HHSSSCXB (it's just another pompino really)

The original plan was to sell my car and build a nice, practical single-speed commuter for the country lanes near where I live now, to save money, and because I hate driving when I could be riding. It all started so well; looking for something sensible and inexpensive, like a pompino... However, the whole saving money bit went straight out the window, as I find it hard to restrain myself when speccing bikes, and this has already cost almost twice what I flogged my (admittedly almost dead) car for! I decided; if I'm going to build it from the ground-up, I might as well do things properly, and leave myself the option of racing the CX season when it comes around, if I decide to stay in the country for another winter…

This is the frame I bought from @Full_Metal_Sprocket:

And these pretty Colnago CX forks:

…which I discovered are cracked on one of the brake bosses, unfortunately:

However, I'm pretty competent with composites, and am going to have a go at repairing them. I expect a barrage of comments telling me it's a terrible idea, but I'm a boatbuilder by trade, and have done enough work with carbon to know whether or not I can trust my repair with my front teeth.

I have some parts already, and have ordered most of the rest of the bits I need to get it built this week hopefully:

The hubs are a little bit of an experiment, but look fine so far. They're GT BMX race hubs. 3/8" axles, 110mm rear spacing, and 28 spoke holes. They seem really nicely made, with 120 engagements on the freehub, and they fit in the frame fine (I'm okay with cold springing a steel frame 10mm, and the chainline is fine, as there is plenty of adjustment on the splined freehub). Had to file the front axle down a fraction to fit the 9mm dropouts on the forks, but again, that doesn't worry me, especially as they were less than £100 for the pair! I'm building them on to some 27mm Kinlin rims, with revolution spokes.

Updates to follow, as I progress with repair and build.

I can help with feeling better over costs.

Money from sold car + savings in VED tax (unless you had an exempt car) + savings in car insurance + savings in not having RAC/AA cover + annual fuel cost + annual MOT and service cost = maybe your bike has cost less than car costs (no excuse to spend more)

Yes, a bike is undeniably lower maintenance, and cheaper in the long run. Hopefully it will depreciate less than a car too!

Kandahaaaar!

Gutted that those forks are cracked,they look soo good!

How would you even repair carbon?? I have no idea how it all works. Interesting use of bmx huns too. Interested to see how this build pans out.

Cant go wrong with a pomp for an everyday bike. That's what I'm riding :)

like this I'm assuming

http://i.imgur.com/3YmW4W4l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/msFs0UBl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Qwq6aN2l.jpg

then lacquer?

Sort of, but I'm going to try to be sympathetic to the aesthetic of the fork, and not mess with the paintwork. More similar to this technique: http://andrewhowett.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/mending-carbon-frame.html

It will be plenty strong enough. The complete wrap is unnecessary in this case, and will actually cause stress above and below the repair, as it will be stiffer than the surrounding area.

Wheels are built, and I have everything else ready to assemble. All I need to do now is repair the forks.

Some frame tweaking to do, and a few surprise 'details' to deal with, but this is the rolling chassis, as it stands now:

nice build! this gun be good

I decided to take the afternoon off boat-building duties to do some work on the bike…

When I bought the frame, it had a small(ish) dent in the downtube, which I didn't know about until I got it home and had a proper look at it. It's not enough to cause any structural concerns, just aesthetically annoying, so I decided to fill and fair it, and re-paint the frame. While I was at it; I thought I might as well remove the unwanted braze-ons, and modify the unnecessarily long, and rather inelegant track ends, so that's what I did.

(sellers original photo)

I also started work on the fork repair:

brilliant track end mod!

^ This. Very nicely done.

This is clean!

This excites me.

Great work!!

Wait for it…

One Pompino to rule them all!

Mmmmmm rainbow.

I like what you did with the track ends, and am really looking forward to seeing the finished article.

My old frame... It lives! Great little frame this for a runabout.

Here it is many moons ago in a previous life.

Look forward to seeing it rebuilt

Awesome! Track end mod is really nice

Class act man, good to see the trade background at work on the bike.