Current Projects chat and miscellany

30t would be pushing it for a short cage derailleur. You could try and use a deraileur hanger extender

Does anyone know if I can get away with a 30t cassette?

Nearly always, but keep an eye on total capacity too if you're using two chainrings.

RD-2400-GS or RD-R2000-GS would be your modern wide ratio road mech that's natively 8-speed.

30t would be pushing it for a short cage derailleur. You could try and use a deraileur hanger extender

Just a reminder: until 11 the measurement of the B knuckle to the top jockey wheel was almost always the same on long/medium/short cage. This is the measurement that determines if it will clear a certain size cassette in the rear. The cage length determines if a derailleur will take up the chain slack.

Didn't know that, thanks for the insight!

So the extender thing won't work because the cage is too short for the chain slack?

Cheers @gbj_tester, the first one will do nicely - it's even silver : )

I like the flying dynamo light at the front.

Black quill stems in 26.0:
Nitto Dynamic
Nitto Pearl (hard to find in black)
Kalloy / Zenith (as far as I can tell it's the unbranded version of Gran Compe / BLB / Acor, etc)
Simworks (I think the 'tomato' one is 26.0)

Then vintage stuff (try Hilary Stone, ebay):

Cinelli XA, 1A, frog, etc (or any of their 26.4 stems with a shim)
3ttt and ITM did black stems too but I don't remember the names.

26.0 compact drops:
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/214488/

My vote would be for Deda Piega as they're the lightest and the cheapest... but the finish on the Nitto's is much better.

outstanding, thank you !

been a while since I pieced together a bike and I know there's lots of little compatibility pratfalls - hoping I can avoid most of those this time round.

cabling - something I've never done.

I am shifting the (SRAM apex 10sp) group off one frame to another. can I just keep and reuse the cables/housings on frame 2? I assume I'll also need to pick up some down tube cable stops (it's a steel frame which doesn't come with these)

more generally, is it a piece of piss or something I'd be better getting a shop to do right? everything else on a bike build is relatively straightforward

Cabling is easy enough, indexing the gears can be a bit trickier but there are loads of good youtube tutorials (the Park Tools or GNC ones are usually pretty good).

You can reuse cables if the lengths are right - if they're too long you can cut them, if they're too short you'll have to use new ones. It might be worth getting new ones anyway to learn how to do it from scratch.

I would also recommend getting some proper cable-cutters - I've only just discovered how much better they are than normal cutting pliers. It really is a world of difference.

So max chain wrap is 28 on 6400/6401 short cage. Subtract the small ring from the big ring (52-39 = 13) and subtract the small cog from the large (30-11 =19) add the differences together for you max capacity (32).

So if you’re running the original 6400 cranks and rings you’ll be out of recommended range. You could run 48/39 (9t difference) and with 11/30 be in range.

fantastic

Amazing knowledge, thanks!

thanks. I think I'll have a go at it - I can re-index gears easy enough. I'm assuming there are no recommended cables and that they're all a much of a muchness so will just bag a couple of lifeline gear/brake cable sets from wiggle

Picked this frame up on eBay and wheels from here. Going to have bullmoose and 1x if anyone has any mtb cranks or v brakes let me know

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I have XT 739 V brakes and levers (VGC). I'm after 65 € posted. Send PM if interested.

Anyone had one of these Raleighs before and could take a punt at what seatpost size I need to replace the existing one.. It’s 25.? ...

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take a punt

Better still, why don't you measure it? Acceptable digital calipers are just £7.21 today, and you'll solve all sort of bike and non-bike fitting questions in the future by having access to somewhat accurate measurements.

I’ve got some cheapo digital ones. Just not in the same place as the bike :). Will get round to retrieving it but in the meantime was hoping someone might know or have had this exact same frameset before (being a Raleigh, assumed it was prob mass produced).

Life Line should be plenty good enough... looking forward to seeing how you get on : )

I owned this frame briefly some 5 years ago. I really wanted to build it up back then, but got feet because I wasn't sure if it would fit me.

I have a chance to buy it back now. I was hoping you guys could help me figure out if I can somehow make this work for me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

History on the frame is pretty much non-existent. I am pretty sure it was built by Litespeed, but they don't have any details on it. It came from the liquidation stock of the old Merckx factory, so I can't contact them for information. The geometry is very similar to the infamous Bauer Merckx Paris Roubaix bike (dubbed by Bikehugger as the ugliest Merckx ever), but less extreme.

Top tube length is 60 cm C-C. Seat tube length is 54 cm C-C.

I am 1.90m and ride a 59 cm C-C top tube.

You'll be able to assemble something rideable, but it will never fit you in the conventional sense, nor should you try to make it. If you want a novelty conversation piece to add to your bike collection, go for it.

This^