All it needs is a little tune-up!
I was given another free frame. But unlike the GT, this Cross-Check needs a few repairs before I scrounge through the partsbin for components. The reason it needs the repairs is because it was hit by a car, which bent the fork sideways and, as you can see, buckled the top and downtubes right behind the headtube.
So they need to be fixed.
And the way I’m going to fix it is to cut the crumpled part of the top & downtubes, then braze on a new (and longer) headtube and a boom tube that runs from the downtube forward past the head tube, where I’ll braze up a platform for carrying a lot of cargo (or at least more cargo than I can carry on the GT; the Trek will still be my go-to bicycle for major shopping trips.)
The back wheel will probably be 650b, since I’ve got a spare rear wheel and three Col de la Vie tires lying around. The front wheel, on the other hand, will either be 20" or 16", depending on how much of a steertube I can find for a fork. I’m not sure whether to try to build it up with my normal comfortable position (drop bars 9-11cm lower than the saddle) or to fit my mustache or VO milano bars to the thing.
Comments
It will look somewhat like this:
Alex Wetmore has built a couple of cycletrucks much like this, too:
(though mine will, by necessity, be stubbier.
Ah! Thank you; that’s much clearer.
I think I’ve even seen a geometry like that down at the serious commuter bike co-op.
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I really hope there’s a remove-paint step in there somewhere!
Breathing vaporized paint’s really not a good habit.
I’m having trouble visualizing the intended geometry, a bit – the frame is getting shorter and lower in the front?