M_V's multitude of bikes and adventures in the land of framebuilding

But the other day I took some decent photos of the Record Ace in pretty much it's finished state.

I think the truss rods might be making the front end too stiff so I'm either going to try riding it with them removed or I'm going to play around with tyre pressure a bit.

I might actually shift this on kinda soon, the Raleigh Twenty is so much fun for gravel that I'm not sure how much use it'll get.

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Raleigh now for sale,

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/395872/#comment17367421

It’s been a while since my last update, again.

I came to the conclusion I wasn’t using my Honzo often or fully enough and so, bought a Spa Rove and transferred what parts would go over to it. New tyres and seatpost required as what I had wouldn’t fit. I got a cheap Trans X dropper which it turned out was a suspension post but also had tons of rotational play and the 70mm drop wasn’t really enough to be very useful so I’ve changed to a Cane Creek Thudbuster. Changed the bars up and also fitted guards to make it a bit more useful. Tempted by a dynamo but it’s through axle and boost so pretty limited options and I like the front wheel I have as it’s snowflake laced.

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I thought I could sell the Honzo to recoup a fair bit of what I paid for the Rove, which tbf, was very cheap but no one seemed to want it even selling it at half what I paid for it last year.

Wasn’t really up for reducing the price on it but where it was hanging in the garage it kept getting way so I got frustrated today and chopped it up. I think I can re-use the tubes and make a Stridsland style minivelo out of it.

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Brave man cutting a frame like that!

Brave is one way to put it…!

Chopping a damaged frame makes a lot of sense, but a fully functional seems a bit mad? Still fun to see how this turns out. At least you should avoid the current Stridsland chain line / clearance challenge!

Chopping a damaged frame makes a lot of sense, but a fully functional seems a bit mad?

I know.

I'd had it up on here, fb groups, ebay and noone seemed interested. I'd priced it at around £400 which was half what I paid for it last year would have included a dropper post, headset and tyres etc.

I'll need to buy some headtube and seatstays but I reckoned the tubes to build a boom boat were gonna run me the best part of £300 and then a decent set of adjustable dropouts could easily be another £100+ so it's kinda cost neutral.

Love this kind of bike maths. Excited to see how this turns out. Sounds fun!

Got the mini Honzo finished, I posted a wee sneak peak in the SSMTB thread yesterday but had time today to get some proper photos.

Really happy with how it turned out. Want some knobblies for it, just struggling to find any in stock.

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this rocks! great job

Excellent.

How did you work out the sizing / dimensions?

This is pretty amazing. The brazing is super clean against the paint and exposed tubing too!

I looked at the geometry that Stridsland posted for the Boom Boat and then what I could make without chopping too much off the tubes.

If looked at the chainstay length on the Boom Boat and realised that I could keep the bb shell/chainstays/dropouts as a sun assembly as the chainstays weren’t too much longer as they were.

another absolute banger! love the brompton bag mount

10/10

My want for a mini velo intensifies

I’m 190cm and look clownish on most. Proportions on this look great

Sick!

Now that is RAD! That hint of a curve is chef’s kisses.

This is absolutely quality

Very interesting. Do you have any photos showing the rear dropout, and the bike from behind?

Turned out brilliant. Including the bag mount! How does it ride?

Absolutely gorgeous one!

Regarding knobbies, if you meant tires. I’ve seen some kenda kaos 2.6 on bike components. And same with vee tire there.

Apoliloggies for taking so long to reply, I took the mini Honzo car camping in Aberfoyle a couple weeks ago which it was great at, fits upright in the back of the car with just the front wheel off and dropper post down and I can sleep beside it.

Anyway, went for a ride in the morning, there was a wet bit of gravel which I think was harboring either algae, ice or just the malevolent fairies that dispatched the Rev Robert Kirk and I hit the deck breaking my thumb.

At a follow up a week later they reckoned I'd probably damaged a ligament and so I got taken in the next day for an op to repair it. Thank you NHS!

Recovery is this massive stooky for a fortnight, get that off and stitches out and hopefully into a less unwieldy cast for another month. Could be up to 3 months before I can bear weight on it.

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The dropouts are really just as they were on the Honzo. I did wonder about reducing the width a bit, Seeing if I could find inserts that take it down to accept a 135mm qr axle but figured it’d be difficult getting them realigned so left it at 148mm.

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Yeah, definitely getting something with a bit more grip than the Pickups before I take it offroad again!

The Pickups are really great for city riding though but not the most supple so even with the pressure dropped they aren't as bouncy as I'd imagined they might be.