From a note to Bradley Cunningham:
My wife and I have a couple of
Roadsters which are mild customs. On my wife's bike, I transplanted a Nexus
7-speed with coaster brake off of a Phat Business Class chopper, and also welded in a long-rail seat frame so she can reach the pedals. We ride these Roadsters over 1000 miles a year (yikes!) so we have had to do some mods to make them roadworthy. After tearing the cord up in 3 Super Slicks, and blowing up two more (sounds like a small cannon connected to a Marshall amp) we had to change to the 85psi IRC gumwall tires. Another weak point to watch out for is the seat frame, as my 135 lbs has trashed 3 of them. I also drilled and tapped the rear dropouts so that I could move the fender mounts off of the axle. This really helps when trying to align and tighten the rear wheel. You'll recognize the Schwinn blue dot rear light.
My Roadster has a Cordura bag/tank which was made and embroidered by my
wife. The bike weighs 45lbs with the bag full of tools which are necessary with the amount of riding we do. I'm sticking with the single speed hub, although my coaster brake is trashed and in need of immediate replacement.
My wife and I participate in the Houston to Austin MS150 every year. This is a charity ride to raise money and awareness for the Multiple Sclerosis society. It's a big kick to roll up to the starting line on a pair of Roadsters and mingle with the titanium and carbon fiber crowd. It's all in how much you train for the ride. To quote our local hero, Lance Armstrong;
"It's not about the bike". I average 15.0 mph for the entire route (170 to 184 miles depending on detours) and have hit 42mph on the downhill. The "aero tuck" for this kind of speed requires quite a bit of flexibility training :) . We call it the "Kruiser Kannonball".
We both rode our Roadsters in 2000, but last year Nancy upgraded to a
7-speed Phat Business class. Her first training ride with the Phat was with
24" high ape hangers! I swapped out the apes to aluminum BMX bars for the
MS150. Check out the Phat guys, they are not that far from you. When you
get to their "world headquarters" look for the "Used Bikes" sign across from
the abortion clinic (I am not joking). These guys rock! They actually
sponsored my wife on the MS150 to the tune of $140 in pledges.
