Last night I got out and did some official clunking on some un-official mountain bike trails along the Minnehaha creek with a buddy of mine. The Klunker worked... good enough to be fun, but bad enough to make these pretty tame 'trails' seem like a lot. Realistically it's perfect. I think I should look for a 39t front sprocket because the 44 or whatever is on there is quite large and I definitely chunked some logs with it last night. The lower gearing and extra clearance of the smaller sprocket would be helpful.
"Mountain biking" [read: riding in dirt] with a coaster brake is a trip. Braking modulation? Nope, you have a foot-actuated on off switch. Plus because pedaling backwards causes you to stop, you have to plan out your foot positioning in advance of the obstacle in front of you. The 180mm (I checked, they aren't 175's) cranks are pretty long and will hit things sooner than you expect. I'm pretty smitten; there were more than a couple times I was laughing like a child skidding down some hill or splashing through a puddle.
I found myself using the bar-ends far more than I expected. Because my hands weren't responsible for any brake or shift levers, I was able to muscle the bike around more, which made the gear ratio more tolerable.
Here it is at 10pm last night when I got home from my ride. That frame bag was $15 on Amazon and is awesome. I had a 12oz bevarage, my lock, both of my cell phones, my keys, and some tools in it and was able to ride without a backpack.
The sloppy creek mud gives the Klunker credibility.
Awesome too see it getting used already. Something hilarious about splashing a mud puddle and sliding down hills on an antique bike!
In reply to dropstep :
It's just so inefficient and stupid. I like it.
Still Klunking away over here. Took the bike out for a damp ride on Saturday night and the saddle decided to give up the ghost...
It's a bummer because it was comfortable and had 'cool' points being a Brooks... but it's destoyed now and has been replaced with a newer brown BMX saddle from my stash.
It's also the middle of November which means here in Minnesota we have snow on the ground. Not one to miss an opportunity to go get dirty I took the bike for a ride around a local lake tonight and snapped some pictures.
I love that rear light. It's a Niterider Sentinel 250 and it has those friggin' laser beams that come out and essentially make you a 'lane' wherever you're riding. I'm not sure it's actually helpful but man it looks cool at night and makes me feel like Tron.
Back home. The ride took less than an hour but it felt good to get out on a snowy day and get a couple miles in. Pictured you can see the less-broken replacement saddle and my black rear wheel which saved a bunch of rotating weight from the heavy Chrome steel one.
Bottom bracket snow!
That's all for now! I'm still looking around for a smaller sprocket to try out; but I like the way this one looks (it's original to the bike) and the gearing isn't terrible overall. I suspect with some heavier snow it might be a bit cumbersome, but we'll see.
Fun times!
In reply to Gunchsta :
I may have some vintage Schwinn sprockets laying around. How many teeth are you looking for?
In reply to Woody :
Somewhere around 39 - Singlespeed wisdom says 2-1 is an ideal ratio, and with my 18t rear cog a 39t sprocket would put me right there. Anywhere close might be worth exploring however.
I was wondering if that was rust or grease, so I tore it down. It cleaned up pretty nicely.
36-18 is awesome offroad, it's what I run on my klunker but if your riding any kind of longer distances without speed changes and terrains it gets a bit annoying. Could probably get used too it either way.
This is just my free opinion.
36 could work! That would give me some ground clearance and I could also go down a tooth or two in the rear if need be. Are you looking to part with it Woody?
In reply to Gunchsta :
It’s yours for the cost of shipping if you want it. Send me your address and I'll get it in the mail.
Woody was kind enough to send me the above mentioned 36t sprocket, and it actually showed up on Monday which was a day off for me. To the garage!
Original 46t on the left, new to me 36t on the right. The sprocket is in great shape, thanks Woody!
Mounted! The chainguard was hung on my wall as it looked silly over the smaller sprocket. I removed probably 4 links of chain and gained a couple inches of ground clearance going to the 36.
This is just how dirty the bike was before I changed over the sprocket and cleaned it up. It's been well used!
All cleaned up with the new sprocket.
I haven't gone on an extended ride yet, but the quick jaunt to the parts store a few blocks away felt good. It's a lot easier to get going and I think what I've lost in flat-ground speed I will have gained back in climbing ability. Plus as the snow will be starting soon I think the smaller cog may allow me to still trudge through some snow, the 46 was probably just too heavy of a gear to deal with the increased resistance of much snow.
While I was playing around with bicycles on my day off I also swapped out the comically tall sissy bar on the white bike for a much shorter unit. I like the way it looks a lot more and it should be much more convenient to ride now. The other sissy bar really interfered with my backpack when I rode.
WooHoo!
Thanks again for the sprocket Woody! The helpfulness of this forum is awesome.
Awesome, if you can get used too the different pedal cadence on flat ground the 36 is fantastic, just takes some getting used too each time I get back on the bike. I can't wait for a snow ride myself!
good call on leaving the chain guard off, I couldn't make mine look correct on a 36t either
dropstep said:
Awesome, if you can get used too the different pedal cadence on flat ground the 36 is fantastic
It's funny you mention this; I went for a little 5 mile ride up to the local grocery store last night and my first thought was "well, I'm not used to spinning like this" ha ha.
But - by the time I was headed home I was already more accustomed to it. The 36 looks more appropriate and it feels more forgiving; last night it was getting pretty windy on the ride home and with the 46 I would have been really grunting to turn that gear, but the 36 allowed me to just spin into the wind and not exert a ton more energy. I like it!
I also stopped and rode a local skatepark in the darnkess with my lights; I took a couple of cell phone videos but they didn't turn out great. Maybe I'll see if I can piece something together.
Klunkin!
See if this works - I put together a quick little YouTube video of some riding in the dark.
I'm glad that the sprocket worked out for you! It was just going to waste in my basement.
In reply to Woody :
Yeah it works well! Thank you for getting it to me.
Video works, certainly plenty dark! Take it during the day when the kids are out and they look at you really funny.
In reply to dropstep :
Yeah, I was hoping the lights would look cool boppin around but I think I was mistaken 
I'm happy to report that the 36t is a welcome change. I rode the Klunker 32 miles yesterday and the gearing was about perfect. I downloaded Strava which allowed me to track my ride, and playing around trying to keep up with my buddy on a road bike I hit a max speed of 27.7 miles an hour, and my average speed was 10.5 mph. The bike rides great, and when I'm feeling fresh the gearing is enough that I can spin it up quick, but it's also forgiving when I'm headed home with a headwind.
I also found a fun little jump over a walking path along the creek (which I wanted to video but no opportunity presented itself) and enjoyed plenty of beers at a couple of the awesome breweries we have. For those interested I went to Surly, Modist, and Pryes. All have excellent beer and great atmosphere. At the last stop (Pryes) I found a little rock along the path to hop up onto, told my buddy about it, and he got a massive pinch flat hanging up hopping onto it. Luckily it was right across the street from the brewery so we pulled his wheel off and brought the tube in and attempted to patch it.
Unfortunately my patch kit was pretty old, and his pinch was pretty big, so we weren't able to complete the job successfully. His fiance came and picked him up, and I headed to Modist for a crowler on my way home. When all was said and done I had 32 miles on the day. It was pretty nice because I probably didn't ride more than 8 miles at a time, but over the course of the day it really added up.
I tried to take some pictures, but naturally fun prevailed over photography so I have one from the start of the ride and one from the end.
Crossing over highway 62 on a pedestrian bridge
Near Hennepin Ave along the river downtown. This Grain Belt Beer sign was recently restored and is a pretty cool feature of the city.
Thanks for reading!
What BB did you use to run the BMX cranks in that frame?
In reply to 93EXCivic :
A Redline one I got on eBay for an american BB and 22 millimeter spindle.
Ah, Grain Belt Premium. Haven’t had one since Feb 2012, last time I was in Minnasoota.
This has inspired me to air up the tires on mine and get it back out! All I've been riding is the pavement princess
