I thought I might post a quick update on the progress of this Y26 conversion. Have now ridden it about half a dozen times, including a 35km ride on a mixture of bike paths and roads which left me physically fine, but mentally exhausted having concentrated for over an hour on keeping a straight line! I am now gradually becoming more proficient, but the learning curve that was steep at the beginning is now slowing. Mechanically all has been well, apart from a problem where the front wheel began pulling across and rubbing on the brakes or even the chainstay. The problem is probably really obvious to those reading, but it did take me a while to figure out that the axle was fractionally too long for the new dropouts in the conversion which are thinner than the Y26 dropouts. The skewer was able to hold the wheel straight when there were 4 layers of paint on the drop outs, but as this began to wear off the wheel wasn't clamping firmly. I ground about a mm off each end of the axle and the problem was solved. I can now ride up hills without watching the front wheel pull and have to stop sort it and then try and get going again. I am still finding a 'top heavy' feel to my riding, but I guess I'll get used to it in time. I have received some interesting comments and more than one open mouth and having used it to commute to the school where I teach there has been a steady procession of students wandering over to get a closer look!
