I don't know how familiar you guys are about Scandinavian/Finnish bicycles, I haven't yet spotted any on here. So this might be of interest I guess.
I said a bunch about my bike building/renovation stuff on my intro thread, but I'll repeat some here.
It seems I'm stuck with the classic Finnish & Scandinavian bicycles for a base to build from. Specially the 28" ladies models as those are so cheap and easy to find. Most frames I've had, I have got for free. And they're well build, sturdy as heck and the craftmanship is impeccable. So why not? Throw in some coin and get such frames which can take a lot of punishment and still keep going decade after decade.
It seems that "my thing" has become the Nowegian Öglaend frames from 60's and 70's. Those are all over the place and somehow I just manage to get a hold on lot of them. My only complaint is the narrow saddle posts which are odd, 19mm, often with a wider 22,2mm part on top. Luckily they accept many kinds of forks and the standard takes 22,2mm stem. Also the Öglaend frames have rather wide back forks for such classic style. My current bike will have the 2,35" Schwalbe Big Apple tires and that monster fits the back! With quite narrow clearance, ranging from 4mm to 10mm. But enough to work. The attachment point for the fender just below the saddle just needs to be modified, but that's a walk in a park. The current bike in the works will have some odd characteristics for such bike, balloon tires, banana saddle, tall sissybar, cruiser handlebar and so on. There's a long list of cool stuff I'm putting on it. Its a frankenbike for sure, bunch of parts are reproduction stuff as I just can't find originals in Finland. All cruiser style stuff seems to be very very rare here. So anyway, the newest part will be made this year and the oldest is from around 1930's.
That's the chain wheel, its a really nice pentagram shaped 46T one from some oldie. In nearly mind condition from what I saw in the pictures. I'm changing the paint scheme from the typical metallic blue or red to glossy black + metallic white + metallic electric blue. The paintjob will have some detailing like the last time. The rims are 1940's "pot iron" stuff, westwood profile, the best rims I've ever had. (I have bunch of them and on the lookout for more, the old stuff was built to last.)
The philosophy with this bike is the looks and non existent rolling resistance. I want to make it fly. I'm modifying the bearings somewhat, ditch the disks and have free bearings where ever possible, what is that called in English? I don't know a name for that... Old school style bearings, roll like a dream. My previous stuff has all been single gear, this time I'm opting for Sachs Torpedo 3-speed. With 15/46 setup it will be quite fast too.
Next thing is sand blasting the frame and rims, waiting for other parts to arrive and paint job.
Here's some photos of my current ride, I made this few years back. (I had a break from building more, money and other stuff being the issue...) The new bike is a continuation of the same ideas with lessons learned from this thing here.
The frame is exactly the same I'm using once again for the gazillionth time.
It seems I'm stuck with the classic Finnish & Scandinavian bicycles for a base to build from. Specially the 28" ladies models as those are so cheap and easy to find. Most frames I've had, I have got for free. And they're well build, sturdy as heck and the craftmanship is impeccable. So why not? Throw in some coin and get such frames which can take a lot of punishment and still keep going decade after decade.
It seems that "my thing" has become the Nowegian Öglaend frames from 60's and 70's. Those are all over the place and somehow I just manage to get a hold on lot of them. My only complaint is the narrow saddle posts which are odd, 19mm, often with a wider 22,2mm part on top. Luckily they accept many kinds of forks and the standard takes 22,2mm stem. Also the Öglaend frames have rather wide back forks for such classic style. My current bike will have the 2,35" Schwalbe Big Apple tires and that monster fits the back! With quite narrow clearance, ranging from 4mm to 10mm. But enough to work. The attachment point for the fender just below the saddle just needs to be modified, but that's a walk in a park. The current bike in the works will have some odd characteristics for such bike, balloon tires, banana saddle, tall sissybar, cruiser handlebar and so on. There's a long list of cool stuff I'm putting on it. Its a frankenbike for sure, bunch of parts are reproduction stuff as I just can't find originals in Finland. All cruiser style stuff seems to be very very rare here. So anyway, the newest part will be made this year and the oldest is from around 1930's.
The philosophy with this bike is the looks and non existent rolling resistance. I want to make it fly. I'm modifying the bearings somewhat, ditch the disks and have free bearings where ever possible, what is that called in English? I don't know a name for that... Old school style bearings, roll like a dream. My previous stuff has all been single gear, this time I'm opting for Sachs Torpedo 3-speed. With 15/46 setup it will be quite fast too.
Next thing is sand blasting the frame and rims, waiting for other parts to arrive and paint job.
Here's some photos of my current ride, I made this few years back. (I had a break from building more, money and other stuff being the issue...) The new bike is a continuation of the same ideas with lessons learned from this thing here.