Rat Bikes! Pub Bikes Beaters! Frankenbikes!

^^ Rat Pack Ride - or more competitive - a rat race - Theme: Mall Rats? Tunnel Rats? Ratatouille? (a cafe ride)

a cafe ride with an element of competitive coffee drinking might be fun

like the rat race idea, could do an alleycat with checkpoints in scruffy alleyways and tunnels

Alleyrat

The wheelbase is so short, less rake would make it impossible to ride.

because of toe overlap or just daft angles?

Low rake forks make the handling pretty twitchy and a short wheelbase does the same. A lower rake fork would shorten the wheelbase even more and make the handling twitchier anyway. And yeah, even more toe overlap!

its pretty much only new tyre that comes in 27" that and, Schwable, Michellin, Panaracer, Conti, CST, Vittoria, Kenda, Rubena, ChinSheng.

FIFY

27's admittedly harder to get but not impossbru.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/398898_10150748154083897_748773896_9677836_670243192_n.jpg

nice! dat fork!

Low rake forks make the handling pretty twitchy and a short wheelbase does the same. A lower rake fork would shorten the wheelbase even more and make the handling twitchier anyway. And yeah, even more toe overlap!

Actually, the lower fork rake would make it a slower handling bike and not the other way round.
It kinda works like this; imagine a straight line from your head tube to the ground, the closer this point is to where the tyre meets the ground, the faster or twitchier the handling gets.
In most bikes the imaginary line from the head tube to the ground ends some distance in front of the of where the tyre meets the ground.
A longer rake fork get closer to the head tube line by putting the wheel axis further forward to meet the optimal pivot point.
But, tight head tube angles do sharpen the handling, which is why fast track bikes with tight geometries have slower handling lower rake forks to stop them from being unridably twitchy at high speeds.
There is a thread somewhere here that explains it all in detail with complete explanations from frame builders, but buggered if I'm bothering to find it!

I was just about to post that!

Its that bike again....

FIFY

27's admittedly harder to get but not impossbru.

Only thing I could get/ find out about was conti ultra + gatorskin in 1 1/4" size (which are equiv of 32c?)

Anyone know about more about the homebuilt street rig? Might pop into the bike repository tomorrow and see what I can dig out.

my ultrasport is 23c i think. if not, it's no bigger than 25c...

#rarerthanrockinghorseshit

just checked. ignore the above, it's bollocks

nothing but ;)

Actually, the lower fork rake would make it a slower handling bike and not the other way round.
It kinda works like this; imagine a straight line from your head tube to the ground, the closer this point is to where the tyre meets the ground, the faster or twitchier the handling gets.
In most bikes the imaginary line from the head tube to the ground ends some distance in front of the of where the tyre meets the ground.
A longer rake fork get closer to the head tube line by putting the wheel axis further forward to meet the optimal pivot point.
But, tight head tube angles do sharpen the handling, which is why fast track bikes with tight geometries have slower handling lower rake forks to stop them from being unridably twitchy at high speeds.
There is a thread somewhere here that explains it all in detail with complete explanations from frame builders, but buggered if I'm bothering to find it!

Rake aside, the further shortening of the wheelbase would be undesirable considering how short it is already.

Knar mean? I don't, either way.

Lolz!

Yeah a longer wheelbase should make it stabler at higher speeds, but I'm not sure just how much the wheel base effects the handling itself.

Erm, how to explain it... a bit like how maybe a mini would be affected be a small bump in the road, while a coach would not be... I think?

Anybody else got any insight, please?!

You have to consider your stem length as well. A long stem will make it less twitchy because the adjustments you make with your hands are larger and therefore there's more room for error and less chance of oversteer...

... or something

And likewise with bar length too.


just ordered a pair of these, appear to be lazer cut, but only 5/6mm plate, was hoping for a bit more meat on them, but for £20 its a lot easier than filing/ machining my own out, much easier.
Will prob be the most expensive part of the build, I already own pretty much everything else. Short/ low rake forks will be on the list.

Also my rear is in need of being rebuilt, its a 50s airlite (or similar) double fixed on 27" 60s mavic clincher never seen a brake, but run out of true and pretty much every of the 40nipples is seized on, rebuild time..
and I have a mountain of reasonable quality 700c front clinchers, I feel a faux faux not so lo pro build coming on.

what are they going on?

also you might what to check the classifieds, someone one had a set up a while ago for cheap

not sure yet! Was going to go down to the recycling place today and pick something out, but going away for the weekend so sorting that comes 1st.
Yeah I saw a set of dropouts on there last week, but ultimately price is king.

one things for sure, this thing is going to look like crap.

Does converting a frame to track ends make much difference to the 'stiffness' or is it just purely aesthetic?

Looking forward to seeing it BrickMan

no I meant the track ends themselves, 5mm plate isn't as beefy as some.

Frame will likely be an 80s/90s kona/giant/spesh steel MTB frame of some not quite gaspipe quality. Stiffness isnt really a factor, just want to build something fun/cheap/that I can play at grass track with.
27" rear - 700c front is pretty much sure fired bet now, unless I unearth a free 700c clincher rim

Shame you can't see them both properly.

Its that bike again....

I really want some of those bars the middle dale has...