Road fixed / fixed road

Depends on the course (of course) and how spinny you like to be - I recently did a 200k with 46x15 - 46x18 and was happy with it. I was planning to be very chill to get through it and it and can't complain.

Looks like it's going to be a nice build!

47x17 but live in the west country.

Thanks! Of course, the course. I’m curious though and it’s a really valuable starting point! Rather than looking at the choices of, say, TCR racers because I feel they’re either super strong, or choosing gearing to get them over the Alps, or both.
Plus my only one gear bike riding experience so far has been SSMTB (which is like 30-18 gearing for singletrack!) and riding janky steel Buffalo Bike-style runabouts growing up in India.

(This belongs on this forum too, right?)

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This actually seemed like really high gearing for the West Country!

Its about getting down the hills!

I never thought of that part!! 😅

46-18 is what I like for longer distances

Anything in the high-60s gear inches is a lovely long-distance ratio IMO. Though I did a near flat-out 20 miles on the above Witcomb on 88" yesterday and it was tremendous fun!

I need to have a play with a gear calculator online tbh. I can see how that was tremendous fun, but also how 20 miles was (probably) plenty of it!

About 80% of the components and gubbins are here, which means I only have to press the headset/crown race on properly, and the wheels arrive before I have a rideable bike.

The brakes, predictably especially going off past comments on this forum, don’t fit as the crown race/rear bridge drilling is too narrow for the nut. I reckon another 0.8mm wider and I’ll be able to fit modern Tektro long-drops on, which is preferable both because then it’ll fit 700C wheels (instead of 27”) and more importantly, because those are the brakes I have.

There was some discussion for and against drilling out brake holes a while ago, what’s the consensus? Drill it out or try and find a solution that fits?

EDIT: I’m not being lazy, I did scroll to the previous page to see what you all say, but I don’t think that’s an ideal solution.

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those are the brakes I have.

If you have Allen key brakes, fit the front one on the back with a nut and drill the back of the fork crown to 8mm so you can fit the rear brake at the front with an extra long tube nut

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nice, where?

Ah so that’s what that meant! Thank you, I didn’t think that was a viable solution at the time.
Is there a reason why you simply wouldn’t just drill both front and rear out to 8mm, though? I reckon there’s enough metal on the rear brake bridge at any rate.

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Where what, sorry?

why you simply wouldn’t just drill both front and rear out to 8mm

You want to leave enough 6mm hole on the caliper side to stop it flapping about. That means you have to drill from inside the rear triangle, which is tricky, and you might not have enough metal to do it anyway, that top hat inserted into the bridge can be quite thin walled

Drilling the rear is a trickier job. It needs a short 90° drill attachment and a steady hand. Sometimes there's not enough material, as you say.

Thanks y’all and @gbj_tester too, that’s very well reasoned. You’re right, I think it makes sense to flip brakes and drill the fork crown (at least as a solution for now) and run it like that until I acquire better suited brakes. Will flick back through the forum for suggestions!

Thanks for buying the cage. Looks great on your frame. Would it be alright if I use your photos on my IG?

Welcome to, but lemme drop you a line….

I drilled the rear with a normal drill setup and it was definitely a bit oval because of the angle. It wasn't an issue though as I always intended to use a half moon washer to take the load on the back. You need to drill the washer out as it's designed for nutted brakes but can be done off bike on a pillar drill.

Eeks, that seems dicey! Seems terrible to take a drill to a lovely well-preserved bike frame, so will have a good think. Got all of next week to tinker around with it after all. I might just be able to get a regular drill in that gap between bridge and seattube, I will check!

I may have chickened out a touch, but I got the headset properly seated and the BB in today, but was this close to getting the drill to the bike and couldn’t make myself do it. Instead I’ve chosen to order a pair of nutted Tektro RL539s from SJS, along with a new seatpost bolt and horizontal dropouts bolts that I needed anyway. So - we won’t get to see the results of my drastic bike surgery and the build is delayed until those parts arrive, but the fork crown remains intact and I’ll have some frame-appropriate brakes to suit!

Along with fitting my lovely new-old Spa cranks and BDHUing the levers, this build marches along briskly!

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was the pic taken 😊

Seems terrible to take a drill to a lovely well-preserved bike frame

You should see what I did to my Record Ace🙂