New Bikes!

What's wrong with this picture?

Super stylized bikes in Seattle. One internal gear and one fixie:

1992 Stumpjumper 2.0

I previously posted about reconverting my '92 Stumpjumper from a city bike back to a mountain bike (which basically involved stopping riding on city streets and starting riding on trails...).

1992(?) Specialized Stumpjumper - still need to take the reflective stickers off, or maybe not...

I had some spare parts from the JPR conversion, including the handlebars and brake levers, so I picked up a shorter, steeper stem, some cut-off brake levers and some new pedals and put together a quasi-26" wheeled-cyclocross bike.

A few issues arose with the conversion. First, I needed to get the Travel Agent adjusters to make the V-brakes work with the caliper-compatible road levers. This works by changing the amount of cable pulled by the lever to a greater amount of travel in the v-brakes - pretty clever.

I also had to bend the shifters' clamp/metal straps/attachment area to get them onto the road bars and around the curves, and then had to squeeze the clamp back together and use a longer bolt and nut to secure it all because the diameter of the road bar is greater than a standard flat bar. I shoved the levers as far to the center of the bars as I could to make room for the cut-off brake levers. This is because the handlebars from the Paramount were narrower than those typically used on a cyclocross bike.

Here are some photos, including a gratuitous beach glamour shot.

stem and bars installed

original shifters, brakes and cut-off brakes, tape installed

I also installed these Shimano PD-A530 touring pedals, which have the standard SPD cleat on one side and a flat ample surface for a cleat-free shoe on the other. These pedals are awesome - they have a good amount of float on the cleat side, and the flat side is a bit heavier so the cleat side is always facing up (and slightly back) so you can very easily slam your foot down/forward and get in every time. If you want to use the other side, you just flip it over with your toe. Highly recommended.

A Couple More City Bikes

Some more cool bikes from around town... mostly united in having internal hubs or cassette-only shifting.

ok, this is a single speed, but c'mon, that's a sweet (dish) rack

original issue

match made in heaven?

Carrying Strap

The leather carrying strap I fashioned out of an old belt has worn in beautifully. I treated it with leather saddle goop once, and it could probably use another coat soon. The leather has stretched it a very attractive way, nicely matching the contour of the chainring I think. The washers have kept the leather from tearing, despite some initial pinching which can been seen in the photos:

If the leather continues to stretch I may elect to flip the strap around and resize to fit more taughtly between the front and lower rear screws.

More Interesting Bikes

Gorgeous

I think this has the nexus-8 redband

XTR baby!

Snapped in Marin - where else? Must be nice...

Curiously, I never actually checked out Sheldon's internal hub pages - but doing so after the fact, I have found them to be quite interesting. Take a look - some really nice conversions on older frames:

http://sheldonbrown.com/nexus8.shtml

Sheldon Brown's Nexus 8 (Raleigh International)

Tisket/Tasket

The pletscher rack was great, but the mousetrap alone wasn't cutting it for everything I found myself wanting to carry on the bike, so I installed a basket:

M-Wave Wire Basket

This thing is made by M-Wave and at $15 bucks, you could do far, far worse. The basket is just the right size for me, it fits a full paper grocery bag, or a gym bag, or a care package from mom. I've carried all kinds of things in it, including some very, very tasty things:

Seriously, how much more Danish could this bike be?

As you can see in these photos, the basket's rim slants down at the back, allowing it to fit under handlebars. Combined with a bungie net, I can also carry things that don't exactly fit, but which can easily be lashed down:

A large Zachary's deep dish fit like the rig was designed for it.

I string the net across the middle of the basket, front to back as seen in the photo above, (but not overlaping the stem, that was a special condition to fit the pizza). This allows me to slide my helmet and gloves into the basket in my office lobby, then tip the bike up on its rear wheel to fit in the elevator with other people without my helmet etc. falling out. A small detail, but something I do every day, so I like not having to fuss with it each time.

Netting down the middle. Note the bike light in the basket - secured with a zip tie, it shines through the basket not problem.

This basket has two little hooks welded to the underside. These slide under the middle rung on the Pletscher rack and the whole thing is pinned against the rack, keeping these hooks in place, by the mousetrap.

Hooks hold the basket on the rack with the aid of the mousetrap

the hooks on the underside of the basket 

Mousetrap securing the basket to the Pletscher rack

I don't bother with it, but because it's only held in place by the mousetrap, you can remove the basket to take into shops or wherever you're going, which could be convenient. And despite the mousetrap being the only thing holding it in place, it's quite solid, thanks to the little hooks and the strength of the mousetrap spring.