Vintage Fiora Avventura: Dinglespeed

Late summer I was looking for a project and decided I would tackle a winter commuter build for my partner. I was getting the hang of home wrenching, and had a few parts kicking around so thought I could put together something kind of cool to help her commute to the office year-round. 

Luckily, my partner is of average height, so there are lots of vintage mountain bikes out there for her. We ended up settling on this Fiori Avventura for a mere 70$

Just really like the lighting in this photograph

Once I got it home and stripped down, I figured I would simply apply the easy, relatively fool-proof 1x conversion equation: add a rear wheel with 8spd freehub, pop on a 10speed cassette, rear mech with clutch, and a narrow-wide chainring, add some funky alt handlebars and were done! Or so I thought... 

The older, 126mm rear hub spacing threw a bit of a wrench in my plans. With little knowledge of cold-setting steel frames (at the time), or an ability to think outside the box when it came to using a 7sp freehub to run a 1x conversion, I was a little defeated. 

Time for something different...

The Fiori quickly turned into a canvas for me to develop some of my home wrenching skillsets. As I was looking for some inspiration, I recalled some of the dinglespeed conversions I had seen on Instagram from @crumbworks.co

I decided to repurpose the Suntour Cyclone 7000 rear mech from the old Sekine. I then swapped out the barrel adjuster for something a little more ergonomic from another junk derailleur I had sitting around. Threading the derailleur cable through just the barrel adjuster, you can set tension on the rear mech to act as a chain tensioner. After setting the limit screws, you can use the barrel adjuster to add/reduce tension, allowing you to the shift between two different gear ratios.

Dinglespeed setup - Later swapped out the 15T for 14T cog

To complete the build, I scrounged up a few different rear cogs I had laying around. I found a 15T and a 14T I could use. A marginal difference, but this was intended to act as more of a proof of concept more than anything. I finished the setup by repurposing the middle chainring from the original crankset and some single-ring chainbolts. 

The other notable addition to this Fiori would be a brand new Dia-Compe u-brake (or simply a "990", if you're from the BMX world). When stripping the frame down, I mistakenly misplaced/tossed a few parts from the original OEM u-brake. I was keen to add a bit of an upgrade anyhow, so began looking for options. 

I sourced these from an eBay seller dealing in vintage BMX parts (Porkchop BMX). These 996s are actually rebranded Dia-Compe Hombres. My understanding is that the overall reach of vintage BMX and MTBs might differ, but these worked just fine on this Fiori. Good option to spruce up a MTB with u-brake mounts. 

Fresh 996

I also found a great resource online to help get these Hombre's dialed in since the brakes didn't come with any instructions...


Overall, the Dinglespeed came together great! It ran smooth and was a pretty fun and quirky project. I later swapped the 15T for a 14T. It's evident that there is a lot of room for experimenting with different gear ratios, as I think an even larger difference between the two rear cogs would be manageable. 


A new (more palatable) life

With no long term plans for the Dinglespeed, I figured I would try selling. It proved to be just a bit too quirky for the average buyer and I had very few bites throughout the fall. Equipped with a little more knowledge, I figured I would try to spruce up the Fiori and make it a little more palatable for the average commuter. 

I removed the dinglespeed setup and converted to a 1x7 drivetrain repurposing an old 7spd Shimano STX rear mech and shifter, paired to a 38T narrow-wide chainring from Amazon. For simple commuter duty/road and light gravel use, the narrow-wide chainring does enough to maintain chain retention. Paired with good chain tension, you don't really need a clutch to execute a 1x drivetrain (lesson learned!). 

All that's left now if for someone to give this noble stead a loving home. 





We'll call this one done...for now!


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