Varonha Frameworks winter bike / FW Evans 650b conversion rat bike fun

Quite possibly actually!

Except the seatpost which has to wait until after I see Scherritt again (on the 9th).
I have one in the spares bin to be getting on with in the meantime.

One thing to flag up that you will be interested in @jontea is that my oh-so-clever Tubus Fly mount is almost certainly not tall enough for the strut to connect without the rear brake getting the way. I think it'll work with a custom strut (or just the brake hole attachment thing) but it's worth noting if you're going with the same thing.

Buy the required tools, build it yerself, it's how I learnt, and far more satisfying.
Waiting with baited breath :)

Good info, ta. Only had the top eye put on just in case, was considering knocking up some sort of bracket to attach my rear light to it, we'll see.

I do usually do my own builds but I have to take it to the shop to get the forks cut and the headset fitted anyway... so I might as well get them to do everything properly while I crack on with my own work. As much as I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment doing my own spannering, it does usually involve a lot of swearing, and doesn't always result in perfection! And the day's work should more or less pay for the bike shop : )

Yes I think that's the way forward. I'll take some photos tomorrow of what I'm up to right now.... I have also attacked the Tubus with a file as there isn't enough space between the rack and guard braze-ons to accommodate the unusually fat plastic PDW strut attachments.

One more for the new page:

1 Attachment

Just had a call from Seabass (who are building this up for me) and there is a problem with the axle length on the Rotor cranks - basically it's too short for this threaded BB set-up. The mechanic reckons it might be cos it's for press-fit BBs.

I knew about axle diameters and I researched BB options pretty thoroughly but I had no idea about different axle lengths... so, if I'm now shopping for a new axle, does anyone know what length I'm searching for? Obvs, this is a standard 68mm BB shell.

EDIT: Turns out it's the spider that's wrong... made for some kind of proprietary Cervelo design. I think I have to switch spiders... so no bike intil that's done; the saga continues.

Grrr! Can't go wrong with square taper bb and cranks, flog the Rotors, get summat from White Industries, job done.

R7000 105 cranks in silver?

Meh, not square taper, and also have that weird 4 arm thing going on, quite an ugly crank (imo).

Yeah there is a level of aesthetics going in here I'll admit I don't understand. That's OK though there is room on the Internet for all of us.

EDIT: Turns out it's the spider that's wrong... made for some kind of proprietary Cervelo design. I think I have to switch spiders... so no bike intil that's done; the saga continues.

The spider is detachable but not the axle as far as I'm aware, and it's the axles that came short for a cervelo specific crankset.

Slightly beery decision just made to order some Rotor Vegast cranks- they have a bundle deal on at the moment so I'll get arms, axle and 5 bolt spider for 170 squids. Bit of a kick in the teeth but only myself to blame.

White Industries was tempting but has relatively high Q-Factor and proprietary chainrings, so no indestructible TA Syrius, which took me a lot of faffing around to get right.

Seabass also had trouble with the front brake - those who have read this whole thread will remember it was actually a rear brake with a longer nut. The nut wasn't able to engage more than a couple of threads before hitting the braze-on for the mudguard and longer nuts couldn't get past the mudguard braze-on under the fork crown. So I've had to order another set in the hope that I get sent a proper front caliper with a longer bolt.

Fucking hemorrhaging money at the moment; I can't send the other ones back to Spa (even though it's their mistake sending me two rears instead of a proper pair) cos it's now past their returns date... if anyone's in the market for a rear TRP caliper then let me know!

Still, this is what we live for, right?

Yes, this is true... I think the axles can be sent to Rotor to be detached but not sure. I wasn't 100% sure about the anodising job and the little pock-marks on the 3D+ cranks anyway, hence the decision to bite the bullet and just get something new.

If anyone's interested in the silver Rotors then hit me up - you can get the correct spider easily enough and the wonderful people at Bespoke Cycling can switch it over for you. They did it free of charge when I went : )

Uh oh. As @amey and I can attest for some reason front TRP long drop brakes have comically short bolts. Has caused issues for both of us

Oh shit really?
Like basically the same as the rear?

RG957s? I've had no issue with those TRP brakes even with a carbon fork. Anyways the thingy they screw into are available in all sorts of lengths dependent on the distance front to rear of the fork brake mount.

Yeah RG979s

From what I understand, the problem isn't the length of the nut but the thickness of it. A longer nut won't fit in because the mudguard braze-on gets in the way, but if the bolt was longer then (as it's thinner) it would work.

If the TRPs only come with a short bolt on the front (like a normal rear caliper) then I think the only solution is a different caliper choice; probably VO Grand Cru.

VO Grand Cru is the correct choice.

I think they probably are. I went for the TRPs originally as they're slightly lighter and have stainless hardware. Plus the anodising goes well with the PDW guards and the Supernova light. Anyway, I'm picking up the frame and bits up tomorrow so I might have a go at making the TRPs work myself before I pull the trigger on a third pair of expensive calipers...

I'm hoping it's just the bolt for the mudguard that's in the way as opposed to the actual braze-on.

I have the Tektro version of the trp mid drop brakes (r539), can let you have the bolt if it's any different to the trp one you have. Measure length and diameter, may be worth a punt?

Cheers man.... Do you mean the nut or the bolt? I'm calling the bit that sticks out of the caliper 'the bolt', and the hollow bit that screws onto the end of it 'the nut'. No idea if that's right!

I already have a few different length nuts. Not sure how possible it is to switch the bolt for a longer one but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has managed that.

The bolt just, well, unbolts. Not to be too personal, but how big is yours?

Gaz have you used TRP 957 with PDW guards before?