Current Projects chat and miscellany

benbunny, i hope you're planning on fitting a headset.

no holds barred slave action, a return to form. is that Armourtex Ironic Mauve? good work, I'd love a go.

100% slave. White tires in winter. I think it's a car colour I picked from hundreds and hundreds of different swatches of lilac. My brother painted it for me for free.

Me too, I'm going to cry! I loved that frame!

To each their own though. I'm sure you'll still enjoy the hell out of it.

The frame had been left lying in some form of solvent and needed the respray. A set of drops are on order as we speak. Going to see if I can get similar decals made up (in yellow), if that will make you feel any better. Rides like a dream though.

Well I'm £115 lighter, and the proud owner of this little bunch...

where'd you find that beautiful frame? very nice.

Hung on the wall in a local bike shop. It's been there for years.

Probably been said before but, jammy by name... ;]
Really nice frame, man... Looking forward to seeing it built up...

I'm starting to plan my first build and I'm wondering on how I should split my budget. If I have a total of £400 roughly how much should I be spending on the frame?

ta

The Patient Method

Buy a full good quality bike in your size on eBay for up to £200. Keep the frame and sell the parts to recoupe all or most of the cost.

(Optional) Repeat, but this time sell the frame and the excess parts keeping what you really like or need.

If done correctly you will have spent £0-150 at this point and have plenty of your budget left to splurge on the final missing pieces.

This works because full bikes from the 80s often go for the same price as a decent frame. And the small parts on those bikes are in demand.

The Patient Method

Buy a full good quality bike in your size on eBay for up to £200. Keep the frame and sell the parts to recoupe all or most of the cost.

(Optional) Repeat, but this time sell the frame and the excess parts keeping what you really like or need.

If done correctly you will have spent £0-150 at this point and have plenty of your budget left to splurge on the final missing pieces.

This works because full bikes from the 80s often go for the same price as a decent frame. And the small parts on those bikes are in demand.

The Dumb Method

Buy an old frame with nothing fitted to it, casually thinking that you'll pick up the "bits and pieces" to build it up for a few quid. £350 and a lot of parts later that you hadn't budgeted for you'll have a nice bike but be skint and have the wife breathing down your neck about what the hell you're buying for it this time....!

The best method

Buy old bikes, frames and bits. The wife complains so divorce her and keep all the bits. You are now free to indulge in your hobby without interference.

usually I find the best and the quickest built is a complete bike, take some time to find but not impossible to find a very nice condition road bike for less than 50 notes, and then the rest fall in place (2 new decent wheels with mavic open pro and decent hubs - 200quid) cogs, lockring, crankset and probably BB, sorted.

Quick Example

Bought for £50 - 80s bike in the right size with 531 tubing.

Sold attached 70s Campy headset for £60 - even at this point.

Sold Concor saddle for £60 and got track wheels with the money - still about even.

Etc, etc ...

When complete by the end of this week, if out of pocket more than £100 I'd be surprised.

Takes about two months.

The frame was only £30, after I got a partial refund for the seller's misdescription on Ebay, but as mentioned, I've now spent (aarrgghh just checked and it's not £350) £400! on all the parts I needed.

You can see from the second photo what sort of state it was in before Armourtex applied their craft.

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Thought i'd post it up fully finished.

Bit of a schoolboy error fitting white Rubino's in the middle of winter. They're yellow & brown already plus nigh on useless in white conditions.

Thats the prettiest Low Pro I have seen in a long while. Swanky colour.

Was the wall painted to go with the bike or the other way around?

I just got me one of these from the C18-sale at planet x warehouse:

(Not my photo)

And just started putting it together this weekend... seems pretty nice :) Now all it needs is wheels and pedals. I'm going to use:

• my good ol' white painted Ambrosio "By Logos" disc in the rear (a bit heavy, about 1500g, but it will do)
  
• a Specialized Trispoke or HED3 Tubular for the front.. that I'm still looking for, think I'll paint that white as well.
  
• Time ROC Atacs - from the FLOOD-sale at Chainreaction (wohoo!)
  
  

Just got a pair Tufo S33 Special + sealants + Tufo Extreme Tape in the mail.. So now I have a bit to play with.

Should make a nice commuting-bike for summer right? :)

Fort's about to undergo a serious revamp...(or as serious as it can be without spending much money on parts ;) Watch this space...

are they campag khamsin? If so how do you rate them?

The frame had been left lying in some form of solvent and needed the respray. A set of drops are on order as we speak. Going to see if I can get similar decals made up (in yellow), if that will make you feel any better. Rides like a dream though.

It will make me happier! Post a pic when done!

I can sleep easier tonight in that knowledge. Cheers.

They are indeed!! I think they're great, they're really nice responsive wheels, they don't take too much re-tensioning even after jumping some big curbs and steps on them... they're really good wheels for the money as far as I'm concerned, just change your rear hub and you're laughing

Hi Everybody,

New to the forum, not new to fixed. My second build just began...

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Hi Everybody,

New to the forum, not new to fixed. My second build just began...

Noice. Not keen on those particular Vivalo decals but that's me being pedantic.

Hi guys quick bit of advice...what would you pay for this 1979 Eddy Merchx bike?

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Tange Headset
ITM bars
Maxy Cranks
Sugino Chainrings
Milerno Stem

If the picture didn't attach it is posted here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54093967@N00/3056166501/

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Cheers for the advice dmc I'm going to go for the patient method. Just need to keep my eyes peeled on ebay and hope something comes up.

I just bought one of these (albeit a 1946 model, found in a barn and in need of total restoration):

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/BatesVegrandis1951.html

Anyway, the rear spacing is 110mm. Anyone got a keirin hub or de-spacerable(?) hub knocking around?