A bike for Mom

[Tony DeFilippo]

http://dr2dc.blogspot.com/2015/01/happy-mothers-day-birthday-christmas.html

It took longer than it should have but my Riv inspired step thru lake cruiser is finally delivered.  Building a bike up from pretty much nothing is a daunting task and it makes you appreciate well designed frames from Riv all the more for their relative ease in building up, modifying and of course riding!  I think I ended up with a pretty good interpretation of a Riv Betty w/ a much more modest budget.  The build highlights include;

1980's Schwinn World stepthru frame (powdercoated)
26 3/8" Wheelset, Dyno Front, 2 spd Rear, Schwable tires
Steel fenders and Brooks Saddle from Raleigh 3 spd
Wald Baskets front and rear
Dyno Head and Tail lights
Nitto/Brooks/Rivendell cockpit
Velo Orange Crankset and Front Rack

[Richard L.]

The bike looks great.  What a nice labor of love for your mom.

[WETH]

Tony,
That turned out great. The smile on your mom's face says it all!
Erl

[Tony DeFilippo]

Thanks Erl!  I'm happy with it, and happy it's out of the garage!! Time to get on to some other lingering projects like resuscitating the Saluki.  I just spent a couple hours getting my wife's road bike tuned up and ready for a warmer day and putting the Saluki's dyno headlight and front wheel on the Bombadil.  No reason to let it miss out on the whole winter.

[Eunice Chang]

Tony,

You are a very good son to your mom! And not just because the bike happens to be a very similar color to my mixte. :)

-Eunice (also in NC)

On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 2:39 PM, Tony DeFilippo <vpi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Erl!  I'm happy with it, and happy it's out of the garage!! Time to get on to some other lingering projects like resuscitating the Saluki.  I just spent a couple hours getting my wife's road bike tuned up and ready for a warmer day and putting the Saluki's dyno headlight and front wheel on the Bombadil.  No reason to let it miss out on the whole winter.

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[lungimsam]

Wow!
Front and rear dyno lights. What a beautiful paint job!
Top notch everything!

[lungimsam]

Just noticed the bottle braze ons are lugged like Rivbikes used to be!

[Michael Hechmer]

Sweet Tony, it will turn a lot of heads for sure.  Is she comfortable on it?

Michael

[Deacon Patrick]

Fantastic!

With abandon,

Patrick

[Tony DeFilippo]

Eunice  great minds think alike on color!  I take no responsibility for it actually, I sent my Mom a link to the powdercoat catalog site that Groody Bro's uses and she picked this one out.  I think it's a nice 'interpretation' of the Atlantis Green,  definitely more subdued almost getting towards the color of Pondero's sweet looking Saluki.

Those braze ons for the water bottle are sweet, what isn't sweet is the tight clearance of that step thru frame. I decided not to put a bottle in there after I played with it and figured it would always be difficult to get one in and out.  With three baskets I think she'll have plenty of room for water.

Michael she got in two test rides while I was there and we dialed in the saddle height and handlebar angle... she seemed pretty comfortable. It's an interesting question though as she hasn't ridden a bicycle regularly in 15+ years at least.  She has been using a recumbent style exercise bike (indoor) over the past year for PT and rehab after a hip replacement though.  Between that and my constant talking about bikes she started asking about getting a real bike.  I think we may end up on a 'perfect saddle hunt' because she's used to the couch like recumbent seat on the indoor bike.  I'll be back in April and plan to give the bike a thorough check up to see how everything is settling in.  The whole design was based on having very little maintenance required... only the front brake has a cable which is a nice short run and it's backed up by the adjustment-less coaster brake in the back.  Same for the shifting.  

[Montclair BobbyB]

BRAVO, Tony!  There is no more noble an endeavor than doing something special for your Mom... and coupled with bringing new life to a beautiful frameset, this bike is certain to bring joy to all who behold it.  Your Mom is a lucky lady.  Thanks for making my day.

BB 

[Bob E]

That looks really great, Tony; nice job!

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the Automatix hub.

Bob E

[Tony DeFilippo]

Bobby you are too kind, thank you!

Bob thanks alot, the Automatix hub is pretty cool if you are looking for simplicity, 1 gear won't cut it and you aren't afraid of a bit of weight.  I didn't weigh it on its own but I did drop the hub the first time i went to pick it up (pre wheel build) when I was surprised by the weight.  You feel the downshift very clearly if you get up to rhythm on a flat or downhill and you start to 'spin', I don't remember what the ratio's are but it does add back some resistance and I think it'll cruise up to 12-14mph w/out spinning out. (I'm sure you can look that up).  In my test rides I never felt the upshift maybe because it only did that when I came to a complete stop...? I'm not sure.  My mom commented that she thought the shifting should make pedaling easier not harder.... I explained about the spinning out and that the hub was now giving her more power per rotation.

The inclusion of the coaster brake did it for me b/c I really didn't want to run a cable even for a drum brake let alone try and find a powerful, long reach brake for this frame.  The finish is nice, the packaging was good and it built up quite easily from a wheel building perspective. Just don't discount the weight the first time you heft it!

Tony

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[Deacon Patrick]

Regarding appreciation for Riv's well engineered quality and execution at all levels: Oh my! Yes! Whenever I work on my daughter's bikes (old Trek MTBs) any job is 20x the work. I'm no mechanic, but that's a noticeable delta for an amateur. Grin. The only thing that motivates me to do it is the thought of them getting stuck somewhere because I didn't.

With abandon,

Patrick

[RoadieRyan]

what an awesome gift!

[true]

Very, very nicely done Tony.

It's a beautiful bike.

 

Saw the mention of Groody Bro's powder coaters.

Based on favorable comments here as I recall and on the ibob list I have been contemplating sending

them a vintage rigid MTB frame to coat I plan on building up as a fatter tired urban cruiser.

 

Thanks for sharing your project.

 

You recall about how much coating and shipping costs were?

 

Thanks

 

 

Paul in Dallas

 

 

[Wildcat96]

I am also interested in some feedback regarding Groody Brothers.  They are local to me and I've considered having them redo my recently acquired Bombadil.  The paint looks beautiful in your pictures.  Groody Brothers quoted me $200-$250 for a two color powder coat, application of decals, and a clear coat over the decals, which sounded reasonable.  I've seen some examples of their work on local bikes and have been impressed.

On Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 9:14:24 AM UTC-6, truegolden wrote:



[lungimsam]

What kinda paint jobs does RBW give their bikes? Is that also powder coat?

[Tony DeFilippo]

Paul, I can't seem to find the invoice but I was around $200 for the whole deal, single color.  I definitely recommend Groody, I plan to get my Saluki done there soon as well, they are willing to do two color powdercoating so I'll keep the cream headtube.  

Wildcat96, If they are local I'd do it in a heartbeat. Your quote for the two color is about the same as the one I got a couple months ago at 180-220 for the Saluki.  They did someone else's Bombadil in all black, it was shared  here and that's how I found them as a matter of fact.  They can be a bit slow to get back to you on email but it looks like a small shop so that's not to surprising.

lungimsam, depends on the frame but I think all are wet painted as opposed to powdercoat.