TWENTY9

[RonK]

Well, it’s been a number of years since I had the motivation to build a bike for a BBO. It really started with me wanting to go ride with my wife and friends for the Sacramento Cyclefest pre-show ride (well, that AND my wife telling me to clean up or get rid of my collection of bikes.

It’s been through a couple of versions, my vision was pretty fluid at the beginning. I literally threw it in the trunk of my car and took it with me to work one day....this is the bike in near complete form, and where it started!

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[uneasy rider]

oh yeah, put on a pot of coffee & get to buildin!

 

[RonK]

This is how long it’s been. BBO7. I had forgotten what a good form of therapy building something with your hands could be.

This is the bike I built back in the day:

TWENTY2 (I know, I know...really creative with the name). I still own it, it’s a really special bike, and rides like a dream.

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[RonK]

My idea was for something really fast. A klunker. I’ve been intrigued by some of the high end bespoke rigs that I’ve seen, but with 3 college aged daughters~you all KNOW I don’t have any money for one of those. An old bike with some modern touches, just enough to make it cool-ish. I’ve got several frames in my stash..so I grabbed styling cues from all over the place.

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[RonK]

Once I got moving, things went okay, I tried a few different ideas. At one point I had sourced a set of rigid MTB forks, but they had a tapered steer tube, and after ordering the wrong bearings/races, I ended up deciding to use this single spring Monarch style fork. Funny thing is that I had actually forgot that I even had these!

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[RonK]

I was going to use the red stripe hubs that I had laying around...and almost scrapped the whole idea and started to mock up the custom stretch frame that I bought years ago from Deven (alchemist custom cycles before he was alchemist). But finally had a little inspiration. I sell collector and exotic cars for a living, and one of my demos really caught my eye. It’s a 2012 Ferrari 458 that we put a huge set of wheels on. I LOVED the near zero clearance! So from then on the mental list was made

-old frame...no paint(I’m a primary color guy, and really dig patina.
-BIG wheels...super low clearance
-klunker/ BMX cruiser bars
-coaster brake.
-brooks saddle
-???

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[RonK]

When I dug out the forks, I had forgotten about the steering tube being cracked. That was the original reason I thought about using the modern rigid bomber forks. So glad I kept with the original idea!

I started to build mock ups. I thought a set of 26” rims would look cool with some gnarly knobbies, but felt if I could fit them, 29’s would be super sick!

The search was on for the ever elusive 29” set of wheels with a coaster brake setup...I really didn’t have the knowhow on building up a set of wheels from scratch, so I was pretty stressed. I found so many sets with free wheel Hubs, but that was too modern for the palette of the bike.


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[RonK]

I think I made the right choice on the forks. I still have the bombers for another frame, lol.

I’ve never seen another fork like these, so I really wanted them to work. The single spring set up is a little sleeker. It worked with the tall, narrow, “fast while sitting still” look of the bike. It was starting to take shape at this point.

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[RonK]

BB and crank-wise. I wanted something a little more modern for reliability.

I found a set of Sugino 175’s that I color sanded (for hours) and polished the faces of - I left some crusty red paint on the sides of the chainring. I thought it tied in well with the bits of red paint remnants on the frame.

I decided to just clean the surface crust off of the frame and just clear the patina.

The “less is more” concept is alive and well on TWENTY9. No lights, no fancy engineering(minus a few good whacks with a 3lb sledgehammer and a spacer to ensure the fat tires fit in the rear frame!

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[RonK]

At this point, it was almost done. I had quit a couple times. I was really pissed with a couple aspects of the build. The whole tapered steer tube on the original forks really got into my headspace in a bad way. My wife kicked me out of the house and made me finish what I started. Then I was having trouble with the tires rubbing. Pounded that issue out, literally. I was grabbing parts from all of my bins and making them work. A lot of late nights listening to First Wave on Sirius!

These pics were during final mock ups. I was fine tuning all the bits and pieces. Got the klunker bars fitted and adjusted to where they were comfy for my 49 year old frame.


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[RonK]

I have to give a big shout out to my Buddy, Scott. He helped me tune the beast up and mounted the chain so that it was ready for the Cyclefest ride.

We took these pics during the actual Cyclefest ride, which happened to be the official shakedown ride and public debut! TWENTY9 made it without any major mishaps. So glad that Scott trued the wheels like a mofo! They roll straight and fast.

At this point, I had to shelf the build. My wife and I decided (rather suddenly) to downsize and live the lives of empty nesters. We went from a 3,000 sq ft home with a 3 car garage to a 1700 sq ft home with a 6 car garage (9 if you have garage dollies ). The garage is actually almost as big as the house...zero complaints from me.

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[RonK]

This past weekend, the wife and I actually had some time, being that we are pretty much unpacked from the move, to actually go for a ride.

I had decided after the Cyclefest ride to raise the seat...nothing like 20-plus miles on an old bike to figure out what does and doesn’t feel good.

We stopped to take a drink about halfway in to our ride, so I thought I’d take a few glamour shots. That’s when she told me I should enter the bike in the BBOXIV...so here I am.

There’s a couple of minor touches that I’ll finish up tomorrow before and after work, and then I’ll take some presentable “finished phase” photos. These will have to do for now.

Thanks for looking. And thanks for the therapy.

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[MattiThundrrr]

This is my kinda ride! The restrained application of modern tech to the vintage frame is right up my alley! And a bright yellow 911 in the garage doesn't hurt either!

 

[uneasy rider]

WOW!! you work FAST!! musta been a couple pots of coffee. great work.

 

[RonK]

WOW!! you work FAST!! musta been a couple pots of coffee. great work.

Nah...I started at the beginning of May. Rode it in June for the Cyclefest ride, and then packed and moved in July. I work 6 days a week, so the only time I could get in the garage was after dinner a few nights a week. Relatively speaking, I worked pretty fast. Not a ton of fabrication like some of the amazing builds on here.


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[RonK]

Sneak peak of the JC Penney glamour shots.

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