Koga Miyata/ YT Industries/ Fort

They're the shoes from carbon specific pads but I've put in some normal pads. I'll pick up a set of 7900 shoes asap.

Thomson seatpost and DA 7900 brake shoes ordered.

A Koga Miyata update;

7300 cranks have arrived, they're a little scuffed so I need to polish that out and then I'm taking them to a firearms specialist to match a colour to the rest of the 7900 gruppo and have the cranks coated with DuraCoat. I'll probably get some Rotor Q-Rings before I fit them then.

Thomson seatpost, Fizik Super Glossy tape and Gravel Kings have also arrived but I've yet to fit them.

Royal Mail lost my DA downtube shifter cablestops so I'm going to take this as a sign to just have the repairs I want done on the frame sooner rather than later so I'll have it finished for summer riding.
I've ordered some braze-on cablestops and a replacement cable guide from Ceeway and I'll be having them fitted by a local bike shop in Dublin.

My big problem now is finding someone to repaint it afterwards... I've contacted Rob at Colourburn and while I know that's the finish I really want I'm struggling to justify the cost on a frame that just isn't quite worth the money regardless of how much I like it. I've contacted Cole Custom Coatings also and they're basically booked forever.

Any suggestions for painters greatly welcomed... I just want to replicate current paint but in metallic finish and ideally with painted logos...

Goodiebag from Ceeway arrived today...

I've ordered two options for my braze-on cablestops, one with barrel adjuster and one without.

Which set do I go for? Any opinions?

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With barrel adjusters... Otherwise you'll have to run an in-line barrel adjuster on the FD cable outer, which is always a bit shit looking.

Yeah I think this is the way to go! Can't wait to have this finished and painted!

I've finally gotten around to getting a set of decals for my Fort also, going to fit those later.

When the dust settles on the other two builds I'll be hoping to build a new set of wheels for this as the heavyweight c.
2008 hhsb wheels I've currently got on are such a let down in an otherwise really enjoyable build.

I'm thinking TB14s but very open to suggestion on hubs, Dura Ace 7600 would be ace but I'm wondering would they be wasted on Irish roads and necessitate regular servicing?

Rest of build;
Fort Track 7005 frame
Makino NJS fork
Hatta Swan BB
Shimano Dura Ace headset
Shimano Dura Ace square taper crankset
Nitto Jaguar seatpost
Nitto B123AA bars
Look quill Ergostem
Shimano brake levers
DiaCompe clamp-on brake
Selle Italia SLR
Shimano Zen Olympic 55t chainring

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I've just stripped the Koga Miyata for it's trip to be brazed and then to be painted.

I took the opportunity to weigh it when I had the frame fully stripped... I wish I hadn't... Frame (with headset cups still in) comes in at 2.3kg (suitcase scales so not sure exactly how many grams but it's in that ballpark)

It does ride lovely though so I'm looking forward to having it all done even if it is still going to be a bit of a porker.

It will probably take a while as I'm away a good bit with work for the next while so I won't have a chance to get it from the brazer to the painter for a bit.

I've found a painter too, the plan is to replicate the current paint scheme with metallic paint and painted on decals.

Did these too...

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Capra frame went off to the painter today who noted "That's a weird colour for a bike like that?"

Looking forward to having it back now and getting those decals done!

Here's a selection of other items in ral 1013 in the meantime.

Went to collect frame from powdercoaters this morning. Powdercoated alloy bits look amazing but he's made a hames of spraying the carbon seat stays, terrible runs in it... Admittedly the weather has been freezing and their workshop isn't really set up for painting but it's definitely a disappointment. I'll pop back in the morning and see how he's gotten on and if it's not good I'll have to find someone else to paint them.

Braze-ons completed on the Koga Miyata and off to the painter now!

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Nitto M109AA and a pair of Rotor Q-Rings ordered for the KM also.

I've been trying to dial in my fit on my Fort lately and I've come to the conclusion that I need to say goodbye to my 380mm Nitto track drops and get some 420mm drops.

I also need to get some brake levers with a longer hood. I'm probably going to look out for some 7400 levers perhaps?

Any recommendations on 26.0mm bars that will look well?

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Odd placement for the cable stops, no? Usually in about the same spot, but under the tube!

cable guides are possibly above the BB, instead of the usual spot below.

Yep,the frame originally had an aero downtube shifter with a single boss on the top of the downtube so cable guides had to go up top for alignment.

Patience is growing very thin on YT Capra project.

After the powdercoater did a shitty job on the alu parts and shitty job at spraying the carbon stays I decided to drop the frame to a friend of a friend who is a spray painter to touch up the shitty bits and respray the shitty carbon bit. After they were dropped to him I found out he has exams on and wasn't going to get around to it for a fortnight.
Three weeks later it turns into "I won't get to it until next Wednesday at best and I'm snowed under"...

So I take back the frame and decide to go a different route with the finish. I have a spray can from the powdercoater and I decide to have a go myself, I've sprayed bikes before and while not going to win any awards at Bespoked they've been certainly passable... the shit in this can is like a heavy sneeze, I cannot get it to give a decent finish without dribbles all over. It just comes out crazy heavy.

Now I'm undecided as to whether I go and buy some more cans and continue or do I leave it with the chap who's painting my Koga Miyata and just spend the money to have a good finish on it? Worse again, I've ordered some Posca paint pens to do some designs on it and if I go with Good Painter I'llhave to get him to lay down a base coat, take it back, do my stuff and then drop it back for clearcoat...

Bloody annoying.

See if there is anywhere near you that sells Montana MTN 94 graffiti spray paint. It’s so easy to lay down and if you let it cure for long enough it becomes really resistant. Well, at least somewhere between a wet paint and a powder coat.

Do many thin layers with a decent distance and it will become a bit matte. You can use 2K clearcoat afterwards, but do a test to make sure it doesn’t dissolve the paint.

Give it to a pro for base, posca then Hycote clear?

I've had a shot at the base coat again myself with a can from motor factors.
Results are acceptable, need to key it and get at it with the Posca markers tomorrow night hopefully and then 2k lacquer! I'll take lots of photos and upload!

Collected my Dura Ace 7300 cranks from the rad firearms dude who coated them with DuraCoat to match my Dura Ace 7900 gruppo and bolted them up to a pair of Rotor Q-Rings (53/42)...

The finish is awesome! The only mild irritance lies with 1980s Shimano, the engraving on the nds crank arm isn't as deep as the drive side one which I'm guessing is just a manufacturing defect... as a result of which gun dude couldn't get a satisfactory fill of blue paint back into the logo so they're just plain black.

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Wicked! What did they look like beforehand? I've got a pair of dura ace 7400 cranks that someone has half heartedly attempted to sand down. I was thinking of getting them refinished but they'll probably need some surface prep first.

That's the before photo! I couldn't recommend the guy who did mine enough, he's based in Cork, Ireland but he's happy to work by post! Search for "Small Arms Services" on Facebook! He's happy to take care of the prep too!

TRP Quadiem G-Spec brakes

Very tempted to get some of these.