This is a 1987 Shogun Alpine GT. A steel touring bike frame that’s heavier than the day is long. It cost me $22.50 at BikeWorks in 2013 when it came home with me one day strapped to the CETMA, not because I needed another heavy steel bike but because it was only $22.50.
It’s been through a few iterations from single speed to 3 x 7 with satisfying Suntour thumb shifters on that Ritchey Logic triple. But it’s never been a “go-to” bike for me. Never my first choice.
I’ve found that I can mess around with bikes’ setups, cycling through handlebars, saddles, shifters and tires until one day it all comes together and finally feels like it should feel, the way it was meant to be — for me.
For example, my 91 Rock Hopper has been through several handlebars: flat, riser, super sweep, cruiser until finally I got a full-on full-retail klunker bar and now it feels like it should. Heavy and slow and smooth and smile inducing.
The Shogun is slowly making its way into another iteration. Single-speededly. It’s always been the red headed step child in the bike room. The Bad News Bears kid at the end of the bench. The last player the coach calls up for a full fendered rainy day ride.
Recently I pulled the wheel set including the tires off the Shogun and slapped it on the Allez. Which left the Shogun hobbled, helpless and sad. More sad than usual. That Peter-to-Paul parts swap set off a sequence of events to get the Shogun back on the road rolling wheels it was built for, 27 inch. No not that 27.5 - 650b horseshit marketing 584 bsd. The real deal 27” aka 630 bsd aka old school.
One can half-ass a 27” frame with 700c wheels but the brakes will never feel like they should unless some long-reach adjustments are made. Cost-benefit analysis comes into play on a bike that cost $22.50. My Soma, built for 27” wheels, has been rolling 700c for 25 years and it feels great because of its long-reach dual pivot brakes.
Here & now in July of 2024 this Shogun is starting to roll with a 27 front wheel from BikeWorks laced to an Origin8 hub. And a 27 rear wheel from Recycled Cycles laced to a flip-flop Origin8 hub. I got some used 27” tires from BikeWorks for $0.00 because they’re in sad shape. They’ll get me through this test ride phase and then I’ll need some new tires. That schrader tube I found didn’t work out so I had to actually use a schrader-presta adapter on the rear wheel and put the Alor skull cap back into my memento mori display.
You might think a 41 x 17 sounds a bit small for a single speed. However, tweak your gear inch calculator to 27” wheels on a steel tank with 175mm cranks. Then pretend you’re an old crusty commuter that lives at the top of a lot of hills and walk a mile in my shoes.
repetitions repeating repeatedly
redundantly redundant redundancies
reiterating itinerant iterations
wah wah wah
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