Current Projects chat and miscellany

Nay, for me the L of LFGSS is for Leeds!

Wierd. You have a bike doppelgang-enger in London. It was not even on #widebarwednesday either.

Got my hands on one of these Raleigh Randonneurs from the late 1990s with Reynolds 708 frames. It's in pretty good shape, although somethings up with the headset - its stiff when I turn the handlebars to one side. Have disassembled, cleaned, and regreased, and there's no sign of pitting...so not too sure what's going on.

Am thinking of going neo-retro with some Tiagra 4700 brifters and RD, tektro 720 cantis but will keep the Sugino cranks.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, welcome

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Had a similar issue with a frame. Tried 2 different forks, 3 different headsets, and all the combinations of both components, never got rid of the tigh point on one side. head tube doesn't seem to be damaged or anything but I'm no expert.
Riding it as it is, not causing any significant problem, can ride it also no-handed (but feels not 100% stable to be fair), but never understood the cause and drove me crazy

uh oh! that doesn't sound promising. I read somewhere it may have to do with a poorly faced head tube?

Forks looks bent, was the frame crashed?

I see what you mean, but i think its the picture. no harm re-checking though!

there is indeed probably an explanation. most sensible one would be something is preventing the headset to operate 100% correctly (ovalized headtude, bad facing, misalignment, etc.); I just had limited tools or means to control what is wrong.
But if it rides okay and you won't go down a mountain with the bike full of luggage, I'd say live with it ha ha ha

My guess is that or (less likely) the crown race seat isn't machined perfectly flat.

Nice bike btw I had the Royale version from that era. Similar but 531.

Fork definitely bent

Been tempted to buy this stem for absolutely ages. Finally caved while it was 20% off. No bike to put it on yet though .. 😅

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Well the bars would match this if you’re interested?

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Yeah, lovely bit of kit but pretty niche... I sense a OSisdead build thread coming on.

Anyone know what this brake is, and if there's a modern replacement? Fairly deep drop and very wide clearance. Cable entry from below would be nice too.

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Anyone know what this brake is, and if there's a modern replacement?

Probably Weinmann 730. Bottom cable entry might present problems with modern brakes if you want something nicer than bog standard Chinese

Tektro 810C might work

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Took some inspiration from somewhere on here and went Ikea for a cheap mans Wald for the ongoing Cannondale retro fun thing.

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Cheers..do you mean the cable adjuster and clamp could be swapped round on the tektro? Or just apart from bottom cable entry, it could sub for the weinmann?

I converted Dia Compe 730 no problem, it's mostly a matter of switching bolts up and down. They're 53-71mm.

This, measure it up and yeah just swap the barrel adjuster and the clamp bolt around and you're good to go. Might wanna upgrade the brake pads too while you're at it.

Cheers, I'll give this a go. The other option is to mount it on the plate in between the middle set of stays, with a straight and much shorter cable run, which would presumably make for better braking, if it works. I might be missing some reason why that's not possible though - otherwise why would the original be mounted where it is?

Potentially even using a centre pull like this, if I can find the right cable stop/ferrule. At the moment the outer cable fits through the hole in the bridge so I would need something to trap it.

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In theory none of this is worth doing on an unfeasibly heavy old gas pipe frame that I bought as a complete bike for £45. But my wife loves it and it seems impossible to find new mixte frames for 26" wheels.

Vraiment superbe ! J'avais jamais pris le temps d'apprécier certains détails !

Specifically mixte or step through frames in general?
The Soma Buena Vista can be built up with smaller wheels than standard (584 for sure, maybe 559), comes in rim brake and disc flavours.
Bob Jackson do a nice step through with rim or disc options as well.