Let's just speak hypothetically here. Suppose a guy who tends to have pretty beefy, simple bikes (say something along the lines of a Redline Monocog or a Kogswell Model G) happens to possibly be in line to get an old (1990ish) Klein Rascal. Now I know the lugged steel crowd will cringe here but the Klein is aluminum. And it's a really ugly shade of purple. On the plus side it's got a steel fork and it is old school; no boingy bits and a seven speed XT drivetrain w rapid fire shifters. Still, not really my, uhm make that "this guy's", kind of bike.
But did I mention the bike is steekin' light? Wicked light. And it's got these odd, short little rear facing track ends. It could really be a dang light single-speed down the road but for starters it might be fun to keep it light and shifty.
Rattlecan paint it black. Trade the knobbies for street tires. But make a goal of this project to keep it light and fast.
Could it be a light, fast commuter bike?
If you had suck a project what would you do?
How would you deck out such a bike?
Could you keep the budget for this project at zero?
All hypothetically speaking, of course.
Dear Space Aliens,
ReplyDeletePlease return our dear Kent back to us, and remove the clone you've left in his place! The ruse is up -- first he goes to multiple bikes, THEN he goes back to gears, and NOW he's considering a THIRD bike. Next, he'll go back to riding recumbents or...or, dare I say it, DRIVING. Sheesh!
;)
Go for it, Kent! I've put thousands of miles on Cannondale road bikes with steel forks and I think they ride great. A couple of years ago I picked up an old C'dale crit bike (yep, they actually made a crit bike and a road bike, at least back in the early 90s). Unfortunately, it has an aluminum fork, but it's a really light and stiff frame, and I keep thinking that with the addition of an ENO hub, it'd make a great fixie.
ReplyDeleteGreg Zaborac
Go for it....
ReplyDeleteMake it a ss, Pvc spacers in back to hold cog in place gear it 32x 14 ish...
black is good or keep the retro mtber crowd happy with keeping the stock colors.... Mabe some cheap studded tire for the winter =)
Whew! False alarm. It looks like this Klein passed on to it's more fitting owner. That was a close one.
ReplyDeleteha, ha, that was a good one, Kent, you had me fooled there for a minute.
ReplyDelete