Eh, you know how these threads go.
So here's my Suteki, built with love and mostly garbage. I wanted a bike that would fit me like a glove, be about as practical as can be and not attractive to theives. So I've put this bike together around early summer, but I've been changing stuff around a bit at a time and by now it's getting seriously good. One more thing it could use is a kickstand on the front wheel like on french mail bikes, because what happens is when the front is loaded the bike won't stand up on it's own. As is, 29.5Kgs light.
The rear rack is real tough and has plenty of surface so it's fairly comfortable to sit on, it's also got the sideways bar to tow other bikes with. There's an MTB barend on the seat tube so riders can hang onto, also a BMX peg on the non-drive side. The idea is I can give lifts to people with it, they sit amazon, Amsterdam style. One issue I have with this setup is that I can't use my axle mount trailer with it, I'm thinking modding the trailer wouldn't be so bad.
The handlebar has a friction shifter for the rings and a grip shift for the cogs, but it's a 7 speed shifter and there's 5 usable cogs, so first gear is 3. One of the front brake post braze ons has broken off so there's nothing attached to the front brake lever, the string keeps it from hitting my fingers over bumps. I'd like to find a front wheel Sturmey Archer brake hub. The other side has a throttle, but there's no motor on this bike yet, I've ordered one though. We shall see what it gives, if there's one bike that can use it this is it. the rear brake lever is pretty good, you can dial in the mechanical advantage you want. Rear brake is a Deore LX parallelogram V brake thing with cool stop MTB pads, ample power.
On the rear I've added a derailleur protector and dork disk, since I'm more interested in having it last then to have it be light. The smallest cog can't be used because the nut & bolt of the fenderstays is in the way. The biggest cog in the rear is a 28, the small ring is 32-34ish. This gearing is wrong for hauling serious loads uphill. If the proportions were kept equal, having the big rear cog bigger then the small ring would probably be about right.
