Looking for an old roadie

[Sal Atticum]

I'm looking for an old Schwinn or similar steel-frame road bike to use as a commuter and to cruise around town on.  Most of the problem I have is finding one large enough--something around  59cm would be optimal.

[Plantains]

This is like the WORST time to find bicycles... because of Newman center and GBP.

If you're going to be around here for the summer... thats the time to look. I'll keep my eyes peeled for you though. Im looking for something for a friend in the vacinity of 55cm. Anything with horizontal or semi-horizontal drops will do.

PS - I know there was another black Schwinn Caliente bike at one of the thrift stores... I was going to pick it up today but it got snatched. Wondering if it was anyone on here?

[Sal Atticum]

Well, that one we picked up on the ride the other night works pretty well.  The only problem is that, while the frame  i a good size, the stem is too short (it's about 50 mm).  I've looked around online a bit, but I'm wondering if putting a 150 mm stem on this bike is a good idea.  I don't have one laying around that is nearly that long, but I'd be willing to trade some parts or some dollars if someone else has one and thinks this isn't an insane idea.

In other news, I was looking at flip-flop hubs online.  From what I understand, to get a singlespeed/fixie combo going I need:
1.  A double-sided fixie/free rear hub.
2.  A freewheel cog.
3.  A fixed cog and a lockring.

Am I missing anything (besides the fact that I should buy new 700cc wheel for this thing instead of rebuilding the rear 27 incher)?

[Plantains]

Not missing anything.

1. Putting a stem that long on the bike will be fine. Find a nice threaded stem on ebay, I just picked one up for Emmy's bike for $4.

2. If you're going to put a new flip flop hub in it, you'll MOST likely need new spokes, at least for the drive side so that you can re-dish the wheel to center. Otherwise your chainline will be screwed, you won't be able to use a brake with both sides of the flopped wheel and it won't have the strength it needs to support your weight appropriately. When I built mine, I bought a new set of crappy wheels for about $90ish shipped I think. Just get to the ebay roadbike wheelset section and type "fix" into the search box. Mine were a buy it now sorta thing. If you really wanted to, you could build a nice set of wheels, but if its going to be a commuter... no worries. My wheels worked great and since they're 700's I can run 35c tires with no clearance issues. You just need to find a brake setup thats got the reach thats long enough. I traded Yost an old 105 caliper and for a long reach caliper (max of 57mm) and had Mario grind me an extra 3mm or so in the slots. Works peeeeeeeeerfect. I also have a cross brake lever for you (right hand) which SHOULD be used for the rear but would work fine either way if you want to use 26.0 bars. Its new, its hinged as well so you can take it on and off without having to retape your bars.

BTW - My new wheels also came with a crappy 14t cog. So that made the cost more justified.

Edit: My wheels were from Bens Cycle. Its the Milwaukee Bicycle Co. which is an ACTUAL bike shop. They came fast, they are handbuilt, they're a solid wheelset. Also... it appears that they aren't coming with a crappy cog anymore. If you want I have a 14T available (no name) but I would e-mail them saying... hey I saw before that your wheels came with a cog and now they don't. I'm in middle school and have been saving up all winter to buy these... is there any way you could throw a cog in. Or some sob story like that. Im sure they'll toss you one.

[Sal Atticum]

I found a stem last night and ordered it this morning.  I didn't really want to move on wheels until I was sure the frame would be good, but I'm going to figure out how much money I have (yeah refund, woot woot), and I'd like to get something put together before I have to start working this summer.

I assume you are suggesting a wheelset like this.

I'm going to stick with the stock handlebar and brake(s) until I figure out what I want.  I've done enough riding on those kinds of brakes that I think I'll be okay.

[Plantains]

Those are the same exact wheels that I have except mine are silver.

They're nice for beaters.

If you're going to stick with the stock bars and brakes, I might suggest at the very least removing the levers that are on the top. They are notoriously useless.

Also... you could always do a flop and chop and then you'd have yourself some nice cheap bullhorns. Unless you like the drops... but personally... I would never ride in the drops for commuting... too uncomfortable.