my wife's winter bike - it somehow came together

[spiderman]

i've been wanting to get my wife
out to my favorite hiking, paddling, ski/snow shoe area
to ride bike, but she has been reluctant to go off-road.
she doesn't have a cross bike
and can't be convinced to spend money on another bike...
so, i took her 'rain bike', lemond nevada city (dark blue) with a 105 triple
and put my old tubular fixed wheelset on it (17 freewheel)
with some tufo 28 winter tires (red sidewall)
lowered the black finesse saddle a half centimeter,
and we took it out for a spin yesterday
just as it started to snow...
...she loved it
and can't wait to get back out there today!
i guess she was right,
she didn't need a new bike, YET!
...and here i had no idea
such a perfect off-road three-speed was sitting right there
just begging to be noticed and put together!

[Too Tall]

Well done old man :) Bicycles really are wonderful things.
You never lost sight of the fact bicycles in their basic form
have been used for every sort of riding with a few basic
changes. Way to go :)

[spiderman]

i appreciate the encouragement...
...i'm also thinking about getting it coupled
so she can travel with it as well.
...but for now
it's doing more than i bargained for!

[haimtoeg]

Now can we see some pics of this bike?

[deechee]

cool.
Did you keep the front derailer on?

I've seen some bikes the reverse (one chainring with x-speed casette) does it work very well?

my lbs put together my old mtn bike as a single speed but I haven't had a chance to ride it yet (still need some pieces) Can't wait...

[spiderman]

i'll see what i can do on that front.

i left the drive train set up the same
...using both front and rear derailluers.
obviously no shifting on the back,
but the triple up front
shifts well with the rear derailluer
picking up the slack.
so, it's nice
with the middle ring being the main gear,
plus having a tailwind gear for riding out to the recreation area
and a bail-out gear on steep, grassy climbs.

[Clydesdale]

Just be sure she leaves the right hand shifter alone :) Maybe she will get hooked on "cross" and give in to the new bike idea?

[spiderman]

Just be sure she leaves the right hand shifter alone :) Maybe she will get hooked on "cross" and give in to the new bike idea?

...yes, i feel very fortunate
to have such a beautiful place to ride off-road
that is so close...
she was able to leave the right sided shifter alone.
my engineer/cycling friend took a look at it
and told me how to lock it in place
if she had any trouble giving in to the temptation to shift
but it hasn't been a problem so far.
i think the limiting factor for her now
may be the falling temps.

[spiderman]

i guess the gruppo is sora, sorry...
here are a couple pics
of her three speed and our cross bikes together...
i'm not sure it belongs here,
but hey,
why not??