Argos shopper!

I live about half a mile from my local supermarket. Walking there is tedious and driving feels lazy .. hence I like to bike it. Problem is, I don’t like leaving my nice bikes locked outside and my shopping is limited to what I can get in a rucksack.

Recently I noticed the Mini-Velo trend has resurrected the humble shopper of the 60s/70s ... The cannondale hooligan and Orbea Katu for instance .. but i didn’t want to spend that kind of cash. Then something caught my eye at Argos:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2728067

A disc brake equipped shopper for £200. Shitty parts but a solid basis for a build? I thought so. A couple of weeks later Argos dropped the price to £150 which felt like a sign from the almighty.

2 days later and this is in my hands

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It’s heavy. But it’s a Alu frame so the guilty parties must be the parts.

First things first, the hideous folding stem thing was removed (950g!!) along with the fisher price Chainset and the crap decals which are mercifully stuck over the paint and not under lacquer

I sourced a nice 165mm crank from an Isla bike supplier and a bar and stem from a Katu that I bagged on eBay. The new stem didn’t do so well however- as it fell into two pieces during installation (bummer)

I also planned to throw on some Avid BB7 brakes and levers. Sadly the BB7 calipers fouled the stays of the mudguards so I left on the clarks units (which aren’t that bad to be fair)

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To remedy the stem situation, I sourced a threaded to ahead adapter and found a pretty stuck-up thomson stem in a drawer.

I also sourced a new Disc-rack from eBay - from a Jamis tourer I think. It’s nice quality but turned out to be blue! Looked black on the pics but hey - I don’t mind it

Seatpost and saddle also swapped but I need a longer post than the 350mm really. And a comfier saddle as this is quite an upright bike.

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The 36t front ring I knew would be under-geared but didn’t realise by how much .. so my top speed is about 9mph spinning like a demon. Bigger ring ordered!

The heavy wheels remain, which I could replace - but not for less than £100 - which seems a bit pointless on a bike like this.

The gripshift was thrown out and some Shimano 6sp TX50 trigger shifters are coming soon. I also replaced the wank rear mech with my own Shimano 600 tri-colour unit - which is happy with the 6 sp chain

So far so good

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This looks better than Decathlon’s bike at a similar price. £150 seems like you can’t really go wrong for a 20” basher.

From the Argos specs: 153 inch full bike length. It’s pretty big!

Looks really fun and loved the Argos description of “rigid suspension” and “reflectors included”

Are the forks steel? Looks like it will be fun to ride.

Looking good- subbed.

Nice idea for a project, think you'll end up with something really good.

Still on offer £150 at Argos

Thought I’d bump this as my aborted attempt to sell it has spurned a twin on the forum :)

Seatpost replaced and the thomson swapped to a longer salsa stem.

Still unsure about the wheels ... the bearings in these hubs really suck.

Would like to go Ahead .. but finding 20” forks with disc, mudguard mounts and a 300mm steerer ain’t easy

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This turned out awesome. If you find a 20” disc fork you like, BBB make a threadless steer tube extender that’s not too expensive and worked for me pretty well.

Haha, hey, so you paid £150 eh.
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