Current Projects chat and miscellany

Yeah i've been messing with the bars/stem for a while now, used to have a longer stem but less spacers but it gave me neck ache when in the drops for any considerable amount of time. Changed the forks so left the steerer long and moved the bars/stem upwards, sort of solved the problem albeit in a lazy way. Now i have a shorter stem so need to pull my finger out and cut the steerer. I'll get round to it, eventually.

/cool story bro etc.

Spacers Gonna Space!

just do this, cheap and fixes everything http://www.dolan-bikes.com/Navigator%20Pista%20Track%20Wheels

is that or can that become a wheelset with a flipflop hub ? ? ?

is that or can that become a wheelset with a flipflop hub ? ? ?

yes it is.

Will, just get a second hand front wheel like Shimano WH-R550 or Mavic Aksium which can be had cheapish, are light and both come in black so they will match the rear wheel pretty close. Seriously I wouldn't trade the frame you have now for some band wagon fixie skidder frame, even if it did have a brand name. Your frame is probably lighter and a real quality piece of kit, even if it's old.

ok, i do love it anyway. and i do like how it isn't a band wagon thing. bit of a stupid question miro o but what do you look like and what bike do you ride? i've probably seen you around.

yes it is.

it is or it can become?

Rear hub is threadable on both sides to allow the mounting of two different sized sprockets.

.

get a new set of wheels, navigators are good, then save up for a track frame you'll enjoy

dolan pre cursa looks neat. and cheap. oh and really fast.

get a new set of wheels, navigators are good, then save up for a track frame you'll enjoy

^ this is bad advice.

im contemplating either building another new bike with better parts and more carefully thought about, was thinking surly steamroller, or brother cycles, or Tokyo fixed gear s2 or something like that to replace my batavus pro OR just kit my batavus out with nice parts, maybe halo wheels, fsa gimondi or andel cranks, nitto bars/stem etc. maybe some chrome lugged forks track or road?
any thoughts? thanks

Stop.

Think.

Halo wheels, they're functional, but not on a classic frame like that.

Your frame was caringly constructed out of high quality steel, the type of steel and in a process that would cost a great deal to pay for today.

Buy yourself a matching front wheel, and then ugrade parts if you wish. If you're buying parts with a mind to moving them onto a different frame in the future, try and buy parts that will suit the build you want in the end...

or, go mad, buy all sorts of mismatched bits, have something you love, until you wake up one morning and think "what the fuck have I done?"

*personal experience...

Before eureka moment

shortly after

eventually

2 Attachments

^ this is bad advice.

why? are navigators not good?

ok cheers guys. i'll have a think about what i could do or not and what i want. then come back in a few months with the great, awful, or moderate result.

that's a geared wheelset though

Very true. But he's riding a conversion on the road, so there's no reason not to have a road front wheel.

The point was more on cost and how easily you can get a 700 front.

Are they Araya Tita-Ace rims? Nice build but unless your anatomy always keeping an eye on the road could be a challenge on longer rides.

they are araya yes. the wheels are njs too. yea my ride to dids is 3-4 miles on it and pretty easy. could do with a straight stem to make real comfy lol

I decided to cheer myself after having my V-Sprint nicked by building a new bike.

Its a Precursa with Dolan road forks and standard Alpina seatpost and headset. Stem and bars are Deda (compact road drops). Cranks are RD2s that I had knocking around in the parts bin.

I built the wheels, Open Pro on Novatec. The whole build weighed in at about £375 which I'm really pleased with as everything apart from cranks and pedals are new.

I'm not sure I like silver rims when everything else is black but I'm pretty happy with how it has turned out. Its just a shame that I had a bike stolen meaning I had to build this one really.

Visually, I think switching the crankset to a silver one would make the silver wheels contrast less... it sort of gives you a line of silver at a lower level if you see what I mean.

How do you find the Dolan compared to the old frame?

Cheers mate. To be honest I'm not that fussed with getting it perfect. In any case I'll be riding it with 35mm black rims some of the time. Although, now you've put the idea in my head, I have got a nice silver crankset sitting here...maybe I'll try it.

I really don't think there is much in it between this frame and the v-sprint (Track Champion ripoff for the unititiated). This frame lacks the rear wheel cutout and feels like it has a slightly longer wheelbase which I quite like. It is also a whole lot stiffer than I expected especially considering that you can get the frame by itself from Dolan for £99 and that it misses some of the shaped tubing of the higher end Dolans. You get frame, forks (road or undrillable track), seatpost, seatpost clamp and headset for £199 and all of those components are great quality.

I have always like the VISP and Nelson frames for being solid to ride and very cheap but the Precursa seems to be the best quality and value of the lot in my opinion. Next day delivery also becomes appealing when compared to the two week wait for frames to arrive from china.

Nice little review there.

It does look good, I got mine to the UCI limit (if I took the bottle cages and GSC-10 off, that is), and I know it takes a lot of planning and consideration when choosing parts.

I set myself the condition that nothing could have a weight limit, so parts like Speedplay Zeros with Ti axles were ruled out as they have an 85kg limit, despite that being a lot more than I weigh.

I think MDCC tester is right- it's easy to get obsessed with chasing a lower and lower weight, but it you start to impact on reliability then you've probably lost more than you've gained.

That said, if you can lose weight with no impact on strength or lifespan of the part in question then go for it.

I put my training wheels on (Open Pros with 7800 hubs) and the bike gained just under a kilo- but training on 50mm deep carbon rims running tubular tyres is probably not a great idea.

Come the time when I mean it, however...

Look at the aftermarket Ward spindles.

I should have done this months ago, but put it off because it felt like a kludge:

Difference is night and day- I simply cannot overstate what a change in braking this has brought about.

Is that a QBP travel agent? Want to get one but they're bloody expensive

What is it? I demand more details!

Problem Solvers in line travel agent:

Hmmm. Is that price each or for a pair? Btw, Evans have them cheaper.

I got mine (single) from eBay, for around £20 delivered I think.

Better picture of how it works:

what IS that thing?
Some kind of inline brake booster/brake softener?

Just get a Juicy 7, cable discs do my nut in.

EDIT>> Slow on the page refresh. So it increases the pull from the lever, I guess you are using road/aero levers on a caliper designed for v brake type levers, so needed more pull to be useful?

Still think hope should get their finger out and make a proper road/aero hydro lever, for cyclo cross if nothing else (their solution for road/aero cable levers > hydro convertor is gorgeous, but OTT).