MarkKBike
Finally riding a big boys bike
I had a small collection of three non-working Schwinns sitting in the basement, all were purchased at garage sales for parts at about 10$ a piece. This weekend I decided to piece together this Le Tour. The original wheels that came with the bike were trashed, so I substituted a set off another Schwinn that had a twisted derailleur, and borrowed a set of serviceable tires off another, and replaced all the cables. The frame was a little larger than I typically ride, so I also swapped out to a shorter stem.
The end result is a really nice fit, off of a very small investment. Tonight it got a wash, and was hung up to dry (literally).
Once dry, it got some lube and I took it out for a spin. I'm really liking the way this one fits and rides. My last drop bar bike was a old big tube Cannondale. The frame on the Cannondale ultimately cracked about a year ago.
After riding this Le Tour, I think this might be my first drop bar bike that is actually comfortable for me to ride. (most likely due to the larger sized frame), I never really liked drop bars before, and always found them to be uncomfortable. The steel frame also rides much nicer than my past aluminum framed Cannondale. Tonight I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. I ended up spending about 80 minutes on it just cruising around the neighborhood. Its now my fastest most efficient bike, I really like it!
I think I'm going to invest in a new set of tires, and some bar wrap (Right now I just temporarily wrapped it up with some hockey tape), and eventually maybe track down some aluminum rims and call it a keeper.
The end result is a really nice fit, off of a very small investment. Tonight it got a wash, and was hung up to dry (literally).
Once dry, it got some lube and I took it out for a spin. I'm really liking the way this one fits and rides. My last drop bar bike was a old big tube Cannondale. The frame on the Cannondale ultimately cracked about a year ago.
After riding this Le Tour, I think this might be my first drop bar bike that is actually comfortable for me to ride. (most likely due to the larger sized frame), I never really liked drop bars before, and always found them to be uncomfortable. The steel frame also rides much nicer than my past aluminum framed Cannondale. Tonight I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. I ended up spending about 80 minutes on it just cruising around the neighborhood. Its now my fastest most efficient bike, I really like it!
I think I'm going to invest in a new set of tires, and some bar wrap (Right now I just temporarily wrapped it up with some hockey tape), and eventually maybe track down some aluminum rims and call it a keeper.
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