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My wife decided she wanted a cruiser, so she found the one she wanted…. And so did I.
It’s a Nirve Fifty-Three. Three speeds, springer fork, steel frame, & three-inch tires. My plan is to turn it into a klunker-mountain bike.
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That’s what all the sorority girls rode back in college, seems a little apropos for your lady.
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That Fifty-Three is mine…. Linz is getting the Nirve Minx.
The picture of the Minx is an older one, the new Minx’es don’t have a springer fork, so she ordered a springer, plus some baskets.
I’m switching out the stock barb stem for a regular stem/adapter, and putting either an H-bar or an On-One Mary bar on it. A light-weight alloy seatpost will replace the OEM heavy post, as will a lighter saddle (although a Brooks would be awesome!). I’m going to switch out the full-length fenders for some short fenders as well. And lastly, sometime in the future, I’ll get either a heavier-duty vintage springer fork, or one of these:
I think I’d much prefer the Lawwill Leader fork. It’s got 2.5" of travel, and is much lighter than a springer fork. Yeah, it’ll look funny on a cruiser frame, but I gotta have some squish if it’ll be bombing down fireroads.
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Holy cow Bomardier, I haven`t thought about those two forks in years. Can you still purchase them? Or is it an Ebay item?
Either one of them forks would be a conversation starter around these parts. Their so quirky, that the`re cool. -
You can still buy those Lawwill forks online!
We went and picked up our Nirves today. Linz put a basket on hers, with a little modification.
I’ve yet to order my bottom-bracket 3-piece crankset adapter, threadless stem adapter, mustache bars, and 2.5 Kenda Short-tracker tires. I still have to locate a front hub brake, as the Tektro cantilever front brake is useless.Otherwise, these bikes are beautifully painted & finished. The welds aren’t the best; definitely not when compared to the obsessive beads found on high-end MTBs, but they’re certainly better than other brand cruisers we’ve looked at. The Shimano 3-speed Nexus works very nicely, and the bike picks up & maintains speed surprisingly fast & easy.
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Here’s my first steps towards making my cruiser into the NirveKlunker….
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Just got my early Christmas present today…. A Sturmey-Archer XFD front drum brake.
I still need to lace it to my Nerve’s wheel, but I mounted it up to the Nerve’s springer fork to check fit and function. The hub came with a cable and parts kit, so out of curiosity I attached the cable and ran it to the Tektro brake lever that came on the bike. It works perfectly! So I stripped the stock Tektro v-brake off the bike (good riddance to useless brakes).
The drum brake has a large leverage (for lack of proper terminology) bar that needs to be attached to the fork leg, and the bracket for doing so was also included. This leverage bar is what keeps the outer hub stationary, and stops the wheel from turning.The drum/hub itself spins very nicely, and though it’s not light (1.69lbs)…. the stopping power is insane for such an old design!
Surprisingly, there’s a decent amount of modulation available at the lever as well, not as much as a hydraulic disc brake, but considerably more than a rim brake. And when the brake is fully applied, there is [i:2ggi9yf8][b]no slippage[/i:2ggi9yf8][/u], even when trying to force it to spin!The best part about the XFD brake is that it’s internally sealed; which means that no amount of water/mud/oil will degrade it’s braking power. Overall quality is outstanding, well worth the $60 it cost. These things aren’t made anymore, but if I can find another I’ll snap them up.
I would not hesitate to use on of these on a regular mountainbike in lieu of a mechanical disc brake, or even a cheapo hydraulic brake. As long as weight is not a concern. My Magura Gustav front caliper & rotor weigh 640g/1.41lbs, and just from this mock-up test, the XFD is easily as powerful as the Magura Julies I’ve used. The Gustavs will lock a wheel no matter the speed or incline. So if the Sturmey-Archer brake can do that, I’ll be extremely impressed.
I can’t wait to lace it up to my wheel, and test it on a steep trail. I’m sure that if I’m not careful, it will be liable to throw me OTB! -
dude, need updates!!!
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"Slyp_Dawg" wrote
dude, need updates!!!
I know, I know. 😕 😉
Funny, I didn’t think many people where that interested in my Klunker.
I’ve yet to lace the XFD into my front wheel, and obtain a crankset to match the Howitzer bottom-bracket I’ve got.
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I removed the stock one-piece crankset & bottom-bracket first, and then punched out the bearing cups to make room for the 3-piece crankset & BB I got off of the Diamondback. The cranks are Truvativ
I sill haven’t gotten the front brake drum laced up into wheel, so I stuck the old wheel back on for the time being. However, now that I have a set of rims & Kenda tires from the DB, the Nirve wheels will be going onto Lindsey’s cruiser. From somewhere I scrounged up a couple Wellgo alloy flat pedals so I can ditch the crappy Diamondback plastic flats, and the WTB saddle I had laying around is my butt-perch now instead of the heavy Nirve couch-saddle.Just ditching the one-piece crankset, comfort saddle, heavy plastic flat pedals, and switching my rims out for a lighter-weight MTB pair have cut the weight on my beast by at least three pounds.
Tonight I completely stripped my DB Response hardtail for parts & pictures (needed for the Singletracks How-to Wiki). When I was done with that, I got crackin’ on the Nirve. Here’s my bike-corner and workspace in our living room. Lindsey’s HiFi is absent because there’s just no spot for it.
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I had a bit of extra time today, so I put the some finishing touches on the Klunker. 😎
After remounting the wheels and shortening a chain to sit on the middle chain-ring, I took it out for a quick test spin. I quickly ascertained that the Sturmey-Archer XF8 front drum-brake wasn’t gripping hard enough. The problem stemmed from the brake-arm which clamps to the fork leg. The clamp provided in the XF8 kit was too big for the slender springer fork leg, and even though I had stuck a makeshift spacer under the clamp, it was exhibiting too much play, letting the brake-arm move which made the brake lose power.
After screwing about with a couple aluminum discs that I cut out & bent, I found a thick, hard rubber bushing from my Wife’s old ’55 Buick’s shock absorbers. It’s internal diameter was exactly the size of the springer fork’s leg, and I decided to dispense with the XFD’s stock clamp. Instead I used a plain old hose-clamp, which I tightened over the brake-arm and around the bushing. After taking another test spin, the drum-brake now has more than enough power to haul the Nirve down from speed…. even though it’s still not as efficient as it could be. Because the bike has a springer fork instead of a rigid one, under braking the springer fork tops-out before full braking-power is achieved.
I also swapped out tires, from the German-brand 1.8" XCs, to some 2.1" Kenda Klaws that were laying around. The Nirve has gobs of tire clearance, so I could even go up to 2.5"s, but that would be overkill. I still have to rig up a chain tensioner so that I can mount a front derailleur, and not have to stop and manually drop the chain from chainring to chainring (resizing it or sliding the back wheel in the process). Either that, or eventually I’ll just knuckle-down and get a SRAM 8-speed internal hub and go with a single chainring up front.
This is gonna be a fun bike on the fireroads! 😼
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that is awesome 😎
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