Goodbye gravel bike, hello recumbent

there is a little clay run along the lee just north of the olympic park that, if really wet, will bring your bike to a halt in about 20 seconds

This just came in from France... Not sure how it ended up there in the first place, but who cares.

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Some close ups of the wheels from France. According to the seller the hubs have seen only very little us and were laced for the first time recently. I am hoping it was done professionaly, but the position of the valve holes suggests otherwise. The wheels are for use on the Kestrel for racing, because I am pretty sure nobody will allow me with Spinergy or Spengle wheels fitted.

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I also just bought this for no reason in particular. I would have rather had a front, but beggars can 't be choosers. 650c ofcourse.

I have landed a beautiful set of Mavic 3G 650c wheels too. No stickers on them unfortunately, but otherwise in amazing condition. No tires either, which might prove to be a problem.

This is exciting. Think I prefer them distickered...

Tecno wheel

You need a friend with a 3D printer. Some inserts for the holes at the ends of the spokes both sides and some aero fillets to fill up the step on the rims between the spokes.

Changed the rubber on my mountain bike for some proper fat bike material. Quite a bit heavier now, but grip is out of this world.

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Awesome thread. Keep it up

I've been having a streak of bad luck with wheel purchases recentely. The Gipiemme wheel above turned out to have a cracked connection at one of the spokes and is currently on the way back to Italy. I also bought a HED wheel, that turned out to be a Specialized and had several dents in the brake track.

This on the other hand did arrive in near perfect condition. It is an Elite Shape wheel made in the USSR. According to the seller it was only used on the track, so no brake marks yet. Only downside is that it is a 700c wheel, so I need a new bike :). Hopefully @Breso can help me with that ;)

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That is a great looking wheel.

They look great as a pair too. According to my Flickr page I owned a set some 10 years ago. Haven't seen one come by since this.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/quality_vintage_bikes/10043190464

Love the Soviet flathead door hinge screws on the hub!

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.

It’s nice but what’s the reason for that geometry?

Looks like it could be a lo-pro if it had a 650c fork.

The extremely laid-back seat tube angle and correspondingly long chain stays were meant to give an almost recumbent position for muscling the gears against the saddle’s backrest, with less weight being supported by the rider’s back and arms.

Took out my pencil and ruler yesterday and drew up this. Surprisingly enough the saddle to bar distance with a 80 mm stem appears to be similar to my normal road bike which has a shorter top tube (58 or 59cm, can't remember exactly). That doesn't make any sence to me given the slack seat tube angle...

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New bar tape day. Not sure if too much bling.

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Not too bling, looks good. Would match the rad Elite Shape above but I'm assuming this bartape is on the softride.

Nice!

Genuine Benotto or reproduction?

I think the original stuff. I used reversed isolation tape to get it to stick to the bars. Worked like a charm. Wish I had used yellow tape underneath , as it would have looked a bit nicer.

Changed the tires for something more durable for winter time.

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Ah yes, the ideal winter bike.

Looks great though. The bar tape suits it. It's never going to be a restrained or subtle bike so you might as well go whole hog on making it look mental.

Lol 😂