Here's the new race bike i'm building for next season.
Starting with a 1975, 24" Schwinn Speedster frame, fork, cranks and sprocket i picked up for $40.
frame and fork had 3 coats of crappy paint on it so i stripped it and repainted metal flake, almost like the original. also reinforced the weak points at the seat stays and dropouts, and welded in a gusset in the rear.
the forks, bars and cranks got painted textured black to emulate the old Ashtabula BMX parts of the 70's.
wheels are alloy Alex rims, with the rear drilled for 12g spokes and a shimano "D" series coaster. the D came from the 70's, early 80's, and in my opinion is better than the E series. front wheel has 14g spokes with a bmx hub and a vintage dia compe deluxe caliper brake, and they're both roling on Kenda Kiniptions.
i went with the coaster brake 'cause it's one less lever, and i like dragging it through turns while still going full throttle. keeps the revs up, and slows down just enough. it'll skid if i want it.
i think brakes are over rated on our race bikes. i mean, yeah, you gotta stop, but the power to weight ratio of our little bikes doesn't require monster disc brakes.
the dia compe caliper will flip me over the bars if i want it to. which i don't...
my goal on this bike is to keep it simple, lightweight, and fast.
my other bikes have all been heavy duty. there's really no need for worksman wheels and 11g spokes at the track. and those moped wheels and pirelli tires i was running weigh a friggen ton.
total weight on this speedster as a bicycle is 28lbs. there's a few things i can do to cut that down another 5lbs. right now it's got thorn proof tubes, kickstand, heavy seat, etc.
my goal is to have the complete bike under 50lbs. my little red and blue racer weighed 70.
the lighter the bike, the faster it goes, right?
plenty of room for an engine with the camelback frame design.
here's some pics:
Starting with a 1975, 24" Schwinn Speedster frame, fork, cranks and sprocket i picked up for $40.
frame and fork had 3 coats of crappy paint on it so i stripped it and repainted metal flake, almost like the original. also reinforced the weak points at the seat stays and dropouts, and welded in a gusset in the rear.
the forks, bars and cranks got painted textured black to emulate the old Ashtabula BMX parts of the 70's.
wheels are alloy Alex rims, with the rear drilled for 12g spokes and a shimano "D" series coaster. the D came from the 70's, early 80's, and in my opinion is better than the E series. front wheel has 14g spokes with a bmx hub and a vintage dia compe deluxe caliper brake, and they're both roling on Kenda Kiniptions.
i went with the coaster brake 'cause it's one less lever, and i like dragging it through turns while still going full throttle. keeps the revs up, and slows down just enough. it'll skid if i want it.
i think brakes are over rated on our race bikes. i mean, yeah, you gotta stop, but the power to weight ratio of our little bikes doesn't require monster disc brakes.
the dia compe caliper will flip me over the bars if i want it to. which i don't...
my goal on this bike is to keep it simple, lightweight, and fast.
my other bikes have all been heavy duty. there's really no need for worksman wheels and 11g spokes at the track. and those moped wheels and pirelli tires i was running weigh a friggen ton.
total weight on this speedster as a bicycle is 28lbs. there's a few things i can do to cut that down another 5lbs. right now it's got thorn proof tubes, kickstand, heavy seat, etc.
my goal is to have the complete bike under 50lbs. my little red and blue racer weighed 70.
the lighter the bike, the faster it goes, right?
plenty of room for an engine with the camelback frame design.
here's some pics:
