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:
sfu.ca2004 04 18 arOpen ↗
chive.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]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club