Unofficial March Shootout II

[handyandy1100]

Not sure the free bike parts are going to help me much. A Nishiki lugged steel frame with about a 23" seat tube. The one wheel that was with it is 27x1-1/4". Not something I could ride if I did get it going. Probably about all I can do with it, besides scrap it, would be making a redneck single speed out of it. Just wrap a chain around one cog on the freewheel and whatever front sprocket I can dig up with no derailleurs.
The crank set that originally caught my eye in my son's picture turned out to be broken. I mocked up the frame with the original wheels from the folding bike for photographic purposes. I think an old set of calipers I have would work with some 26" wheels.

Whatever I do, it'll still be too tall for me to ride. Youngest son is about 6' tall, but hasn't shown any interest in riding a bike since he was a kid.

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[sandman]

Not sure the free bike parts are going to help me much. A Nishiki lugged steel frame with about a 23" seat tube. The one wheel that was with it is 27x1-1/4". Not something I could ride if I did get it going. Probably about all I can do with it, besides scrap it, would be making a redneck single speed out of it. Just wrap a chain around one cog on the freewheel and whatever front sprocket I can dig up with no derailleurs.
The crank set that originally caught my eye in my son's picture turned out to be broken. I mocked up the frame with the original wheels from the folding bike for photographic purposes. I think an old set of calipers I have would work with some 26" wheels.

Whatever I do, it'll still be too tall for me to ride. Youngest son is about 6' tall, but hasn't shown any interest in riding a bike since he was a kid.

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Keep what smalls you can and recycle the rest .
You never know what you might use someday

 

[us56456712]

I went ahead and ordered a MoJo 36T chainring ? Will see how that works , Only time I see using a plus size tire bike is when I'm bored sitting on the beach with my wife , so I will probably flip it . It would be a quick sale around here .

It will be spinney, but should work for sand. I can blast through level sand traps on my mountain bike with my 36 x 16, but I kow the spots and I am moving pretty good before I even hit the sand. It doesn't even slow me down, but I'm ready for it. I have a 3 inch tire on the front and a 2.8 on the rear. Long stretches of sand are hard, you have to pedal like mad when you start to bog down.

 

[us56456712]

I drove 60 miles one way to ride on streets and bike paths. It was snowing and the bike shop told me the local snow bike trails are in rough shape. The trail groomer said a foot of the white stuff is coming. Its been snowing all day, but not hard so far. The test beat went well but one of the attachment straps that hold the cooler to the home built beater rack got cut half way through after ten miles. I'm going to try an old pedal toe strap next.

 

[schwinn boy]

Burning my sprocket really didn't accomplish much, but i got this neat picture while doing it.

 

[horsefarmer]

Found the tail light! Nice and crusty.

 

[us56456712]

Burning my sprocket really didn't accomplish much, but i got this neat picture while doing it.

Not sure the free bike parts are going to help me much. A Nishiki lugged steel frame with about a 23" seat tube. The one wheel that was with it is 27x1-1/4". Not something I could ride if I did get it going. Probably about all I can do with it, besides scrap it, would be making a redneck single speed out of it. Just wrap a chain around one cog on the freewheel and whatever front sprocket I can dig up with no derailleurs.
The crank set that originally caught my eye in my son's picture turned out to be broken. I mocked up the frame with the original wheels from the folding bike for photographic purposes. I think an old set of calipers I have would work with some 26" wheels.

Whatever I do, it'll still be too tall for me to ride. Youngest son is about 6' tall, but hasn't shown any interest in riding a bike since he was a kid.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Sometimes right crank arms are available on eBay.

 

[sandman]

It will be spinney, but should work for sand. I can blast through level sand traps on my mountain bike with my 36 x 16, but I kow the spots and I am moving pretty good before I even hit the sand. It doesn't even slow me down, but I'm ready for it. I have a 3 inch tire on the front and a 2.8 on the rear. Long stretches of sand are hard, you have to pedal like mad when you start to bog down.

I am trying to learn these gear ratio calculations ?
The way I understand it , if I install 36T chain ring and 21T cog on the SA 3 speed the end results should be as following ?
1st gear .75 x 21 =

It will be spinney, but should work for sand. I can blast through level sand traps on my mountain bike with my 36 x 16, but I kow the spots and I am moving pretty good before I even hit the sand. It doesn't even slow me down, but I'm ready for it. I have a 3 inch tire on the front and a 2.8 on the rear. Long stretches of sand are hard, you have to pedal like mad when you start to bog down.

I am very green to gear selection . But your 36 x 16 ratio be the same as my 36 x 21 with the SA in first gear ( x .75 ) Thanks

 

[us56456712]

It’s rough riding here. The gravel roads have over a foot of frozen ice ruts too slippery for walking. The snow bike trails are getting iffy. The road shoulders on the main highways are sometime clear and the riding is good but the next day there is either snow or freezing rain. In another month the paved country roads will provide good riding while the single track melts off. There are usually snow banks on the roadside for Hiawatha’s Revenge the first week end of June. In May you can ride the back country but you have to push through or ride over some snow. This is good riding as there are no bugs. I hope to have Holey Spokes sorted, after further testing, next week, then I will work on Frankengravel. No hurry now as all my gravel races have been canceled.

 

[handyandy1100]

The Schwalbies finally arrived!!! Unfortunately not soon enough to get them mounted today. Maybe tomorrow...

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[GuitarlCarl]

And I like this idea Carl . I have a 21T existing , do you think a 24T would work for a heavy bike with fat tires for riding in lose sand ? Sure is alot cheaper then a new chain ring .

You'll need to google up a decent gear calculator to get an idea of where you'll be, and calculate one of your existing bikes you like to get an even better idea by comparison. I probably wouldn't take a heavy bike into loose sand though...

That’s pretty tall, I couldn’t push that in sand. For my 74 year old legs I would have to run 32 x 22 for sand. If you have strong legs a good place to start would be 2 to 1, like 32 x 16. For my single speed I’m building for this unofficial build off I used 42 x 23. I can’t climb any long hills with this, I’ll need to do a lot of gravel pushing. It needs to be lower but I used what I had. I have only ridden this bike once as it has been icy and starting today we are having snow for 8 out the next 10 days. Any further testing is in the future.

If it's a three speed and the 21t is his existing cog, then increasing the teeth will make it easier. But you know as well as I do that there's a lot of other considerations... Tire size, width and pressure all make a difference. Even things like old nasty chain vs nice clean oiled links make a difference. I dig up Sheldon Brown's info every time to figure my three speed coasters (I like old ones cuz they're cheap and abundant) one of these years I'll get around to a Nexus...

Carl.

 

[Brian macumber]

Anybody else building bikes here? Today, I cut a wedge out of my seat stays. Straightened them out to roughly continue the line with my top tube and rewelded them in the new position. I also cut the chain stays and added bent sections of fork tube in the gaps created by straightening the seat stays. The stance is much better. But I'm still a bit long legged for this frame, much like my last build, Mean Streak.

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Liking the new stance

 

[sandman]

"I probably wouldn't take a heavy bike into loose sand though..."
With me every bike serves a different purpose .
If I just want a bike to get from point A to point B I would ride a bike like Daily and stay on the paved boardwalk or ride a moped .
I think plus size bikes are designed for the rider who wants to ride in more difficult terrain and benefit from from physical challenges ?

 

[MattiThundrrr]

The plus tires are good for traction if tubeless. Can be run at low pressures, allowing the tread to wrap around chunky stuff. Also, wide footprint is useful to "float" over sand n snow. Larger air volume also cushions the ride, acts as a bit of suspension. Think of them like the big tires in an off road jeep

 

[sandman]

The plus tires are good for traction if tubeless. Can be run at low pressures, allowing the tread to wrap around chunky stuff. Also, wide footprint is useful to "float" over sand n snow. Larger air volume also cushions the ride, acts as a bit of suspension. Think of them like the big tires in an off road jeep

Why would you have to run them tubeless with low pressure ?

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Running low pressure with tubes makes pinch flats much more probable.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

 

[handyandy1100]

Got the new tires mounted this evening. They seem like nice ones. Once they were mounted I spent some time truing the wheels. Bike rolls pretty good now. Just need a pair of grips, a few adjustments, and it'll be done.

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[us56456712]

Running low pressure with tubes makes pinch flats much more probable.

I run 6 - 8 psi with tubes in my 3.8 wide tires all winter. No pinch flats after 4 winters. I seldom ride this bike in the summer and then I use 11 or 12 psi because it’s rougher and I don’t need the floatation. Depending on your tires and rims, low pressure fat tires in winter can be a problem with sealing and many people have problems with the tires “burping” and separating from the rim. Most others have no problem with low pressure in the winter. This seems to be a winter problem with the same tires and rims behaving themselves in the summer. If this is a problem it’s so bad that the tires burp off with every ride. I have been told that you can take a non tubeless ready fat bike wheel and put a narrow band of several layers of Gorilla Tape on the inside of each side of the rim to keep the tires in place, thus eliminating the tube. Of course you need to seal the spoke holes and use sealer liquid. Sounds to me like this would be hard to do and dangerous.

 

[sandman]

I run 6 - 8 psi with tubes in my 3.8 wide tires all winter. No pinch flats after 4 winters. I seldom ride this bike in the summer and then I use 11 or 12 psi because it’s rougher and I don’t need the floatation. Depending on your tires and rims, low pressure fat tires in winter can be a problem with sealing and many people have problems with the tires “burping” and separating from the rim. Most others have no problem with low pressure in the winter. This seems to be a winter problem with the same tires and rims behaving themselves in the summer. If this is a problem it’s so bad that the tires burp off with every ride. I have been told that you can take a non tubeless ready fat bike wheel and put a narrow band of several layers of Gorilla Tape on the inside of each side of the rim to keep the tires in place, thus eliminating the tube. Of course you need to seal the spoke holes and use sealer liquid. Sounds to me like this would be hard to do and dangerous.

I'll be using 4" tubes in 3" tires hoping the extra rubber will be thick enough to prevent flats ? What's a little more weight on this beast anyway ?