Hey Brother

I had been thinking about building a bike for a while now.

Last week I popped into CyclePS to meet the good people there and I was very lucky to find this frame @maro_donald was selling. Couldn't resist myself and five minutes later it was in my hands. Having just moved to London, I liked the idea of having a British frame that used to be a local mechanic's ride.

Off to a good start.

Some more shots I took immediately after bringing the frame home.

Looks like the Brother has found a good home. :) Very interested to see what parts are going on it. Have fun with the build!

I spent Saturday in Cycle PS picking the parts with great advice from Ian.

There was a spare handlebar stem that matched the frame well so Ian gifted it to me. He also offered the wheels in the bottom of the picture but I later decided to go with some Archetype, hence the profile diagrams.

@maro_donald Hopefully I would do it justice

For everybody else, this is what I'm against :P tough tough
previous life of the frame

As you are running a brake watch out for the braking surface on the black archetypes, they don't last long.

@JT this is my first fixed, so definitely using the brake. Will watch out for the braking surface, thanks!

BLB Pursuit Handlebars just arrived.

Thanks @krisl09

those bars with that stem? (bars look oversize)

inverse shim?

Shit! You are right. When I bought it from @krisl09 I didn't notice it was the BLB Pursuit OS, and not the BLB Pursuit :(

BLB Pursuit: Clamp Size: 26mm
BLB Pursuit OS: Clamp: 31.8mm

Live and learn. Heh

@luisbg

I'm sure every one of us at one point has bought something that is incompatible with our build.
Don't stress it, we'll sort it out.

You mean the paint right?

Drop bulls look weird on square geo frames anyway.

Risers or drops FTW

Dang, sucks about the bars!!! We'll get you the new set ASAP! What crankset are you putting on it? Did you say you have some omniums?

@maro_donald No worries. The build wasn't happening until the weekend anyway.

I am putting some BLB Notorious

@privatepatterson I went by the shop and bought some right-sized BLB Pursuits... after spending 10 minutes considering some Bullhorns (without the drop). Sticking with my instinct with this one.

@TM I have been a while wanting to try bullhorns, will give them a go and see. Unfortunately I can't have multiple builds matching each thing I want to try :P

It is so wise that you've decided to have brakes. You should put a 1 speed freewheel on your bike so that you can more easily adapt to the movement of traffic on our roads.

@zaurbek thanks :) There is definitely going to be a learning curve. I am going to experiment with fixed in a safe area: residential, park or cycling lanes; then decide if I want to make it a flip hop or jump into the deep end.

Paint? no.

why don't you buy second hand omniums rather that the blb ones? i picked up mine for less than the blb notorious.

@JT are the omniums in the market that often? I went with the blb partly because of impatience, partly because I wanted to support my LBS

In the long run I will watch out for some parts to upgrade second hand, and sell my spares. But for new I don't have enough experience to tell the difference. Also watching out for parts for the bike I want to build in the cheap for my SO.

New they're not much different.

http://www.shinybikes.com/SRAM-Omnium-Track-Chainset-Mirror-Black-Inc-GXP-Cups?language=en&currency=GBP&gclid=CM-Nm4n91MQCFSSe2wodZYIAOA

Aren't the BLB basically the Planet X omnoms with a bit of paint?

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CSOOTC/on-one-external-bearing-track-crankset

What is wrong with the blb notorious? From my limited knowledge they look like a good mid-range crankset for a first fixed bike.

there's nothing wrong with them per se, they're just way overpriced

Get the Sram Omniums, or better still a second hand pair of sugino 75s (personal aesthetic opinion)

Also, please don't run bullhorns (again - personal aesthetic opinion)