Blue Steel Frame

frame: 56 x 56 cm with modern-spacing (130mm rear axle), English-threaded Cinelli bottom-bracket shell, Columbus steel forks, priced at £400, paid £200 + part-exchange, Skinny Erics Cycle Works

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single-speed / fixed,

(Summer '14: Skinny Erics)

saddle: brown Brooks B17, £32 (¬)
seat-post: 27.2mm Shimano 600, ~£35 (^)

headset: Dura Ace, ~£20 (')
stem: Cinelli, ~£35 (^)
handlebars: silver 3T drops, ~£20 (¬)
bar-tape: coloured-matched to the saddle, Brooks , £45

brakset,
brake levers: Dura Ace, with covers, £30 (^)
brake calipers: Dura Ace 7400 (via jimjamosullivan), £35

tyres: green-shouldered Vittoria Open Pave CG III (250g), £78 (¬)
wheel-set: chrome, with industrial-sealed bearings and flip-flop rear-hub, £85 (^)
bottom-bracket: Campag-compatible (^)
chainset: Campagnolo Athena 170mm crankset for a 53/19 combo, £50 (')

pedals: Time Atac, ~£45

chain-drive, cables, rear-sprocket ~£30 (^)

^ sourced from the Cycle Works, assembly, £60
' sourced from the conversion of the Yellow Pennine to geared from single-speed
¬ sourced from the disassembly of the Green Santini (pictured here)

total build cost: £1000 (components £540, frame £400, assembly £60)

approx. weight: 10.5kg

51 miles with 53 x 19 : 73.8 gear inches (25mm tyres, 700c wheels) in an attempt to be close to the 'golden ratio', 47 x 17 : 73.0 .. but discovered (Sep'14) that 53x19 is too many gear inches for me to climb steep hills, hence switched ratios - via Fitzy Cycles,

220 miles with 53 x 20 : 70.1 (which is close to the Plug classic combo, 42 x 16 : 69.6, but still too tough up hills, so switched again!)

147 miles 42 x 17 single-speed

912 miles 42 x 17 fixed-gear (mostly mid-week rides, and also a long slow DD there-and-back!)

total logged miles: 1,330

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geared,

(Summer '17: Skinny Erics)

39/53 * 12-25 (10-speed)

Campagnolo Veloce Silver 10 Speed Double Groupset, £373
(Bottom Bracket, Brake Set, Cassette, Chain, Chainset, Front & Rear Derailleur, Gear Shifters)

Mavic Wheelset on Campagnolo hubs, £100

part-exchanged for replaced components (Campagnolo Athena Chainset with compatible Bottom Bracket, Dura Ace Brake Set), -£70

total re-build cost: £503 (new components £473, assembly £100, less part-exchanged components -£70)

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new tyres to replace Open Paves after (only) approx. 1371 miles, VEE Apache, £80 + replacement inner tubes £11 = £91 (Spokeworx, Ipswich; during homeward journey from the Dunwich Dynamo XXV after suffering two punctures from a hole in the rear Open Pave!)

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future possibility,

matching blue plastic bottle cage
new square handlebars that better suit the modern gear-levers
different saddle and bar-tape (perhaps more modern!?)

Nice Cushions.

:-) thx,

Not a Cinelli though ;)

yep, owwwch, who told you it was a Cinelli Howard?

oh really? hmmm, will investigate further.. (might be some markings / indication underneath the bicycle frame) perhaps it was only a guestimate.. kinda spoils the bicycle name if its not a Cinelli, :-/ (!), arrrghhhh!!!

its also a little heavy..

.. and its a frame for gears - which is a little disconcerting, even though it doesn't matter i suppose..

.. this might yet be an unfinished project!

Seat cluster. All older Cinellis are the same.

Cinelli supplies bottom bracket shells to several framebuilders hence the Cinelli pantograph on yours. Also, CMIIW, all frames with horizontal dropouts, such as yours, and not track forkends are build for gears. Hope that helps.

this is where the confusion came from (!),

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so its not a Cinelli, so what is it??!

{a frame builder who outsources production of its bottom-brackets}

is there a logo on the fork crown?

ahh,

Cinelli was one of the first frame builders to use investment cast frame components and then supply them to other builders.

will check..

nope, will post up some more better-quality photos though,

only text is on the forks same Columbus in capitals

Did skinny eric tell you this was a cinelli?
If so you could have him under the trade descriptions act...
If i were you (of which course i'm not) i'd steer well clear of that shop - he's bleeding you dry!

errr, sadly i must confess incompetence (and a misunderstanding about the frame-builder), and perhaps some stupidity/impatience in rushing this build - just wanted to make the end of the mid-week ride season (!); should probably have sought out a more suitable frame before commissioning the conversion of the Yellow Pennine to geared (which i'm much happier about!)..

.. in retrospect, a vintage frame like the Pennine makes for a better SS/FG as all the geared stuff is clip-on,

Did you actually pay £400?

actually, no, it was priced at £400, but i part exchanged this frame (kinda impulse-purchased from Fitzy Cycles for £250), as it was deemed unsuitably-sized,

.. and paid an additional £200,

the above frame is deffo more wow-radicial, but... also seems built for gears whereas my need was, and is, for a FG/SS build;

..now realising that the good old forum could have been the best place to ask in the first place for a 56x56 SS/FG frame!!

can see the frame cash could have been possibly better spent on new stuff,

e.g.

1. Cinelli Gazzetta £429
   
2. Brother Kepler £379
   
3. Genesis Equilibrium, £350
   
   
   

That road frame you traded in looks truly special, the blue thing you paid up to get is truly average.

I think you need help.

How much is Eric selling that frame on for, £600?

You've been well and truly ripped off

yes, the blue/silver frame does look a little unspectacular, and a little less than radical, but it's still a nice clean, freshly painted frame, which at least fits, and feels good on the road albeit a little heavier than a light-weight;

given Fitzy Cycles are located in Central Lundun-town, guess Skinny Es -based in the still very un-salubrious Hackney Wick (!) - would probably have sold the frame for about £50 less than what i paid, so would guestimate about £200, but maybe more, it's no bother though, as i was happy to trade-in for something that was deemed to be more likely to fit (after the Santini experience!);

whilst at the Works, saw that another customer had built-up a bicycle from that rad-frame, but was less than impressed with their finished build; am left wondering whether that rad-frame might have fit after-all, hmmm...

.. but anyways, finding a frame that's the right size, for sale when you want it isn't that easy, a search of the forum last night brought up nothing classic for sale in the right size, and the new-frame examples linked-to above aren't really my thing (prefer a blue coloured frame to the Cinelli/Genesis red); did forget Brother's offerings though, but their Reynolds road frame is out-of-stock and only available in black, maybe the Kepler would be a good all-rounder, but unlikely best-suited to my likely most common usage: forum road rides,

oh dear, i've just caught up on the whole three bikes story.
what you doing with the santini - shame to rip it apart...

its been passed onto safer bicycle-building hands than mine!!

hey - at least one of them has a good ending (!!), :-)