Saturday, July 31, 2010

Project Trek




About two weeks ago, my neighbor emailed about a bike he noticed for sale off a motorcycle site. He said it looks perfect for Amy. I checked out the bike and sure enough, a pink 20" wheel Trek for $25. A steal for sure. After a day of voice mail tag with the guy, we drove over and picked it up. His daughter had out grown the little pink Trek and was now riding a 24" wheel Specialized. Perfect, so we forked over the dough and brought the bike home. I've been busy lately, so yesterday was the first chance I had to prep the bike for my daughter.



As purchased and ready for some cleaning and modifications. Bike is a tad big for Amy, so I had some ideas to shrink it down to size. First a quick wash, since it was a little muddy. The headset was incredibly loose, thought for sure the bearings were toast, but all was fine after some fresh grease and adjustment. I then removed the BMX style handlebars and rear hand brake, since it already had a coaster brake. No sense confusing braking matters with Amy at the moment.



After modifications and ready to roll. I cut about an inch off the seatpost, so it can be slammed down low as possible. I also slid the seat up on the rails a bit. Some old cut down mountain bike bars replaced the BMX 'bars, lowering the front end a few inches. I moved the original pink grips over to complete the look. Pretty cool, huh? Sorta like a custom chopper.




Amy in action on the new rig, she really likes it. It's still a tad big, but for buzzing around, works okay. With the aluminum frame and rims, it's fairly light as well. Plus it's pink - she digs that. Fun, quick, cheap project that worked out great. She'll be able to ride this bike for quite awhile, since I can always raise the seat and swap the BMX bars back into use. Pretty sweet deal for $25, no?

It's been a blast watching her getting into riding bikes over the last few weeks. She's having a lot of fun and learning quite a bit. Great stuff for sure.

6 comments:

  1. Nice bike, good deal, and a great dad.

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  2. It does have a chopper thing going on. Glad to see her out riding and having a good old time.

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  3. Good work Dan, do you think Amy will let me ride her bike when we visit? It is just my size. Mom

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  4. Yeah - but then we'll have to put the training wheels back on.....

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  5. Wow. So cool! I can't believe she can ride w/o trainers! Strong work on the rebuild. It's so cool to be able to work on that stuff and give your daughter a great new gift.

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  6. Amy's riding interest has just taken hold. I think she'll be riding in the woods with us soon - maybe next year.

    The little Trek turned out to be a cool, cheap project.

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