devenscience

A sex change. Many do it, and now, I have, as well.

This is the act of converting a girl's bike into a boy's. Why, what did you think I was talking about? See, for whatever reason, boy's bikes are the collectable ones. Maybe because they were traditionally ridden harder, or because vintage bike collecting/restoration is predominately a man's game, but regardless of why, girl's bikes can be old, and well cared for, and have all of the right parts, but because of those two bars going downward together, it's worth a quarter of what the boy's bike is, even in worse condition.

So, some bike guys will get that lesser expensive girl's bike, and give it a sex change to make it a cool bike for them. There are many ways to do it, but it usually involves cutting off the top bar, and moving it up, or putting in a whole new one into the higher position.

I came across another way to to this that looked so fun and unique, I've been wanting to try it. So, I got a frame from a neighbor for free, and built this bike one hundred percent with parts that I already had in my shop. It's so cool, it's now my new daily rider. Instead of cutting and moving, it's called a "flipped bike." You simply flip the frame upside down, weld on a new bottom bracket for the crank and pedals, and weld on a post for the seat. It was that simple. It only took me a few hours, and I really like it.







You can see how it totally changes the lines of the bike. It leans more forward, the forks are more raked, and it has a more generally mean slant to it, all without chopping it up. It's just upside down.

This has been so cool in my opinion, I already have plans to do another one with a second frame that I've got.