Spa Steel Audax

Rest of component will be fine, just the old shifter make it feel a bit crap.

The nice thing about bar ends is that there's not much to go wrong, really. They're totally FBNPNAworthy. The only downside is that they can make a splendid dent in your knee during a hurried stop, as I was reminded on my first knees-out day of the year

That was a regular thing with me, having a very short reach for my height meaning I occasionally decided to down shift with my kneecap while climbing out of the saddle.

Accursed seller-man was not at Herne Hill this morning!

I should have got his mad splash tape when I had the chance last month.

Swift is on the way from someone on here meaning I can start sorting out building this thing tomorrow/Monday.

And then immediately stop because I'm missing some crucial tool or other.

I still can't get Hub Jub to reply about having sent me 2 sets of bars. They seem to be in some disarray.

God I hate installing bottom brackets.

Second hand external BB cups aren't going in particularly easy by hand. I can keep turning them with some hand force but when I unscrew there's tiny bits of swarf, like little metal fibres.

I emailed Spa and they told be I didn't need to chase and face the threads. Does this slightly "brute force" installation act as a kind of chasing? I wonder if the swarf is coming from the cups or the shell...

It usually take several attempt before you can screw it in without much effort, took me ages on a customer's bike.

Yeah, I'm having to go in a few more turns each time, then unscrew and go again a bit further.

See how he has to get his whole hand around the cup in this video for the final few turns?

http://www.madegood.org/bikes/repair/fit-a-shimano-hollowtech-bottom-bracket/

I have to do than after about 2 turns.

I'm sure it's not cross threaded it's just a bit stiff and as I say some TINY swarf fibres are coming out.

Bought the wrong front mech clamp.

ignore...will post a better pic later

Are you still in the market for bar end shifters? I have a pair that are surplus to requirements....

On an unrelated matter I might be...

Send us a PM.

More blathering: the tight BB cup issue might have been due to a bit of excess paint on the shell threads. I did not have the shell chased and faced.

I actually emailed Spa about this and they said that they have 3 shop employees who ride this frame, none of whom bothered to chase or face theirs. I remember On One saying something similar when I bought my Pompino - i.e. don't bother.

Poor pic.

Just fine tuning all the fit aspects before buying stem...

and seatpost.

It's quite hard to find a good value silver seatpost with layback so will probably go with VO again.

Plus I got some splash bar tape (for free in the end) from HubJub!!

And I picked up a 2nd hand but not-broken-in Brooks Swift from the classifieds. I'll put that on the commuto-Pomp to break it in while this gets the B17 to start with.

Why is it that every time I try and do the simplest bloody exercise I encounter a stupid new problem?

This time I could not - for love nor money - get the levers onto the bars.

Loosenign the clamp blots to the last turn of thread didn't give enough room to slide them on so I tried sliding just the clamps on then bolting the levers on. One clamp appeared to be a bit misformed (second hand so fuck knows when that happened) and the other had a buggered thread!

The clamps are the normal 23.8 but now I suspect the Nitto Noodles are a much wider fitting. Anyway a combination of bizarre bloody circumstances has led me to FAIL in attaching brake levers to bars after a good hour this morning.

FML!

Slow progress here.

Sorry for crap picture.

I had a too long stem, then panicked about the fit so bought that 70mm one. I think it looks stupid so was going to get a 90mm one.

Cabled up the brakes this morning. Those Jagwire sets come with a load of extra bits they don't explain.

I also forgot I'd bought the wrong size FD clamp so can't do the gear cabling yet. Grrr...

Looking good!

This is now all built up. Been testing it today on Streatham Common.

It's a nice smooth ride, with a couple of niggles:

• The bar tape is a bit fugly. I think I'l change that at the earliest opportunity
  
• The front mech is rubbing on the big ring but that's a simple enough fix
  
  

Should take it out on an audax in 2 weeks to break it in properly and take some pictures. It's not much of a looker because I've ended up with some kind of uneasy combination of 90s vintage, 2000's budget and modern FBNPNA with a bit of retro silver confusion thrown in. Needs unifying somehow.

Pics plz

I'll try and put something non-hideous up tonight if I get home while it's still semi-light.

I'd quite like people's opinions - I think it's only the cockpit that's anti.

Any more pictures of this?

Yeah, sorry I don't think I put any final pics up. I've ridden it on a couple of audaxes and long(ish) rides and it's serving me very well. Still not put guards on yet and I'd like to re-jig the cockpit and put some less manic bartape on.

Here's the bast I have, for now

Do you have mudguards already?

I love the Honjo's I just bought for my audax bike (a Thorn), the clearances for guards were unbelievably tight and yet I wanted something pretty lightweight and that complemented the look of the bike (similar silver parts to you).

The only catch was that I only found the super-thin guards for tight clearances from a shop in the US and the total price to buy and pay the import VAT was higher than a pair of plastic guards would be. That and having to drill the things to get them on.

https://www.benscycle.com/p-1054-honjo-koken-h33-aluminum-smooth-full-coverage-fenders-polished.aspx

Just shy of £100 but they look incredible, are lightweight, and good for very tight clearances.

Ignore me... I see you have Chromoplastics already purchased.

The splash tape is growing on me, actually. Makes a change from the default FBNPNAporn leather bartape.

Would look well with a couple of the Arundel steel bottle cages. I have some. There is something indefinably fugly about them but bottle removal / insertion has become a real pleasure.

Incidentally either your socks are appearing in the bottom of the picture, or there's a rabbit immediately below the lens