Sometimes life's simple pleasures are laying on the side of the road. And when I see a junked steel frame, fork, handlebar, bearings and wheels left for dead that may fit me, it's ALL MINE.On my way out to the trails earlier this week, I spotted this up the street. You see, living in a hoity-toity neighborhood has its perks, and when the rich'ies throw their "junk" out, sometimes there are unique treasures, like this 19?? Fil's Tour Du Monde. This would be the 3rd "junker" that's been tossed out for hoarders' consumption. I looked at it as a resurrection project.
Now, I've scoured the land of Google and nothing has come up in regards to this bike. I even posted a thread on Bike Forums with really no help. So, my mystery bike will just remain a mystery. Somebody replied on my thread that it may be a special brand made for a department store back in the day - which sounds about right - but aside from that, there isn't really anything to be said about this strange badge. Oh well.
I was really happy to discover the wheels weren't taco'ed because it's very common to find junkers with completely unusable wheels. Not these! With the intent on building this into a fixed gear, I pulled the 5 speed cassette and derailleur, re-spaced the rear hub and re-dished the wheel. I didn't have axle nuts for the front wheel, so I took the quick release axle from a junk wheel and used it for this bike.
After digging through my nuts-and-bolts bucket, I finally found some axle nuts that would work for the rear hub.
I pulled the bearings, re-greased them and got everything nice and locked down. Since the frame didn't have brakes, I had an old Odyssey 1999 side pull BMX brake that bolted right on. The crankset was from my Mercier Nano and I had to spend $80 on tires, tubes, a square taper bottom bracket and a 14T cog. With the 42T chainring up front, the gearing is at a real nice 74.6 gear inches.
I kept the old cotter pin crankset bottom bracket lock ring for the suicide hub conversion. With plenty of red Locktite, the bottom bracket lock ring and a front brake, my suicide hub conversion should be fine for my purposes. Don't think this is much of a contender for the velodrome.
My last fixed gear was my Motobecane Messenger which I had to sell. It was a very nice bike with some great components. I never thought I'd be riding fixed again, but with a find like this - How can't you not ride fixed?! Deep down inside, I am a hipster who sincerely misses fixed gear riding.
Everything else is from the parts bin, including the fenders, grips, pedals, bell, water bottle cage, seat, seat post, brake lever and chain. All those times I contemplated on throwing something away or selling it at a bicycle swap meet, I'm glad I kept it.
How else could you build such a sweet fixie with minimal pocket change?
Source: http://www.dionridesbikes.com/2011/09/parts-bin-win-my-new-fixed-gear.html
No comments:
Post a Comment