[COLOR= #0000ff]Hey, Y'all.[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]A good buddy here referred me to a women's biking blog that had a thread on building the perfect bike for women like me -- who want it pretty, with chain guards to protect my clothing, step-through frames, easy upright riding position, internal gear hub, etc., PLUS want to be able to take it a little further and maybe go up an occasional hill on tours. One of the bloggers suggested the following in response as the perfect solution.[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #b22222][SIZE= medium]Start with a lightweight mixte frame. Put a five speed hub with internal brake on the back. Mate that to a compact triple crank, with a cruising ring in the middle position, a bailout for the inner and a ring guard on the outer. Sidepull brake on the front wheel. CR18 rims with either 28mm or 32mm tires (to taste). Dove bars (the Nitto ones, not the chocolate/ice cream ones. They have more than one hand position). These will be mounted as risers for city riding, flipped to drops for fast riding and flipped and pointed FORWARD for really riding on the rivet. A pop top stem will make all that fairly quick and painless, if less elegant than a traditional quill.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]A lot of what this says is still Greek to me, not knowing anything about triple cranks or cruising rings or bailouts, etc. My question is, does this sound hard/difficult/impossible/expensive to do? Would that really accomplish 'the impossible' in providing what I've been after, a pretty bike that is also utilitarian and easy to mess with/take care of? Is something missing? [/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]Heck, if this would work, I'd pay to have it made -- within reason, of course. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]Thanks for your thoughts! [/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]A good buddy here referred me to a women's biking blog that had a thread on building the perfect bike for women like me -- who want it pretty, with chain guards to protect my clothing, step-through frames, easy upright riding position, internal gear hub, etc., PLUS want to be able to take it a little further and maybe go up an occasional hill on tours. One of the bloggers suggested the following in response as the perfect solution.[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #b22222][SIZE= medium]Start with a lightweight mixte frame. Put a five speed hub with internal brake on the back. Mate that to a compact triple crank, with a cruising ring in the middle position, a bailout for the inner and a ring guard on the outer. Sidepull brake on the front wheel. CR18 rims with either 28mm or 32mm tires (to taste). Dove bars (the Nitto ones, not the chocolate/ice cream ones. They have more than one hand position). These will be mounted as risers for city riding, flipped to drops for fast riding and flipped and pointed FORWARD for really riding on the rivet. A pop top stem will make all that fairly quick and painless, if less elegant than a traditional quill.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff] [/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]A lot of what this says is still Greek to me, not knowing anything about triple cranks or cruising rings or bailouts, etc. My question is, does this sound hard/difficult/impossible/expensive to do? Would that really accomplish 'the impossible' in providing what I've been after, a pretty bike that is also utilitarian and easy to mess with/take care of? Is something missing? [/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]Heck, if this would work, I'd pay to have it made -- within reason, of course. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif[/COLOR]
[COLOR= #0000ff]Thanks for your thoughts! [/COLOR]