The Brooklyn Mareze Badged City Bike 650B Conversion
It rather amazes quite how much trial and error seems to be an inevitable and unavoidable part of getting a build about right-- even with a fairly focused goal, as was the case here, with the chrome, circa 1950 mystery frame I bought this past February (at what seemed an irresistible bargain price).
In any event the goal was to convert a bare vintage 700c frame to 650B and build it up as something vaguely in what might be called an Alex Herse-ish style, a bit more "gentlemanly" than porteuresque, and equally well to suited running errands in the neighborhood, an evening out, or a leisurely afternoon ride in the park.
And in addition to creating a fanciful new identity for it as a Brooklyn built "Mareze," I rather hoped if I could get the component mix about right, the overall impression might be something that plausibly could have been, even if it never was.
A Radios Nº16 front light, a modern Dutch Nordlicht dynamo, and the tedious task of wiring are still to come. But it is surprisingly lightweight, and on today's first shakedown cruise, it showed considerable promise of becoming a nimble and rather plush ride. The real surprise has been the set of Grand Bois Lierre 38mm tires-- which almost magically soak up bumps even better than the 42mm Hetres I have on my two other 650B bikes.
The Brooklyn Mareze Badged City Bike 650B Conversion
It rather amazes quite how much trial and error seems to be an inevitable and unavoidable part of getting a build about right-- even with a fairly focused goal, as was the case here, with the chrome, circa 1950 mystery frame I bought this past February (at what seemed an irresistible bargain price).
In any event the goal was to convert a bare vintage 700c frame to 650B and build it up as something vaguely in what might be called an Alex Herse-ish style, a bit more "gentlemanly" than porteuresque, and equally well to suited running errands in the neighborhood, an evening out, or a leisurely afternoon ride in the park.
And in addition to creating a fanciful new identity for it as a Brooklyn built "Mareze," I rather hoped if I could get the component mix about right, the overall impression might be something that plausibly could have been, even if it never was.
A Radios Nº16 front light, a modern Dutch Nordlicht dynamo, and the tedious task of wiring are still to come. But it is surprisingly lightweight, and on today's first shakedown cruise, it showed considerable promise of becoming a nimble and rather plush ride. The real surprise has been the set of Grand Bois Lierre 38mm tires-- which almost magically soak up bumps even better than the 42mm Hetres I have on my two other 650B bikes.