Custom Orlowski Workhorse

Just read through this - amazing. Have to admit to looking at the pile of bikes in my flat and thinking "do I need them?" afterwards though. A bike for work, a bike for the weekend, a bike just for the pub... sheesh! I'm just imagining all the extra space I'd have and time to go riding.

Great thread - great bike

Skant, what is this axle mod. Converting to an Allen bolt?

I've searched mdcc posts but can't see a tutorial anywhere. I fancy giving it a go.

I'll whack it in the questions thread as well.

Just get your threading tap out:

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Apologies for the delayed response…. not sure if you received an answer in the questions thread but basically (on a nutted track hub) you cut the axels down to 4mm beyond the lock-nuts, tap the axel with an m6 tap a la drøn's pics and use your choice of bolts and washers. You end up with a very tidy looking solution and need to carry one less tool.

Here's the details courtesy of @mdcc_tester

In other news:

The frame is back in my hands, I'd forgotten quite how nice it is, it looks amazing! Jacek was nice enough to sort out a few small dents on the top tube (without even being asked) and modified the DS chainstay to allow for bigger chainrings.

Great service and a great frame!

Here's the details courtesy of @mdcc_tester

That axle drawing is for an asymmetric mod on the Novatec axles to give a 46mm chainline, with a long axle extension that goes most of the way through my FireEye chain tugs. If you're doing rears on fixed/ss bikes, you'll certainly want chain tugs, so you need to size the axle to suit how your particular chain tugs hold the axle. Mine come out at 138mm for a 120mm OLN frame, which conveniently means I can use stock road axles on hubs which are converted with Fixxers. Fronts on anything are just the usual 108mm overall, same as a road QR axle.

Thanks @Skant and @mdcc_tester. That's the sort of detail I was after. I think that's more involved than I thought so a rainy day type task. Need to buy a tap first.

just get a tap and go to town. mdcc is known for deliberately overthinking things as a sport.
as one of my favourite thinkers once said: "time is often better spent by causing problems than planning a way out of them"

Yes, you are right @drøn but I'm not sure it will make my life any easier. I have a decent small wrench that is no bother to carry on rides. I also don't fancy having to use chain tugs again.

But then I would get to buy a new tool...

Hi brother! :D

Yeah, not sure I'd bother with a rear tbh, but seeing as I run a Phil rear and everything else on my bike is allen key it made sense. Also drøn is right, it's a simple procedure…plus a new tool

It's a sad sight seeing the Orlowski sitting pristine and unbuilt in the corner of the bike room, that and thoughts of sunny days out in the countryside and laps of Herne Hill are getting me pretty excited to build it up.

For now, to have both the Orlo and Dolan built up, I just need forks, cranks and a seatpost.

Really not sure what route to go down for forks…I've narrowed it down to three options:

1. Nice carbon forks, EC90's, Columbus minimals or something in that vein
   
2. Custom steel from Jacek
   
3. Go full practical on the Dolan and get some Audax/touring style forks and just move the Alpina road forks to the Orlo (which is what was on there before). Was considering Surly Disc Trucker forks as the geo matches up well and would be super useful come time for another tour (with added possibility for discs) but they weigh a ton. Would they destroy the ride quality of the bike? Practical is good but I enjoy riding a quick and lively bike and don't want to loose that.
   
   

Thoughts/experience on this conundrum would be much appreciated.

Also I wanted another set of Omniums for maximum interchangeability between bikes but they seldom come up for sale cheap and RRP is a bit rich for me at the moment with the other necessary purchases. I might have a BB installed on each bike for now and switch cranks when I want to ride.

…that or a set of On-ones, anyone have any experience of these? I was also considering Andels or something along those lines but once BB and chainring are factored in they aren't that far off omnium money.

Have you thought about a cheap set of Sram road cranks? Ebay, or they come up for sale on here too. Not too expensive, and could take a chainring on the inside of the spider to give ~42mm chainline (I think, anyway!). That'd give you options for running smaller chainrings for touring, too.

I had a set of the on-one cranks a while back. They worked fine, but used a shimano-style BB so I don't think they're compatible with the gxp system.

Yeah I saw their s300 1.1 crank and figured the road cranks must allow a 42mm chain line as well, I've been keeping an eye peeled here and on ebay but I want to stick with 165s and they don't come up very often.

I killed a gxp bb in about 6 weeks and have since been using Hope (shimano style) with a converter so Shimano style isn't necessarily a drawback. Anything else to bare in mind when considering the On-ones? They're £60 atm, 165mm, 144bcd, 42mm chain line and external BB so tick all the right boxes but with touring in mind I am kinda tempted to revert to square taper as they really last forever.

The on one BB is not renowed as long-lasting if that matters.

They worked fine for me. Didn't have any issues with stiffness (but who does? I guess I don't exactly output megawatts)

You can get hold of Rival 10speed cranks in 165mm length still, new - there should be a few on ebay, or Wiggle, or HighonBikes.

At the price, I can't imagine the (On-one) BB would be up to much so would be replaced pretty quickly but same goes for GXP anyway. Cheers for the input, I'll keep an eye out and hopefully something suitable comes up

A couple of small updates:

New saddle and front wheel from the road bike while I rearrange the front Archetype and rear wheel

I've been in touch with Jacek about getting a fork made and got a very reasonable figure back so may well go with that. I'm totally undecided on the details though. What do I need to bare in mind - do straight/curved blades and lugged/uni crown play a part in ride characteristics or is it all aesthetic?

A year late in reading this but what a great story and stunning photos documenting your travels with the Dolan and subsequent build of the Orlowski. Keep up the good work!

Cheers Ricky, hopefully there'll be lots more adventures and upgrades to come

Jacek's recommended a curved blade fork, so will follow his advice there. It's there aesthetic decisions that are the tough ones…

I'm thinking flat panto'd crown and no decals

Flat crown looks ace. Should be a good contrast against the smooth fillets on the frame.

Yeah I reckon so, just gotta wait for them to arrive now

I made a few more changes to the Dolan as part rearranging bits to balance maximum ride quality/durability with minimum expenditure while putting the nicer bits aside to save for the Orlowski.

I dismantled the old wheelset, primarily to get the benefits of the Archetypes' increased width onto the rear wheel but also as it presented a chance to refurb and service everything.
From crusty to shiny:

A friend helped me to strip the anodising off the Archetype and polished it up and breath a new lease of life into a ratty old black Kally seatpost

All that was left to do was build the rear wheel up and install kalloy seatpost & old saddle

25c pasela looks massive on there


I'm well chuffed with the results, £0 spent and it's lighter, rides nicer and I got to refresh some old components.