Steel bike rainbow chasing: Rossin, Dawes galaxy, RM Blizzard, Trek 950, Breezer Storm.

Brake pads. I’ve got those nice ceramic mavic 517s and they’d never had a brake on them before me (disc hubs). But I have found the ceramic pad selection for v brakes limiting. Firstly I tried the shimano ceramic v brake inserts. They were sooooo bad. I began to question whether the xtr v brakes were the issue. They just wouldn’t slow me down. They felt slippy as.

Then I just went back to regular pads which are basically too far the other way. They bite and shudder like hell, and up front I just can’t get rid of the squeal no matter what the toe in.

So I’ve forked out for the kool stop ceramic pads at £12.50 a pair. Took me months to overcome this idea. £25 on pads just seems ridiculous. Let’s see how they stop....

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Don't worry everyone, Kool stop ceramic pads are great. Worth the ££ over the shimano ones by a long way.

Beautiful morning today. Finally took some photos of the bike that replaced the Bob Jackson. I find the long stem ugly but it feels great with those bars.

I actually have a voucher for a beginners session at this track. Presumably I won’t be taking my own bike…? I’ve never tried before, I’m more of an off roadie/ledges and rails person.

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@Alban! This is great!

That chainring makes it for me. The stem is not so bad, I feel it's fine. Would be handy to have that cap but they seem elusive. I'd say the bike needs gumwalls but I say that about most bikes.

Anyway. How's it feel to ride?

Haha cheers dude. Yeah the ride is spot on actually. No toeverlap like the BJ and feels a lot sturdier generally. It’s heavier / lower quality tubing but I like that. It just feels less fragile.

The RM feels more at home with these p2s - a2c length is better and I think they suit the bike well? And I have wanted an elementary stem since ‘08 so I had to get one of those. I’ve gone 2x10 with a clutch mech too. Feeling like I’m nearing the end of the rainbow here / peak wanker. It’s currently set up with knobblies and a flite instead of the fabric saddle.

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A few more showing the rest of the build

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Looking at my chain rings and wondering if they should be rotated 90deg clockwise? Thoughts please...

Yeah i reckon having the logos/branding on chainrings at the top when the cranks are in that position looks the best for sure. Really cool bike - is the flite you have on it now one with the yellow coloured ‘flite’ text on? Would be a winner I reckon!

Impossible. They have 5 bolt holes.

So 72° or gtfo.

I really like the proportions of your Rossin btw. Agree with Ndeipi that it’s got a handsome chainring!

Ah yeah good one! Thanks on the Rossin too 😎

@ojwithbits ah yeah I didn’t even think about that but it is one with a yellow logo - I’m happy about that too now you mention it.

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nice blizard with a klunker/cruiser feel

Love this, much better with the P2 forks.

Are the rims ceramic?

Thanks yeah I much prefer it too. Plus it handles way better.

Aye aye rims are ceramic 517s on hope xc hubs 😎

Haven’t done much to the trek in a while but did half the king Alfred way on it and it was spot on. The forks have a 385mm a2c length which don’t seem to lower the bike but just make it handle very nicely. I highly rate the early 90s singletracks with the lugged frames.

Couple of upgrades since last time are a rear hope XC on d521 and then because the deore cranks cracked I finally fitted this Ukraine fundraiser stridsland chainring and bolts with white industries cranks, which tbh have the worst chain line ever and are 5mm too long.

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Since the last update I’ve moved to bristol, where it’s hillier. So I’ve been thinking about going for a geared setup on the Rossin, but I need help!

I’m imagining black rims, tan wall tyres, silver hubs… Then, groupset. Campagnolo is the obvious choice for the frame but I’ve never had any so don’t own the tools. And I’m keen for something modern, but the spacing is 130mm. And then what about the groupo
colour??

The silver against the black is nice contrast but all black is appealing too. But then all black bikes can look cheap sometimes. Help! Any opinions out there???

*and since I’m moving into new territory I’m gonna update the thread title.

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A fun design brief you have set yourself.

Will you keep these bars or switch to drop bars?

A 10/11s groupset will work with 130 mm spacing, if that's the spacing you have. If you have 126 then spreading stays by 2 mm each side is not a crime.

I don't think you need any particular Campagnolo tools except for the cassette tool. And if you go Ultra Torque then you can just use any 10mm Allen key and a seatpost for leverage 😅. Don't go power torque unless you want to fight to remove cranks.

Consider shiny silver 10s Athena if you want ergo shifters, or maybe an 8s group if you want to use downtube levers / thumbies. Beware that 8s Campagnolo has a freehub pattern that only fits 8s Campagnolo. Doable but specific!
There are plenty of nice Campagnolo square taper cranks in 8/9/10s with rings that will go to 11s.

That Rocky mountain looks rad, I had one of those Odyssey stems on my Fly Tierra, always thought it was innovative design, those bungs were really hard to get out though!

Cheers dude! I’m gonna go with drops to change it up a bit. Found me an 8s Athena / mirage groupset with matching wheels. All that’s left to find is the bars. Don’t really know where to start with those, can’t go too wrong though I’m guessing?

Can't go too wrong but make sure the stem matches the clamp diameter. There's 25.4, 26.0 and 26.4 mm.

I have had success with Deda Piega bars and the similar Bontrager SSR VR-C and a variety of nice 26.0 mm stems, i.e. Nitto, cinelli.

Thanks. Then I did a mock up and started thinking an about keeping the bars and going for DT shifters. Would need another of those odyssey mono levers and the shifters themselves though. Or can I use XT thumbies on friction with campagnolo 8s?? Need to look at total pull length. 8sp mtb is 2.8mm cable per gear iirc

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I never rode one on a bmx at the time. Pals said they slipped a lot but they do look great. Speaking of bmx I’ve never added mine to this thread. It’s a bit rustier now under the lacquer

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there’s also this project …

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I’ve got some 26mm compact drops up for grabs in BS5 if you wanna try them out.