Rick from Philly

[RickG]

Hi all.

I've had a 1994 H400 that hanging in my garage for the last 20+ years. The bike belonged to my father-in-law, who passed this summer after living with brain injury for the 21 years. Despite being unrideable, my wife wasn't willing to part with it for sentimental reasons. She jumped all over the idea of me attempting to build a working bike.

The components were pretty much unusable, but when I disassembled everything, the frame was in great shape. With that in mind, I am doing a buildup around the frame and forks. While this isn't a restoration, I am staying fairly true to the original style of the bike and staying on a budget. I am about to cable the shifters, then install the brakes. I will post pictures once I am finished.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[black lightning 1987]

Sounds like a nice project. Are you going to put big tires on it? I'd be interested to know what will fit the H frames. I think the older SH hybrids may have more clearance, just guessing based on chainstay lengths. From the catalog we know that 38 mm tires fit the H frames. I'd like to build a bike with tires in the 45-47 mm range for rough gravel and soft conditions during winter and spring. My touring bikes will only fit a 33-35 mm tire. The hybrid frames are hard to find in the larger sizes, seems most men bought road, touring, or mountain bikes. There are 5 or 6 hybrids listed within 150 miles of me but they are all small frames.

 

[RickG]

For this initial build, I am staying with 35mm which were on it originally. I definitely have enough clearance to go bigger but I haven’t explored what my options are yet. I’m in the Philadelphia area, there is no shortage of larger hybrid bikes/frames here.

 

[black lightning 1987]

If you see a 22" or 25" SH, let me know.