All City Space Horse - Fast Touring steed

Riding fast is only fun if it's comfortable and you can see things on the way - time to ditch the racing bike (not that I ever did any racing on it) and embrace larger tyres!
Conveniently, @paulm was wanting to pass on his Space Horse frameset, in lovely condition. He duly despatched it, beautifully packaged, and I started planning the other bits for this build.

Frameset: All City Space Horse (courtesy of @paulm)
Wheelset: 5700 freehub on 36h Open Sport rim, DH-T785 XT dynamo hub on 32 Open Sport rim
Tyres: Marathon Supreme 35c (open to other suggestions)
Transmission: 5700 shifters, mechs and crankset
Brake: TRP CX9 Mini-Vs with crosstop levers
Bars: short drop bars nicked from my Allez
Saddle: Brooks Team Pro (it still lives @zatchmo)
Mudguards: Longboards for the moment, probably GB stainless in the end.
Luggage: Nitto M12 (from @mustardbeak) + Carradice Nelson Longflap (from @veLLo) on an SQR

Tried to tag @zatchmo, @mustardbeak and @veLLo but they didn't work...
Edit: now they do, how weird.

Frame arrived well packaged, just need a chance to pull the parts and put it together. More pictures to come!

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Very little benefit in any more spokes than 32 atmo can't fault anything else.

The wheels were second hand - that's the only reason there's 36 spokes. I would have stuck with 32 if I'd done it myself, for exactly the reason you say.

Open Sport rim
Tyres: Marathon Supreme 35c

Just to point out that Mavic recommend 32mm max on Open Sport* so you may get a better tyre profile on 32.

*I was under the impression Open Sport were a single eyeletted version of Open Pro and thus the same width. However it appears Sport have a max width of 32mm, whilst Pro are 28mm. Was it always this way? I know Sport are heavier, despite single eyelets. Disclaimer: I'm going off archived info from the Mavic website being as they don't make the Open Sport anymore and seem to have deleted it from their website. Also I've not seen an Open Sport for a good 3 years or so (although I do have one somewhere, along with a few MA2s and MA40s).

Project looks interesting btw.

Second that. If you want 35mm go for summat like A319 or if budget allows A719. Had open sports on my steamroller, ran 32mm paselas, felt plenty comfy enough.

It's a fair point about the rims (thanks for the suggestions too @jontea) but as I said ^^, the wheels were bought second hand, hence the 36 spokes on the rear and rims that are a bit narrower than I'd have chosen. I found the 32c max by looking up the inner width (15mm) on CRC. However, I'd have thought running a bit larger would be ok. As it is it'll start off with 32c marathon pluses anyway because that's what I have spare!

Done some work this evening, photos coming soon.

I think you'll find 32s wide enough. Had 35s on my cdf, killed one, so stuck 32s on, as that's what was lying around in the shed, never felt the need to go wider. Plenty plush enough.

So when I said 'some work' I meant 'I will keep working with a headtorch to finish this tonight goddammit!

First job was the strip the parts off my 'racing' bike, a rather abused 2011 Specialized Allez that I'd redone in 5700 last summer for the one and only time it actually raced on it. The frame is ok, but the paint is chipped all over the place and it's not particularly practical.

Next step was to start moving parts over to the new frame. Started with brakes and then popped on the handlebars/stem/levers that I lifted directly from the Allez. Cue at least an hour faffing to get the cables run and to install the cross top levers. Had to crank up the return spring tension on the rear brake to get over the full-length housing in the internal routing. Had to reroute the gear cables to come around the bar and out under the brake cables.

The next awesome moment was realising the downtube stops I have were removed by a gorilla with some mole grips. A bit of work with a file got rid of the worst and then I took some polish to it (sorry, I forgot to grab a picture of it).

A bit of wrestling with the marathon pluses (I hate fitting them when new, so stiff). Thoroughly motivated by memories of Scoble and the Pasela, Aesop would be proud! Mudguards are on, but not particularly well fitted. The stays need shortening and there seems to be a twist across the whole mudguard which is annoying. All City didn't put a threaded hole on the underside of the brake bridge so the SKS mount will do for the moment. Maybe I'll get an L-bracket and drill the mudguard.

Sorting the indexing was pleasingly painless, all that remains is to sort the saddle height/position and track down a black seatpost. If anyone happens to have a 27.2 post in black with minimal/no setback then let me know!

I'll be sure to take some pictures in the light, I'll probably ride to work on it to trouble shoot it and see how it rides. Updates tomorrow.

Images

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Moar images.

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Trimmed the stays this morning and swapped the seatpost for something longer (not shown in the photo). Rode to work on it - very comfy ride, even compared to my normal daily bike (RoadRat mkII). All I need to do now is track down a dynamo headlight and fit a B&M secula light on the mudguard.

Hoping to take it for a spin this Friday!

Trimmed the stays this morning and swapped the seatpost for something longer (not shown in the photo). Rode to work on it - very comfy ride, even compared to my normal daily bike (RoadRat mkII). All I need to do now is track down a dynamo headlight and fit a B&M secula light on the mudguard.

Hoping to take it for a (proper) spin this Friday!

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Looks good. Not a fan of the red tape personally but then its not my bike.

Bars had it already - I agree it's a bit loud and doesn't match but it's quality tape and I'd hate to waste it! Once the tape's dead it'll get black I expect.

I'm a stickler for using what I have too (and making it last forever). Have a backlog of tape. At some point one of my bikes will have to wear some 1980s bike ribbon in fluoro yellow!

I do have some reasonable black tape around, but I hadn't had this stuff on long and it's much nicer. Rode to work on it today, felt much snappier than my usual ride (hub gear), makes me remember what fast feels like! I'd love to find some slightly sportier/not marathon tyres, I'd rather this wasn't just another commuter tank... Open to suggestions, bearing in mind that punctures ruin a perfectly good bike ride and so are to be avoided!

Your original choice of Marathon Supremes get my vote. Excellent tyres and I am yet to puncture in around 3, 000 miles. All done on my London commute including some segregated paths next to duel carriageway that are swept so infrequently they have sediment banks of detritus. My 35's measure 32mm on Shimano RX31 wheels if that helps your width conundrum.

You may already have experience of riding Supremes, but if not I should add that they don't feel anything like as sluggish as the greenguard/plus variants of marathons.

Fair enough - good to know. I'm not planning to use this to commute on (too much) so hopefully not too much by way of glass, but I'll end up on those grim segregated paths covered in crap enough for it to be a worry.
The tyre width issue is based around rim width rather than clearance. If the tyres are coming up slightly undersize then I would have thought it should be ok to run the 35s...? I've found a good deal on some 35s but they don't have 32s :(

I'd check in the tyre thread. I think there are plenty of tyres out there with good puncture restante that would ride much better. I've still got a pair of refuse and bonti racelites that are still going strong, so no idea what's current.

Love my Space Horse. I'm running Clement X'Plor MSO's in 700x40 at about 40psi. So good.

My build: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/268363/

I saw your build when I was deciding whether to buy or not - looks absolutely great! I have a soma porteur I may put on, but I have a second bike to use as a packhorse. Hoping this will be a bit sportier than that - no hub gear and the porteur definitely seem to stiffen the fork.

@hugo7, I have been looking around in the tyre thread, but that's a whole lot of knowledge to sift through! Maybe I'll just post a question asking for suggestions.

Maybe I'll just post a question asking for suggestions.

Yeah it's definitely one of those threads that is now unsearchable. If the last 2 pages don't give an answer to your question, just post a specific question.