This year's second clunker entry started out test fitting spare parts and got out of control to become a bike.
Quite a while ago I stripped the useful parts off a debonding Trek 2300 for the bike co-op and kept the frame to either see if some enthusiast could repair it, or I could just cut it up as a demo of the joining.
I was curious about how it would ride if it was set up for comfort and couldn't bring myself to cut it without knowing whether it's worth considering repair. As I build it up I'm hoping that it'll ride like trash so that I can finally cut it.
(spoiler: it's really fun and now I'm thinking about how to repair the bond)
I have a cheaper second set of 650b wheels that I run in the winter that go on this
(front rim worn out & have to rebuild - calling that $5 at co-op prices, rear I built up for about $30 with used parts). The frame doesn't clear 38mm Gravelkings, but does fit the Michelin Wild Run'r 1.4"s I forgot I had as a backup
(no more than $30 for the pair).
I use the original fork from my main bike
(found in the recycling with the frame +$0), an '87 Lotus Legend 650b conversion, that's very rusted and of no real riding use besides clunking anymore. It only clears the tire by half a millimeter and since it's trash anyway I decide to dimple it. I think about how to do this for a bit, then get too impatient and crush it with a tube and wood block in the vice - this is one of those instant regret decisions. I go a bit too far with the dimpling, don't get a nice curve, and wish I'd done it different even on something I won't use again. Changes it from 'ride until it shows a sign' to 'find a replacement as soon as the challenge is over'. Would've been better to find a large pipe and hammer that upward with a hub clamped in the dropouts. Headset is kludge-fit from JIS cups to an ISO frame with bits of pop can.
I think this is the only headset design without wrench flats on the cup that's any good. The washer has an antirotation tab combined with the locking teeth that actually keep things in place.
Before the impatient dimpling, the way this got out of control from 'I wonder if these tires would fit' to 'guess this is a bike now' was wanting to test an Accushift mix-n-match. I'd measured the cable pull out of curiousity and it lined up with some of the pattern for Shimano 9. Figured I could get it to shift 8 of 9 in some part of the range, maybe with a little fussing with cog spacing. To my surprise it ends up indexing 9 of 9, as there's an extra bit of friction pull that'll shift to the last cog, then it clicks in place back to the 8th. Shifts quite well with a 105 rear derailer
(+$15) and a totally worn out chain
(winter bike long ago, let's call it +$2).
I keep a bunch of chainrings I find in the recycling for testing stuff, & pair up a 46-34 on a Sugino (VP I think?) 110 bolt circle crank
(chainrings +$0, let's call the cranks +$10). There's a couple chainrings in that 46-ish range but I put on the drillium one cause that's fun.
It has some bent and broken teeth right at the shift ramps that are grabbing the chain too early, and one of them breaks off straightening - but that's ok, 45 is still a lot of teeth, I don't want these cranks getting greedy for more teeth.
A Claris front is the only thing I have on hand that fits the larger carbon downtube
(+$5), which does the shifting fine but the ratcheting in the left shifter makes trimming it difficult. It'd work better as pure friction. The outer cage just barely clears the crank shifted into high gear, useful to know for when I want to put this gearing something else.
I ride it around on the grass for a bit without brakes and finding how well the indexing works pushes it from test to build. I have a set of long reach brakes that were missing parts, put them back together and change the mounting bolt on one from rear to front
($15 for the pair). The brake levers are Dia Compe AGC that betrayed me once on my winter bike. These have a slot to release the brake cable (why..?) that can break apart the cable end if the slot has spread open. The lever blades come off though, so I press the malformed one in the vice to get it functional, then swap the worse lever blade over to the right. I'll value these at
$5 despite their one time betrayal.
Should've done this with a cable end installed. Have to do filing to get it round again.
This clunker is designed with a small amount of travel in the seat tube, similar to the carbon gravel bikes of today, but with a different purpose. Those designs are to add comfort on rough terrain or improve traction. This design's purpose, with 1mm of seat tube travel, is to make a loud CLUNK if you stand left foot backwards before sitting down again.
It's only the seat tube/bottom bracket join that's an issue. Might be able to rebond it.
Handlebar tape is a nice pre-shredded blue from my old ice & snow bike (
gonna all it $0), and all the other parts were no cost besides a new brake cable I needed to be able to run through the internal routing
(+$2). Bottom bracket & pedals etc. were rebuilt out of recycling stuff. Budget is up there at
$131 CAD total, with a favourable currency conversion to
$99.87 USD, and we've got a clickin' carbon classic clunker.
The first plan was to put 100km on this bike as the first ride after a short test, get some friends together to come along for segments, but then it got hot and I'm a wimp in the heat. Still, it was nice for short rides in the ~25km range in the cooler parts of the day.
First test ride
Four rides put it at
109.6km, with the last a trip into town to get some needed spare tires for the main bike.
Love the ride of 650b Gravelkings. The only downside for my use is that the centre tread on the 38mm is a little thin and I wear through three a year.