Well, since Claire bought a tandem, I had to one-up her (half-up?) by
buying three garage sale bikes.
Complete ridiculous update of the Best Garage Sale Day Ever here:
http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/archive/2004_04_18_archive.html#108
285815219540052
Most importantly, this has potentially changed my plans for the World's
Worst Folding Bike. Since I bought a folding Auto-Mini, I have no excuse
for not turning it into the World's Fastest Folding Bike.
Alas, the rep on these is that the BB is proprietary, and the frame
breaks and should be braced between the BB and the elevated downtube.
Otherwise, it looks like a reasonable 20" wheel (BMX size, hurrah)
folder.
First upgrades are already complete: new seat (old one was spring-bodied
with a metal nose) and aluminum front wheel.
My financial advisor says that buying a $70 hub for this bike is right
out, so the backup plan is to start engineering a rear derailleur onto
this bad boy. Frame spread here we come!
Two quick Qs for anyone who knows this Austrian-made folder:
The proprietary BB: when I open that up, will I find anything like a
normal spindle that I can replace with, for example, an ordinary Shimano
spindle of the correct size? The current setup looks like an odd
two-piece pinch-bolted thing.
The weak frame: weak enough that I should probably just get it gusseted
now instead of waiting for it to break?
Future plans: new drivetrain, new BMX-based rear wheel, new handlebar,
new brakes, new fork? New stem?
-RjC.
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club