Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

Functional, in the sense it never fails in its function to crack me up :

A pretty bad photo of my Peugeot.

Built the rear wheel around an 3sp SA AW hub, 42 22 gearing gives top of 67", mid of 50ish and low of 37ish. Also I cut some slots in the cable guides so to swap to a fixed wheel all I have to do is unscrew the shifter, unclip the cable and swap the rear wheel and chain, which takes literally about five minutes. The 3sp is very useful for the Yorkshire hills. Owes me about £150 (including the Reelights which were half price), half of which was powdercoat and decals. The thick tubing means it'll be easy to practice adding braze-ons without risk of overheating the tubes (I'd like to braze a rear rack on it)

There's a nice Sketchup model for a trailer over on mayapedal.org

http://www.mayapedal.org/new_trailer.skp

I've got a sturmey 5 speed wheel for it. what would you recomend for a lowest gear? something around 25" of even lower? will do hills with several children (up forest hill to the horniman!) so don't want to be too high.

sounds like a great project, nice work. that is quite the hilly fully loaded, you're going to need to spin it up!

This page is like Ed's 0800 - trailer help line. :D

thats some hot shit. Always wanted a bike with drum brakes. Stoked for you...

Cheers buddy, remember a few weeks ago when I saw you I was saying I wanted a bike I could lock up while I was in a gig or working all day and not worry it'd get nicked or stripped?
This is that bike...

Got an ex-RM pannier the weekend from a friend of a friend... took the logo off to avoid people asking me for their post and whatnot.

I actually used to have a similar bike (well it was my sisters) very similar except it had a v-brake on the front. I put some wide MTB risers on it and it felt like a bit like a cruiser, but lighter/faster with much better riding position. It had a very study rack on it too. The bike got stolen though, I locked it up outside the SAAB place next to the rainbow. I always had the sneaking suspicion that the saab people removed it.

Mine, for child ferrying and shopping, cheap.

Is that the 3 speed kona? How you finding it?

Is that the 3 speed kona? How you finding it?

It's good, it's "rolling" flat around here, so a huge range of gears not required, if you ride fixed then you're used to riding in different cadences, so I have no problem with only three gears..

Can't remember what the front ring is, but it came with a 16t sprocket, soon realised that I would need lower gears for potentially transporting kid and shopping at the same time, so put a 20t on, have a 22 sprocket and longer chain just in case I can't hack it.

Bike itself was a bargain, £280 including Topeak rack and kickstand...thanks Winstanleys!....love it.

yes Winston
http://www.lfgss.com/thread24755.html

http://rawlandcycles.blogspot.com/

This is full of awesomeness.

http://sportemotori.blogosfere.it/images/bici-pompiere.jpg

^ one of my tutors has a book full of bikes like that, mostly from the 20s and 30s. That particular one is on the cover actually. Next time I borrow it I'll scan and post some pictures.

I seen photos of that during the l'eroica, look very interesting (there's other emergency service bicycle as well as that).

Mine, for child ferrying and shopping, cheap.

was coming on here to post up the Smoke, which my dad has just bought. As above but with 24 speed instead (3 speed wouldn't be suitable for him round Leeds/Bradford)

a la

Hads a ride on it yesterday, what a great bike! Bit on the weighty side but bearing in mind its intended use (kids in trailer/logging/canal paths/commuting) it's fine.

£229 from evans delivered, what a bargain. and thanks to the forumenger that suggested it.

I bloody love that bike. I had a go on one recently. Everyone that asks me what their first commuter bike should be, I recommend it. For the money I think it's unbeatable.

I really want one.

here are my everyday commuting bikes- the orange Genesis has a dynamo front light and nice low gearing. I feel I have polished the turd that is a Mongoose Maurice into something useful and I think looks OK too.

The Maurice is an excellent bike married by it's awful appearance which put people off, your look really good.

thanks Ed, I sold the orange wheels and cranks immediately and love the randonneur bars too- so comfy even without hoods. Oh also I have a bolt on front rack for the Genesis which you might like.

The Maurice is, I guess, along the similar to the Steamroller as is a bit weighty but comfy & got mine set up with 28c randonneur tyres to take the worst out of the winter battered roads in Cornwall.

i love the way the maurice looks.
its also fun to ride.

Stupidly fun to ride, I often unlock it and rode around the shop floor (it's pretty huge) for a laugh, almost tempted to get it, especially given how much they cost now and the employee's discount.

Better off saving up for a Moulton TSR 30 though, especially at trade price (only allowed one bike a year).

Oh yes, keeping in theme, someone decided to convert their Raleigh Twenty into a touring bike;

I though it look pretty awesome, and somehow look very right.

This is the latest incarnation;

how tall are they?
can't be tall.