Jeez, that's a big engine.

N+1
 

I'm going to pick up a bicycle in Ellensburg tomorrow, a bike I've lusted after ever since Lance's (debunked) TDF victories in the early 2000's.

A Trek 5200 United States Postal Service edition.

These were nearly $3,000 in 2004 when this one was made. That was (is) stupid expensive for me, but this one is less than a third of what it was new. Still not cheap but oh so cool.

I need it like I need another cat, but I want it, I can afford it, and I have no wife to %$#& on me if she doesn't like it ;-)

At 18 pounds it is extremely light, but as a sign of how technology progresses, that's still a pound heavier than my modern Motobecane, which would have cost half what the Trek cost new.

The bike is in new condition. Bought by this guy's son who died shortly afterwards, and bike has been sitting in the home ever since then. Sad situation but I will be happy to ride the bike.

Ive lusted after wizzers since I was a kid but could never afford one so now I make my own. I have a modded 200cc harbor fright greyhound engine I built into a new Chief bicycle frame ( china made ). Its running a CVT tranny with an overdrive. Iam now building a new bike with a schwinn mountain bike frame and a lifan 97cc flathead side valve engine. It has 7 speeds with a granny gear and a overdrive. I made the wheels myself with oversized spokes and Sturmay Archer drum brake hubs front and rear. I used double walled downhill racing rims. My grand father told me about the Indian flathead motorized bicycle he had before I was born so I was hooked since I was a kid.
Riding an ultra lite motorcycle can be a lot of fun.

It's amazing that somebody would go to Walmart to buy pedals for such a nice bike doc ,at least they didn't install the included wicker basket and the handlebar streamers .

Extremely interesting projects and engineering!

We would love to see pictures!

Pedals are very personal on bikes like this. Most people sell the bike without pedals, assuming the buyer has their own they prefer.

Courteous sellers will put on a pair of cheap pedals to make it easy to test ride.

I have my own preferred pedals to put on it.

As an example here is a Trek I am selling on CL now:

https://kpr.craigslist.org/bik/5837045348.html

Note the body of the text regarding the pedals and seat...

Sold! I'll be pedaling to WA to pick up tomorrow. :lol:

Nice ride.Good luck with the sale.

I own a few dozen discount store bikes and two good US made bikes,an '88 Mongoose Decade Pro, which was my freestyle bike in my youth, and a '98 GT Outpost Trail cross country bike.My GT is simply a rigid frame standard fork mountain bike with good mid range Shimano Ultegra brakes,gearing,rapid fire shifters,and hubs.Spokes are SS and rims are Aluminum Sun Star,I think.Really light bike made from 7075 aluminum.I think it's 28-29lbs and 21 speed.I can't remember the gearing specs.

I currently ride a china made full suspension mountain bike I bought on sale at Academy Sports.I can't even remember the brand or model.It does what I need,which is to ride around the neighborhood with my 13 year old son and his mom,my waifu.

Whoa, Doc. Nice. :tup:

I bet if you lose those god awful heavy Bontragers for a pair of Contis, you can get that lighter than the Motobecane. That said, the Bontragers will wear like iron.

The chrome-molly mountain bikes of that generation were great, even (especially?) the non-suspension ones. They were light and strong, and that's the key in a MB, IMHO.

Where I ride the MB here, it's mostly climbing on smooth-ish trails. Sure you go down too, but at 5x the speed of climbing so more than 80% of the time you are going up. So, why carry more parts and weght than you need more than 80% of the time?

I have a mid-range almuminum front suspension MB. Disk brakes and all that.

Roger just bought a $50 chrome-molly 90's high quality non-suspension MB that must be more than 5 pounds lighter. He will have an edge in the climb. Alas, I have the lighter engine ;-)

The tires are Botranger Race-Lites. Kevlar beads and thin supple sidewalled slicks. They seem light enough. Good enough to ride at any rate ;-)

I brought the bike home yesterday. It was as advertised. Near new condition with a small (3-4mm) paint blemish on the side of the top tube. Still has the mold induced ridge on the tires. No sign of wear on the brake tracks.

It has a carbon fiber waterbottle cage and a slick Flight Deck computer that integrates with the shifters to tell you gears and gear ratio and cadence in addition to speed and distance and all that. The controls for the computer are built into the brake/shifter levers so you don't have to take your hands out of postion to use the computer. Neat touch.

It is dirty and dusty from years of storage on the wall of the garage, but should clean up beautifully. Look for pics after I have a chance to go through it.

BTW, the lift and shake test I can't feel a weight difference between it and the Motobecane but on paper should be about a pound. Not much at all :-)

Pics
 

Ok here is my current ride.



And a pic of the jack shaft I drive the rear wheel with.

Lance had not yet fallen from grace when I was doing distance rides. At that time, I hoped the price of a used carbon 5200 would drop dramatically following the introduction of the Madone. Alas, the 5200 continued to hold its value and it was out of range for me.

My new Schwinn. Comparable in weight to Doc's new bike.:tup:

Found it for sale along the road in Minnesota. Missing the chain guard, but otherwise all there and original.

Great Schwinn Kato.

That bike will serve you well forever. I think that's what they call an 'Electroforged' Schwinn, made in Chicago and will outlast the planet. Heavy but cool in it's own right. Even getting some collector value lately. Enjoy!