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Netdewt
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 Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:26 pm |
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| Greenway GremlinJoined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:07 pmPosts: 11Location: St. Louis Park
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I'd like to build a bike. I guess I just think it would be fun. I tend to be cheap, but I like nice stuff (makes perfect sense right?), so a nice old steel (not hi ten) frame would be sufficient, and I already have a bike with speeds, so a single speed would be fun.
Suggestions? Where does one find old track bike frames that are nice but don't cost a fortune?
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dasunt
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:51 pm |
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 Has recurring nightmare of descending Ramsey Hill no-handedJoined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:00 amPosts: 4388Location: Whipping Cult Central
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Does it have to be a track bike?
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Things are rarely just crazy enough to work, but they're frequently just crazy enough to fail hilariously. |
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Netdewt
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:06 pm |
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| Greenway GremlinJoined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:07 pmPosts: 11Location: St. Louis Park
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No not really. I guess I just meant... A good frame for making a single speed.
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Takumar
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:07 pm |
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 AlleycatterJoined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:14 pmPosts: 954Location: Shelbyville
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Netdewt wrote: Suggestions? Where does one find old track bike frames that are nice but don't cost a fortune? in 1998 Netdewt wrote: No not really. I guess I just meant... A good frame for making a single speed. what isn't?
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Now everybody- |
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Netdewt
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:34 pm |
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| Greenway GremlinJoined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:07 pmPosts: 11Location: St. Louis Park
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Oh... Ok.
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bc3
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:05 am |
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 Secret: wants a tall bikeJoined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:06 amPosts: 422Location: South Minneapolis - Central
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If you want to build up a single speed, look for a frame with horizontal dropouts, not vertical dropouts. It will make it much easier to tension the chain.
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Reverborama
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:05 am |
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 Has entire BMX Bandits catalogJoined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:36 amPosts: 4251Location: Hopkins
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Being cheap isn't a good reason to build a bike. It's hard to beat a bike manufacturer for price since they buy their components in volume. Good reasons to build a bike are a)it's fun and b) you want something no one is making. You want to go cheap? You can get a Nashbar track frame (less fork) for under $100.
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Netdewt
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:53 am |
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| Greenway GremlinJoined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:07 pmPosts: 11Location: St. Louis Park
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Yeah, I know I can get a Windsor Hour from Bikes Direct for $280 or whatever, but I would enjoy building one, and I would just want to modify the Windsor anyways. A friend just did that. So I guess finding the right frame is just a matter of hunting around for one. What's fair pricing for an old recycled frame? I'm reminded of these. http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR ... rodID=1184Sorry, just thinking out loud.
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Takumar
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:42 pm |
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| AlleycatterJoined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:14 pmPosts: 954Location: Shelbyville
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Those internet bikes, prebuilt or whatever, are great unless you actually want to ride. Nothing says "poor man pays twice" like whatever cheap parts they throw on there to get that price down, have fun buying another bike in like a year.
Why not just get a bike you can actually live with for a while. Steamroller, maybe? If you want to build it from scratch, count on paying double, and remember, if you cheap out on parts, you'll just pay for it later.
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omgmrj
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:47 am |
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 Dances on the pedals in a most immodest wayJoined: Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:15 amPosts: 7141
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Takumar wrote: Those internet bikes, prebuilt or whatever, are great unless you actually want to ride. Nothing says "poor man pays twice" like whatever cheap parts they throw on there to get that price down, have fun buying another bike in like a year.
Why not just get a bike you can actually live with for a while. Steamroller, maybe? If you want to build it from scratch, count on paying double, and remember, if you cheap out on parts, you'll just pay for it later. This man's word is gold.
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JenNastix wrote: You guys ever wonder if we're over-thinking this bike riding thing sometimes? |
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Dann
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:12 pm |
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Takumar wrote: Those internet bikes, prebuilt or whatever, are great unless you actually want to ride. Nothing says "poor man pays twice" like whatever cheap parts they throw on there to get that price down, have fun buying another bike in like a year.
Basically what you do in this case is buy the bike, sell off almost all the parts to fund good parts, and rebuild the it from the frame up. Sell the wheels to some duder looking for a sweetfixiebrah or keep them for yourself as winter wheels.
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dasunt
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:32 pm |
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| Has recurring nightmare of descending Ramsey Hill no-handedJoined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:00 amPosts: 4388Location: Whipping Cult Central
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Buy a used bike from the 80s. Convert to single speed. Depending on how you do it, it can be relatively cheap (keeping the original wheels and most of the other hardware) or pretty expensive (replacing everything but the fame on the bike with new parts).
Everything but wheels tend to be pretty easy and cheap to pick up used (try the Hub, Sunrise or One on One for those parts). Frames can be found on Craiglist. I'd recommend Schwinn - its easy enough to look up the stamped frame number to figure out the year, and as long as you stick to (IIRC) '84 or newer, they are cromoly. Plus the Schwinn bikes are common enough that prices are low. Wheels tend to be the stickler, I've found all my cheap wheels used on Bikelove.
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Things are rarely just crazy enough to work, but they're frequently just crazy enough to fail hilariously. |
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Netdewt
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:35 pm |
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| Greenway GremlinJoined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:07 pmPosts: 11Location: St. Louis Park
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dasunt wrote: Buy a used bike from the 80s. Hm, yeah. I am looking into this. I had originally thought of doing this to my current road bike, which is a 1980 Motobecane with nothing original on it, but I just like it too much to tear it apart.
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Netdewt
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:34 am |
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| Greenway GremlinJoined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:07 pmPosts: 11Location: St. Louis Park
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If I can find a complete bike for around $100 or so on CL, then all I really NEED is a new wheelset, a freewheel and chainring, right? I can gradually swap out the other parts and do paint whenever. Any tips on where to get wheels built with Surly hubs? This one seems pretty nice @ $128: http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping ... egory=3879
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prof
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| Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:14 pm |
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 Fender BenderJoined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:59 amPosts: 100
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Netdewt wrote: If I can find a complete bike for around $100 or so on CL, then all I really NEED is a new wheelset, a freewheel and chainring, right? I can gradually swap out the other parts and do paint whenever. Any tips on where to get wheels built with Surly hubs? This one seems pretty nice @ $128: http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping ... egory=3879 You don't even need to replace the wheels. You can get one of these: http://surlybikes.com/parts/spacer_kitand one of these: http://surlybikes.com/parts/cassette_cogto convert an existing wheelset to singlespeed. If you ARE thinking of swapping out wheels, be aware that many older Schwinns came with 27", not 700c wheels.
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