coastrider: £600 bikes... Sunday catch up spannering...

Monday, 22 June 2015

£600 bikes... Sunday catch up spannering...

First summer solstice for years i have not done a bike ride, weather was cool, cloudy, also weekend on at work so into work early, so had no real get up and go to go ride all night, So instead i spent the Sunday spannering on some of the bikes,

I have two bikes to still build up, the Surly Karate Monkey since i stripped most of it`s parts to build up the Surly ECR frame, and the Dawes Ultra Galaxy

I planned to build the KM up today having looked out all the needed stuff from the parts bins once i did some other stuff but by the time i did the other jobs on the list i left building it for another evening....

£600 bikes;

All my bikes use older cheap Shimano Deore/Sora type 9 speed drive trains and cheap used Avid BB7 brakes and secondhand parts sourced on eBay. It can be done if your patient and wait...
Yes i have been lucky having been given an offset 29+ Offset Krampus wheels set from Tyler after he came to the first Forth Fat, also good friend Gary B has given me a lot of spares too, but apart from the first Pugsley, then the Moonlander all the bikes i own have `evolved` over the last few years, and will no doubt keep evolving!...
Once a certain age all these types of bikes fall to a base level of value, of around £600, enough value for a bike that will be parked outside shops, cafes etc, not worried about thembeing scratched etc either, they are just bikes after all, and built to be be ridden and enjoyed.
I could sell all 6 of these Surly bikes and own one new bike like a Pugsley with spare 29+ wheels but then i don`t have the variety of bikes for cycling here in East Lothian,

With the ECR now rolling i am letting a Pugsley go, and one Pug will remain as a 29+ - as basically this is my Surly Krampus for now, but i still really want a full blown Krampus!...

Bikes now will be;

2 x Fatbikes; 4" tyre Alfine Pugsley and 5" Surly Moonlander

2 x 29+ bikes; Surly ECR and Surly KramPug

2 x 700c Road bikes; Surly Cross-Check and Dawes Ultra Galaxy

2 x MTB`s; Surly Karate Monkey 29er and 1985 Retro Muddy Fox Courier

Surly ECR;
The ECR is maybe worth a bit more than £600 with the new frame set and brakes, but it will get ridden and scratched etc like the rest,
After running out of gearing in places on the Capital Trail with tired legs after many miles i have now swapped out the 26tooth inner chain ring for a regular MTB 22 tooth, it will climb nearly anything now with this!...

Surly Cross-Check;
a 39t chain ring was bought last month to replace the 48 tooth to lower the gearing for off road use on the CC,
The full lenght mudguards will be coming off this bike soon to use on the Dawes Ultra Galaxy, along with fatter tyres going on for doing a spot of Roughstuff riding...

Needs a chain tensioner too so i tweaked one to fit with a bit grinding and the Dremel to fit the lock washer...

Alfine Hub Pugsley;
All wee jobs but all been needing done a while now, like the Bottom Bracket on the old Pug has a bad chain line and needed the drive side spacer removed...

The On One square taper 100mm BB i bought used for £20, They don't get good reviews on the Internet-`too heavy`, `naff bearing`s etc... Once you swap out the bearings for some decent ones i think it is actually a pretty good BB esp for a budget Fatbike build. Pity no longer for sale as were only £40 new...

Spacer on non drive side now and chain line a lot better...

Pugsley frame swaps;
Time to sell another old Pugsley as adding the ECR to the fleet i don`t need 3 Pugsleys. In fact i will only be running the old Pugsley on the beach now as the Pumpkin Pug will be left as a 29+ KramPug 99% of the time...

The Green frame set which i bought off friend Gary B has been powder coated Olive green and looks ace,
It is a `Snow blind` white frame so there is no need to loosen and move the rear brake calliper to remove the wheels.
I like tool free wheel removal for when sticking the bike in my wee car...
The strip and swap over took a couple of hours, bars with all controls cables, mechs, and brake callipers attached came off as a whole saving time...