Hack bike

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I bought a kids bike with 20 inch wheels for $5 that will donate the grips and track style rear fork ends.
I also bought a 1980s big box bike for $20 that was posing as a mountain bike. It will donate derailleurs, thumb shifters, fork and steel rims. The original Breezers had steel Araya rims and stopped so poorly, especially when they got wet, that most people converted to Ukai or Araya alloy hoops. I’ll have to mount cantilever brake bosses and spread the fork about 6 mm. I have some hubs that sort of resemble the original Phil Wood units. I plan to re lace the steel hoops with the quasi psudo faux imitation Phil units.

 

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Tack it up. It’s so cold and windy I’m working in the bedroom.

 

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Laterals are tacked at the head tube. The drops and laterals will be temporarily bolted in place so that track drops can be welded over the new drops.



Hack bike parts stash.
Steel wheel build in progress, trying to make the ride experipence as original as possible.

 

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The fork is now spread to 100 mm. Old school BMX headset and 24.8mm seat post. Kind of typical of 1980s mountain bike frames.

 

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The fork drops needed to be widened to accommodate the new hub axle. I went from just under the original 6mm to 7.5mm. I don’t do the usual method of filing the new axles so they have flat spots so they fit the old drops. I file only on the back side of the drops, so one side is always original. I file 100 times with the weight in the middle, flip the file and repeat until it fits. I use a round file close to 8mm and a small 1/4 round to take the step out and make the bottom of the new widened drops so the wheel remains straight. This is slow going as the drops are very hard.

 

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The rear freewheel will have to be removed by the bike shop. I tried to remove it myself and the puller snapped in two. It was too cold outside, -14C, and I think that’s why it broke. I had to shovel snow off my work bench to get at my vice, too much aggravation so the bike shop gets a go at it. When it’s off I can use the steel rim to build a new wheel.

 

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Front steel rim laced to a new hub. I found the blue fork in my junk. It will donate the cantilever bosses for the black faux Cook Brothers style fork.

 

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The cross brace is almost ready to be tacked in place. It needs trimming so it fits between the laterals.

 

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Used spokes, nipples, rims and hubs. These are the closest appearing hubs to the original Phil Wood units that I have. Steel chrome rims with no machined surface so the brake shoes will chatter and slip extremely well, just like the originals. When it’s wet they accelerate when the brakes are applied. Yes, we’ve come a long way. Junk stash to the rescue, all I had to do was lace up the junk parts.

 

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the brace is tacked in place.