Upgrades to entry level MTBs and Comfort Bikes

[Little Jackie]

Went for a good ride on the Upland yesterday ( haven't had time for anything but one swim a week lately). Went over some really bumpy terrain and the bike performed really well! Have adjusted the stem slightly, but otherwise the bike is perfect. As I get older, it will be the drop bar Felt that will eventually go! (Not yet though!)

 

[gclark8]

Yesterday I was given a 10 year old Huffy, complete with the K-Mart sticker.

It has a road frame, 43cm seat tube, 54cm top tube,
side pull caliper brakes
24" wheels with wide rims
14-28 6 speed spin on freewheel
28/38/48 one piece 140mm crankset.

Apart from some surface rust on the rims the bike is in good condition, so the plan is to mod it for a spare bike to for "Little Jackie" and her friends.

First thing is to service all the bearings and cables and then fit:
152mm one piece crank arms,
small strapless toe clips for the pedals,
foam grips for the bars,
24x1.5 Duro City Tyres and tubes,
Suspension seat post, 25.4, with reversable clamp,
Ladies Velo saddle.

More later as the parts arrive...

 

[artemidorus]

Yesterday I was given a 10 year old Huffy, complete with the K-Mart sticker.

It has a road frame, 43cm seat tube, 54cm top tube,
side pull caliper brakes
24" wheels with wide rims
14-28 6 speed spin on freewheel
28/38/48 one piece 140mm crankset.

Apart from some surface rust on the rims the bike is in good condition, so the plan is to mod it for a spare bike to for "Little Jackie" and her friends.

First thing is to service all the bearings and cables and then fit:
152mm one piece crank arms,
small strapless toe clips for the pedals,
foam grips for the bars,
24x1.5 Duro City Tyres and tubes,
Suspension seat post, 25.4, with reversable clamp,
Ladies Velo saddle.

More later as the parts arrive...

I don't want to sound rude, but I don't think that a "Huffy" qualifies as "entry level", or "comfort", more like " convince this person that they never want to go cycling again" level.

 

[gclark8]

Yesterday I was given a 10 year old Huffy, complete with the K-Mart sticker.

It has a road frame, 43cm seat tube, 54cm top tube,
side pull caliper brakes
24" wheels with wide rims
14-28 6 speed spin on freewheel
28/38/48 one piece 140mm crankset.

Apart from some surface rust on the rims the bike is in good condition, so the plan is to mod it for a spare bike to for "Little Jackie" and her friends.

First thing is to service all the bearings and cables and then fit:
152mm one piece crank arms,
small strapless toe clips for the pedals,
foam grips for the bars,
24x1.5 Duro City Tyres and tubes,
Suspension seat post, 25.4, with reversable clamp,
Ladies Velo saddle.

More later as the parts arrive...

The parts arrived today, the nice new Ladies Velo Saddle went on the Giant Upland, freeing up the Giant Saddle for the Huffy.

All finished ! "Little Jackie" just did the test ride and reports its an OK bike for rides to the shops and the pool.

 

[mjs4300]

Exactly! That's why I post the projects, I'm no one special.

Cutting handle bars, alloy or steel, I use a tube cutter I got from the hardware shop, a hacksaw makes too much mess.

The Lady owner came over and test rode the bike, all good, I will leave the steerer tube long for a few weeks but cut all the cables tomorrow.

She decided to fit a rack, but the bottle cage won't fit the 14" ladies frame in the usual spot, so we mounted two bottle cages on the vertical support tubes for the rack.

So what can be done for my Giant Elwood. It is a reasonable bike and I have put cleats on it. Better kevlar tyres because the originals got flats every other day . I have also put a flat bar on in place of the old curved ones. Would you recomend a drop bar and skinnier tyres?, will that improve the performance. I have done almost 6000klm on this bike in the last 12 months (5973 to be exact ). My beloved is not so keen on me spending $2500 on a roadie, so will those things help or should keep buying flowers

 

[gclark8]

I would suggest a flower to bike ratio of 1:1, what ever you spend on the current bike, spend on flowers, then the new road bike will become a reality.

However, until then, position, tyres and gearing is the go;
flat bars, level with the seat (check stem position),
Conti Sport Contact 700x28mm or Ultra Gator Skins 700x28mm Tyres,
a Sunrace close ratio cassette, 11-24 (7/8 speed) whatever the bike has.
Any more than this is overkill and needs road bike funding.

 

[gclark8]

The parts arrived today, the nice new Ladies Velo Saddle went on the Giant Upland, freeing up the Giant Saddle for the Huffy.

All finished ! "Little Jackie" just did the test ride and reports its an OK bike for rides to the shops and the pool.

Today I fitted some Textro adjustable reach brake levers, "LJ" has short fingers.

Some pix from a week back:

 

[Little Jackie]

Went for a reasonable ride on the "Huffy" today as it was raining too much when I left home and so I didn't take my bike to my final destination. So as it fined up, was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Huffy. Quite comfortable and, even though I was tired to begin with, I found the ride enjoyable. A good spare bike despite any who might mock!

Once again, George to the rescue!

PS. Contrary to popular belief, I believe that 24" wheels are quite a bonus for someone of my size 5' - especially for acceleration.

 

[BikeBloke]

One thing I've done with my Giant CRX4 lately, is to change the handlebar grips to those 'platform' style oval shaped ones which are OEM fitment on Avanti Blades these days. The grips are made by Velo and cost $20AUD a pair.

See:

http://www.velosaddles.com/products_detail.php?cat_id=14&id=79

The comfort is MUCH improved over the standard round grips, due to the weight being distributed over a wider area. For long rides, this makes the difference between wanting to quit riding or keep riding.

$20 well spent.

Now I just want to ride my bike more!

 

[gclark8]

Hi BB,

Yes nice grips, I saw a pair on a CRX4w this week. I fitted a silver Stem Riser for the Lady, nice touring bike!

I still have one black stem riser left and a couple of 11-24 8 speed cassettes for the speed fans.

 

[robalert]

Hi BB,

Yes nice grips, I saw a pair on a CRX4w this week. I fitted a silver Stem Riser for the Lady, nice touring bike!

I still have one black stem riser left and a couple of 11-24 8 speed cassettes for the speed fans.

I did a bit of a HUGE upgrade to my 96 model Apollo Himalaya

I finally chucked the flexy RST381 forks which has been rebuilt 3 times and replaced it with serious overkill, a brand spanking new Manitou R7 Super with remote lockout

It has seriously transformed how the bike feels, the geometry feels so much more relaxed but with the long top tube, still climbs really well.

I am still running most of the standard/original parts, original no brand dbl wall rims, parrallax hubs, Alivio rear derailleur, Alivio cranks, chain, shifters and chain rings. Parts that have worn and needed replacement include, rear cluster (7spd), front derailleur, V-brakes (replaced with ? Vanguard Engineering which only cost $30).

Other upgraded parts ripped off other bikes include, UNO adjustable stem, EA50 riser bars, EA50 seatpost and BG Milano seat.

I love this old bike despite many people telling me it ain't worth it. I don't see what the problem is, it runs a full Aluminium 7005 HT TIG welded frame and it weighed in at 12.5kg when new. Even alot of new bike around $1000 now weigh that much if not alot more. My old apollo is like an old pair of joggers.

Also, I find that the old 21spd setup shifts way better than my DeoreLX27spd ever did on my new bike. I am loathe to upgrade to more gears... just climb harder...

Anyway, just wanted to share my "foolishness" in upgrading my old bike

At the moment, it is still running my ContactSport 26x1.3 slicks, but I am dying to take it out for some offroading. It rides really well as a commuter at the moment

 

[gclark8]

I did a bit of a HUGE upgrade to my 96 model Apollo Himalaya..............

I am still running most of the standard/original parts, original no brand dbl wall rims, parrallax hubs, Alivio rear derailleur, Alivio cranks, chain, shifters and chain rings. Parts that have worn and needed replacement include, rear cluster (7spd), front derailleur, V-brakes (replaced with ? Vanguard Engineering which only cost $30). ........

At the moment, it is still running my Continental Sport Contact 26x1.3 slicks, but I am dying to take it out for some off roading. It rides really well as a commuter at the moment

Hi Rob,

If the Apollo is a 7 speed spin-on cassette, Shimano make a new 11-28 spin on: http://www.cellbikes.com.au/product.php?id=36

 

[robalert]

Hi Rob,

If the Apollo is a 7 speed spin-on cassette, Shimano make a new 11-28 spin on: http://www.cellbikes.com.au/product.php?id=36

to my surprise, i found that it was a lockon system... does this mean it was an upmarket one?

 

[gclark8]

Hi Rob,

If it has a normal cassette, then Sunrace have an 11-24 7 speed cassette. I put one on Little Jackie's Upland.

 

[xxamr_corpxx]

Well, the Panaracers were the wrong size. Do Gatorskins come in 700 x 34 or is 700 x 28 ok for the rims?

I will be getting my Giant Elwood SE today, are there any issues with replacing the 700 x 34 wheelset with a spare 700 x 23 I have lying around?

 

[gclark8]

Well, the Panaracers were the wrong size. Do Gatorskins come in 700 x 34 or is 700 x 28 ok for the rims?

I will be getting my Giant Elwood SE today, are there any issues with replacing the 700 x 34 wheelset with a spare 700 x 23 I have lying around?

The Elwood uses a wider rim than a road bike, 28mm is the narrowest I would fit. You can get, in 28mm, Ultra Gator Skins or Sport Contact from Conti.

 

[robalert]

The Elwood uses a wider rim than a road bike, 28mm is the narrowest I would fit. You can get, in 28mm, Ultra Gator Skins or Sport Contact from Conti.

i fitted a Michelin Transworld 700x32 to my wife's elwood, and that looks thin enough... barely bulging from the rim. Definitely notice the rolling difference to the standard no brand 40C and grip levels are much improved

 

[artemidorus]

to my surprise, i found that it was a lockon system... does this mean it was an upmarket one?

Cassette systems had become standard on 7spd by/before 1991, had they not? My '92 MTB certainly had a cassette, and I don't remember anyone I came across having a freewheel bike from that era.

 

[xxamr_corpxx]

Change of plans - When I picked up the Elwood the back hub was busted (still a very good deal though even without the back hub).

I've put two 700 x 23 wheels on with WTB Caminos, and they seem to work fine although the V-brakes will need a few hours of adjusting. The original 14-34 cassette has been replaced with the 11-23 from my old roadie.

I still need to put on a flat bar and a lower stem, but there are a few things I need some technical help on :

The suspended seatpost weights a ton and seems to be fatter than my road bike's seat posts. I would like to replace it with a lighter one. What's the best way to go about this?

 

[gclark8]

The seat post will be 30.8mm diameter, there are some light alloy ones around.

V brakes should be adjusted to suit the new rins.

Shimano make an 8 speed hub (freehub body) for that wheel, I have one here.