Make it last a little longer, Longer with Big Red!

[Cataboo]

Big red is rideable! This was a marin columbus tubing steel mountain bike frame I got off ebay - I stuck a surly steamroller fork on it, and am running 700cs. All my plans to use parts off the surly, sort of fell through after finding out that I couldn't run road cranks on a mountain bike frame. I had a set of carbon cyclocross compact double 44/36 cranks that I managed to make work (a bottom bracket spacer made that work).

One of my complaints with the surly is that my wrists really didn't like flat bars, so I put drop bars on. I was going to use bar end shifters, but there was a spare set of 9 speed 105 shifters in the parts box and since the bike had already ended up with carbon cranks, I kinda figured there wasn't much reason to skimp. Not to mention, I think I'm slightly too gear retarded to use bar end shifters.

So now I have a longer top tube, a more setback seat angle and drop bars. Logistically putting 700cs on a mountain bike wasn't my best idea - but I could have actually bought touring or mountain bike cranks instead of using what I had or bought paul's bmx brakes instead of drilling out the fender attachment spot to make road brakes work on it. Or I coulda just bought a road frame, but there's really a shortage of small steel frames with the top tube, standover, and seat angle I like.

Other than the frame and the fork, I only had to buy a front derailleur, so I can't complain too much :)

I still need to put racks on it and the rest of that.

The seats been jacked up a bit since these pics:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs461.ash2/73408_462838111864_624946864_5552242_4118825_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs898.snc4/73157_462838131864_624946864_5552243_8244818_n.jpg

[Owlie]

Hee, the tires and bar tape look pink in that second picture, though I bet they're red. :D

Very nice. And very red!

[Cataboo]

The tires haven't stayed as red as they're supposed to be - but they were pretty beat up looking, so I didn't leave them on the surly to sell.

[OakLeaf]

Very nice! :)

[Bike Chick]

Pretty sharp, Cataboo! I'm amazed at your wrenching skills.

[Cataboo]

I was taking apart the surly last night and doing all the last minute changes to it - so I must have had bikes on the brain when doing to sleep - I bought two bikes to tinker with in a dream.

[Catrin]

Cataboo - you rock! I get tense at the thought of having to perhaps change a flat and look at the wonderful work you do! Incredible, and thanks for sharing Red with us!

[Cataboo]

Cataboo - you rock! I get tense at the thought of having to perhaps change a flat and look at the wonderful work you do! Incredible, and thanks for sharing Red with us!

It's all fairly easy once you get over the fear of trying. although, flats take a little bit of practice. I think it took me like 45 mins the first time i tried to do one.

[Catrin]

It's all fairly easy once you get over the fear of trying. although, flats take a little bit of practice. I think it took me like 45 mins the first time i tried to do one.

It took me close to 2 hours - almost all of that was trying to get the last few inches of the tire back on the rim...that was on my Trek however. I have yet to practice on my LHT, and I need to do that.

[Cataboo]

Big red got new tires.

Reflective sweetskinz for visibility

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs069.snc6/167962_497634796864_624946864_6063761_12609_n.jpg

[Tri Girl]

LOVE the tires- rrrrrowl!

[Cataboo]

LOVE the tires- rrrrrowl!

I now want to candy cane stripe the handlebar tape. But that might be approaching the kingdom of too far :)

[Owlie]

No way-- that would be awesome!

[7rider]

Big red got new tires.

Reflective sweetskinz for visibility


Love the tires (and the bike...you do have a knack for creating cool Franken-bikes) and dream of blue reflective ones for my commuter beastie (but I wish they made them smaller than 70x37).

But 22tpi gives me pause. How do those tires ride? My experience with low tpi tires (Hutchinson's) has been that they are hard, harsh, and loud. Does the low psi rating soften them up? How do they roll?

[Cataboo]

Love the tires (and the bike...you do have a knack for creating cool Franken-bikes) and dream of blue reflective ones for my commuter beastie (but I wish they made them smaller than 70x37).

But 22tpi gives me pause. How do those tires ride? My experience with low tpi tires (Hutchinson's) has been that they are hard, harsh, and loud. Does the low psi rating soften them up? How do they roll?

It's covered in snow outside. I haven't ridden them :)

The 700x37 looked smaller than what I thought it would be, I don't think they looked like more than 700x32s, but I'll go measure.

I've got a 2nd set of wheels with 700x23's on it for when I want to use the bike to go fast or longer distances.

I'll post back when I've tried them out a bit. Big red isn't quite as fun looking as Scar or the surly was - while I love that red fade paint, accessorizing has been not as easy. If she sticks around long term (which hopefully she will), she'll get a paint job at some point.

Another friend sent me his old fork to try on her, aluminum cyclocross one vs. the surly steamroller I've got on her.

[oxysback]

Sweet bike! LOVE the tires. :)

[Cataboo]

Love the tires (and the bike...you do have a knack for creating cool Franken-bikes) and dream of blue reflective ones for my commuter beastie (but I wish they made them smaller than 70x37).

But 22tpi gives me pause. How do those tires ride? My experience with low tpi tires (Hutchinson's) has been that they are hard, harsh, and loud. Does the low psi rating soften them up? How do they roll?

Okay, I asked a friend who'd bought the blue 700x37's after I found the sweetskinz for scar. He commutes about 8 miles roundtrip in Idaho with about 250 feet of vertical and has been using them for a few months.

He said:
huh... I don't know that I'm much of a critic RE tires.
Mine roll fine. Not loud that I've noticed.
I run mine on max psi.

Before he was running - Bonty Jones stock tires, then a cheap Ritchey off-road cross (horrible on-road efficiency and handling), and a Conty touring tire on back. The ritchey tire was very square, thinner than the sweetskinz but rides much fatter.

[Catrin]

Sweet! She looked great before but those new tires turns her into a speed and fun machine even when at rest :)

[Cataboo]

Drtgirl's white jett saddle is on its way to me, Big red may end up with it because a white saddle would work on him way better than the other bikes.

The racks and fenders have been sitting waiting to be put on for a while, so that might be part of the weekend project.

I'm looking around to see if I have any white handlebar tape that I could mix into candy cane stripe it.

[Tri Girl]

I now want to candy cane stripe the handlebar tape. But that might be approaching the kingdom of too far :)

Too far? What in the world is that???:p
GO FOR IT!!!!!

[Bike Chick]

Holy cow! You're a long way from too far.

[Cataboo]

Oh, we're completely working on over the top now.

Well, I'm trying to figure out what to do for the handlebar tape. I had some yellow, and I was trying to get stripes and it just wasn't going well getting it even and whatever. Yellow handlebar tape looked better than the red that's on there. I swapped off the red cage to a yellow cage a friend had given me.

So now I need red & yellow handlebar tape and can't decide whether to get stripes or speckles. I'm leaning towards the stripes, but it's got that blue stripe.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs051.snc6/168162_498765511864_624946864_6079618_4598654_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs797.ash1/168766_498765541864_624946864_6079619_1336486_n.jpg

[Susan]

Couldn't you use a red and a yellow tape and overlap the two colors while you put it on? I haven't actually tried this, but I use this technique when taping hula-hoops ;)

[Cataboo]

Couldn't you use a red and a yellow tape and overlap the two colors while you put it on? I haven't actually tried this, but I use this technique when taping hula-hoops ;)

I tried, it wasn't going well getting the handlebar thickness even.

[Cataboo]

Alright, I waited to change the handlebar tape till when I had to change the brake cables to change the brakes. I still haven't put on the rear rack, since I haven't needed it yet.

I would love to hear a driver claim that they couldn't see me on this bike (except, I don't actually want to get hit to hear thAT)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_WfCe0A3iU1c/TXfMbp4DJFI/AAAAAAAAeKo/nL0fcO4-rIs/s1024/P1170564.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_WfCe0A3iU1c/TXfMc5R3KyI/AAAAAAAAeK0/Ur4FMYldMqs/s720/P1170569.JPG


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_WfCe0A3iU1c/TXfMdVfXjII/AAAAAAAAeK8/ficuI2oD9HQ/s720/P1170570.JPG

[Catrin]

Very, very nice and eye-catching!

[Cataboo]

I probably shoulda had the frame powder coated before doing all that. But I like the red to dark red fade, even if it's chipped. And somehow this was supposed to be a budget build.

[emily_in_nc]

Love it, Cataboo! I am a color person so I really enjoy the eye-popping brightness of your ride. :D Way cool bar tape, too.

[Kerry1976]

That is one nice looking bike.

[Tri Girl]

LOVE the bar tape!!!!:D

[Cataboo]

Way too much time combing ebay for striped handlebar tape paid off :)