Connections, Part 1

This blog is about skin-on-frame kayaks, but this post is about bicycles. Two, to be specific: a 1980 or 1982 Chicago Schwinn Continental and a mid-1980s Bianchi. My middle brother gave me the Schwinn, which had been owned by my youngest brother before him, and by the sister of someone at the place where we all worked, at one time or another. Originally a 10-speed, my brother had installed a six-speed freewheel on it, to make it a 12-speed.

I never rode it much. I had no experience with gears growing up or with drop bars, for that matter. And the bike is huge. In my first efforts at bringing it back to life, I had new alloy wheel installed (still 27-inch, thanks to local bike store Wheel Nuts) and the bike tuned up. When my buddy Pat called me up to go riding, I took it out. To say I was unsteady wouldn't be an understatement. I ended up not doing much shifting and a few rides later found that the bike wouldn't shift well at all.

Fast-forward some time -- and here's the connection to kayaking -- I'm on Keith Wikle's blog (www.keithwikle.com), where I come across a picture and writeup of the Redline 925, a single-speed bicycle with a flip-flop hub for riding fixed/free. Googling single-speed led to Sheldon Brown's wonderful site (RIP, Sheldon), and to Single Speed for Dummies, and to the Single Speed Outlaw site. What a revelation. Off come the front derailleur, shifters, larger chain ring, rear derailleur, and cabling. With the chain shortened to ride on the second-to-smallest rear cog, I had a pretty good chainline and a pretty good ratio (39:15).

So I started riding more with Pat and had fewer problems. Kept surfing and came across IRO's site (www.irofixedgear.com ["You only need one"]). Ordered a Brooks saddle from them and later a drive kit (cranks, freewheel, chain). Add an Ashtabula conversion kit from Harris Cyclery (thanks, Sheldon), and a long day of installing later, and I have a true single-speed bicycle, with a 46:17 ratio (about 73 gear inches).

Since then I've put on Planet Bike fenders and Koolstop brake pads. I've commuted to work a few times. I can't get up all the hills (yet), but it gets me 90+% of the way there, and all the way back. Pictures to follow.