My Next Project: Takara Road Bike Conversion
This is the “Before” part of my bike article.
I might be the last person on Earth to do it, but I’ve decided to take a vintage steel lugged-frame road bike and convert it to a single-speed, fixed-gear bike. It’s one of the few bike types that I don’t already have, I like the simplicity of a single-speed, and it just sounds like fun. So for quite some time, with that in mind, I’ve been looking for a good candidate bike to tear down. Last week, in south Irving, I think that I found it. It’s a Takara ten speed road bike:
The Takara was apparently yet another mid-level Japanese road bike imported in the late 1970′s or early 1980′s. I found some information on bikeforums that indicated that the frames were built by Kawamura, the same company that built Nishiki’s frames. Whatever! My main consideration was that I paid $65 for it.
I am going to powdercoat this one, but I think that I’ll keep the chrome front forks.
I like the sculptural Dia-Compe neck, too. It’s a keeper.
The components are pretty decent, so I’ll clean them up and put them on CL to try to get some of my money back out of this bike.
More Suntour. I haven’t cleaned this stuff up yet, obviously, but it will look nice when I’m done:
I might be able to use the Sugino crank, I’m not sure yet.
Sweet Suntour downtube shifters. Curnutt is going to end up with these if he’s lucky:
Another view…….maybe I should keep them……..
I figure that I should throw in these graphics for posterity’s sake, since this will all be stripped off the bike. Looks like early 1980s to me……
This headbadge will be removed and placed back on the bike after powdercoating to preserve its’ provenance.
This photo shows the lugged frame…..
As does this image of the rear. The tiny paint chips in this photo underscore one reason that this bike is a good candidate for a powdercoating and restoration. There are several significant damaged spots in the paint that really detract from the look of the bike, and that go down to the frame. It doesn’t look good enough to ride, but it isn’t damaged enough to discard. It just needs a new coat of paint or powder.
And, yes, I’m going to leave one set of brakes. I like being able to stop.
A few more random images. Kuwahara!
Cute quick release hub:
So there you have it: the Project Bike. This might take me a while, because I don’t really know what I’m doing. But it won’t take me long to take this bike apart, because if I don’t at least do that, I’ll sell it for beer money sometime in the next month.
Anybody know a good powdercoater?
Banzai!
-Hubbard
Very cool – I know a guy in Garland, but I am working on firming up a relationship with a Plano based guy instead. I would leave both sets of brakes in case you decide to use the freewheel side of the hub.
I’ll be shocked if you can get a dime out of that Suntour on CL – I bet you will have to go eBay, and even then I don’t know that it will be worth it.
You can use the Sugino ring if you want, but I actually have a 105 crank set up with a single cog if you would like.
Also set aside about $20 to get a better seatpost binder bolt. I was using that style on my Falcon and I nicked my fresh powder because I wasn’t careful.
I had already decided to use both brakes, and do in fact want a freewheel…but I don’t know much about this stuff….yet!
And, of course, I’m interested in the 105 crank set w the single cog, whatever the hell that is: like I said, I’m gonna need your help Mr. Husman.
And I had already decided to get a nicer seatpost bolt. Thanks! I’m going to go out to my garage and start taking that bike apart.
As usual, Justin, thanks for your input.
-Hub
I know it’s a bit late to reply to this, but I converted an old Takara frame to a single speed commuter bike a few years ago. Same chrome fork tips and everything. The paint was beaten up but everything was straight and strong. I painted it and it turned out pretty good. The bike built up nicely and I rode it a lot. At least until my wife ran over it in the garage and crushed the fork and front wheel. I just hangs there in the garage waiting for me to fix it.
Anyway, chainring conversions to single speed are easy enough. You just need some shorter chainring bolts for that Sugino and a few allen wrenches. Should take all of 15 minutes to do.
For a wheelset, you should look into a flip/flop rear hub. That will allow you to run fixed on one side and freewheel on the other.
Jason
Hi Michael! I bought this bike from you for $40 on the day of Halloween. I told you I would send you some pics of it when I finally finished it. Well it is finished! I lost your number so please email me with ur email and I can send you pics of the completed project!