Molly: The Un-Cruiser!

Many many moons ago ( at least 60, I think ), I built out Molly, a single speed free-wheeled track bike for hauling around town on. I’ve been pretty bored with it lately.

Molly and her flipped and chopped drop bars:

My Bicycle Under the NEW Bike Lane Sign

 
Not anymore! I threw some cruiser bars on her, dropped the seat a smidge, and she’s a whole different bike! I love riding it again:

Anti-Cruiser!
 
Anti-Cruiser!

 
An unforseen summer-time bonus is that sitting much more upright tends to limit my top speed – in the old config, I think I topped it out at ~32mph on level ground. Not so much now. I still have much higher efficiency than a standard cruiser, so 15mph now doesn’t even come close to breaking a sweat. It didn’t make me sweat on the old setup at that speed, but I tended to just plain ride faster – I couldn’t help it. 15mph or faster on a cruiser takes much more effort.

3 comments

  1. That’s not nearly as ugly as I thought it would be when I saw your tweet. The reasons listed above are the exact reasons I love my Electra cruiser when I’m not in a hurry to be anywhere in particular. The over-sized tires and general cruiserness of the bike also help keep the pace relaxed.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *