Saturday, April 19, 2008

Home made cruiser bars for MB crank forward conversion bike



My old Schwinn High Sierra mountain bike has been dusted off and become the object of some tinkering in hopes of creating a more comfortable bike without frame cutting or welding. Farther down this page are pictures of the old mountain bike with the repositioned home build fat comfort saddle in place and some cut off road bike drop bars. What the bike seemed to need yet was a better pair of laid back cruiser bars. I had and old pair of BMX handle bars with a wide straigh across design that I did some cutting and brazing on. The result is a pair of very comfortable bars that fit in well with the cruiser style of riding. I rode this bike 12 miles this morning and found it to be very comfortable and good handling--to a point. Wheelies in the lower gears are extremely easy to pull and care must be exercised when climbing steep grades to stay leaned forward far enough to keep the front wheel on the ground.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Recycled bicycles


Old bikes laying in wait for bulky item pickup by the city are difficult to leave well enough alone. Sometimes they follow along beside me on my bike and occasionally I find more than one and have to return with the van to round them up. The last three trash bike finds involved pairs of bikes. Usually 2 trash bikes will equal one finished recycled bike, a few spare parts, and a smaller pile of parts for the next trash pick up. My fleet of 20" kid bikes has now grown to 5 rideable bikes. They just sit there waiting for grandkids to come visit them.