice light bottom bracket and cranks, light fork, stem, bars, seatpost Nexus hub and some smooth 26x1.95's on Aluminum rims. Box up all of the original parts and ride it until you find the newer one that screams "buy me".

Check out http://cargolargo.com, I'm sure one of us KC guys could help you out with shipping if a real steal comes up.

If I were you, I would also be eyeballing some Surlys, Specializeds, Cannondales...
 
I am still searching for the "perfect" riding bike for all situations. Below is the one I built. I bought a new schwinn frame off of e-bay. It was built from there. I would really like to try the Shimano Alfine or the SRAM 9 internal hubs, but I think the cost outweighs the benefits right now. The biggest problem I am having is the cargo system. In the past I always rode with a backpack. I am trying to get stuff on the bike. I really like the Topeak idea of removable basket, but in practice it is not the best. The basket on the rear tends to launch it's contents at anything above a very small bump, and since it is behind you you might not know it's gone! It is also a chore to get the best basket to seat relationship. The front permanent basket on the Schwinn Newsboy works a lot better in that respect, but the contents still get pounded. I am going to put in a thick dense layer of foam to hopefully alleviate that. The SKS fenders really are the best solution for a riding bike. Although the attached chainguard works okay, I am putting the SKS full length chainguard on my wife's beater build. It can be used with a front derailleur. The problem with permanent rear and front baskets is manuevering in tight spots and getting on and off the bike. I am going to experiment with my wife's build. I weigh about 250 and for me, nothing less than true 37 or 38 mm wide tire works for bump absorption. That's probably the best compromise of effiency versus comfort. The fork works and also the seat/seatpost combo at absorbing bumps fro me, but doesn't help the rear basket. I feel in MOST situations, you can never gear too low, but it is easy to gear too high.
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I have built my wife a few bikes, ones that I think are really cool. But she almost always rides her Giant. I am sure it's for sentimental reasons, because this the bike I bought for her before moving to Hawai'i for three years. Where she rode it almost everyday. I completely rebuilt it last year, except for the brakes, which I had already changed a while ago. I just recently put Origin 8 cantis on, which look better on this bike and changed the crank to a Nexave, which has 46/34 rings as opposed the 48/39 rings before. It is running a 14-25 rear, which means gearing is tight, but just enough.
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Rat Rod said:
I'm on the quest for the perfect bike....well, perfect for me anyway. :lol:

My goal is to find a quality built bike that I can use for daily exercise and general riding around my neighborhood and town. I'm not a road bike kinda guy and all of my cruisers are either too heavy or the fat tire situation creates too slow of a ride. I guess some sort of hybrid would be ideal, just not sure which I prefer. Nothing I have seen so far has really jumped out at me as being the bike I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

Steve, what I'm thinking is you want a bike that looks old-school, but doesn't weigh a ton? If so, I feel you. I've currently got a (cheap) Schwinn AL mountain bike, with Kwest 1.5" tires on it, and all it really needs now is maybe a different set of gears. But it doesn't look cool at all, you know. ;)

If you can find a light, retro-styled frame, you can spec it out with older MTB parts which are cheap as dirt nowdays, and still light enough to be useful. Maybe a Felt frame would work, or an older road bike with some Schwalbe 700C cream tires. You could even get a retro frame and put a 3-piece bottom bracket conversion on it, to save a ton of weight.

Regardless, there's plenty of options.
 
Correct geometry is a concern also.

I have considered building up an old road bike or MTB frame, but most of the time they are just standard diamond frames without any angle to the top bar.

I would consider this Gary Fisher model....would prefer a freewheel out back though.

SimpleCity3_MatteBlack.jpg
 
look at the Masi SoulVille 7. a very handsome Italian bike with a nice chromoly frame with an arched top tube. leather saddle, Nexxus 7-speed internal (or other configs), flat aluminum fenders... cool, good-looking bike that i think can be had for $1000USD or a little less.
 
UncleKudzu said:
look at the Masi SoulVille 7. a very handsome Italian bike with a nice chromoly frame with an arched top tube. leather saddle, Nexxus 7-speed internal (or other configs), flat aluminum fenders... cool, good-looking bike that i think can be had for $1000USD or a little less.
Click to expand...

Wow...now I can see where Performance Bike got their design from. :shock:

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Pr ... 0000_50500

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Rat Rod said:
Correct geometry is a concern also.

I have considered building up an old road bike or MTB frame, but most of the time they are just standard diamond frames without any angle to the top bar.
Click to expand...

'94 through '97 Kona Kilauea, Explosif or Hot:

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Scott AT-2 handlebars:

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Set up as 1x8 with Deore XT M732 thumbie:

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Continental Town and Country tires:

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This was my perfect city/commuting bike, great for any weather (even Toronto winters). Reynolds 631 steel frame, carbon forks, hydraulic disk brakes. Unfortunately since I got laid off in the s[ring it was the odd-bike-out and had to go. If I was to build up another one I would go with the same frame geometry and material but switch the rear dérailleur for a 3-speed internal with a disk brake (I have a SRAM 1-motion 3 disk waiting to be built) and swap out the fenders for a set of alloy dimpled ones.

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This photo was taken in January with 10"+ of snow on the ground. I had my cyclocross tires on and had to keep stopping to unpack the snow from under the fenders. Nothing a warm warehouse couldn't fix tho.
 
In addition to that Performance Soulville knockoff, check out their 29er MTB, these big wheel MTBs make really good cruisers and give you a wider range of ride use and tire options that are really good also. $599 but keep an eye out online for coupon codes you can get some even more smoking deals from them around holidays especially.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1072872_-1_51000_20000_52001

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