Winter road build/1969 Witcomb/fixie content

I sold my CAAD7 last week with plans of getting something more suitable for grim winter roads, but then this came up locally, which is mostly in good nick considering it’s probably older than I am and overall looked too tasty to pass up. I dig the blue fades, the profiled seatstays, the fastback seat cluster and the 80s Adidas-esque font naming a brand about whom no information exists online!

A close-clearance road frame that might just clear 28s (but will probably require 23s under the PDWs that I’m still looking for) and needs the tyre deflating to remove the rear wheel is obviously a questionable choice for a winter road bike, but I’ll have a go at making it work and documenting the process. Some dreadful hoarding over the last 2 years has left me with various build options and I’m hoping to crowdsource some opinions.

Option 1 is full MGOOF with 105 R7000 and black finishing kit. Pros include compact gearing, 3 choices of wheelset (the one pictured, black anodised box section and 50mm carbon) and the fact it already has a black headset fitted (which appears to be in some way shimmed 😬). Con is that modern Shimano maybe doesn’t always look great on skinny steel?

Option 2 is a vintage vibe with Chorus 10 speed and silver bits to match. The obvious con is that I’ll be labouring up hills with 53/39 12/26, while this also gives one fewer wheelset option. The pro is that it might look cool.

Option 3 is some hybrid of the above. Contained within all this are various choices of bars, stems, seatposts and tyres, but those are best left for another day.

Nice! Great paintjob

Silver for the win. Looks good either way TBF.

that sweet frame will bang with black mgoof

Feel like a boring old man here, but if the 105 gear range means it's more usable do it, you'll ride it more and it will look rowdy with the carbon wheels

So it’s gonna be black MGOOF. Immediately ran into this familiar problem though. I really want to use this stem, but it just seems unlikely either of my black handlebars (procraft compact or ITM anatomic) are gonna get through it. Any tips or tricks or sometimes is it just impossible?

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Wedge the slit open with a flathead screwdriver. Turn it so the round section is in the slit. This should give sufficient diameter. If you're worried about scratching the stem, put some Gorilla tape on the blade

Then twist and turn the handlebars to get it there where you want it. Whatever lube cannot hurt.

Also check stem is not 25.4mm and bars aren't 26.0mm. Tried doing this and does not compute!

Thanks for the advice! Managed to persuade/ram the Anatomicas through. It’s a fair old way down to those drops though!

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Should've done the compacts!;)

Reminds me somewhat of my old Colnago build (sorry for NDS). I did manage to squeeze 25’s in with narrow rims.

It was a great winter bike 👍 even with the deflating of rear wheel to remove! The one issue I had was the QR not holding the wheel straight with the PDW adapters. A change of QR to a Campag one and it was no issue.

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Ooh, love the Colnago!

Made some light progress with this and now have a summer road bike I don’t totally hate, notwithstanding some bad decisions (cheap eBay bar tape) but obviously it’s not winter-ready. The good news is I think 25s and guards might be a goer, the bad news is I’m considering paying Condor a ton for some PDWs…

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This now a change of pedals away from being done. I had to go down to 23s in the end but otherwise I couldn’t be much happier with how it turned out!

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The Richard Sachs thread got me in a roundabout way to thinking about what to do with my Witcomb. Made in Deptford in 1969. Currently in ratbike condition and operating as a brakeless fixie on too heavy a gear and hard-to-skid tyres. It deserves much better.

It badly needs a respray. Peter Weigle made this similar frame in Deptford 4 years later. I want to ripoff the paint scheme.
Then I need to work out how to build it. I own no period parts - it was originally ‘Montata con materiali originale Campagnolo - Gruppo Record’ - and they ain’t cheap on eBay.

I do however have a complete 1999ish Chorus groupset awaiting a frame and I’m wondering how old is too old to MGOOF? I’m sure it can be done with a big bill at Argos but is it puppy killing, and what are the practicalities (will a cold set this big mean new bridges and what’s the minimum number of new braze-ons I can get away with)? Has anyone else updated something this ancient to take modern components? And what would you do if if it was yours?

Witcomb is on the backburner cos of effort. It does mean I still have the Chorus groupset looking for a frame. I’d like an 80s or early 90s red steel Allez but it seems Specialized road bikes of that era are about as rare over here as their MTB equivalents are plentiful! I might have better luck finding a Giant Peloton or similar, but I guess I’ve just got half an eye out for any interesting frame that’ll suit a silver groupset.

I thought I’d add my fixies to this thread as well. First up is a recently acquired Stan Pike track bike. I’m delighted with it and the only changes I’m looking to make are a new wheelset (silver hubs and spokes and hard ano/ceramic rims, though I need to sell these Archetypes first) and to try out some different cockpits (drops or some low- or no-rise swept bars).

I thought the Pike might push my Traitor Luggernaut towards the exit, but a recent longish ride on it reminded me of how nice it is and I suppose it does perform a slightly different function to the Pike. It’s basically finished but there are improvements to be made, including better mudguards (I did a shit job installing these, which are cheap anyway), another set of bottle bosses and a new paint job. I’m thinking a cream powdercoat like those old Steamrollers but equally I can’t decide if that’ll look rank!

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Nice projects and location. Shame narrow/fast roads around CC put me off ever riding there!

Stan Pike is super nice! My dad has one from 1976, and got it restored a few years back. Love the simple graphics on yours, keen to see more photos

@jono84 thanks! You can add the generally awful road surfaces to the list of the reasons to avoid this part of the world for cycling however beautiful it is. I’d just descended into Castle Combe when I took this pic and trying to stay in control of 68gi while picking a line through the potholes made for a fairly grim time.

@Arnomatic yeah, it’s a beauty isn’t it? I love the understatedness of it. I think Stan built this one a few years after your dad’s in 1980 (frame number SP8059) but it’s had a respray at some point. It’s got these amazing Campag fork ends that are the beefiest ones I’ve ever seen! I haven’t had the chance to take many pics of it, but I do have these from @retrodicorsa who was kind enough to sell it to me even though he had it built up for himself!

Glad to see it built up and on the road so quickly! Good job - I hope you're very happy together 😉😂