t0-ster's stable

Cheers, they're BLB track pedals

This just in: Principia Track frame
Way to small for me, and a bit big for my gf, but at 35£ i couldn't resist. Really chapped its not my size!
A few unfortunate dings, and a pretty messed up head tube (but only in the bottom). Otherwise in great shape. Anyone with a little more experience have an opinion on the headtube? Can i just "stretch" it out by installing a new headset, or is there more to it than that?
Frame number suggests its from 1999. 1-1/8" headtube.

And a quick mockup (but with a 1" road fork..)

Nice collection of bikes/frames. Awesome looking dog too!

Why thank you! And thanks for the info on the tires, excited to get them dirty.

Swifts are great frames. Surprised to hear about the rust, as I thought Sam used to treat all the frames with framesaver before he sent them out.

phwoar that looks good.
what stem is that btw?

Hmmm. The top tube, down tube and bb shell are actually totally clean. It only seems to be the chain stays, seat tube and fork that have rust. They are also most prone i guess.

I still cant quite decide on what to do about it.
@Hulsroy suggested not cleaning/ removing the rust, and just giving it some boiled linseed oil. And @Simba suggested a rust and calcium removing product, before treating it.

Theres also lots of auto products that do the same as framesaver, and ill admit it seems much easier, however linseed oil is more traditional.

Thanks, i think so too ;)
Some old tig welded steel stem (my fetish) off ebay. "Internal" steerer clamp.

:( i got a quote on the Alu Principia frame repair: between £150 and £200.
What to do what to do.. Any one have an opinion/ some experience with this kind of thing?

I'd probably try and get that head tube into better shape before squeezing a new headset into it. The shape it is now, I think it'll push the bearing too much out of round and it'll always be tight to turn the steering. You probably just need to use a bit of smaller diameter pipe or bar down the headtube at an angle and just ease it back to round. The headset cup can then do the rest of the work.

thirty five pounds?!

fuckin' ell

it's banged to fuc* though.. If it's not too tight I'd just bang the cup in, but I guess that some machining would be smarter.

How about one of these?

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-35891

We use them at work for reshaping exhaust. Would work great I think for what u need to do

Yea tbh a DIY solution is more my style.. I think your right about the cup being squeezed too much if i just jam it in @Jonny69 .

@Dazzrie that sounds like a real good idea. Do you just bang on it with a mallet?

Yeah just a decent sized mallet/lump hammer and jobs a goodun. Just start soft and work your way up as u go

A few snaps of the Van beaters on a little weekend trip.

On that note, im pretty stoked to get going on building that Singular!

Take a very long seat post to go as low as possible in the tube and the reformer

I just received my Chinese carbon risers off Ebay! They seem hella sketchy haha! Then again its the first all carbon bike part i have owned, so the fact that it weighs nothing (and the rather incredible reputation / extremely low price) makes me feel like i could snap it.

So I bought this bike as a complete a while ago for 120£. It had an older campa pista crankset which i sold for 70£, and the wheels which were some randoms (similar to mine in the pic, just with a machined brake surface) which i sold for 80£. So I’m happy, and have low expectations.

The geo is kind of odd.. Super high bb, slack front end, "lots" of rake on the fork, and an almost vertical seattube.. And neither the frame or fork is drilled.. Idono, it rides fun.. :) Might consider painting it, probs kinda ratty in some way. But the strict black and white is kinda nice too.

I recently bought two lightly used pairs of omnium cranksets for 35£ each, so one of those will go on there. Just need to borrow a miche bb removal tool from someone, and pick up a 17t.

Im very confused as to what the idea behind this bike was while in production. The serial number indicates its an MBK from 2002, but i cant find anything that looks like it online. Shitty consumer fixed, but with no brake options? Track bike with weird geo? Any guesses?

Btw good idea @-Tom06- . You mean for the seattube dents right? Im actually not too worried about those, and may actually just leave them. The head tube will be the real challenge..

I have also decided to go 1x10 on the Ti road bike. I can therefore now sell my Ultegra 6700 groupset to fund other stuff :D

Principia track is coming along. Im starting to like the idea of keeping it and riding it myself. The toptube is my size but the headtube is half as short (10cm) as the white one above.

I straightened out the headtube with surprising ease. I put a flat handlebar half way into the headtube, and gently eased out the dents. Its almost 100% round now, inserting the headset will sort that.

The headtube takes a 1-1/4" headset, so because im broke, ill be buying a headtube reducer: https://www.bike24.com/p2126254.html
Funny that a frame from 1999 uses 1-1/4"..

The diameter in the seattube increases where the dent is, so jamming the seatpost all the way down didn't do anything. Im not to worried about it.

Mockup with a 1-1/8 headset slopped in there. wheelbase 94.5cm..
excuse the messy background.

Rungsted welcomes you

<3

It's so awesome you've rescued the Principia frame from the brink of write-off. It's a lovely looking thing

Thanks a lot @FujiRacer im really stoked on it. Its put on hold for a bit tho, cuz the headtube reducer is out of stock and i cant seem to find many other shops that have them.

Anyways, i set up my cannondale with drops, mostly to see if i could justify the Ti road bike project as it will be a similar setup. I fockin love it. So now im all jazzed up about getting the Ti underway. Appologies bout the shit qual off my insta.

But now it'll back to risers gon raise version, and i got this KCNC 710mm riser that'll be perfect on it. The other carbon wrapped one was too narrow for my liking.

So i sold the ultegra for the equiv of about 300 pounds, then took advantage of the weak pound and the typical -25% offer and bought wheels from superstar (arc22 with evo volta hubs all black) for 180, and snatched up a rotor crankset for 50£. Now i need brake calipers, stem, bars and a rear mech. Ill see how i fair with a 42t nw. I may need to go 44.

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You know how some people have a spirit animal? yea, well this is my spirit bicycle. So super fun, and overall very satisfied.

Lol excuse the slum brakes. They're off a bike that sat outside for a couple of years, but they work perfect surprisingly.

That 29er looks awesome mate.