She’s turning 33 and wants a casual commuter town bike. Something to pop to the shops with, go to the gym, fun little trips out.
Her only requirements were a step through frame and for it to look like Barbie's Jeep. For simplicity, reliability and repairability I knew I wanted 1×10.
I found this early 90s steel MBK Trekking Colorado in a wild two-tone hot pink purple super local to me for £10 (Really difficult to accurately capture the vibrancy, last photo is close) The derailleurs were both shot, the rear hub had a lot of slop in it but the rest of the bike was in remarkable condition. Nothing seized and no rust.
Very much inspired by #CheapBikeBuildOff builds, this is a real parts bin/eBay/Vinted special. Not done to a specific budget, nor was it about that.
I have some even more swept back bars and might get a different stem with a nicer bar attachment but the current is functionally sound. We'll see how it fits her first. Also it could accommodate a wider range cassette if she needs and I'm 99% sure a front rack will also happen.
– MBK steel Trekking Colorado
– Tiagra 4650 crankset
– Keos 38t chainring
– Grippy super flat pedals because she loves to wear sandals 😂
– Shimano Deore 1×10
– Sunrace 11-32t cassette + chain
– DT Swiss/Specialized wheels
– Vandorm Road Route 28c tyres
– Slink Designs happy flower reflector
– Lots of fun pink and purple bits
It's rock solid, very upright and super comfy. I've loved building it. I can thoroughly recommend building a bike for a mate or loved one 💖
by HarryTheCaveman
3 Comments
Very sensible and yet extremely fun build, there were two boxes and you checked them! Hope she likes it. You should anticipate swapping the saddle for a women’s model, but other than that it looks amazing.
Awesome build, I hope your partner gets a lot of use out of it. And pink will always be the best colour for a bike.
This is awesome. I just built my wife a pink step-through Nishiki Colorado. Weird deja vu when I saw your gf’s bike. Looks great!