AdventureManCO 

That sounds like a cool build, and the single speed will definitely keep the weight down. As crazy as it might sound, I sort of want to do a 7 speed for this build. The idea is to keep it as American as possible, and also as reliably/easy to fix as possible. That being said, when I had it built up, I used a friction shifter on the bar, which was actually a lot of fun! But...shifting friction on a 9 speed is very tedious, because you have to be precise. My PX-10 setup as a 1x5 is probably the most rewarding geared bike I've ever ridden. It has transformed me into a low count 1x believer. The trick now will be to find a 7 speed that is decent quality/lightweight. I'll probably end up just finding a 7 speed steel cassette and taking it apart and doing drillium on it to save weight lol.

The way I had the bike set up before, it was very, very lightweight. It is so temping to keep it lightweight. But...most lightweight parts are going to be China carbon, and I'm not interested in that route. I'd actually like to have no carbon at all on this bike. I'd make an exception for Meld saddle, which if I win the lottery, I'd probably do since I'd love to try one of their saddles. And made in America.

I do like the idea of maybe taking some good used USA stuff, and modifying to make it lightweight and unique. It is a crazy experiment but I think the end result will be worth it.

I'll definitely keep the updates coming!

AdventureManCO 

Got the Casey Perma Blue - will attempt this weekend! Still need to clean up the frame just a touch and do the fork, but it is happening this weekend. Pics to come.

MrAwesome

I can't wait to see!

I am not having any luck on my build. I spent $300+ dollars last week and I still have at least $150 more before I can even make this thing ride-able. I'm ready to sell everything and just buy something new. Since you have the exact same frame as me, can you tell me what size your rear drop-out is? Not the width, the diameter of the hole and the width of the slot. My new wheels just arrived yesterday and the rear wheel doesn't fit. I measured the rear drop-out with my caliper and it's 9.5mm. The axle is 10mm. Everything I can find online says the rear standard is 135mmx10mm. This leads me to the conclusion that the standard has changed since 1996 but somehow there is no evidence that the rear drop-outs were ever 9mm. I seam to remember that 9mm was typical for QR axles front and rear back in the day, but I just can't remember for sure. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with this build and I'm ready to give up again. I don't really have the time to deal with all these roadblocks and I ran out of patience last century.

AdventureManCO 

I hear you, and I understand. It's tough because the industry is so backwards in-compatible. It is planned obsolescence, and it is infuriating. Completely unnecessary. Some of it is new technology, definitely. But...they could easily keep some standardizations, but they don't. It is to get you to keep buying new stuff. I've had this issue with my mountain bike. It is a '96 Homegrown, and I've wanted to upgrade the fork on it to something modern and awsome, like the Fox 34 SC. But...I can't. The tapered steerer tube won't work. If I wanted to try that fork, I'd have to get a new frame...new wheelset, new cranks, etc... you get my drift. It forces one to get creative.

That being said, I just measured the axles of the 700c wheels I used in this frame and...whoa. 9mm front axle, 10mm rear. I never knew this. Apparently, this is how it is supposed to be. I NEVER knew this. I thought they were both 9mm. My world just got rocked!

So...if your rear wheel axle is 10mm it should work just fine? Maybe post a picture of where it is not playing well? I'm better we can figure it out.



I'll measure my dropouts. Hearing about an axle size diameter change is news to me. What wheelset did you get? I wonder if there is a way to still make it work. Is it QR friendly? 135mm?

AdventureManCO 

Okay, so since Perma Blue came the other day, that gave me the motivation to finish off the sanding and get the frame blued. The sanding was all done by hand. Let's just say I wouldn't want to start doing this on an assembly line!

I removed the front derailleur cable hangar as I won't be using a front derailleur. It was also a big mangled. Away it went!

AdventureManCO 

Okay, on to bluing! Well, first, more sanding, but then bluing! I did more scraping with the razor blade, but it can catch rather easily and then it leaves nicks in the metal, or long horizontal scrapes (if the blade is nicked), which then take a lot of time to get out with sanding past them.

But, the results are good.

Scraping away...


All scraped and sanded...


I tested the bluing on the fork first, before moving on to the frame. Halfway does shows the contrast...




I'm pretty surprised by this fork. It is a 700c cyclocross fork, w/ cantilever mounts, in 1 1/8 size. It only weighs 849g, which from all I've seen so far (with regard to steel forks), is actually pretty light, for steel. It should come in even lighter when I take of a little bit of the steel steerer tube, as I won't quite need it's full length.

AdventureManCO 

So far so good. On to the frame...









Can't wait to start putting this thing back together. It will be a temporary build, As I've expended very little $$ in it so far w/ new parts, but a new build of it will also come at some point in the near future.

AdventureManCO 

Okay! Finally got her built up this afternoon. I kept all the parts I had on her previously in one box, so it made the build pretty straightforward.

And, ya...no chain haha. Need a new one!

This is not it's final iteration - this is the el cheapo build. Almost everything on here is used - the frame, the fork, the handlebars and stem, the shifter, the cranks, chainring, cassette, wheelset, tires, the derailleur, the seatpost, the seat, the headset, the brakes, bottom bracket - all used, and parts that I had gathered up over time. New items are pretty much limited to the cable housing, cables, grips (well, still used, but I bought new), levers, the pedals, skewers, maybe the tubes?

eventually I'd like to get new bars, stem, brakes, saddle, etc with the intention to use as many Made in USA components as I can. It is nearly entirely possibly, just pricey, so that is going to have to wait, and I will probably just replace component by component.

Also, the bike feels VERY light for what it is...I love it. Some low hanging fruit for getting the weight even lower -

1. Foam grips
2. foldable tires (right now it has wire beaded tires)
3. latex tubes (or tubeless?)
4. steerer tube spacers
5. carving up the seatpost clamp and drillium-ing the rear cassette


Some more expensive options to knock even more weight off will be going for a new wheelset (this wheelset is 1871g, so I can get a higher end wheelset and shave nearly a pound off), Lighter rear derailleur, Meld seat, Phil Wood ti BB.

But as-is...going to be loving this!

MrAwesome

Wow, that looks great. I should have gone with a road fork, as well. The one I got leaves too much space and will look weird with skinny tires. I want to build mine up similar to this in single speed.

AdventureManCO 

I know your last post you were pretty discouraged, but keep at this. You'll get it built. I know there can be barriers, especially when components don't play nicely, but the key is to just have fun with it. This thing was pretty ugly in its last form, with a scratched up grey frame and a baby blue fork. The stem area is still pretty clunky on this one, being perfectly honest, but will benefit greatly from the new handlebars - I will be able to lower that stem and shave some weight off of the steel steerer tube, which will help balance the additional weight of the handlebars.

The seatpost also looks really out of place right now, since it is basically one of the only silver components on the bike. Or maybe I just need symmetry on the bike by doing the headset spacers in raw polished aluminum. It is making me wonder if I would be better to go anodized black with all the components. Not sure. But this is what makes it so fun - it is a project! If I had already arrived at perfection, I wouldn't be able to say much about the journey.

Tulok

Well, I found this thread again completely by accident. But I have this now:


Nishiki Colorado Mtb atb with 700c road wheels ss singlespeed

I threw on a late 80’s shimano 600 crankset with a 42 chai wheel to replace the biopace triple it had. Running it on some 700x25’s.

I used this bike a lot on 26” wheels for the road as a single speed with the biopace. I can’t remember what ratio I was on, 38/14 or something like that. They were just bald Mtb tires but I liked the fit so well I did many 40 mile or longer road rides with the local roadies.

In this case that’s why I decided to put it on 700c wheels after a few years. It handles great and I didn’t change the fork or anything. I think it is important to find a Mtb that is more of an ATB with a low bottom bracket. This particular bike doesn’t feel like I’m riding on a skyscraper.

Bikeboystephen

As this post gets older, gravel has really taken off and the emphasis on 700c wheels as "off-road" wheels has really set in. Also each passing day, 26" wheels become more outdated with the 27.5 and 29ers as the default MTB size and 700c as the default road

Part of it is aesthetic. Almost all new road/hybrid/gravel/cyclocross bikes use 700c and using 700c wheels make the bike look less outdated. The wider diameter wheels and thinner tires also look like the now-defunct 27" wheels and looks like a bike.

The other part is that it's easier if you have a few bikes all on 700c that you can swap out depending on weather/traction. I'm looking at building up a Cheap gravel/all-terrain bike from a 90s Giant ATX 760 frame, and 700c wheels would just be easier to switch between frames I already have.