[superj]

or road and hybrid, ha ha ha.

i took my hybrid commuter specialized expedition sport and put some drop in 2 scott bars on it. not being a good planner, i didn;t think through lots of things i really didn;t even know to check so it took a bit to get it back on the road. it runs and runs so sweetly but is ugly. i need to get some more fitting brakes on the bars, some bar tape, some racks, and some rear brake cables. i also need to find some mountain bike stem shifters because the ones i have now i had to "modify" to fit around the extra large diameter stem on my hybrid. they used to be for a very thin stem. i also have a bmx brake lever running only the front brake at this time.

all i know is i am able to enjoy riding with my 9 year old again. we ride all over the place, not just on the paved surfaces. today we followed some sand trails along the bay and the old road bike would have not made it.


you can see how much my son likes it


other side shot

you can see how i had to "modify" everything.



the brake lever didn;t want to fit so i had to find a bit longer bolt to put it on. i had to stretch out the mount point on the shifter lever to make it fit, the sun tour was not going to fit at all, i tried. the cables required me to cut some sheaths out of a box of parts i picked up at a garage sale and then thread all the original cables through them because the cables that came in them were not long enough to fit this bike. i had to safety wire my rear brake assembly in place so it would not pop open while riding and hook my leg, until i get proper brake levers on the bars.

the friction shifters i used worked out sweet!! i have never messed with lacing a bike up so i just undid all the old cabling, laid it off the side, and ran the new stuff and then adjusted the shift mechanisms. the front one required two adjustments to get it perfect and the rear only required one. the stem mounted levers move everything effortlessly and the chain doesn;t go past the gears or try to pop off either side. it is like a wide tired super light version of my antique road bike, ha ha ha.

oh ya, here is how the hybrid started life:

[rynoman03]

Nice! I've never seen a stem setup like that before. It is unique! You mentioned you thought it was ugly. Well beauty is in the eye of the "Beer Holder". As long as you like it and it functions the way you like it WHO CARES! Now get those bars wrapped up and get a set of good brakes on it her so you can really enjoy it with your son. Then you'll be golden my friend!

[superj]

yes sir. i love the way this bike rides now, all the little bumps on the roads that killed me on the road bike are like nothing on this. i can hop up and down curbs and not have to worry about tacoing the back rim or getting a wavy front rim. i just want to get all the cable sheathing in black and put some black or blue tape on the bars to make all the colors match and of course, get the brakes working.

but over all, this is the best thing i could have done for my riding. i rode the road bike all the time because it was more efficient then riding the hybrid on my exercise runs. it allowed me to lay over and get aerodynamic but it just wasn;t as fast when i topped both of them out on the highway. when i had aero bars on this hybrid, i was able to do 2 or 3 mph faster then the road bike topped out at. now, i can lay over on this one and still get the higher top end. plus, since my son and i ride into town and eat and buy junk at the store and stuff, once i get the racks on this, i can leave my back pack at home for our store runs. and still do the local rides with the group from work where they all have new light weight carbon and aluminum bikes. i kept up with them on that antique heavy steel bike so this bike should easily allow me to keep up with them too.

i cannot wait to get the brakes set up and a new shifter set up. i have a nice 27 mile route that runs along the bay front and all the way across town to the uss lexington and back. i did it on the road bike last month and i will really enjoy it on this bike since the tires are so much more forgiving then those skinny 27" tires are.

i am just super excited with how it is coming along.

[superj]

oh ya, that stem is adjustable. you loosen an allen screw in front and you can lower or raise it to whatever height you want the bars set to. its really nice but loosens up over time and is wider then a normal stem. i am afraid that when i try to get new stem shifters, i am not going to find any wide enough to fit this stem and then i am afraid i will have a hard time finding a normal stem that works with the wider diameter fork since this stem is made to fit the forks.

[Industry_Hack]

I may try something similar, depending on what's floating around the spares bin.

[superj]

you should, this is just a super nice ride. i wanted to do a my old 8 mile run to the island and back but i had promised my son we would ride together today so i couldn;t do my test high speed run. i will do it tomorrow before he gets off the bus and let you guys know how it does. well, pending weather, of course. (and weather.com is showing low 80s with slight cloud cover so it should be a go)

[rynoman03]

Low 80s? I hate you! Low 30's before I come into work tomorrow. UGH! I just wanna ride!

[superj]

that is why i live in south texas, ha ha ha. i hate cold weather because i grew up in hawaii and socal. anything lower then 70 and i am freezing.

our winter here is from mid-end december to about february mid or end. and that is 40s-50s weather. the thing that makes it so dang cold though is we are on the water so we have a very high humidity percentage and high average daily wind speed. like most riders who are good on hills and or flats, cannot ride here because the wind is so strong. lots of people won;t ride here if they are visiting or are mad after a competition because the wind kills their times.

since i get out of work at 1430 though, i have to ride in it so i am used to it.

[superj]

Ok, average of 16 mph on my 8 mile trip today to the island. And of course, half of it was into a head wind

[rynoman03]

Ya I get mad when the wind is that strong. I guess I just gotta get used to it!