Jokke_A's endless stream of projects

That’s understandable!
I think that colour would go great with silver and blue components!

On a related note - I’ve had a good deal of success with removing acrylic paints by covering them in a layer of brun sæbe, then cling wrap and letting it sit for a couple of days - comes of as a soapy paste.
I have half a mind to try it on the failing power coat on my Intec

Yeah, chemicals would have been the way to go for a nicer paint. Let's see how the spray will last and when/if I'll have to repaint. Anyway, the frame will now have to wait a while for good deals on rest of the components & time to assemble.

During the evenings of the week I've also had time to finish a project. This is very much a parts bin build, plan sort of materialised when I saw the JTEK bar end shifter for sale a few weeks ago.

I've had a set of Alfine 8 wheels for years and years left over from an old Trek Zektor B. Alfine 8 works really nice, but if I recall, bearing surfaces are quite pitted which leads to a bit of noise when freewheeling. The frameset I got last summer, originally planned to build it as a winter bike but ended up not having time. Frame has seen plenty of action based on the condition, the chainstays have also been repaired at some point.

I think the bike turned out pretty nice, altough it's quite ratty on closer inspection. A very comfortable, soft ride with the Brooks seat and 45 mm Pirellis.

That looks excellent!

Did you de-ano the shifter? Only ever seen them in black.

Love it

Thanks! The anodising has been removed from the shifter but not by me.

There I was, minding my own business, when a neighbour I've met a few times asked me for a gravel ride and beers in a few weeks. Naturally, I realized that I probably need a bike.

This gravel frameset has been gathering dust at the attic for two years, It’s been neglected mainly because I lost the front through axle in a moment of brilliance and never managed to find it again. After much internal debate and swallowing of pride, I finally ordered a new axle and some other essentials like brakes that I’ve been missing.

The bike is going to be a bit of a mishmash of parts, most likely I'll put some 2x11 Ultegra 6870 Di2's on it. For crankset I still have a few options, I'd like to put a set of Middleburns or old Ritchey Logics, but I'll have to check if there's enough clearance for wiring in the bb shell with an ISIS or a square taper bottom bracket.

Ohh,lovely front rack,what is it?

It really is, I think it's a custom made one from the company that also made the fork. I bought them together used from someone who I think bought them from someone who ordered them from a Russian company some years ago.

Also, because apparently I'm impulsive, have zero attention span and like cheap Italian bikes, here's a Gianni Motta Transalp I bought yesterday. From the early '00s perhaps (?), rear tyre doesn't hold air, rear rim is worn out, and the bike needs a good service. It came up for sale along my commute so I picked it up on the way home and rode with two bikes for the remaining 5 kilometers.

It came up for sale along my commute so I picked it up on the way home

I mean, why wouldn't you?

Can't wait to see it after a good touch up!

That will sadly not happen, I gave the bike a quick wash today and realised the tape on the headtube was structural and hiding long cracks on both ends of the tube. I'm kicking myself a bit for not taking a closer look, but I should at least get my money back by parting this out. I am mostly annoyed because it's a nice frame and i like the color and graphics.

Really? That's a shame!

Can't you just ask the seller to get the bike back? I mean, that electrical tape didn't end up there all by itself...

Nah, the bike was cheap enough, Campy stuff is easily worth what I paid. I just don't like the idea of binning off the frame.

Also, it was Gorilla tape, which on my books is a good enough repair job.

It quickly became pretty clear that I wouldn't have the CNC Gravel bike ready in time for the ride, as I was still missing brakes, mounting hardware, last di2 wires and a charger. As it happens, a guy nearby is selling pretty nice cycling stuff, fancy Wolverine build, a Salsa 29er etc. Late on one evening he also listed a Marin Muirwoods Monstercross build, with Microsfhit AdventX, Rockshox fork, Cane Creek Thudbuster and so on, for really not a lot of money. After a short discussion, he delivered the bike to me the next day.

I have since done some small changes, I wasn't comfortable with the rear tyre clearance, so downgraded from 2,2" to 2,0", also, I prefer seatposts with two bolt clamp, so out went the Cane Creek for a Thomson Elite. In addition I've of course replaced the pedals, stem and the seat.

The build is exceptional I think, sadly I really can't take the credit for that. On the rather technical gravel ride last weekend, the bike felt fast enough on easier sections for keeping up with the fancy gravel bikes, and on the soft bits and rocky paths, it was comfortable and extremely confidence inspiring. Cranks are still a bit short for my liking at 170 mm, but that's an easy fix. I did plan to replace the AdventX with a Shimano 5800/RX810 set I happen to have, but let's see.

CNC is still on the repair stand, I've been planning the wiring which is quite straightforward, but does require a bit of power tools. I'll get around to it any week now.

Today was finally the day. I had the evening all to myself and made a quick decision to ignore the maintenance a few of the bikes desperately need and concentrate instead on the CNC Gravel thingy. In Finland they stop selling alcohol at 9 PM, so I had a good few hours to build the bike, and ride it to the store to buy beer. It was a bicycle shaped object to begin with, but nothing work, no cables etc. My receipt says 20:58.

Frame is the CNC Gravel Light, fork and front rack are custom made by some Russian company. I'm running 2x11 Shimano Di2's, crankset is a 180 mm Ritchey Logic one and brakes semi-hydraulic Chinese ones off Aliexpress. I've dished the rear wheel slightly to one side, I'll also put a chain protector on the chainstay to protect di2 wiring.

Beer tastes pretty good.

I've now been riding this bike for a week, with very minor adjustments it's a lovely bike and quite a perfect match for my use (riding to work and occasionally taking pictures for instagram). Shifting with Di2 is simply superb.

When I was a child, my dad had a 650b Peugeot, I blame him on me liking French bikes. This is a Rando-Cycles frame, a shop in Paris that closed a few years ago (2018 I think). Size is a rather large, 65 cm. It's pretty nice. I have no idea on the tubeset, but it passed the ding/donk test with flying colours.

I haven't really planned the final build, might use the 3x9 Campy group from the broken Gianni Motta.

A quick therapy project, I hope. I got this Pelago San Sebastian frame for free, seatpost was very much stuck and frame was pretty rusty after the salt bath of Southern Finnish winters. I used pipecleaner to remove the seatpost, removed the rust as well as I could and retouched the paint with Saab midnight blue (apparently quite a close match) left over from my old 9-5 Aero.

I have a few options for forks, I have an unused original one and few unicrown canti forks. I don't think I have any long reach brakes and don't like riding brakeless but i loathe unicrowns, so let's see what happens. I should have all the parts for a quick parts bin fixed gear build, maybe tomorrow is the day I'll build this, or not.

Pelago sell some pretty cheap disc brake forks on their website. Could be sweet with a disc up front

Disc would be cool, but I'll have to try to build this with parts I already have, I'm trying to avoid buying any more bike stuff excluding wear-out parts.

I had a bit of time in the morning. I managed to assemble a working headset and converted a front wheel to a rear one with a new axle, spacers and a 6-bolt cog. I still need to dish the wheel to center it. Seatpost clamp is a bit too large, but i might be able to shim it to fit. I did find some long reach brakes that should work and a pair of old 105 levers.

So far I've found 38 and 43t chainrings, for winter use I'm leaning towards the 38t, but I'll double check if I'd have at least a 39t somewhere. Cog is a 16t.

I went through my stash of chainrings and found this. I think the receipt was from around year 2000. 41-16t it is then.

Initially I wanted a pair of black cranks for this, but I think these work quite well.

And there it is, seat is a bit too high and I still need to center the rear wheel, but it's getting there.

those cranks!!!

Sadly just dat crank, I only have the drive side one, with a mismatching NDS crank.

That is a good look! How big are those tyres?