It all started when...

I found a frame in a skip, stripped and discarded because the stem was seized and the forks were bent. As with most steel frames this one was in perfectly good condition and had many years of riding left in it.

The Challenge

I set myself the challenge of building the frame up into a town bike using only parts that I had salvaged from donated bikes that were no longer required.

My first task was to remove the seized stem and forks with a hacksaw. Along with removing the old decals which made the frame look more tatty than it was. Next I redished the rear wheel as it had previously been used on a geared bike but I was fitting a single sprocket to it.

Components

All parts and components for this build were lying around the workshop having been removed from other bikes I've worked on. The only money I spent was on a set of short bolts so the chainset could be run with a single chainring (£4), a set of new handlebar grips from the bargain bin of a local bike shop (£3) and new brake cables (£2). Otherwise everything else was reclaimed or reused right down to the refurbished headset and bottom bracket along with the cable outers, tyres and inner tubes.

This has become my go-to bike for riding the rough streets of Edinburgh as well as taking me on a few longer trips and is more fun to ride than many much more expensive bikes.