This is a cute lil' commuter / townie bike I built up in the winter of 2011 for my girlfriend. I found an old Bridgestone MB-2 frame, a high-quality lugged rigid mountain bike from the early 1990's. It had a lot of scratches and small dents so I gave it a new coat of paint and a built-in top tube protector made of shellacked hemp twine. Read more after the jump…
This bike was a Centurion Pro Tour originally, a high-quality Japanese-made touring bike from 1978. One of Centurion's top-of-the-line models, the Pro Tour had some cool features rarely seen on a production bike: brazed-on centerpull brake calipers and a fully chromed frame. Later iterations of the Pro Tour (from 1980-1984) had more common cantilever brakes, making the early editions quite rare.
I won this Pro Tour on eBay recently, and it arrived in fairly dismal condition. The paint had numerous scratches and rust, and the parts were a haphazard mix of original components and later replacements. I decided to strip the paint off to reveal the original chrome underneath, and while I was at it, to convert the bike to 650B wheels instead of using the original 27" ones that came with it. I also made many more changes and additions – read on to learn more…
This is my third bike build, a vintage “townie” style bike built on a 1970’s-era Schwinn frame. The frame came with leather-wrapped handlebars, which inspired me to build it out as a classy around-the-town bike. I replaced the heavy steel 26″ Araya wheels with lightweight 700c deep-v track wheels, and put Nashbar’s “Duro” tires on them. The dark brown sidewalls match the leather nicely.
The seat is a riveted leather Brooks copy, taken from from a Masi Soulville bike. I installed a 68x107mm Miche bottom bracket, red KMC single-speed chain, and built the single-speed crankset from a new 170mm Campagnolo Mirage set. It has a 42-tooth chain ring up front and a 16 tooth freewheel in back, with a flipflop hub & fixed gear cog & lock ring. Pedals are MKS Syvlan touring, brakes are new Tekro side-pull calipers, and I added a set of Planet Bike “Hardcore Road” fenders for all-weather riding.
Full story and more pics after the jump…