Ghetto modifications

Cqc

Hi just interested to see any unusual ghetto mods people have put on their bike (eg reflector turned chain guide, etc.)
Pictures welcome

cooldad

Ghettoblaster?

Northwind

SPEEDHOLES

The Rookie

A few things
Front mech into a chain guide by removing the return spring and washers and cutting off all the parts not needed like the actuation arm etc, much neater looking and lighter than a complete mech.
BB cable guide cut back for just a single cable to save weight on my 1x9, have a proper 1x guide on my commuter that came off a BSO.
Inner guide ring cut from a sheet of carbon fibre for my 1x9.
Downtube drilled and rivnuts inserted to take a crudcatcher

Not sure these class as proper ghetto but....
Nylon bolts (for blanking bottle cage etc bolt holes) died black (looked better than natural)
Frame stripped and resprayed with aerosol cans
Brakes built up using a mix and match of Shimano components of a similar age, Saint rear lever with an XTR calliper (IS mount direct to frame), XT front lever with the Saint calliper (PM mount direct to forks).

mike hunts alpine

The Rookie wrote:

A few things
Front mech into a chain guide by removing the return spring and washers and cutting off all the parts not needed like the actuation arm etc, much neater looking and lighter than a complete mech.
BB cable guide cut back for just a single cable to save weight on my 1x9, have a proper 1x guide on my commuter that came off a BSO.
Inner guide ring cut from a sheet of carbon fibre for my 1x9.
Downtube drilled and rivnuts inserted to take a crudcatcher

Not sure these class as proper ghetto but....
Nylon bolts (for blanking bottle cage etc bolt holes) died black (looked better than natural)
Frame stripped and resprayed with aerosol cans
Brakes built up using a mix and match of Shimano components of a similar age, Saint rear lever with an XTR calliper (IS mount direct to frame), XT front lever with the Saint calliper (PM mount direct to forks).

All sounds a bit frankensteinish

jimothy78

Briefly did a single speed conversion on an old 24spd bike using an old screw-on-freewheel hub -

Stripped down two old (6 and 7 speed) freewheels and rebuilt one using its 16T sprocket plus the spacers from both.

Locked out the rear mech by cutting the cable short and clamping it beneath a luggage-rack bolt on the seatstay, so it acted like a tensioner.

CitizenLee

Nothing elaborate from me, just a simple bodge to fix the broken ATA adjuster on my old 66s which would wind down when riding. This held them at max travel and quite surprisingly lasted until I sold the forks for spares or repair last year. Who needs travel adjust on 66s anyway?

cooldad

Good bodge, the only sad bit is the rasta colours.

jimothy78

Ooh! Those pics of the fork crown remind me of another - using a 1990s 6-speed thumb shifter to replace a missing pop-loc remote for my revelations. Actually an improvement, as it gave 6-position compression-damping control, rather than the on/off toggle of the poploc lever.

CitizenLee

cooldad wrote:

Good bodge, the only sad bit is the rasta colours.

Haha, I do a little bit of rasta on all my bikes. See below:



I must have been subjected to too much Culture Club in the 80s

jimothy78 wrote:

Ooh! Those pics of the fork crown remind me of another - using a 1990s 6-speed thumb shifter to replace a missing pop-loc remote for my revelations. Actually an improvement, as it gave 6-position compression-damping control, rather than the on/off toggle of the poploc lever.

That's actually one the best bodges I've heard of, top marks! Bonus point to be awarded if it was a DX Thumby

jimothy78

CitizenLee wrote:

Bonus point to be awarded if it was a DX Thumby

Sorry, not sure what it was, exactly, but pretty sure it wasn't DX - just an entry-level SIS shifter taken from my wife's old Raleigh Camaro.

jairaj

jimothy78 wrote:

Ooh! Those pics of the fork crown remind me of another - using a 1990s 6-speed thumb shifter to replace a missing pop-loc remote for my revelations. Actually an improvement, as it gave 6-position compression-damping control, rather than the on/off toggle of the poploc lever.

I did something similar. I used a barrel adjuster from some old V brakes and very short bit of cable in the pop lock. I could adjust the compression damping anywhere from fully open to half closed by winding out the barrel adjuster. Which suited me fine because I never used the lockout.

gt-arrowhead

Ive seen one of those old thumb shifters fitted to a quill stem before.

I have a good bodge, i had 2 sets of polished v brakes, and one of the ones i wanted to use had no return spring. So i used two different v brakes! Ill get a picture tomorrow.

The Rookie

mike hunts alpine wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

A few things
Front mech into a chain guide by removing the return spring and washers and cutting off all the parts not needed like the actuation arm etc, much neater looking and lighter than a complete mech.
BB cable guide cut back for just a single cable to save weight on my 1x9, have a proper 1x guide on my commuter that came off a BSO.
Inner guide ring cut from a sheet of carbon fibre for my 1x9.
Downtube drilled and rivnuts inserted to take a crudcatcher

Not sure these class as proper ghetto but....
Nylon bolts (for blanking bottle cage etc bolt holes) died black (looked better than natural)
Frame stripped and resprayed with aerosol cans
Brakes built up using a mix and match of Shimano components of a similar age, Saint rear lever with an XTR calliper (IS mount direct to frame), XT front lever with the Saint calliper (PM mount direct to forks).

All sounds a bit frankensteinish

May sound it, doesn't look it, check out top link in Sig, just on 10Kg.

Graydawg

Dunno if it's a ghetto mod but I was doing a C2C and was about 30 miles from home when one of my spokes snapped on my rear wheel. I didn't have any tools to remove said spoke as it was on the cassette side so I bodged it together by cable tying it to the spoke next to it to stop it from flapping about and getting wedged somewhere it shouldn't or causing more damage... Wheel got me home no bother and no more spoke snapped, though it was the end of the wheel and I upgraded shortly after!

Colinthecop

Does my toe warmers count....?




:oops:

arran77

Wurd biatches

Cqc

Poplock fix sounds awesome to me! Once built a dropper post by sticking an air strut inside the seat tube of an old HT frame. Low limit made out of reflector on seat post, high limit decided by the number of Jenga pieces I put under the air strut inside the seat tube. Adjusted by Allen key Welded into the seat clamp. 150mm of adjustment and cost me £15!