Little Mixte - Muddy Fox Courier

No worries at all - the frame is a v battered gazelle & not nearly as nice as this! Might make it to the beaters thread at some point!

Don't worry, up close the paintwork on this is still a complete mess - and its going to get plenty of well used, budget parts hung on it

As it happens the 26.4 seatpost has just arrived, it's definitely the right size, although a bit tight due to aforementioned crud. I can get it 12cm in without any special force, which is 2cm more than the minimum insert so should be fine. It'll need cutting to size, but it's massively long so I would have done that anyway.

Productive lunchbreak - 10cm cut off the new post with a pipe cutter, filed a chamfer on the new edge, liberal amounts of copper grease, dummy saddle attached for leverage, a bit of the old twisty twisty and it's in. At what should be the correct height, with 15cm of post inserted, so I'm happy.

Looks like it should be reasonably straightforward to achieve the desired saddle to bar drop (none)

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Another minor update, and the last one I can do without dismantling the Raleigh.

Shiny Japanese bits added: Periscopa stem, M12 rack and aforementioned overpriced cable hanger.

Strap between fork crown and tombstone is apparently known as a 'manny strap' and guards against disaster if the rack fails. Of course you hope it won't be necessary.

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Manny straps...

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The Periscopa actually gives more rise than necessary, and can't be inserted any further.

Will keep an eye out for a 90 degree quill but they seem rare.

Sneak preview!

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Featuring a bunch of budget and well used bits with a few nice new things alongside

Fitted today:
Claris / Shimano Dynamo hubs on Ryde Zac19 rims
Folding Paselas in 1.75

MKS Gamma pedals

Slightly rusty Wald basket

Ergotec / Humpert climber bars

Claris trigger shifter and derailleur

Tektro levers

Think the saddle is a Specialized - bit knackered but apparently very comfortable

Oury grips

Translucent purple cables!

GB mudguards. Forgot how much I hate fitting mudguards, really is the absolute worst task. Required endless sorting through old washers, bolts, nuts etc as the supplied ones were, as always, woefully inadequate. Will need stays cutting, a lot of adjustment and possibly re-profiling to get a good line, but I've run out of willingness for today.

Still to do:
More mudguard frustration
Luxury mudflap
Fit lights and cable up

& Finally, test how well the brakes work. First time fitting cantis and it wasn't as bad a task as I've been lead to believe. Helped significantly by buying a fourth hand cable puller thing recently, and the pads have little bobbles built in so they are automatically toed-in. No idea if they will actually stop the bike yet though. Seems only fair to test this myself before handing it over to my wife

Little test ride this morning

All seems to be working well with the exception of the rear brake. Lever feel is fine, the pads are pressing on the rim, but then nothing happens. Is a bolt not done up tight enough? Is there grease on the rim or pads? Is this just #cantilyfe? We shall see

Front brake works great

Stem with a shorter quill is hopefully in the post by now as the front end is indeed a little high

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Fear I am going to have to learn about mechanical advantage, yokes and straddle angles.

I think you are. It's hard to tell from a photo but the yoke looks very high on the rear. That said, the front doesn't look much lower and yet that's working fine. Typical cantilever frustration.

It looks great btw, should've said that first of all!

Looking good.
Make sure the ends of the cable outer a filed, no little snagging bits, squirt of lube of your choosing, and have a play with the straddle cable angle (although you have already cut n crimped the brake cable).

I like Russ’s how to set up canti brakes vid. It makes it simple(ish) good luck.
https://youtu.be/CDdWIq4cLLo

Very nice job! Am I right in thinking there's a chance I may spot this around Bristol? Will keep an eye out

Looks banging!

Looks ace

All of this done already apart from straddle wire, which I'm going to try next. Pretty sure I have a spare brake cable somewhere

Lever feel is great, doesn't feel at all frictiony so I do think it's a canti geometry issue

Bookmarked for after lunch viewing

Yep!

Pretty sure that lowering the yoke will sort it, but I can't find a long enough new inner cable at home to find out. I lowered the yoke on the front by just under 1cm and it went from 'fine' to 'really good' - so hoping 2cm lower on the rear will move it from 'zero braking power' to 'can skid'.

Currently, in what I think is a lesson on inadequate mechanical advantage, I can have the pads seemingly clamping the rim, squeezing the lever proper hard, and still slide the wheel back and forth easily.

Will find out tomorrow

This is going to sound batshit, but I’ve found that if you run the blocks with a bit of clearance from the rims they work much better. The made up science is as follows;
With the blocks close to the rim when you pull the lever you are using the force in the ends of your fingers to apply the force you need to stop, this is fine to slow you down, a gentle tickle of the brake, but not so good to apply stopping force. For which you need the whole of your finger and hand to get involved, so running the blocks away from the rim gives a chance for the whole hand to join the SHIT! we’re really trying to stop with cantis game. (I run cantis on my commuter and I’m not dead yet, or maybe I am and this is heaven/hell)

No I think you're right - on any kind of brake I like to have a little free movement before the pads hit, so I'm not trying to grip hardest when my hand is fully outstretched.

But you could have the grip strength of a gorilla and the rear brake on this bike would do nothing, as currently set up.

Reckon I have the rear brake sorted much better now but I'm not taking it out in the torrential rain to check. Feels a little mushier at the lever (like a V brake) but I can no longer pull the rim easily through the brake, in keeping with what I have learned about mechanical advantage.

The Dia Compe yoke thingys are super annoying, requiring two spanners and alternating between letting the cable slip and mangling it, so I'll look to replace with something designed after the Allen key was invented.

I am also wondering about a new wheelset...

26" rims that aren't super heavy and built for round-the-world, over-the-Himalayas touring? It will only carry 8 stone of rider, commuting stuff and a few groceries.

So far I've got Halo White Line (claimed 475g) and Kinlin XM-25T (460g). The Zac 19 are nice enough but a bit hefty at 575g.

It also currently has a Shimano DH2N70 and I can't fault the reliability, but it's 715g compared to 309g for a SP SV-9. Plus the drag ought to be less.

If I went whole hog and got a new rear hub too (Novatec instead of Claris) that would save 190g - for a total saving of 800g off the wheels - which ought to feel spritely AF

Get some Continental Contact Urbans while you're at it.
Excellent rollingresistance and puncture protection at very low weight comparatively.