Current Projects chat and miscellany

Originally Posted by Jung
*Anyone know anything about Hetchins frames? My old man picked up something that looks very much like a magnum opus. Looks like phase 1 lugs, but no mention of Tottenham or Southend on the badge....just Hetchins Cycles England. Also no magnum opus on the toptube. It's blue with fairground script Hetchins logos and curly stays, Period campag hubs (with wingnuts) and weinman rims.

Looks maybe too big for me, but may attempt a geared resto anyway. Will try and take some photos next time I go over and see him.

Also just grabbed a Raleigh Royal 531 to build up for me as a good distance fixed, just need cranks / bars / wheels to get done....any 27inchers kicking about onsite?*

Have you tried looking on the hetchins website? http://www.hetchins.org/100.htm
Email them with a picture of your bike, probably with close-ups of the lugs and they're pretty quick at getting back to you

Possible current project. Need to get the rust checked out by someone with more experience. Looks pretty bad, but...

(pics are big, so links)

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/1-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/2-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/3-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/4-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/5-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/6-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/7-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/8-1.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd12/horatio7714/9-1.jpg

Got all the parts off (except the fork race - a bit worried about the screw driver method chipping anything) and cleaned a lot of the rust off the BB, and cleaned up the frame itself as much as I could (there's a nice layer of grease that's a bitch to get off, and I left a lot of the rust on in other spots - I'll let whoever actually doe the painting do the real dirty work. You can see that some spots [head tube, drop outs, BB] are a bit brighter).

Found the serial number - it's a 1962.

Anyway, now I just need to send it off to get it cleaned up/repaired and painted.

http://www.londonfgss.com/members2585-albums396-picture2607.jpg
Just bought this frame/fork, cranks, seatpost/saddle etc. Wacked on some wheels from another bike, as well as handlebar and stem from my Mercian (which will soon be changed). Gonna build a new rear wheel with fixed/fixed hub, and then use this for commuting and tricks.

glad you like it!

your dad was a very nice chap too!

horatio: coooool. that's gonna be lush when it's done. what colourscheme you going for?

i love it too, horatio! the lugs are lush!

horatio: coooool. that's gonna be lush when it's done. what colourscheme you going for?

Not totally sure yet. Right now I'm thinking this and either this or this .

A lighter blue for the four main tubes, and dark blue for the lugs and rear triangle. Or maybe reversed. If I was clever, I'd play around with photoshop.

Need to get Mercian's colour guide in print though (if they're who I end up using).

horatio i have the mercian catalogue, i will pass it to you on thursday

Not totally sure yet. Right now I'm thinking this or this .

Balls, same colour as i wanted to get mine done in. With a white headtube and luglining perhaps.

Very nice, good clean up operation.

(Crown race off: Turn forks upside down on floor, flat bladed screwdriver under the lip and hit it with a hammer, working your way round the race. It'll come off in no time.)

This is mine, a 1960 which i'm actually going to get working on in a couple of weeks when i've got some time available.

Chris

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New polo bike.

Used to be KINGCUTTER's Fuji:

Stripped and poloified:

Its mostly finished, but I still need to tweak the set-up (and alighn the brake blocks correctly - thanks Gabes!).

looking good tom!

^ nice job Tom!

I picked up this last night. I went on ebay to sell a seatpost and ended up with this :s

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Nice find Ved. For the track or road?

How's it ride Tom?

It feels like a tank! I've only done the 10 miles to work this morning and it wasn't too windy, so I didn't have any issues with the disk wheel. I was intentionally cornering hard trying to see if there would be any pedal strike and there's none which is great. I guess the real test will be south polo tonight, but I'm happy already - complete bike comes in under £200.

Nice work. You need to get a bell on there so we can have the classic old sounds of Tomasito on the polo court again.

Yeah - that plus a solid-head mallet for the full sound effect: I'm whistful for the "thwock, ting" of my early polo career.

Nice find Ved. For the track or road?

Cheers Andy.

I figured I could use it for getting to work in summer and then heading to Monday training sessions at Herne Hill, as don't really want to commute on the Pro-Lite.

What really clinched it was that the geometry is not too far away from my road bike (its not that track specific), and that fits me really well.

Also I have accumulated enough parts in the last year to get this on the road pretty quickly. It ain't gonna look pretty thats for sure.

http://velospace.org/files/IMG_5907.jpg

my new italian baby, will be finished within the next 2 or 3 weeks

Clean your window... beaut btw

Noice!

tom, change the chainring, those things are really thin and will break. can also drop the tooth count

Yep - that's the plan - drop down to a 42 I think.

if they are 130, you could go to 39T, or 110 down to 36T

love the details on the mercian

A little more info on my Steve Goff...

73 degree seat tube, 74 degree head tube
Seat tube: 64cm (CtT)
Effective top tube: around 61cm (CtC)
11 3/4" BB height (Steve's Standard track measurement)
Reverse sloping top tube with short as possible head tube.
GT style triple triangle frame. Seatstays bent round seat tube shot in under top tube
Barspinnable 700c (just)
Aero profile straight blade forks
Alll smooth fillet brazed
Tight as possible rear wheel clearance
clearance for 28c tyres

The tubeset is a total mish-mash, but it should make for a nice strong, reasonably light frame.
Columbus mega aero downtube
853 seat tube (27mm internal diam)
External butt 531 top tube
Oval 725 seat stays (to allow clearance for the 28c's)
Columbus aero fork blades