DirtRagArt
10-29-2002, 12:11 PM
I am proud to announce the birth of Christine. The name was derrived from the Stephen King story where the loser type guy goes and gets a P.O.S. car (was it a 57 Chevy?) and drags it to a junkyard garage to totally revamp it. I bought this Schwinn LeTour road frame from Kraynick's for $75 and did most of the work right there in the back room where the D.I.Y. stands reside.
For weeks now I've been piecing her together, and with the arrival of my shiny new high-flange 36-spoke track wheels, I only had to acquire brakes (it's free, not fixed) before I got to see if my selection of gearing was on the money. This Saturday I tore through virtually every side-pull road brake in the shop (most of which reside directly above a nasty, stained commode) and after finding a plethora of Campy left arms and learning the one other pair of Italian brakes didn't have enough reach, I settled on some good old Dia Compe 500's and went on my way. Besides, polished aluminum is polished aluminum.
Speaking of which, I wasn't able to find a colorfully anodized chainring, so I just had to go with silver, which matches the stainless Salsa water bottle cage. The gearing is 42x18 and that makes it one fast hill climber. I do spin out fairly quickly, but with the 25c tires pumped way up, I'm able to keep a lot of speed downhill.
The most unique thing about the bike is the handlebar which I simply scooped out of a box of misc. BMX and cruiser bars. I showed up at the right time and scored a pair of Suntour XC pro brake levers that Gerry had brought in from his personal stash, and with a high-rise stem, I'm cruising comfy as all get out.
Unfortunatly, in the movie the car comes to life and developes a jealousy for her owner that results in a bloodthirsty rampage. I guess it is nice to be wanted, so I'm vowing to spend plenty of time with Christine in exchange for some stronger legs and lungs. Now we'll just have to wait and see if she comes to life and starts killing people.
For weeks now I've been piecing her together, and with the arrival of my shiny new high-flange 36-spoke track wheels, I only had to acquire brakes (it's free, not fixed) before I got to see if my selection of gearing was on the money. This Saturday I tore through virtually every side-pull road brake in the shop (most of which reside directly above a nasty, stained commode) and after finding a plethora of Campy left arms and learning the one other pair of Italian brakes didn't have enough reach, I settled on some good old Dia Compe 500's and went on my way. Besides, polished aluminum is polished aluminum.
Speaking of which, I wasn't able to find a colorfully anodized chainring, so I just had to go with silver, which matches the stainless Salsa water bottle cage. The gearing is 42x18 and that makes it one fast hill climber. I do spin out fairly quickly, but with the 25c tires pumped way up, I'm able to keep a lot of speed downhill.
The most unique thing about the bike is the handlebar which I simply scooped out of a box of misc. BMX and cruiser bars. I showed up at the right time and scored a pair of Suntour XC pro brake levers that Gerry had brought in from his personal stash, and with a high-rise stem, I'm cruising comfy as all get out.
Unfortunatly, in the movie the car comes to life and developes a jealousy for her owner that results in a bloodthirsty rampage. I guess it is nice to be wanted, so I'm vowing to spend plenty of time with Christine in exchange for some stronger legs and lungs. Now we'll just have to wait and see if she comes to life and starts killing people.