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

Ha! As much as I'd like to 2Jz it, the wiring alone would scare the nuts off me. We did consider putting something different in it, along the lines of an LS3 as they're easy to get big power out of but the end cost would have been mega to the point where I could have just bought a newer M5 (which is what I should have done in the first place).

Anyway, as expected I got well acquainted with my friend San Nigel last night and consequently this mornings ride was dismissed in a blur of foggy vision and dry mouth. So with a sore head (bad pint yo) I decided to finish the odds and sods left over from yesterday. Firstly, a spot of heli-tape on the chain stay and round the head tube. Not pretty but I'm not running a clutch rear mech so it wouldn't take long to remove most of the paint off the chain stay.

Next up, mudguards. I've got a lot of odd sets and by 'lot', this is about half my supply.

Because the rear calliper is mounted on top of the seat stay (unlike the newer designs that have them inboard on the chain stay) it means you have to get creative when mounting guards (fnar). I could have bent the stays all over the shop to accommodate it, but in the end it made sense to use a slightly longer bolt on the adapter for the calliper and mounted them from there. It took a bit of bending but nothing like if I'd used the smaller lower down mounts. Which was a bonus because I finished it in time for crumpets. Win. What I didn't cater for was the lower bolt hole on the chain stay bridge being full of paint (Widget and his masking eh - no breakie for him next week) so I had to clean that up before fitting.

Searching in the box o' bits turned up an SKS flap that should normally reside on the front. Bit of drilling and nut and bolt later we have a rear flap. Win.

Then it was just a case of doing the front. Again, I used the calliper mount on the left side for the stays as again it would have been a major ball ache to reroute the stays. Clearance wise its fairly tight with the 30mm's on but I think it should be sufficient and doesn't currently rub. I'll be taking an 8mm spanner out with me for the first few rides in case I need to make some adjustments.

I did offer the rack up, but its going to foul majorly on the rear calliper. I could space it but that'll look shit, or I could by a disc specific rack but they too look shit. So Revelate bags it is.

Next step is to ride it. It weighs a friggin ton but I suppose thats why I've got a 32t on the front. A quick roll down the road with 50psi in the tyres shows it does ride pretty nice. Once it stops being quite so baltic, I'll nut up and go for a proper spin.

You're right, with a paint scheme at our disposal we should have been a bit more creative than gloss black. I actually wanted to go for something like the Audi flat grey but grey is a bugger for showing marks and I'd have had to put a lot more effort in to the prep (see previous post - hunger won). We also had a stack of work on that day so I didn't want to take up too much time in the booth.

Anyway, not to worry. I've got a mountain of shit old frames that need painting so I'm sure Kawasaki green will get used at some point..

Righty - I've used this a bit now, did eventually do my ride to Lincolnshire and it was...wet, cold and miserable. Surprise! Anyway, after building up a bike specifically to use the tyres I've decided I'm going to change wheel sizes. Also, I've got a couple of disc road bikes already and frankly they're both faster and comfier than this so I might as well modify this to be something a bit different.

Currently eyeing up a set of road plus wheels from Alpkit plus a pair of WTB Horizon tyres. My obvious concern is that they won't fit the frame - I'm pretty sure the front will clear as essentially it's a 29er fork, however the rear may be tight.

Also considering a Jones H bar but this will require new brakes (or at least levers and if I'm changing brakes I may as well go full hydro) and new shifters/rear mech.

Finally I want to run a decent front rack but the fork doesn't have any rack mounts. Therefore an upgrade to a Surly disc trucker fork may be on the cards, but that causes the obvious problem with clearance for the Horizon. Hmmmm

RP Autoshop - in Elmsett.

My parents live in Elmsett, out of interest does he do bodywork (bumps/scrapes etc.) or just paint?

Also, nice looking bike! Would make a cracking tourer with a couple of racks.

He does indeed do bumpers and scrapes. In fact, he prefers doing that to painting but obviously they go hand in hand. Don't want to plug the business on here so drop me a message if you want the contact details.

Good to know, don't currently need it but it's something I have needed in the past and I imagine may well need again in the future, nice to know there's somewhere locally!

Sooo, a bit of an update.

I'd only done maybe 400 miles on it as it was but there were a few niggles. The mudguards didn't play nicely with the tyres, the wheels were flexy and rubbish and the old 10 speed shifters were a bit baggy. I've just upgraded the cervelo to Etap so I've got a spare 11 speed 105 groupset to put on this. Also have a spare pair of trp hy/rd that came off the GT when I swapped to full hydro so they'll be going on too.

Perhaps the biggest change is the swap to 650b wheels and horizons. The wheels shown are only temporary and I might have to break my rule of not spending anything on this to get a rear hope 35 to match the spare front I've got. But at least I know the tyres fit.

So it'll be a weekend of swearing whilst trying to find spare cables and stuff that doesn't fit as I try to fit the groupset...

1 Attachment

Another update although looking similar to the picture above. SuperStar wheels were going for much cheapness so I nabbed a set. I can see why they're cheap, the graphics are terrible. However they're quite wide and nicely built so they're staying (once Widget has found the hot air gun and I've removed the horrid stickers). Next dilemma is group set. I've got some 11 speed STI's so the obvious choice would be to buy a rear mech. However that leaves me with BB7's which I don't like, so I'm still considering converting to flat bar and buying an SLX groupset.

As I'm newly single, it also means I've got a shitload of time on my hands so I'm currently in the stages of planning a 'Big Trip' for next year. Current thinking is Vietnam, possibly riding south to north. Other options include the obvious France trip but I'd like to do something a bit different. Either way I'll probably go for racks rather than bags so a Surly fork is on the list and some new racks will be purchased. Yessir, it's a slow burner...

1 Attachment

Yet another update (I'm boring myself now).

Decided to go flat bar* for now and fit a spare GX groupset I had laying about along with some SRAM guide brakes. Finally got some guards that fit and slung it all together ready for this mornings commute. I've changed the saddle from the Gobi to a spare Aliante I had kicking about and the post is some carbon thing that was surplus when I changed the Cervelo one to Zipp.

Still have to de-sticker the rims and I've got a Jones bar on order (*!) which should hopefully turn up this week which I am most excite about.

Commute in this morning (about 16 miles) proved that it's not as quick as my normal commuter (but not by much, around 4 minutes slower) but it's pretty comfy with the exception of the bars which put quite a bit of weight on my wrists and resulted in me going full aerotuckt on the Old Kent road this morning. Hopefully the Jones bars will rectify this.

1 Attachment

Nice!

Looks like it could cope with pretty much anything.

With Jones bars you'll be cruising in comfort.

New bars - they look a bastard but soooo comfy. Means I can mount the exposure out the front too like a boss...

2 Attachments

This goes from strength to strength

Day off from work today so finally got round to removing the bloody awful stickers from the rims. What a shit job that is, two hours with a heat gun and thinners and I’m now off my tits on fumes.

You may notice that the below pictures were taken in the paint shop - in negotiations with Widget about a new paint job with something a little more flamboyant than black. Really like Porsche Miami blue but it’s been done to death on all the hipster steely radavist bikes so maybe something like nato green with appropriate graphics.

2 Attachments

This goes from strength to strength

this ^

un-stickered black rims and the wtbs look lovely

Thanks, appreciated! It took some bloody effort!

So, wheels on, carradice on, lights on. Just need a new saddle, post and stem to finish. I’ve not had a brooks before so tempted by the c17 (?) or whatever the least weird looking one is. I’ve got a revelate bar bag to go on too, but I need to dig that out the loft.

Now planning a trip through France with it.

4 Attachments

Also after some rack advice. I want to fit either a carradice front bag (which is now difficult because of the jones bar) or a front/rear rack. Because the rear disc caliper is on the seat stay it makes it difficult to fit a normal rack. The Topeak disc one looks a bastard and I've got got spare canti bolt holes not being used? Alternatively I could fit a front rack, but the forks don't have any bosses to do so.

So, my choices are either get a Surly fork and run a low rider for front panniers, or a rear disc rack that may or may not look a bastard. Ideas?

I've started this process on the same wheelset and fucking hell it's killing me. Front is done, rear less so...

It's misery. get the nastiest bastard paint thinners you can, soak it on the rim and leave it for a bit. Then retire to somewhere away from the fumes and return to continue snapping your finger nails off and hating life. Rinse and repeat.

Even the heat gun killed itself midway through...

Furniture polish did a reasonable job on the front

get a Surly fork and run a low rider for front panniers

This. It'll handle and look better

My other project is pretty much the other end of the spectrum. I’d wanted another Storck ever since I sold my last one. Finally got to put this together this morning with the brakes turning up at last. Wheels are temporary - I’ve got some carbon deep section things to go in but these fulcrums are actually lighter.

SRAM red brakes are a joy to set up and feel nicer than the ultegra I had on there temporarily. Just need some bar tape to finish, and stick some charge in the etap

1 Attachment

As mentioned above, I really wanted to run front panniers with my carradice on the rear. The project 2 forks don’t have bosses which made things difficult, however a quick look on the Spa website showed some bosses that clamp to the fork legs. Being that it’s a steel fork and weighs a ton I figured that obviously this would be a safe option.

Rack and bosses ordered, they turned up eventually in a pretty beaten up box. Fitting instructions were...German but had handy pictures which even a dullard like me could follow.

It sits a bit lower than expected but after adjusting the panniers they seem fine. Having just got back from a freezing spin, I can confirm that there was no scuffage from mad lean angles so all is good. The Jones bars need rolling back a little as they put quite a bit of pressure on the outside of my palms. But other than that, I think it’s done. Maybe...

2 Attachments

That does look very oddly low. Theyre meant to look like this no?

if you move the clamps up that would fix it, no?

It might well do actually, it was on the stand when i fitted it so maybe it’s a bit out. I’ll slide the clamps up a bit and see if that helps matters - I suppose the crucial bit is making sure the horizontal bars are actually horizontal for the panniers (if that makes sense)