'96 Kona dinglespeed

[slimpee]

This is what it looked like last summer:

This is what it looked like this morning:

It sat in my basement w/a bent rear wheel for a year until I bought a new wheel and dingled it (sounds dirty) over the past few weeks. It seems to be equal parts utilitarian, ghetto, and totally awesome!

I've ridden it to Theo in the 42-16 combo which is a great road ratio and i've ridden it at Leb w/ the 32-16 which was fine although it showed how out-of-shape I am.

The chain could probably be one link shorter but it didn't come off on me once at Leb so that's not a problem.

As for the bike itself it's a blast to ride! It's too small for me but the stem and bar combo puts me in a great position and the bike is incredibly nimble. I just wish the rider was as well.

 

[orange71]

much under rated - dinglespeed - I have it myself on a bike. Gives you plenty of options. Especially when your local offraod is a 5 mile road ride away :roll:

 

[awaycaboose]

That's a damn fine idea , I was thinking of going to 1 x9 on my current singlespeed but that looks more useful for road sections. D'ya think you could leave the front mech and shifter on or would that just be ridiculous?

 

[orange71]

I took them off: you can kick down a gear with your heel and then stop and lift up again to top gear with your finger.

 

[slimpee]

That's a damn fine idea , I was thinking of going to 1 x9 on my current singlespeed but that looks more useful for road sections. D'ya think you could leave the front mech and shifter on or would that just be ridiculous?

I left off the front mech and I don't have any desire to put it back on. As with a previous poster my "home" trail is about 5 miles away so spinning at 100 rpm but traveling at 15 kph isn't terribly intriguing to me. The disadvantage to my setup is having the rear mech attached, having two chainrings, not having a perfect straight chainline in the big ring, and chainslap is still present. None of these problems have proved to be deal-busters yet, however, and the noise from the slightly off chainline is fairly minimal.

I like the setup quite a bit thus far!

 

[orange71]

I use one of these and have a short axle BB so the chainline is better:

 

[awaycaboose]

Looks good where did ya get it? :roll:

 

[orange71]

bought it off a retrobiker 2nd hand. It's a Rohloff. Quick google - sure you could get it cheaper:

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/1885/Rohlof ... roogle.txt

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp? ... rc=froogle

 

[awaycaboose]

Looks good, ta for the link .

 

[slimpee]

I use one of these and have a short axle BB so the chainline is better:

I really like the look of that although i'm really cheap so the old mech will have to work for now.

Or, you could dig up a vintage, short-cage something interesting!