Project Beastie Bike

Haven't posted in this thread in a while. Went on a stream-side journey Saturday morning. Beautiful day, and it seems many people had the same thought. I've ridden this route before and never saw a single person - yesterday, there were people all over enjoying the excellent weather. I must have seen 20 ATVs and motorcycles on the old rail trail. Fortunately I was off the trail and taking photos when they all passed.

DSCF1961a.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Beastie gets a face-lift

After some hand-wringing and changing my mind a few times, I dove in and went through a fairly major upgrade of my faithful steed. The old tires went on a new set of disc-capable wheels, but sans the tubes. The tubeless conversion shaved a full 2 pounds from the rotating weight of each tire. The difference in the ride is very noticeable - smoother, easier to get the bike moving.

The old gears and shifter mechanisms were removed and replaced with a single speed setup with 32:20 ratio. It is a perfect fit for the type of riding I like to do.

Finally, the old canti brakes, on which I'd been having some alignment and excess wear issues for a few months, were removed in favor of F/R hydraulic disc brakes. I had to purchase a special after-market mount that allowed the rear brake calipers to bolt to the frame, which was originally designed for coaster brakes. All in all, a lot of work, but the fruits of my labor were O So Sweet as the upgraded bike got its Trial by Fire on a 16 mile woodland river trail today. The new gear arrangement is much quieter than the old 7-speed arrangement. The whole conversion stripped 4.8 pounds from the weight of the bike, bringing it down to 39.6 pounds. Not exactly svelte, but worthwhile. The last pic shows Beastie along the swollen New River in southern WV, USA.

P1000106.JPG

P1000107.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

P1000111.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Last edited:
Beastie gets a face-lift

After some hand-wringing and changing my mind a few times, I dove in and went through a fairly major upgrade of my faithful steed. The old tires went on a new set of disc-capable wheels, but sans the tubes. The tubeless conversion shaved a full 2 pounds from the rotating weight of each tire. The difference in the ride is very noticeable - smoother, easier to get the bike moving.

The old gears and shifter mechanisms were removed and replaced with a single speed setup with 32:20 ratio. It is a perfect fit for the type of riding I like to do.

Finally, the old canti brakes, on which I'd been having some alignment and excess wear issues for a few months, were removed in favor of F/R hydraulic disc brakes. I had to purchase a special after-market mount that allowed the rear brake calipers to bolt to the frame, which was originally designed for coaster brakes. All in all, a lot of work, but the fruits of my labor were O So Sweet as the upgraded bike got its Trial by Fire on a 16 mile woodland river trail today. The new gear arrangement is much quieter than the old 7-speed arrangement. The whole conversion stripped 4.8 pounds from the weight of the bike, bringing it down to 39.6 pounds. Not exactly svelte, but worthwhile. The last pic shows Beastie along the swollen New River in southern WV, USA.

View attachment 180193
View attachment 180194
View attachment 180195

Sweeeet!

Cheers, Jock
 
16.5 miles in the mountains of WV this weekend, including a 7 mile loop around a huge set of peat bogs. Lots of interesting things blooming, but I totally blew my few attempts at wildlife photography. <sigh>

P1000383a.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Been a while since I posted in this thread. The single speed conversion didn't work so well for me. For some odd reason, I started breaking chains this past Autumn. I went through several different chain tensioners trying to fix the problem, but it persisted. Can't see why a gearing change would make a difference, but fortunately I was never more than a few miles from my car when it happened. I finally gave up and decided to go to a SRAM 1x11 setup. By shopping around and buying parts separately at various outlets, I was able to save a significant sum over the groupset cost.

It took a bit of work to get the derailleur hanger located properly, but the gearing is much nicer. It's this gear set that let me climb the trail in the New River Gorge last week. Here we are on WV's Cherry River. Fish weren't biting, but it was a great ride.

P1030016D2.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Been a while since I posted in this thread. The single speed conversion didn't work so well for me. For some odd reason, I started breaking chains this past Autumn. I went through several different chain tensioners trying to fix the problem, but it persisted. Can't see why a gearing change would make a difference, but fortunately I was never more than a few miles from my car when it happened. I finally gave up and decided to go to a SRAM 1x11 setup. By shopping around and buying parts separately at various outlets, I was able to save a significant sum over the groupset cost.

It took a bit of work to get the derailleur hanger located properly, but the gearing is much nicer. It's this gear set that let me climb the trail in the New River Gorge last week. Here we are on WV's Cherry River. Fish weren't biting, but it was a great ride.

View attachment 192349

I'm pretty sure I just violated a couple of commandments. Very nice. Among the things I particularly like is the seat. Nothing like a wee bit of comfort!

On the flip side, it reminds me of a piece written by outdoor writer and humorist, Pat McManus. He said the bike he had as a kid was "like riding on a hatchet head."

Cheers, Jock
 
Brand new route for me today. Nine miles, and much of the trails were not very bike friendly, at least for an old fart like me. Lots of recent rain made much of them soggy and hard to get any sort of momentum. Then there were the trail segments that followed cliff lines with a drop of hundreds of feet off to one side. Needless to say, I walked the bike more than I had planned.

DSCF0329A.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Another new route for me today, Kaymoor Trail in southern WV. It literally follows a narrow path along the slopes of the New River Gorge. It was a beast. Full of rocks, roots, ruts, and mud, it was both beautiful and demanding. Extremely narrow in places with precipitous drops over the edge, there was one particular stretch where I thought it prudent to just walk the bike. The second image shows one spot with a sharp turn to the left. Miss the turn, and you're plunging 500 feet into the canyon. Yikes! There were a few sharp blind turns and spots where the trail took a sudden downhill plunge. Needless to say, I kept my speed modest and my attention on high alert. Total distance was 14.4 miles. The first pic shows the southern trailhead where I turned around.

DSCF8214A.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

DSCF8203A.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Back
Top