Complete newbie - Building this bike?

[LittleBillyJohnson]

Hi

I'm new to Los Angeles, and for the most part, [non department-store] bikes.

At the risk of being laughed out of town, I'm just trying to get a feel for how
I could get a bike made, pretty much EXACTLY as shown in this photo. 

Somebody at Orange20 was very helpful and gave me a list of makes and manufacturers,
but none of the readymade stuff is looking as nice and simple as this bike,
which is just dreamy. 

I can put in 150-200 bucks into this.  Is that realistic?  Is anybody available to
do the labor on this, or help me through it myself.  I have no tools, but am willing
to put in the work and cash necessary to make this bike a reality.

Thanks, all.

[JB]

If you're willing to do all the work yourself (with some help from the Bikerowave) and put in the necessary hours, you could do this for less than $200, but almost definitely less than $300. 

This is assuming that:
a) You really like the style / geometry / lightness / utility of a road bike frame, as otherwise you could just buy a beach cruiser, throw on some paint and fenders, and have a bike similar to this for less than $100, and which would have a cruiser brake, which would meet the aesthetic requirements, but wouldn't be the best braking solution.

b) You're ok with a single-speed and at least one brake, as converting it to a decent fixed gear will cost more and/or involve much more time (buying a track / flip flop hub, building the wheel, etc.), unless you take a couple of shortcuts which are of debatable safety (screwing a track hub onto the freewheel threads, adding a bottom bracket lockring, and gluing it all in place with JB Weld).  (A fixed gear may not be the best first step up from a department store bike).   

Step 1.  Buy a complete and roadworthy road bike off of craigslist for less than $100.  This will take a fair bit of shopping.  Make sure the wheels are reasonably true, the frame has no cracks or bends in it, and check to see if it has horizontal dropouts, as this will reduce the need for a chain tensioner.  The less rust and the better shape the tires, brakes, and everything else are in, the better off you'll be, as even though the individual parts are pretty inexpensive, they add up pretty quickly.

Step 2.  Give it a quick tune up, buy a helmet, and ride it around for a few weeks as is.  Having a nice bike is awesome, but only if you actually spend much time riding.  If riding in L.A. traffic scares the pants off of you, or you don't have any time to ride, or there are more hills than you though their would be and you realize that the occasional derailleur maintenance sure beats wheezing up hills in one gear, then spending a fair bit of time and money on building the perfect single speed could be an exercise in frustration.

Step 3.  Buy a membership at Bikerowave for $100, or start volunteering there (or both), as having access to a good set of tools will make this project a whole lot easier.

Step 4.  Take off the brakes, derailleurs, shifters, cranks, handlebars, etc., etc.,  hanging on to the front brake.  Basically strip the bike down to the frame.  Depending on your patience level, you can remove the bottom bracket and headset as well, or you can just cover them with masking tape.

Step 5. Remove decals, sand the frame, file off the derailleur brazons, etc.  Then either buy a few cans of spray paint and paint it in the color of your choice, or call the local Earl Schieb and get a quote for how much it would cost to have them do it.  (They may give you a super cheap rate, just to do something different and get some good word of mouth.)  The more time you spend sanding and prepping it, the better the paint will look.

Step 6.  Buy / salvage some fenders, paint them, put the cranks back on, replace the rear derailleur with a BMX freewheel (you'll have to buy this, but first figure out the relationship between the number of teeth on the front chainring (if you have two chainrings, take one of them off) and the teeth on the rear cog, it should be about 3:1), buy a new chain, put everything back together.  Trade your handlebars for a set of cruiser handlebars, which shouldn't cost more than a few bucks if you can trade them. (Buy some new grips).

Step 7.  Put on the brakes, or at least a front brake, as the front brake does most of the work.  You'll want to use your old brakes, but you'll probably want to swap out the brake lever(s) for some mountain bike levers, as they're a better fit for that style of handlebar.  (You'll need to buy some new brake cable/housing.)

Step 8.  Buy a good U-lock and cable system.  The upside/downside of having a cool bike is that other people will desire it, so make sure their desire remains just that.

Step 9.  Go ride and enjoy your new bike.

Good Luck!

(This is a pretty quick and slap-dash write-up, those of you with more experience (which is most of you), please feel free to add anything I've missed.)

[LittleBillyJohnson]

JB -

Thanks a lot for such an in-depth answer.  Common sense told me that if I did decide to build this, I would have to do some salvaging of parts.  I read that the bike in the photo was built using an old Schwinn frame.  I checked out Craigslist and saw that it indeed does look like some of their frames from the 70s and 80s.

Option a.) in your list seems like the most realistic so far.  It probably is a bit laughable to hear a total novice propose getting his hands dirty right away with constructing a bike, so you are right in saying a fixed gear conversion is still a few years away. 

I'll stay posted to see what others think.

Last side note:  a private party commission to build a bike is not unheard of, right?  Or is it frowned upon around here?  I keep thinking of that option in the back of my mind, but am not sure.

[faultymonk]

It's definitely possible, but not without a whole _lot_ of work (particularly if you have to scavenge for old parts or if you plan to strip the paint and repaint it yourself).

You can find pretty good deals on old bikes that someone just wants to get rid of on craigslist and strip them for parts if you know what you're looking for.  Take a look at http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/bik/748870596.html for instance.



For $100 (assuming the frame is the right size for you), you already have fenders and most of what you need (and a 3-speed internal hub to boot).  You'll have to get new tires if you want them to match.  You might want to replace the seat (a good seat can be costly).  If you really don't want brakes on it, you can remove them and replace the rear hub with a coaster hub (as in the picture you posted) - you'll probably need some new spokes & nipples.  Personally, I don't like coaster brakes and prefer hand brakes, but of course it's not as slick looking with the brake cables in place.  But if you're going to re-lace the wheels, I'd toss out the steel rims and find some aluminum replacements.

Of course, there are also people that are going to look at you crossly for taking the original paint off of a classic Schwinn. =)

Having recently stripped the paint off of a frame, I've vowed to never do it again.  I probably end up spending a good week sanding, and sanding, and sanding, then hand polishing the frame.  Just be warned.

[JB]

Get your hands dirty!

Bikes are pretty straightforward machines for the most part, and the skills will be yours to keep.

As for a private party commission, there are lots of custom bike builders, but that gets kind of spendy.

Or did you mean you wanted to hand someone $200 and have them scrounge the parts and prep and paint the bike and put it together for you?  Considering you're talking 20-40hrs of labor, and $150-200+ worth of bike and parts, I'm pretty sure that asking someone to build your dream bike for a dollar an hour or so is something that would be frowned upon. 

Get a bike, bring it to the bikerowave, and we'll help you make it as dreamy as can be for $7 an hour of stand time (or a yearly fee of $100), and all the free advice/instruction you can handle.

That Schwinn below looks like a good start.

[LittleBillyJohnson]

Or did you mean you wanted to hand someone $200 and have them scrounge the parts and prep and paint the bike and put it together for you?  Considering you're talking 20-40hrs of labor, and $150-200+ worth of bike and parts, I'm pretty sure that asking someone to build your dream bike for a dollar an hour or so is something that would be frowned upon. 

No, no, not that.  I honestly did not know it was so much labor.  You gotta understand, us newbies look at bike stuff as slapping a few things together with some wrenches, baling wire, and spit.  It's super bad news.  Now that I know what's involved, I think I am going to look into an old bike on CL and gradually, gradually work on it.  I know more about furniture and other stuff, and, the same rules apply in terms of how things end up working out for me.  I get something old and work on it gradually.  Just not sure why I didn't apply this model to bikes.  If I need help, I know where to come, at least!

Thank you again to everyone here.  You're being great ambassadors for Bikerowave.  I appreciate it tremendously. 

[Steve Mattson]

Do a vigilant search of craigslist and look for an old Schwinn.  Looking at the one piece crankset in the original photo you submitted, it's a Schwinn crankset.  They are heavy bikes, but work fine. 
If you wanted, you could get it powdercoated for about $200, and they would beadblast the frame, so you wouldn't have to spend a week sanding it down.
You may want to class-up your search (my opinion) and go for an old Raleigh (or Rudge or Dunelt or Robin Hood, etc...) three speed though, and you'd have hand brakes, which in my opinion, are easier to stop with. 
Kronan, a swedish bike maker makes a military style roadster similar to this bike.  You might find one on ebay or check out their website.  They aren't cheap and they weigh about 40 plus pounds.
Finding parts to put together an old Schwinn or off brand (Western flyer, Mongomery Wards, Free spirit, etc.) at the bikerowave would in reality, be challenging to say the least.
I'd stick with the search for the complete bike. 
The challenge of converting a 80's vintage road bike into a upright roadster is all the bits you'd need to pull it off.  Plus, the geometry of the frame for a road bike is more aggressive, steeper angled and designed for drop bars and a lot more weight forward on the bike.  When you put upright "northroad" bars on, sitting more upright, a road bike's front end can get a little light and sketchy.  I've tried it with mixed and compromised results generally, plus it took more modification than I thought.
Also----Check out Alternative Needs Transport (ANT) bikes website and feel your eyes dilate with desire.

[LittleBillyJohnson]

Just checking in with an update.

I bought this bike from Craigslist today.  It's so nice that I'm not sure I'd work to convert it over,
but it looks like the exact same build and frame of the original bike that I posted.

All that seems different is the chain guard.  What's interesting about this one is, although it's
an old Speedster (which looked to be 3-speed), it was adjusted to have a coaster brake.

Maybe I'll modify it later, but for now, I got what I was looking for.  A basic bike to run
my daily errands with.  Not the safest or speediest, I'm sure, but definitely fun to ride and own.

[david_f]

Wow!
It looks so clean, it's scary!   

[Elizabeth Hunter]

Do you mind me asking how much you paid? My boyfriend has the exact same bike that he's about to sell.

[LittleBillyJohnson]

Hey, Elizabeth, I paid 185.  I didn't try to haggle, though.  Also, there is not a single speck of rust anywhere.  The tires are brand new, and I'm not sure if the seller added the reflectors himself or not. 

[Elizabeth Hunter]

His is in totally perfect condition, too.

Thanks for the info!

[Steve Mattson]

Great bike.  Excellent price for it and if that's the bike, I think that's a bargain. I wouldn't mess with with, if it was me. Except getting that 3 speed back up and running on it.  That's about all the gears you need in LA.  Get a chromed Wald rack for the front or back and you are set for hauling.  Manny's Low Riders on Lincoln at Palms has them.  Plus how can you ever go wrong with the word "SPEEDSTER" on your bike?

[LittleBillyJohnson]

^^  I plan on getting a basket, thanks for the info!

That is the bike in the photo, yes.  If you ever see a bike on sale from Richard K. in Reseda, go for it.  He is a solid, honest man.