Now my basic strategy for this project was to use as many recycled (or free) bike parts as possible. It’s not (just) because I am cheap, but more importantly because I thought it would be cool to have some sort of pedal version of Frankenstein’s monster.
So in 2011 I started pulling the parts I liked off of the 1982 Centurion, Sport DLX that I had gotten in a package deal with another bike. This Centurion was nice, but the frame size was a little too small for me. It did have a really cool looking aluminum Quill Stem, and Crank Arms that I liked, and handle bars that I decided to “flip and clip” to make into bullhorn handlebars.
I also had two sets of brake levers… both had those sweet 1970’s Road Bike extension levers, (sometimes nicknamed suicide levers) which did have a retro cool look, but I could not make functional on bullhorns. So the extensions got pulled. I decided that if I liked how the bike rode I would replace the old steel 27 x 1 1/4″ rims with new 700c’s tires and buy a new chain even though I could have just shorten the old one. But before I put any money into the bike I would just pull all of the parts I needed off my Raleigh and take it to the test track… i.e. the school parking lot down the street!
