[superj]

this is hte one i think i am getting. the guy doesn;t know what brand it is though. he said his son brought it over a few years back and then never touched it again. the guy said he rode it awhile, then completely tore it down and had it powder coated this color and cleaned up and rode it for a while more but now doesn;t ride it anymore. he said he just rides his upright normal bike because the traffic where he lives makes him nervous since he has gotten older so he is just selling this one for 250

anyway, any guesses to the brand? its an 18 speed bike

[BlazingPedals]

Possibly some 3rd-world builder, but most likely a homebuilt. It's definitely not any brand that I recognize, although vaguely modeled on a RANS V-Rex.

[superj]

That's what I thought it looked like.

Think it is decent for 250?

[superj]

Ok, it's got all shimano parts, I can only guess lower end though because they remind me of old 90s mountain bike stuff with those friction thumb shifters.

But, it's coming home with me right now. It was so cool to ride that I couldn't pass it up for 220 bucks. It's got quick release wheels on it, 20" in front and 26 out back. My youngest son and I rode I around the parking lot and had a blast

[newleaf150]

Congrats on the new ride! I'm araid I haven't a clue when it comes to the manufacturer. I hope you get many thousands of happy miles out of it, though!

[superj]

It's a blast, did 20 yesterday and it was like nothing

[superj]

ok, i spent the evening last night cleaning and adjusting everything. now it shifts to all gears and the brakes grab properly. i also adjusted the seat so it lets me lay back a little farther and adjusted the bars so they don't connect with my knees on turns.

this thing has got a lot smaller ring gears on the front then the other bikes i have. this is the reason it doesn;t have as much top end as my other bikes and i am always riding on the big gear in front and smallest gear in the back. i am going to have to swap something else up there. i think i am also going to try out putting a fork on the front that will let me run a 26" wheel up too. i was looking at lots of other pictures and noticed the feet are up higher and the forks have little lean on them so i figure if i swap forks, i can get the feet up and the lean in the front.

the only way to find out if it will work is to try it, i suppose.

[BlazingPedals]

The basic frame looks solid. The head tube looks pretty steep, so changing the front to a 26" wheel might tame the quick steering at the expense of a slightly higher seat. If that original power idler gives out, replace it with a Greenspeed idler from Hostelshoppe.

[superj]

idler is the little ones along the frame? i was wondering if i could swap them to something else.

the frame is very well made and someone welded on the little eye pieces for the cables to run unsheathed and even welded in bosses for a person to mount water bottle holders, like on a an upright bike.

i think the fork change will help a lot because the head tube is straight up and down.

[superj]

No new fork swapped in yet but I did do some steering work on. I tried to make it under seat steering but couldn't come up with a good way to do it so I did this.



Now it got my old specialized bars in it with SRAM grip shifters. The bars are low enough I can steer from under my thighs and there is enough turn radius to do a u-turn in the same amount of space as the bacchetta strada does one in. Since the grip shifters are made for long pull brakes, they improved the stopping power on this bike so it is really great now. No more noise or hoping to stop when on a hill. Shifts through all the gears still and now I can really lay the seat back if someone wanted to. Got a new fat slick on the back rim too so no more knobby mountain bike tire on the back. Still need to change the front to a smooth tire though