*<\/p>\n
The title of the post comes from a zine published back in the early 70s<\/a> (called -anyone? anyone?- Low and Slow) covering the wild world of hang gliding. How wild? Folks were making gliders out of Visqueen and bamboo<\/a>. I mailed off for a copy – because I wanted to build one – sadly, it’s long gone, though a post here<\/a> suggests I can reread all the Low and Slows on a DVD<\/a>. Enough of all that – the point of the post: my bike racing (venue = triathlons) days are done – I’ve found myself wanting a bike I can just jump on and ride (comfortably). My fast but twitchy road bike does not exactly fit the bill. My old mountain bike, however…<\/p>\n So, let the conversion to two-wheeled Vista Cruiser<\/a> begin! IMHO, there are 2 things that determine 90% of overall bike ‘feel’: frame geometry and tires. You’re not going to do much about frame geometry – about the only thing you\u00a0can\u00a0alter is the front fork\u00a0and\u00a0that costs $$$. Tires can make a surprising difference and unless you’re racing (in which case, why aren’t you running tubulars?) fatter ones than current fashion dictates are what I suggest. Here’s the bike – after the pic I’ll run through current and planned mods.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n ‘Fatter tires’ is relative – although they’re much thinner than the knobbies that I took off, these are fat road rubber. They’re Kenda Kwests (the 100psi variety) – a nice balance of volume and low rolling resistance. I also mounted a rear rack and put on new, longer grips – I like riding with my hands close together, as if I’m up on the flats on a drop bar. The shakedown ride today was a success – the bike rode like a dream.<\/p>\n I haven’t decided whether to move pedals<\/a> over from the road bike to this beastie – I’m leaning towards yes. The road bike’s saddle will probably come over at the same time. After that, the next order of business will be handlebars. I have an On One Midge<\/a> ready and waiting, but because road handlebars are not the same diameter as mountain bars I need to replace the brake levers (not too $$, and I wanted to do it anyway) and swap the thumb shifters for barcons<\/a> ($$$, and though I LOVE bar-cons, I would have made do). \u00a0The other short-term priority are shopping bag panniers<\/a> – the grocery store is within easy biking distance – ’nuff said.<\/p>\n Down the road a bit, I’d like to tweak the drive train a bit. I don’t know whether the\u00a0chain stay\u00a0will\u00a0accommodate\u00a0a significantly larger middle chainring, but if it will I’ve always been partial to half-step<\/a> setups – with the triple it’d be a half-step plus granny<\/a> (and contra Mr. Brown, I’ve used a half-step setup successfully).<\/p>\n Way down the road I’m thinking about fenders, lighting, a front rack – part of me says that I should just save my pennies for a Velo-Orange frame<\/a> (or something similar) and build up a baguette hauler<\/a> around it. We’ll see. First order of business is to re-integrate ‘just hopping on the bike’ into my life.<\/p>\n Update<\/strong> – the saddle and pedal switch happened this morning, before a second shakedown run (pics from which will be posted later today).<\/p>\n Big brass faux rivets!<\/p>\n -or- Reduce, re-use, recycle * The title of the post comes from a zine published back in the early 70s (called -anyone? anyone?- Low and Slow) covering the wild world of hang gliding. How wild? Folks were making gliders out … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4032\/4649885235_6cd0ef1b5e.jpg\")
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