mustard's projects...

I'll split this opener into a couple of posts to try and control my rambling:

Our flat is too small for all my bikes and massive assortment of "it might come in handy one day" stuff, so I'm in the process of clearing out the vast majority. The most difficult part is making myself get down to just two bikes - previously I was allowing myself three, even that was a struggle.

The three were originally plastic Trek rd bike, winter bike and commuter. Then I had to get my mountain bike out of my mates garage so the commuter got stripped down - commuting on wide flat bars is no fun in windy, hilly Edinburgh. Now, the plan is to just have two bikes; I'm keeping the Trek (for now at least) and replacing the mtb, commuter and winter bike with one that can, hopefully, fulfil all three roles.

So, out go this

and

Because It's going to be my commute/pub/around town bike (and I have ambitions to jump on the @Jaap / @russmeyer bandwagon and do some frame modding) it had to be steel. I was searching for something retro with cantis but no-one was willing to post, there was no tyre clearance or they were too small. Then I came across the Kaffenback with swapout droupouts, which would have been ideal, cheap, could get new dropouts machined if I wanted to play around with the geometry and can do canti or V. Only it wasn't cheap, by the time postage was included it went for close to new cost!

Then this turned up, I hadn't really been looking for a full bike as I've such a glut of parts but it's cheap enough to mess about with and I'll recoup some of the cost when I sell off parts I don't need.

I'm going to collect it this evening (sellers pic) - for once a bike I fancied on ebay was collection only and local enough that I can walk to collect it.

It's a Cotic Escapade and, from what I've been reading, the BB on this older model is a little on the high side and the 9mm through axle fork might be a bit of a ball ache. I'm not very keen on the track end/geared combination either as the first thing I'm going to do is fit mudguards.

So, in no particular order/timescale, these are my plans:

1. fit mudguards
   
2. Switch bars to something narrower (I've plenty of options in the house) and stem to suit my position.
   
3. move bottle cages as low as possible in the frame
   
4. Switch to 1x (I'll just use current 50t for now and see how I get on)
   
5. fit mtb rear mech (to get rid of the cable loop and only if I stick with SRAM)
   
6. Change the fork - I've a Kinesis DC37 lying around but it's 5mm longer a-c than the frame comes with so i'm not sure about it.
   
   

Then there are a couple of bigger changes that I'll conside if I like how the frame rides enough to invest in them

1. make drouppouts vertical - I've an idea in my head about brazing a piece in to fill the track end then cutting out a vertical dropout, this may be a stupid idea. The alternative would be to get 142x12 dropouts brazed/wended in.
   and at the same time
   
2. lower bb/potentially tapered head tube.
   
   

I've no idea how many of these will come to fruition or if this will magically morph into a completely different frame but I'll try to keep my progress documented for posterity.

Sounds like a solid plan! Only thing I don't like is no. 6, changing the forks. Why?

The 9mm bolt through sounds like a pain for quick wheel swaps and it's apparently a bit of an anchor - the intention (although whether I actually bother is another matter) would be to have a nice light wheelset with good supple road tyres, something for commuting and a set with chunkier tyres for off roading.

I think you could easily convert that 9mm thru axle to 9mm quick release (as in normal QR axles / hubs).

i have the same frame and done many of the same modifications...

initially swapped the fork for a carbon genesis CDF one. With a reasonably lightweight tubeless 700c x 32c wheelset, it felt great! (in a fast, comfy cadillac sort of way...). Have now changed again to a thorn touring fork. This has a lower A-C and more offset and has given it much quicker, more lively steering. doesn't feel slower at all and now takes front panniers very nicely.

also went to 1x with a mtb rear derailleur. no regrets there!

also moved the seatpost bottle cage downwards by placing the upper bottle cage hole in the lower bolt hole and a jubilee clip to secure the lower part of the cage. works great and i can now either a) fit a full length frame bag or b) fit a bottle of wine in there. both have come in handy :)

last mod was to change to 650b x 1.75". no regret there either!

its a very versatile frame. my only regret is not waiting for the newer model with the vertical dropouts. I never plan to run this singlespeed and it is an absolute PITA to take the rear wheel out when you have mudguards fitted.

enjoy it!

make drouppouts vertical - I've an idea in my head about brazing a piece in to fill the track end then cutting out a vertical dropout, this may be a stupid idea. The alternative would be to get 142x12 dropouts brazed/wended in.

I can see why you'd want to do this but for the time/money it'd take and potentially messing the frame up (depending on how DIY/cheap you want to get), it hardly seems worth it. Install some kind of mudguard quick release (this is an incredibly cheap system and works fine - I use it on any bikes I have with track ends and guards).

Nice bike though.

Modding the dropouts like you've said sounds like a bad idea to me, just get a frame builder to replace the whole drop out if it bothers you!

Otherwise looks like a great bike.

As an OG Escapade owner (fixed/650b) I would say-

• Dont bother modifying the frame, if you want horizontal dropouts and tapered steeres etc just sell + buy the new one they have just released, will probably be cheaper than modifying.
  
• Fork can be cheaply modified to 9mm QR using a hacksaw if you feel so inclined, but yes it is a boat anchor
  
• Mudguards + Track ends, just fit the SKS quick release mounts and jobs a good'n
  
• BB is high, but thats good if you ever ride it fixed, and also makes good candidate for 650b conversion
  
• Bike is a tank will happily roll over anything
  
  
  
  

Ha ha, I hadn't expected such a negative response to frame modding. I'll see how things progress, it may or may not happen, I do like to get my hands dirty and learn new skills and I've paid little enough for it that if I really twat it up it's not the end of the world.

I picked it up last night - first impressions; it's not as much of a lump as I was expecting and I'd forgotten how much I dislike SRAM shifters.

I'll get the position sorted tomorrow and give the SRAM another chance but I recon my old ultegra will be getting chucked on next week.

they are a surprisingly fun ride!

negative response to frame modding

Not from me ;)

Have fun. As long as you're prepared to fail miserably just do it. I figured you have to start somewhere and adding little braze ons here and there isn't too hard. Head tube swap sounds a bit intimidating but others have home modded this with success. Who was it that did that rossin a few years ago, @drøn ?

I've also got an old Escapade which has had most of the modifications you've mentioned. Can confirm that it's not light, but with 650b wheels and a nice wide cockpit it will handle anything you throw at it.

1 Attachment

Paging @jdmitch for dropout mod duty

That was me yes. I did filing mitering myself, but actual brazing was @Hulsroy.

Would say, it’s not too complicated, but very critical to get strong enough. That’s why I didn’t dare myself.

I can not imagine how one would lower BB withought changing wheel size though.

what size tyres? did you modify the chainstays?

They're 650 x 47c Terrence Elwoods. They clear the chainstays with maybe 5mm each side so I didn't have to modify them.

Not much mud clearance, but it hasn't been an issue so far

The more serious frame mods are for much further down the line but to answer your question @drøn - from eyeballing it, there is at >5mm that i can take off the bottom of the headtube, I would just need to take care not to remove so much that the lower headset cup clashed with the DT.

At the back it is more difficult so will depend on whether I modify the existing dropouts or replace them - if I modify the existing ones, I imagine just moving the axle seat up the same ammount as I take off the headtube would work, effectively making a built in Wolftooth road link, there is plenty of meat in the dropouts to play with.

But, back to the present - I've thrown on the Kinesis forks and the cockpit and saddle from my winter roadie. Turns out the fit is pretty similar to my synapse so, for now, its got a 120mm stem. I'll probably take it down to 110 or maybe 100mm at some point for off roading. Bars are down from 44cm to a much more windy Edinburgh appropriate 40cm Spotter bars (which is wide compared to the 38cm FSAs on the Synapse that measure more like 36).

I'll give it a shakedown like this then strip it next week and grease/threadlock/anti-seize everything and recable it. It's in pretty decent nick but hasn't seen much in the way of maintenance for a while i'd guess.

Looks good! What fork have you got on there - the original with extra braze ons or something else?

I need to order mudguards urgently otherwise spring commutes will be no fun. I just need to make a decision between steel and aluminium unless anyone has any other good suggestions? They have to be black and metal.

It's the original fork with added braze-ons

As it currently stands

One go at taking a qr wheel out of the bolt through forks was enough to convince me to put the qr fork on. I'll probably slot the original fork dropouts when I start modding the frame as I want to add some sort of lawyer tabs - I'd just do it if it had rim brakes but I like my face and I'm getting married this year!

Today's commute was pretty grim without mudgurads so I've ordered Velo Orange Black Hammered - can't find any other wide, black and metal ones I like and the steel ones linked above aren't such a bargain once you add international post.

Yeah I think it was a bit misleading by Cotic saying you can just squeeze standard QR hub out of the dropouts - works okay without a brake mounted but trying to do it with a caliper and rotor on is nearly impossible

A little progress this week - this has to be the first bike I've owned that I've struggled to get on with.

I pulled off the original cranks and front mech and tried out my Midleburn mtb cranks - I just bunged on an old 44t ring I had lying around but between the chainline and wider stance they just had to go. I guess I could reduce the Q a little with a slightly shorter bb but think I'll just bite the bullet and sell them. I've put on some Ultegra 6700 cranks with a 39t ring to try for a bit. I was 100% sure this was going to be 1x but I've been wavering a bit today and starting to wonder about putting a compact double on it.

The other change I've made is swapping the 120mm stem for a 110 and putting a spacer under it. It's just relaxed the fit a tiny bit compared to my road bike but it has transformed the bike. It suddenly feels sharper and snappier so it maybe isn't going to the classifieds just yet.

Next up is getting rid of the Apex for an Ultegra/XT mix, I've tried to like it but just cannot be doing with DoubleTap.

Eventually got around to replacing the drivetrain - my trusty (and scruffy) old 6800 shifters with a ten speed XT rear mech. Swapped the long cage from the XT with a med cage from an SLX I had lying around.

Feeling much more at home on the bike, I just don't get on with SRAM as much as I tried to like it. The chain feels a little more secure now too, although it does still drop from time to time. But I've come to the conclusion that it just isn't the right bike for me, so instead of messing around with any of the frame mods I was contemplating I'm probably just going to move it on. Before I do it though, I'll pop the original fork back on and see if that sharpens things up enough to change my mind.

Back soon for the hive's thoughts on my next plan, but in the mean time, what are the thoughts on cheapish 44t narrow wide rings - is Superstar worth the extra over J&L?