For the longest time I have set up my daily driver bike so I could ride just about wherever I want. Whether it was the Space Horse for a few years or my current main bike, the Crust Bombora, I generally keep the wheels wrapped in a “fast gravel” kinda of tire. Fast rolling on pavement, but enough useful tread that I could hit some single track or a rough gravel cut if I want. But truth be told I ride about 90% on pavement, and I have wanted to see how it would feel to ride something specifically set up for road riding. I’ve had road bikes before, but after over 32,000 miles I have more particular requirements.
If I was in the “buy a new bike when I feel like it” tax bracket, I would just build up a Rivendell Roadini in Sergio Green. It fits plush tires and it’s designed with a “comfort road” geometry. And it looks sweet! But no, can’t swing that (yet), and I have been spending a lot of time building up bikes from Facebook Marketplace finds lately. So here we have Swhween, my chubby tire road bike. It’s built from a 1991 Schwinn Crosscut (nota bene: the 1990 and 1991 Crosscuts looked nearly identical, but I was able to place mine in ‘91 because of the extra eyelet near the fork dropout and the position of the eyelets near the rear dropout).
This is the top of Schwinn’s pre-bankruptcy “cross bike” line, or what we now just call hybrids. That’s fantastic for me because it originally came with 700x38 tires and room to spare. The bottom bracket isn’t too high, and while the head tube angle is a little slack it is manageable. I got mine off Marketplace for a $45 because it didn’t have pedals. It was dirty, but otherwise in solid shape. Nothing stuck, no cracks or dents, threads and steel clean on the inside where it counts. I have, however, put nearly every salvageable part in my collection except for the wheels and seat post. I keep the wheels because they are some super sick gray anodized Arayas, and the seat post is 26.6 which I am not paying to replace (yet). Otherwise it’s a mix of parts from my collection, eBay, and a few special purchases.
The sun has yellowed the paint and I’ve dirtied it back up again, but look at those wonderful lugs.
I got this bike in June but the parts that really motivated me to move ahead with the build came from an unexpected gift. My pal Ross offered me his dad’s old road bike. It was too twitchy and aggressive for him and he knew I would probably find a use for its parts. The bike itself was a 2013 Motobecane Immortal Team. This isn’t some classic French bike; it’s from long past the time when the brand had been sold to Yamaha. For years now they are sold as discount bike with premium components on Bikes Direct.
The premium components on the Motobecane are a complete Shimano Dura-Ace 7900 group. This was from the 10-speed Dura-Ace era with some carbon fiber and titanium mixed into a few places to keep it feathery. I need a big cassette in the back so I wasn’t going to use the rear derailleur (already sold it), but the front derailleur and brifters would be perfect. I already had a 9-speed XTR-M952 set aside, and I had read that Shimano 10-speed road shifters would index their mountain 9-speed derailleurs just fine. And it totally does—I’ve only had to use the barrel adjuster a couple of times as the cable housing and ferrules set in place with use. I had intended to stick with friction shifting as on my Bombora, but once I had these free components I had to give them a try. And they RULE.
Anyway, here’s the rest of it!
Cockpit
- The aforementioned Dura-Ace 7900 brifters. Very comfy, snappy, a little beat up.
- Nitto Noodle Bar, 25.4 clamp diameter and 52cm wide. That is quite wide, but if I hold them up to my chest, the ramps are about as wide as my shoulders. I kinda wish I had flared these out just a little (and I may still try), but these are otherwise terrific. They’re wrapped (poorly) in a single layer of black Newbaum’s bar tape. Corks in the bar ends.
- Nitto X Crust UI quill stem, 26.0 clamp (shimmed down) with 15º rise.
- Haute Bike’s Twisted T-Bar with quill stem adapter as a bag stand-off.
- Hungry Big Lunch v2.69 (the one that still has the magnetic closure) mounted as an expandable handlebar bag.
- Crane Bell, generic computer mount.
- Berthoud Aravis saddle, but with replacement stainless steel rails (titanium rails broke, then free replacement rails broke…so I went with steel which continues to hold up). This is the third bike for this one saddle and it has finally found its home. It’s on the post that came with the bike, but someday I want a Thomson in black to match the stem.
- Lil’ Roadrunner tool pouch on the back and that fine Jimothy reflector, too.
- King Cage Iris titanium cage
Drivetrain
- Dura-Ace front derailleur. This is when Shimano still had simple front derailleurs with sensible cable routing. It’s super light and does the job.
- XTR-M952 rear derailleur, still my favorite for fewer than 11 speeds.
- Sakae SX crankset from eBay. I don’t know if these are any good, but I polished them up a bit, and they hold Spa Cycles 42t and Sakae 28t rings. I like ‘em.
- Crust North Bank pedals: they’re no MKS, but they work great, look great. I think they suit the build.
- Some whatever Shimano HG 10-speed cassette, 11-36. Works fine!
- 10 speed KMC chain, waxed, natch. It may look a little short, but it shifts fine all the way to the biggest cog and its quiet the whole time.
Stopping
- This was one of the special bits; I got Paul MiniMotos so I could still use short pull levers without the fiddling of setting up cantilever brakes. And, uh…the brakes are maybe more powerful than my Klampers or Growtac Equals? Holy crap, these brakes are incredible, and the feeling of braking is gentle when I want it and immediate when I need it.
Circles
- I used the original wheels here because they look awesome, but they also spin well. The brake track is a bit work on these Araya VX-300 rims, but they still have some life left. I did, however, replace the freehub body so I could go from 7 to 10 speeds. I re-dished the wheel, and it has been incredible. The freehub is so quiet that, combined with road-ish tires and a waxed chain, there’s nothing but the sound of wind rushing by. I love it.
- The tires are Ultradynamico Cava, 42.?? in their new Rozzo casing. I have not had the greatest luck with their tires in the past, but these have been excellent. I’m okay with the race compound because it isn’t my primary bike, and this new casing is both comfortable to ride and has so far not punctured the TPU tubes in over 300 miles of rough city roads. They fit tight in the bike with just 1-2mm at a few spots, but no rubbing so far.
- The skewers are Ringle replicas from Improve Part. They’re super light and look great.
- Ass-Savers WinWing 2 on there to keep my butt tidy.
This thing just wants to move fast. Even when I’m taking it easy it’s noticeably faster than all my other bikes. But I didn’t build it for speed; it’s also comfortable and fun to ride. Other than an eventual seat post replacement, I may put on a slightly longer stem in the future but there’s no rush. It’s pretty great in its initial form.