Bicycles

Member's writings, poetry, ramblings, etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
L.J.Hex
Posts: 520
Joined: Wed May 09, 2018 6:29 am
Gender: Transgender Woman
Location: A land far away up north

Bicycles

Post by L.J.Hex »

Any other bicycle enthusiasts here? I sure am, this year I didn't ride as much as usual, not at all until I started my current job few weeks ago. Mainly due to my previous project bike being in bad condition, or not bad, but it had the wrong fork and handlebar as the previous stem broke few years back. I have a 1930's Swedish Monark fork on it which takes 21mm stem, standards being 22,2mm and 1".

Since I built my last bike, I had plans for another one. I sat on the idea for a long time as building custom bikes costs money which I now have as I'm earning more. :) My thing is classic bikes, Nordic types as those are easily and cheaply available in Finland. Most oldie enthusiasts are either all for preservation or renovation, my idea is renovation with innovation. :D Breaking the boundaries of classic styles. The previous bike is a 60-70 Norwegian bike with thicker cruiser style tires and a apehanger handlebar, like on a 70's chopper. Its one speed, has old school Sachs Torpedo hub in the back. And its HEAVY, almost too heavy for comfort, at one point I switched 18T chainwheel on the back to 20T to make it lighter and its still heavy as heck. Also the high handlebar makes it even harder on climbing hills which are plenty.

This experience lead me to think about something created with extremely low rolling resistance, 3-speed hub and lower handlebar. Also I have always wanted to experiment with putting a banana saddle and sissybar on a classic Scandivanian 28" bicycle. So here I am making it.

I chose wide Schwalbe Big Apple tires on this, at 2,35" in 28" size, they're huge. Reading the reviews, these tires are amazing on blacktop and tight packed gravel which are the most common around here. But there's a trade off, these tires suck at wet conditions and they're not too friendly with mud or anything requiring strong grip. For my use, perfect tires on paper as I'm all for balloon suspension and low rolling resistance. To my surprise, the 1969 Öglaend Strada frame is wide enough to house the fat tires with slight modification, but the fenders I bought require customization due to 80mm width, the back fork is exactly 80mm wide in its entirety, to pieces need to be cut off to fit them.

Other neat thing I'm after is to make it super comfortable, combining balloon tires with a springerfork will likely make it like riding a pillow. :D

Ironic thing about this bike, as with my projects before is that the frame, rims and hubs cost nearly nothing, while other parts, paint, sand blasting the frame etc. take the price up and beyond 500€. Its a lot, still nothing compared to custom bikes readily made which can costs in thousands. Way more expensive than usual renovation of course.

Anyway, the philosophy is to have it very easily rolling, low resistance tires and free bearings when possible. The ones with disks are easy to use, but they never roll as well as free bearings do. (That old school way is used on race bikes all the time due to the minimal resistance!) Also I thought to make the three speed work in the fashion that the first speed is lighter than typical one speed hub, second is about the same and third is fast. Using 16T/46T chain wheels will likely make it perfect for it. Its not a racer of course, all the stuff I'm putting on will make it heavy so it wont get up to speed in seconds. But the low resistances will likely offset the problem of weight.

Now the thing is that I name my bikes, I even got a cool pentagram shaped chain wheel for this one, the color will be glossy black with electric blue and cream white decals. I thought to make it a bit witchy somehow, make a name plaque with a broom drawn on it or something. :D But it needs a name. If you got some fancy idea, shoot!

Here's a pic of the front chain wheel and my little test with the rear tire. But what shall it be called? :flyingwitch:
Attachments
mankeli2.jpg
eturatas.jpg
By my feet the flowers of witchery abloom.
User avatar
Firebird
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 8213
Joined: Tue May 10, 2011 12:03 am
Gender: Female
Location: So. Cal.

Re: Bicycles

Post by Firebird »

Holy cow! That sprocket is soooo cool! Thats going to look great👍 Really like the color them too. I don't ride bikes much anymore, mines been outside for a couple years now, it's gonna need some work to be running well again. But my daughter and her boyfriend would appreciate this post because he made her a custom bike and had her name painted on it. It's white with green letters and silver highlights, I'm pretty sure has green anodised rims too.
Can't wait to see you finished project, maybe the name will reveal itself as you work? B-witched bike for sure, maybe with a broom sticking out the back!
I remember the Schwinn 2 speed kick-back with the apehangers from the 60's my brother got for Jul one year. man...if he had held onto that it would be worth a small fortune now.
Have fun! And hey....good to see you :fairy:
Bb, Firebird
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
User avatar
SpiritTalker
Banned Member
Posts: 6237
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:51 am
Gender: Female
Location: Earth temporarily

Re: Bicycles

Post by SpiritTalker »

I ride a fake bike indoors.
Post Reply

Return to “The Creative Corner”