Images by Steven Sager

Is there a such thing as a budget Fat Tire bike? I tested my abilities here, nothing was significantly messed up, but every single piece needed attention and love.

The paint on this bike was supposed to be that blue, I ordered paint from the famous Spray.bike and the can was a dud go figure. In a rush to get it up and running I settled on a can of rustolium from home deport. I names it Kalahari after the desert since its a bike made for riding on the beach.

What started as a $99 bike to see if I liked biking turned into a nice little build. As i racked up thousands and thousand of miles parts kept going here and there. Its been an interesting journey

This was not supposed to be a project bike, I bought it to ride my local trails and by the first ride I realized this bike wasn’t the answer to my prayers. So I immediately went to town knocking out each of the issues that I had.

What started out as what I assumed was a perfect bike right out of the box I soon started to see how different the bike would become as I made it lighter. Admittedly crazy and obsessed I continued to hunt down affordable means of making it lighter. Most of the photos from this journey have been lost. As this bike has undergone a dozen different appearances and personalities all i’m left with is all that I have learned. It currently rests as a bull horn fixed gear bike to enjoy in the streets of New York

this frame was destine to be scrapped, as a lover of vintage steel bikes I decided that I might as well turn this into a statement piece to hang at the shop. Painted in a dusty parking lot with a clear coat i’ve never tried before I can truly say i’m proud of the results

Curious about an aluminum frame paired with a carbon fiber fork I acquired this bike which was sold to me in as in shape from a shop being that the components did not work as they should. shortly after I began to go down the rabbet hole of questioning how light could this bike become. With my desire to continue riding my Cannondale as my main bike I decided it should be rehomed.

With a really tight budget I decided I wanted to see what it would be like to have a modernish road bike, i sourced a frame with minimal knowledge and the goal of just creating a toy for an occasional ride. I overcame a few challenges as 1980’s bikes take some different parts. Once the bike was built up I quickly learned this was going to be fun and maybe I should push things further but needing and even more refined frame.

One of my all time favorite bikes. It has scene many different iterations and the final one is still in progress as of late 2026. Having fallen in love with with the 1980s Cannondale’s smooth welds I knew the next best thing would be one of these 1990’s 2.8 pound frames. Setting out initially with the parts from Cannondale 1.0, Id continuously and relentlessly search for how I could make this bike as light as possible on a small budget.

From a frame with nothing left of value into a UCI illegal road bike. This bike was nearly destine for scraps as it did not have a working part on it. After stripping it down completely and countless hours with polish its somewhat presentable. It has undergone many different appearances with one common goal for it to be unusually light. Currently it is not complete but it is sitting at 14.0 pounds awaiting someone final adjustments to the stem

Yet again I thought from the factory this bike would be perfection, but the lack of a dropper, heavy wheels, tires, and cassette really held it back. As of now the wheels still need to be addressed, the Hunt set I had did not do it. Fork, cassette, tires, bars and stem have all been addressed. Everyday I question making this what I know it could be.

What started its life as a cruiser I found one night in the trash turned into Viki’s dream come true. It has undergone many changes as parts have been acquired. as it stands the only factory parts are the headset and front fork. On a budget of around $400 it now weighs in around 23 pounds, rocking light weight wheels, continental GP5000s, carbon crank and sram 10speed

Curious about drop bar bikes but knowing how expensive the poor quality ones can be I decided for basically the price of handle bars alone I could acquire this. After making some adjustments it was ready to ride, to my surprise I did fall for the bike, something about its simplicity and incredible price began to ride it as my main bike for the longest time. As parts broke I upgraded them, eventually truing it into a straight bar road bike which was a lot of fun, I spent the whole winter on it. currently its just a frame. I’m unsure what will come next but its memories will live on forever.

this is a bike i found in the trash with a taco’d rear wheel. i was able to salvage another broken wheel and lace up one functional wheel to make this into a perfect beach beater bike to ride on Fire Island