Current Projects chat and miscellany

Loove this frameset, did you buy it direct from Mathew a few years back? Built up super nice too!

Does anyone have a band on derailleur shim going spare near camberwell se5? 28.6–31.8

No, it was with @may for some time before he responded to my wanted ad after I crashed my last bike. With the exception of seatpost and consumables think the whole build was sourced on here

Rad! I was in the workshop when it was sold and always wondered what happened to it/how it got built...

Kool Stop Salmon pads fitted today. What a difference! Thanks for the suggestion.

No worries mate, I need to get a few more sets myself

Love this!

Long & lean old skool cockpit & all.

Ta. Yeah, I thought I'd try to keep the feel, even though I had to swap out some (quite a lot) of the front end. Want to get it on some scales at some point also. It feels super light after riding cromo carry-all-the-things dad biek all the time (even though that was where the RC31 forks came from).

Finally I've got my ass in gear and made some headway with this Mercian that I've had for years now.

I got it rolling last night but then chickened out with the mudguard install when I saw the effort required (a set of Honjo) and instead had a drink.

Looking at what's required for them there's definitely gonna be a lot more drink involved (along with a lot of swearing, cutting, drilling).

They should look alright once done though.

Looks great, what are the brakes like? Id be interested to know how much better they are when 'direct mount' not center mount (If at all)

wow

Amazing

Exquisite!

So the Gran-Compes, I was quite lucky to find someone selling a set unused at a fairly reasonable price and they'd installed the VO cartridge pad upgrade on them. The original plan had been a set of TRP RG957s but they ended up getting in the way of the rear rack mounts so were quite useless.

I wasn't particularly optimistic about these despite good reviews and expected howling, flex, and general dislike.

But they work, and they seem to work really very well at that, the arms feel stiff, there's a very strong return spring so no rubbing, they stop well and there's good modulation too. I need to really chuck it down a hill to decide for sure but I think I'm going to be quite happy with them.

Had a set of Eurus wheels arrive at lunch. I hadn't seen exactly this model before with internal nipples, fairly deep rim and steel spokes. Thankfully the hubs are running smooth, the rims appear true. Just need a good scrub and possibly destickering.

This is another frame that's been hanging around for a few years that I actually want to have moving. Groupset choices are:

Silver 10s mix of Veloce/Centaur, that Centaur CT crankset.
Silver + carbon 10s mix of Record Carbon shifters/derailleurs and silver Record brakes and cranks.
Silver 11s Athena, UT compact crankset.

1 Attachment

Do you have any ordinary-looking projects on the go or are they all lovely?

Thanks for the kind words :) Um well, the ordinary bikes are all largely done and being ridden (commuter, mtb, gravel, road) so that leaves shiny extras.

I guess these rims might count as a project:

I don't even care too much for shiny silver Archetype rims but I recently cracked and bought a set due to the general dearth of silver parts available. I figure that will likely continue too with the movement towards disc brakes.

Now I have a set though I'm feeling compelled to actually build them up, and think they're not quite as bad as I imagined. But there's not so many 28H silver hubsets available that I care for. RS4s seem to be coming back into stock now so might go that direction. White Industries T11 would be super shiny and match the rims but they're pricy and sound like maintenance can be a PITA.

The Merckx there is another long-term project because I can't decide what to do with it. Maybe 7 speed Chorus.

And an on-again-off-again project is this Pinarello. It's quite mad but I don't need it at all so I bounce between selling it and building it up ratty, maybe with black 105 parts.

That Mercian is so nice!
Also jealous of that MBK, I've got the track version of it and have always thought I'd need to find a road frame match...

Wow! Any full pics of the road Samson?

I'd be happy with one of any of the above. Epic.

(retires from bike game immediately, as it's just not fair anymore...)

@veLLo I think I've asked to buy that at least once many moons ago ;)

I still really want to get my hands on the MBK Super Record HPF model. That's really been the target but this model will have to do until then.

@poorman I still don't have any decent photos, ones that catch the paint properly, but there's some pics here

Quite the quiver !! I’ve got a BNIB rs4 front hub for sale in 28h QR silver if you’re after one 👍

Indeed that rings a bell now!

J'ai hâte de voir le Mercian avec les gardes boue !

Anyone got a 26.2mm seatpost in London I could buy off them today?

Helping my mate out with a seatpost that won't go down further than min insertion annoyingly. and yes I have tried 26.0mm with no success :-(