We’ve all been thrilled and fascinated by Russ’s transformation of his old Trek into a versatile city bike and his “reverse fixed-gear conversion“. Both of these bikes really embody the European utility bike, both in function as well as in aesthetics…shellaced cork grips, swoopy upright handlebars, ability to haul loads, etc.
I’ve been kicking around a project just like this, too….except mine is more on a budget (using salvaged parts). The concept behind what I’ve been referring to as “Jack’s Patented Grocery Gitter” is that I really needed to develop a European-style errand bike, something with utility in mind but something that also has little monetary value. I don’t want to have to worry about this bike being in the rain or getting chewed up by substandard bike racks. Most importantly, if someone were to steal this bike, I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it.
So many errands can be completed within just a couple miles of my house…trips to the bank, the drugstore, the grocery store, the post office, etc. With any of the current bikes in my stable, I’d often worry about them getting damaged or stolen, and that made me more reluctant to do these kinds of quick trips by bike. With this elegant “beater”, I can lay those fears to rest and start saving even more gas than I’ve been!
The first step was to “devalue” the Belgian-made French Astra I’ve been using as my weekend commuter. Basically, this means putting a pair of crappy 700c wheels I’ve had in my shed on it, removing all the other decent parts and swapping them out with old stuff gathering dust in my spare parts bins.
I managed to find the original chromed handlebars for this bike in my shed, so I slipped them back on with a longer stem and some MTB brake levers.
I had a pair of all-weather BMX grips, too, so I stuffed them on the ends of the bars. Now I can channel the spirit of our very own RL Policar whenever I ride it:
The next steps are to convert the singlespeed drivetrain into a 1×6 setup, run cables to the brakes and derailleur (and pray the left-hand Shimano shifter works to push the rear derailleur far enough — I can’t find the right-hand side thumbie) and slap some grocery baskets on there. I am favoring a chrome Wald front basket with struts to sort of match the folding wire rear pannier/baskets I’m planning on installing. It ain’t no CETMA rack, but I think it will suffice for my purposes…
Stay tuned for more!
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