Working a job you hate to buy things you don’t need...

Thank you, thats muchly appreciated.

Righty, updates - I got updates. After a somewhat lazy start and running mum down the doctors (I was easily the youngest in there by a good 30 years - welcome to Suffolk!) I headed over to the paint shop armed with breakfast in the form of bacon rolls for both Widget and myself. He complained because I opted for brown sauce and not tomato, I ignored him because I was too busy getting all excited about the now dry Crap Diem. As mentioned, if you look up close you can see the paint chips under the paint, but from arms length it looked mint. The forks came up even better although it was noted by Widget that they weigh more than the frame. I told him if he stopped eating breakfast I could afford a decent set. Queue awkward silence....Such was my excitement that I forgot to take any more pictures, but if you scroll up it looks very similar to the ones above. Only dryer.

Anyway, after picking bits of paint off a battered splitty for a bit I could contain my excitement no longer and headed back to the garage to build it up. Her up? Him up? Anyway, the whole point of this exercise was to spend as little money as possible whilst still using the tyres that I'd bought. Raiding the spare parts bin, I came up with the following list of parts

Stainless Hope BB
BB7's with a new packet of pads
Fizik Gobi (or a special edition TDF Arione which is the most uncomfortable saddle I've ever sat on)
Some no name bars
Bontrager stem
Thompson wonky post
SLX cranks with a Raceface narrow/wide ring (albeit a slightly small 32t)
105 10-speed group set with some shifters that have been down the road at some point.
A new pack of bar tape. Winner!
Some weird SPD's that I used to race XC on (these are actually race winning pedals - true story bro)

Needless to say, I was quite surprised. I need to stop buying shit.

There are some builds that are an utter bastard to put together. Shit just not fitting, or bent, or seized in place. Cables that are too short, or frayed, or just not being able to find bits not to mention cross-threading stuff. This was not one of those builds.

I wanted this to last a while and be solid enough to tour on (I've got a few other bikes that are probably better for quicker stuff) and ultimately not worry too much about if its getting slung on trains or being left outside for any length of time. To make sure bits could be replaced, everything was treated with a liberal coating of grease and I used those fancy Shimano teflon cables to ensure decent shifting hopefully without needing much maintenance. These came from one of my other bikes that got written off by an Addison Lee car, bastards that they are.

Anyway, finished up by wrapping the bars with the tape (BBB stuff - hella cheap but actually really nice to use and much easier to wrap than Lizard Skinz stuff). Pro tip - wash your hands before wrapping white bar tape. Or don't fit a cassette and chain prior to wrapping bars. Either way, greasy marks ahoy!

Really pleased with how it turned out. There's still a fair few jobs to do. Firstly, invisi-tape the frame or at least cover the bits that'll see chain/cable rub. I'm pretty sure I can bodge a set of guards together from the billion half sets I've got in the garage and I need to order a bigger chainring. Also need to finish stripping the wheels of stickers (see big white line on front rim - need heat gun!). Also need a rear tube with a shorter valve - had to pinch this one off a set of deep carbon rims on my race bike.

Luggage is a big question. I've got some Revelate bags for the front and back but I've also got a rack and Ortleib panniers that I could use. Will have to see whether the rack clears the rear brake calliper otherwise that decision may well be made for me.

Will also cut down the steerer at some point once I've worked out the best position on it.

Excuse the decor - its my mums gaff!

And the best bit - total cost over two days = £0!

Three bottles on my wagon..

Possible room for 650+ at some point