The Winter Bike

My Redline Monocog Flight

As promised yesterday I am posting on the winter bike I built.  I bought this frame set last year and it served as a single speed mountain bike with drop bars until this winter.  I then transformed it into this geared bike for the winter.  I had all the parts I needed for this build except for the shifters.

Non drive side of bike.

The frame is a 17 inch which is a little small for this application.  As mentioned before I bought it to be run as a drop bar/monster cross type bike and it will be run as that again after winter.  By running a slightly longer stem it fits fine and handles quickly due to the smaller size.  The rest of the specs are:

Sunrace M53 8 speed rear shifter

Shimano Deore long cage rear derailleur

Sram 8 speed cassette

Truvativ Firex SS crank with 38 tooth ring

MRP chainguide

Shimano chain

WTB FX28 rims with no name 6 bolt disc hubs

Specialized Fast Track tires

Niner flat bar

Easton EA70 stem

Ergon grips

Bontrager seatpost

Bontrager Saddle

Avid BB5 disc brakes

Avid FR5 levers

I may still change to multiple gears up front.  But for the moment I will keep it as is.

I purchased the Sunrace shifters as a low cost alternative and they work well.  They operate like Sram trigger shifters which are my preference.  They shift smoothly, however the levers are somewhat odd.

Photo of left side or front shifter.

Photo of right shifter on the bar.

The large paddle shifts into the larger or easier gears while the small paddle shifts down to the smaller or harder gears.  The placement of the small paddle puts it close to the mounting hardware of the brake levers.  This was odd at first, however once I got the location down is was not an issue.  This may not be true with other brake levers.  The shifts were smooth and crisp.  In all a good bargain for the set at $25.00.

Come spring I will decide what configuration this bike will take.  Will it be a single speed, 1x8 or other?  All I know is it will be having drop bars again.