Varun's Bikes, Stayer, Cotic, that singlespeed Rockhopper....

Ah, perhaps I should’ve read this first before the events I’m about to describe….

So, some minor gains and minor setbacks today. I managed to get the headset cup on (easy) and the crown race fitted (almightily hard, turns out it was 26.4mm internal but the seat on my fork was 27.0mm - cue cutting a slot in the race with a hacksaw, plenty of filing and asking a friend to knock it in properly with a crown race setter). But result! Along with the headset, fork, and bars/levers (which could do with some BDHU once the wheels arrive) I also got my lovely polished Spa cranks and chainring on. All in all I think the proliferation of silver components is very very fitting and the colour has about 80% grown on me.

The main setback has proven to be the brakes. I agonised for hours over taking a drill to the fork, nearly did and then put it down and decided to order a set of nutted R539s from SJS instead, along with a new seatpost bolt (the old one being rusty AF) and some dropout adjuster screws, more for appearance than anything else. So that’ll set the build back for now until the weekend, but oh well.

The wheels will be here by Wednesday and I couuuuuuuld ride it brakeless for a while, but seeing as I last rode fixed at the age of 9 on a heavy Indian buffalo bike at c. 5kph, that might not be the smartest idea.