The Korean Commuter
No-name frame, steel, 'made in Korea' is the only decal on the bike
TTT stem and, um, tt bars I forget the brand since I put them on as soon as I bought them
Original fork is a 27". This scrappy 700c fork came off a friend's Italian road bike.
Weinmann SP17 w/ Formula hub
Ditto.
Sakae SX, flipped original bb,
San Marco Rolls perched on a cheap aluminum post
Sakae SX w/mks & lapize; cheap 1/8" chain
48 x 16, 'cos I really only want to burn one spot in my tires...what can I say, it's the gear I roll in.
For a free bike off Craigslist that had been a guy's childhood ride in the '70s before spending a decade or two gathering dust in a garage, this bike rides like a dream. No markings on it save the made-in-korea sticker, the owner claims it was his first bike, he lived in Japan at the time. It's got some real hinky features on it, namely the stamped chainstays and a curved piece of metal for a chainstay/kickstand support instead of a tube. I put it together with whatever was around, and use it as my any-weather commuter bike. It has served me well. It was so stable with the original fork that I could ride the 2.5 miles home from work at 2am without needing hands-- very stable bike. Then I went and put my friend's 700c Italian fork on to bring down the profile a bit, and now it's gained some agility at the expense of a lot of it's former grace, as well as a nice chunk of toe overlap. The bars/brake/levers setup has thrown off the weight balance too, so this ride's probably going to go through further tinkering.