Current Projects chat and miscellany

Hilary Stone has some good info about head clip headsets:
http://hilarystone.com/CCheadsetsandbbs.html

Depending on when/where/by whom the frame was made, the headset will have been designed to fit with a 1" (external diameter) steerer or a 31/32" steerer (external again). My Hetchins has a 1" steerer despite being pre-war (31/32 was more common then) so a normal Cinelli 1A fits in fine and securely without needing the expander. I guess you might have a smaller diameter stem installed by someone thinking the steerer was 31/32" when it's actually 1" ?
The fact that it's a tandem headset probably complicates things as well. If the stem will tighten with the expander further down, you could try on of those really long Nitto quill stems to see if the extra length allows you to get it secure and shim it at the clip to stop rattles.

So I certainly don't need another bike, but I bought this SABA off @crillz because I always fancied one after seeing rows of their frames hanging up in Whiskers in Willesden Lane.

Question is, how shall I build it? I'm entertaining three options:

1 Single fixed. Quick and easy. Most parts to hand.
2 Classic Italian. Parts box yields next to no Campag parts except for half of a Record chainset.
3 Stealthy Shimano. All 10S parts to hand; can even build with flat bars.

Answers on a postcard, as ever...

1 Attachment

Flat bar 10spd

Yes, I am inclining that way

Picked up a new project today.

1 Attachment

Nice find. Any chance for a full frame shot?

needs some love. Bike has been neglected for 25 years or more. And for one or other strange reason, it has no derailleur cable stops on seatstays, nor seat tube and it looks like these have never been there either.

1 Attachment

That is a very strange looking machine. Does it have clearance for mtb-size tyres? The 23s or whatever they are look very odd.

It definitely is a mtb but the previous owner used it on road only. That expkains why there are 26" 20 mm tires on it. This is how I picked it up.

Picked up a cheap-ish Karakoram and one of the shifters immediately exploded, so I've taken the opportunity to strip it down in preparation for a 1x11 drivetrain.

Luckily the frame is in great condition, the purple haze paintwork just needs a bit of effort to really bring it to life.

(The Wald in the background is going on too)

Haha how are your plans to buy less bikes working out for you?
Frame looks special. Are there photo's of one in original condition somewhere?

New group and wheelset for the commuter. Rims could be wider but they were cheap. SRAM NX 12s was surprisingly easy to set up. Next up wire the lights into Son 28.
Will ride for a bit but likely a bigger chainring will be in order.

1 Attachment

There goes the aheadset weight advantage.
Kidding!
Sort of.

Hahaha yeah. I can only assume the bike originally had a fork with a much longer crown height to account for the tiny headtube. Might get one of those droopy velo orange stems at some stage to remove the tower of power. It's a heavy bike all up though.

Jesus, does your commute include the Hardknott Pass?

Really awesome bike! Are those 60mm GBs? Wide enough for those Rat Trap Passes?

Yep 60 mm GBs. They just fit over the rat traps.

What plan, @kjlem? Buying less bikes? Who? Me?? Where you get that nonsense?? :)

1 Attachment

So cool this one, looking forward to one of your super clean builds.

Thanks for the compliment, mate.

Ok, I’ve just got to fit a days work into a morning and I can get stuck in to this!

1 Attachment

resurrected my old koga. voyager hyper tyres are amazing!

Looking great!

I’m using a road double instead of track cranks because I’m a cheapskate. Consequently I’m flying close to the wind here - is this ok or do I need to get the file out?

1 Attachment

You don’t change the functionality of the chain set by filings, so go for it

live a little