I picked up this chro-mo steel framed MOTIV brand (a Costco special) mountain bike really cheaply recently. It was a clean "garage queen" but lacked a saddle, seat post, and the shifters (shift+brake combo) were haywire like the ratcheting mechanism went afoul (common for a low end thumb shifter I've experienced). It has virtually brand new Tioga city tires too (though on the outset I was hoping to have a slightly more offroadable bike) and I intended to build it up for an in-town rider that I can leave chained up anywhere without too much worry about it being stolen or stripped.
I spent less than an hour swapping out the shifter+brake combo for an old school thumb shift and canti brake levers (somewhere I got these and had them lingering in a box of parts for just this type of project) and I found a bargain bin used seat at Bike Works ($5). The longest part of this work was getting off the handle grips without tearing the rubber. I also found a seatpost on e-Bay for $10 shipped. It should be here in a week or so, but I was eager to test ride the bike today, now that I'd fixed the gear issues.
I developed a 4 zip tie temporary fix for the lack of a seat post.
Here is the bike.
How the seat sits.
(Note to tinkerers: see the small yellow part on the seat? It's a small tear and I am wondering what - other than electrical tape - can I use to repair it?)
Underside of seat.
I wouldn't ride this for months like this - and I didn't even really sit on the seat while riding it through town as the height was way too low for me. I just wanted something there in the event I did need to sit for a moment.
I think Matt at Bike Hacks would love my hack.
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