Cyclists

[Thatdirtykid]

Finding a decent 3 speed coaster hub laced to a decent rim is pretty tough. Not nearly as tough as finding one laced to a decent 700c rim. We were looking for one for my wife for a while and ended up buying a bike with one (8speed) for 700$ and selling off a couple of our bikes. Be careful with what you buy for the rear wheel, most of the ones I found were more geared toward 3 speed cruisers and were not remotely tough wheels.

[cmlasley]

Finding a decent 3 speed coaster hub laced to a decent rim is pretty tough. Not nearly as tough as finding one laced to a decent 700c rim. We were looking for one for my wife for a while and ended up buying a bike with one (8speed) for 700$ and selling off a couple of our bikes. Be careful with what you buy for the rear wheel, most of the ones I found were more geared toward 3 speed cruisers and were not remotely tough wheels.

I'd be having my LBS build the rear wheel.

[Thatdirtykid]

thats not a bad way to go. You can even lace it yourself. and have them do the final true if you don't have a truing stand. Would only save you about 20$ around here. There are lots of good tutorials online. Bikes are too expensive of a hobby sometimes, sounds like you have a pretty realistic build going. IMO the cross check with 26 wheels feels a little strange in the geometry, it may be because I am used to a more mountain geared geo when I am on 26'ers. Have you thought about the surly 1x1?
Karate monkey would be my choice, but I would go 29'r with it, you don't really want to mess with the geometry that much. You can space the axle out pretty easily to make up 5mm. Some bikes have been doing a 132.5 to accommodate both by pintching or spreading the chainstays a touch.
You can always do an eccentric bottom bracket to keep tension on the long haul trucker if its really what you want.

[cmlasley]

Have you thought about the surly 1x1?

I'm very interested in a 1x1, but the prices started to go up pretty fast when you have to source all the other parts instead of buying a complete bike. I found this link: http://www.cheekymonkey.com.au/Bikes.htm About 1/3 of the way down the page, there is a 3-spd 1x1, which is basically what I want. All it takes is $$$.

[chiggins]

But it's really not the kind of bike that's meant for either an internal hub or coaster brakes.

Okay, I take that back. Personally, I'm fine with a 9-sp cluster. But after looking at the page with the 3-sp 1x1, it's clear that a Rohloff is pretty sweet on an LHT

Aw hell, I edited away the meat of this post. It basically said: a 26" LHT can do everything you're asking if you use an eccentric BB and aren't looking to shred trails, KM's can do everything you want period and give you the option of going with taller 29" wheels. A 1x1 would make a great platform for this too.

If you check out 90's steel hardtails, they make great XC conversions because their geometries were closer to road-mannered geometry than MTB's typically are today. Good examples: Stumpies and Rockhoppers, Trek 900 series, steel Konas, etc. Again, an eccentric BB lets you do the internal/coaster thing, and if you put (f'rinstance) a Salsa Cro-Moto fork on any of those, you could go front disc too.

[cmlasley]

I ended up buying this Surly 1x1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11367015@N05/sets/72157622894155986/with/4105551939/ from this guy on eBay, already built. It has 650b wheels, for which it will be a pain to find rims, tubes, and tires locally. I really like them, though - much more than my last bike with 26s.

As I can afford, I plan to build a new rear wheel set with an internal gear hub (I wish I could afford a Rohloff, but I'll probably end up with a Shimano or Schram, depending on what is available), swap to some balloon tires in a more road-friendly pattern, and fender it up. I'll put new bars on it pretty soon here, and then ride the crap out of it.

Two weeks in to my new life as a bicycle commuter, I'm loving it.

[marmoset]

Rivendell Bicycles is big into 650b stuff. I think you might like their website.

[uNicedmeMan]

Gotta get serious about cargo accessories for my bike, it's too f'ing hot out for a backpack/messenger bag and I want to start grocery getting on a larger scale.

For the rack I think I'm gonna roll with:
Planet Bike K.O.K.O cargo rack

And folding Wald baskets for the rear!

Thoughts?

[marmoset]

Wow, that looks way beefier than my rear rack. Mine can hold about 40 punds fairly easily but I don't lean in the corners too much.

I'm assuming that rack should cover whatever you need.

I like the looks of these:

[cmlasley]

I like the looks of these:

Dead sexay.

[marmoset]

I like the looks of these:

Dead sexay.

Hm. Never heard panniers called sexy before. I mean I love 'em and I've got 'em on several bikes but they aren't popular around here.

[uNicedmeMan]

I ended up buying this Surly 1x1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11367015@N05/sets/72157622894155986/with/4105551939/ from this guy on eBay, already built. It has 650b wheels, for which it will be a pain to find rims, tubes, and tires locally. I really like them, though - much more than my last bike with 26s.

As I can afford, I plan to build a new rear wheel set with an internal gear hub (I wish I could afford a Rohloff, but I'll probably end up with a Shimano or Schram, depending on what is available), swap to some balloon tires in a more road-friendly pattern, and fender it up. I'll put new bars on it pretty soon here, and then ride the crap out of it.

Two weeks in to my new life as a bicycle commuter, I'm loving it.

I've been meaning to say, I really like that rig. Be sure to take pictures along the way of modification.

EDIT:post2k approaches!

Purchased and installed tonight: a planet bike eco rack , cargo net and two folding wald baskets. Pictures to come, maybe my 2000th post!

[cmlasley]

I've been meaning to say, I really like that rig.

Thanks.

Be sure to take pictures along the way of modification.

I will.

Pictures to come, maybe my 2000th post!

Sweet.

[JimW]

Bringing this back from the dead. Used to bike a lot then got lazy over the years but started up again last April. I try to do 100 miles per week and I generally bike to work (thought it's a disappointingly short 1.2 mile ride each way). Blurry because I'm lazy and don't want to take another:



The yellow is my old bike that my girlfriend rides now, a 2004 Gary Fisher Advance. The red is my new one that I bought last June, a 2011 Trek 7.2 FX. The FX has a few non-stock things; the rear wheel is brand new because the old one was bad and spokes kept breaking (free upgrade and replacement under warranty!), I upgraded the cassette to a Shimano Sora HG50, the chain to a SRAM 870 (about to be an 890 because it's replacement time), the tires are 28mm Bontrager Race All-Weather hard cases (over 2000 miles and still no flats), the pedals are some other generic metal ones because the stock pedals had zero grip with wet shoes, brakes are Avid Single Digit 7s with Kool Stop pads, and I switched to different grips and added bar-ends.

My car is going to be paid off in about a year and a half, once that monthly cost is gone I plan on spending around $2k on a road bike.

[Itchy]

My bicycle from 2005.