J.Higgins 

My wife and I like to take a long weekend every year, where we pick a city that we can drive to, spend the weekend dining and enjoying the culture and some do some shopping (not so much shopping for me). We live in a very rural area, and it takes us at least 45 minute drive in any direction to get to a city of any kind. Some say this is bliss... it is... but instead of listening to the trees growing all of the time, we do like to get out and enjoy some civilization and culture once in a while. So we take our bikes and cruise the city and see and do things. Love it. The trouble with all of this is that I'm scared of having our nice expensive bikes stolen. It makes me worry all the time we're out. I can see people eyeballing our bikes and I see eyes in the shadows and paranoia sets in and it definitely diminishes my enjoyment of the day. So what to do? Build some beater bikes! I wanted to build some bikes for my wife and I that were still fun to ride, yet so cost-effective that even if the were stolen, it'd be a $100 minor disappointment instead of a $3000+ crying game.

I had a bunch of parts and frames. Why not just assemble a bike or two from them? Here is the first one, a Marin Bear Valley that was a dump rescue. It was severely sun-faded and dirty. I fell in love with it instantly. I removed the axle-and-cup BB, and installed a UN55 BB. I rebuilt the pedals and converted the crank to a single chainwheel setup.



The wheels were in my stash, and I spent a couple hours on each, tweeking and tuning. Had to replace a couple frozen nipples, etc, but they got trued and tight again. Cleaned/regreased the hubs. Everything was corroded and frozen up tight. I must have used a ton of Kroil!


Here's a shot of that crank. It was a Biopace crank, and I set it up with the middle chainring. I moved it around a bit to improve the chainline. Looks nice and skanky. Who'd want to steal this POS, right?

Ugliest seatpost on the planet and an old Blackburn rack. I actually have one of the old school Rhodes racks, which looks way worse that this one, but I'm saving that for another day.

This stem was so corroded! I has to punch out the little pin on the idler wheel for the brake cable. A little attention with a wire wheel and some oil, and it was good to go again. New Tektro brake pads. Not the best, but they were free (takeoffs).

GIN-U-WINE SCHWINN GRIPS! Even after cleaning the insides with alcohol, they didnt like the pebbly powder coat on the handlebars, so I rubber-cemented them on. They still slip, so most likely they will be replaced with something equally retro and old-school-cool. In fact, I may replace them -and- the handlebars, basically seeking a little more rise for comfort reasons. I'll have to go raid one of my bike-buddy's stashes to try to find some better handlebars. This is where I really shouldn't have tossed a lot of my old junky bike stuff, but I just couldnt stand walking over it and around it any more. It had to go. The only truly expensive thing on the bike is the set of Schwalbe Land Cruisers. Great tires, but I wanted something less notable. Again, threw out a lot of stuff in the last couple years and used tires were one of those things that got tossed. All in all, I've got less than $100 into this build, so I'll use it and try to keep it safe, but the worry of having it stolen isnt a thing for me anymore. Thanks for reading!

skidder

Nice. Everyone needs a bicycle like that, something to use for running errands, beach cruising, whatever. Since its got 26" wheels you could probably find some cheap street tires that are puncture resistance at your local generic sporting goods store.

alo

I like it. In Australia, most of my bikes have been rescued from the trash. Some have looked worse than that, and haven't been stolen. Recently I have picked up a couple of nicer ones, which I have used more.

BobbyG

Nice! Reminds me of those pre-revolution cars in Cuba that are kept running through an amalgam of non-original, non-standard parts.

Parkyy16

Brilliant. The trick is to always have a mechanically perfect, but visually repulsive bike. I also keep around a beater. It's a Specialized HardRock Ultra from 1994, all original components except fenders and brake pads. I'll have to replace the whole drivetrain one of these days, since the previous owner put miles on without replacing the chain. Very useful for taking it to the grocery store, or anywhere else where I have to leave the bike outside for more than 15 minutes.

I don't have a picture of mine handy, so I got this one from a quick google search. This is almost exactly what it looks like, mine's a size 16", with trigger shifters, fenders, and salmon pads. Picked it up for $65 off of craigslist back in 2018, only maintenance I've done is oil the chain regularly and grease the stem and seatpost.

J.Higgins 

Precisely!

One of the best things about this sort of bike is that nothing is permanent, meaning that I can change things up is I wanted. I like the way the handlebars look, but they arent the best for me in terms of comfort, so maybe I'll just swap in some crappy old upright bars. Weight isnt an issue, so any steel bars that will fit and give me a little more rise would be nice. I like the stem. Its got that funky idler wheel, which works superbly. I'm not crazy about the shifter or the brake levers, but they are pegging the ugly-meter, so they stay for now.

J.Higgins 

I know, right! I may have to adopt that same philosophy on a motorized vehicle for me. This is a little OT, I know, but right now I have a 2020 Honda Ridgeline, which is nothing more than a glorified station wagon that has a pickup bed. Its way too fancy for a suitable truck, and I could never use it like a real truck should be used. I'm ranting now, but why are all of the new trucks so bloody expensive and fancy? Spending all of that money makes me wary about getting it dirty or doing things with it that would make it less than clean and pristine. I need an old truck, lol.

Finally I am realizing that you don't have to spend tons of money to enjoy bicycles. Time to sell the wall-hangers and take the wife on a vacation to Europe or something.

J.Higgins 

I'm thinking just that, however tires are part of the parade of pandemic problems, and not easily obtainable, but to be honest, I havent begun looking yet. Bezos didnt have anything worth getting. I might go to a couple shops to see what they offer in way of used or take-offs. I'll put those on and save the good Schwalbes for another build. I must mention that those Landcruisers are pretty nice.

katsup

The problem with these types of bikes is that you spend so much time with them that you fall in love so you'll still cry if they go missing. Plus mine end up looking nicer than intended.

Jax Rhapsody