HK's track bikes

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  • so, after building the Antonov ( https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/356261/?offset=50#comment16068245 ), a friend of mine spotted a krabo trackbike with very nice parts fitted, c-record hubs and cranks as well as some cyberspace carbon bars for a bargain. It's made from Columbus Altec tubing and has a steel fork fitted. We splitted the costs and my friend will keep the cranks and wheelset, as I already have "enough" c-record stuff, leaving me with a frameset to build.

    So far, my parts bin offers the following goodies:

    last gen Record pista cranks or the older ones in either 144 or 151 bcd
    3 nice wheelsets to choose from:
    C-record wheelset with omega rims (classy)
    campy pista rims laced to Harmony lab hubs (HHSB ??)
    gipiemme track wheels (blingy)
    and some bar/stem combos, I know some of them are cinelli 65s

    For those who don't know Krabo , it is a framebuilder from Bochum, germany who has built bikes for e.g. Erik Zabel or Rolf Aldag. The name derivates from Günter Krautscheid and his city Bochum. Their frames are always very very good quality and nicely made. another friend owned two Krabos and I had the chance to ride them, they feel super stiff, real race machines. So naturally i have high expectations on this one.
    Krabo is still building custom frames : https://www.krabo.de/krabo-rahmen/

    I will collect the frame this week, so here some first low quality shot :

    EDIT: corrected the link for the framebuilder


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  • picked it up and inspected the frame for the first time, and it is in a beautiful condition. barely any paint chips. comes with record ITA BB and stronglight headset. it has a really straight forward way of clamping the seatpost, just a bolt fastened into the seat tube. the headset runs a little stiff, maybe someone here with the right tool to borrow?


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  • so, after laying my hands on this for the first time, a few "problems" occured, namely the headset with its super weird own standard, at least I could unscrew it with bare hands a little so that the headset now runs relatively smooth ( years of wanking finally paid off ), and the seatpost.
    I checked this with 4 different posts, they all just went in about 5 cm and after that - it stops. no chance to get them further. the tube itself doesn`t look like theres a step or similar inside it, maybe super tight tolerances? but the seatpost it came with fits all the way............. the're all 27,2mm diameter. will double check with a 27,0mm one I have somewhere left.


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  • after fiddling with approx. 5 different seatposts, it came clear that this frame doesn't take 27,2 mm. right unter the clamping bolt begins the section that is clearly bored to 27,0mm, that's were all the 27,2 posts became stuck.
    So why did the 27,2 ones could be fitted in the first couple cm? The only logical explanation for me is, that some other unfortunate souls had the same problem as me, and thus slightly increasing the diameter of the upper section of seattube.
    The original post it came with had no markings unfortunately, so I was relying on the info of my friend who purchased it all. great reason to always double/triple check everything.
    I was afraid that a slimmer one would only fit with a shim or it would rattle, but the fit is very snug and firm beyond the first 5 cm, so this should be alright. As the market for old + long 27,0 mm seatposts is a little dry at the moment, I just bought a fresh one from procraft that measures 350mm, so this one has enough surface area to not fuck around in the seattube.

  • anyway, here are some photos


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  • Most beautiful headset ever Made IMHO. I actually have a tool for that.

  • oh nice, was afraid that no one would have the fitting tool. for now it's running smooth and yes, it is a beautiful piece.
    had the first ride out today in the morning, runs silent and the altec tubing is just amazingly stiff in the right places. rides really well.


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  • Looks great. Cool to see vintage alu making a comeback.

  • had a great chat with a friend who owns an altec made frame too. this sunday we went on a 40km tour, so the bike is now dialled in in aspects of saddle angle , height etc.


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  • soo, instead of opening another thread I just add to this one: I found a relatively cheap fameset on kleinanzeigen, sloppy paintjob, hung ages in some storage, but the chromed track ends and fork crown looked promising. The seller confirmed that it's an Enik frameset, and he painted it himself. most likeky Columbus SP tubing, it has a 27.0 seatpost, no spiralling reinforcements inside the seattube. it came with a BB-UN90 bb in 107mm flavor, absolutely perfect (it's a 90s XTR bb) as it has sealed bearings. I quickly put this together with Factory5 crankset, Miche chainring, ellipse wheels and borrowed the pedals off a buddy for the first shakedown ride.
    future plans are :

    • cutting steerer to ged rid of the spacer
    • ride it
      it's by no means a winter bike, or a commuter, I just wanted a fun bike and this looks and feels peak 2012 fixehskidder with the silly narrow bars and 47/18.
      I have another Enik that already got the "period correct" treatment.

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  • Nice. Might it be Columbus PS?

  • I do not have the deep wisdom about tubesets, enik were built with either tange or columbus tubes, and the range goes from the cheapest city bikes to custom geo, select everything yourself.

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HK's track bikes

Posted by Avatar for HK_Berlin @HK_Berlin

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