MGOOF : Modern groupset on old frame

Beautiful bike, pretty much a perfect mix of old and new parts.

Staggering! Lovely fork as well 😍

Ta all! It's a really nice frameset and precisely what I've been looking for, so I'm a very happy boy.

nice.

Nice to see my paint job holding up!! That purple headset really sets it off!!

You can't see all of the horrible scratches I've put into it while building it 😐

Those EE brakes!

Missed a colour matching opportunity…

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ahh I had this frame for a while when it was still powdercoated red and managed to get that original fork back off the previous owner a few years later (was painted black and had Rixon decals) - I can't remember if I passed the Lee Cooper headbadge on when I sold it... do you have one? it's looking very good!

Ha! I knew it had been around the block but didn't realise it was, quite literally, the village bike as it were. I don't have the headbadge unfortunately.

I'll tap you up for more info down the line – I'll likely do a video on it for work and any juicy info would be gladly received. Do you have any snaps from when you build it up?

I contacted Lee Cooper on Facebook a few years back and he was kind enough to send me a headbadge FOC.

Bike is outrageous

I never got a head badge when I bought it! Which I think was off the guy you sold it too maybe.

@JacqueLucque Ah... right, I'll keep an eye out for it, it's a pretty brass one with an adhesive patch on the back I think... I sold the frameset to a guy down around Brighton... I remember discovering your project thread Josh and shared all I knew about it then, I never had it built up myself sadly :(

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/15294867/

great work

Strong work!

After a spectacular and bone-smashing exit from the fixie game a couple of years ago I'd been casting around for a new two-wheeled outlet to divert me from life's unending disappointments. Insensible to the practical propositions of a Continent-conquering all-road cruiser I found my calling on this thread, charmed by the timeless chic of slender carbon-scorning frames clothed in smooth-shifting modern componentry.

Enamoured by some of the builds featured above I hereby submit my shot at understated refinement to please nodders in the know. Though of Italian pedigree, the (alu) frame is dated to around 2000BC and the groupset c.2015 so I’m testing the limits of MGOF – pedants please suspend your normal notions of ‘old’ and ‘modern’.

Making the most of a “quiet” period employment-wise earlier in the year (writing jobs are rare as 105 groupsets these days), I put my extra time and limited funds to good use and snaffled deals on posh parts like a magpie with internet access. Combined with some goodies from the HHSB days of yore, I had a rather enviable array of finishing kit. Crabon rims will soon be added to the probably-unnecessary-but-oh-so-fetching decoration, just waiting on spokes.

Huge props to my pal Pierre at A1 Bike Works for putting this all together. He shares my perfectionist tendencies and has an armoury of tools to realise a bike’s full head-turning potential. Without him going full OCD and sweating the small stuff this wouldn’t be half as fun to ride and I’d have been stumped at several unforeseen obstacles. And his bar tape wrapping kicks ass.

Head to the CP thread for more pictures and excessive use of compound adjectives and subordinate clauses.

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Tidy. How have you finished the bar tape?

Oh that’s really nice, as you say the details are spot on!

And the terrier of course

There were some incantations, a dab of gorilla glue and a tooth pick. I don't want to spill the beans but Pierre is the boss when it comes to finishing touches. More perfection on his insta.

That's a pro wrapjob if I've ever seen one. And the long black stem really compliments the frame. Didn't know the pro vibe came in an (almost) blacked out version.

Thanks. I think I’ve got it. Will give it a go this weekend.

Tis indeed, up there with any of the other #bartapewarriers on the 'gram. And the stem is good but a wee bit long. Ideally I'd go with 130 or even 125 (Pro did the puzzle stems in 5mm increments for Sky a few years back).

Those lines!! So clean, never thought I would covet thy neighbours bar tape.