Kona Rat Track project

After a 6 month build, due to laziness and not a huge amount of free cash - I've eventually complete my first SS track type bike. I put together a blog for my brother who lived (now returned to the UK) overseas. So here is a run through of the build, comment/critism all welcome. I'm happy with the final outcome, can't wait to turn a wheel in anger in the next few days.

Hope the formatting pastes across OK. And click thumbnails for larger images.

Cheers
Jonny

The Starting Point

I'm going to document the build of my track bike, I've collected a few parts already and I'll run through them in each post and the reasons why I specced them.

The long term plan is to build a multi-purpose bike, sharing a base frame - for commuting, triathlon and track riding. Using a few purpose specific swappable parts.
We will start at the beginning:
Picked this up from E(vil)Bay for a very good price, and so the project was born.

Its a Kona 'The Rat' track frame, double butted steel, 120mm dropout spacing, finished in an OK deep purple finish, with retro-esque graphics - finished off with vintage looking steel forks (1" steerer).

I'll post the full geometry in one of the next post - super tight, super steep and very few of them around !

**Miche Headset **

Now this was a tricky find without blowing £60+ on a Campagnolo Record 1" threadless headset. Most options are either modern 1.125" or old-school threaded 1".
I picked this up from the LFGSS forum, unused 2nd hand - lovely piece of kit. With angular contact bearings top and bottom, cool satin silver finish and a 'betterthanstartflangenut' expander plug. Miche quality.

I'm a function over form kind of biker, but from my BikeCAD mock up (see next post), silver looked so much better than a black.

**BikeCAD.ca **

Using the great BikeCAD.ca program/website, I mocked up a "tentative" finished product.
Kind of what I'm aiming for:

**Project's sneakers **

I believe these are NOS stock (from box colour scheme) seem very narrow for claimed 25c, but fulfils my brief perfectly - file tread, amber skin wall, not weighing 400g+ ! Need some wheels first.

Semi related

I currently zoom around the capital on a SS mountain bike, and found my Olympic style traffic light starts seem to have found the limit of my half-link chain. Luckily spotted it before it went completely - I've already has a couple overthebars moments from dropped chains recently.

[B]New CAD mock up[/B]

I think I'm obsessed with this BikeCAD.ca website . . .
I've done a revised mock-up of the final setup

With the potentially revised bar and stem colours and the Chain/Crankset I have my eye on.

As this was never going to be an NJS/ 60's Italian/ genuine rarity build costing many Dorrah!, I'm looking to build a modern (if cheap) track bike - using recent parts eg. external BB, compact road chainset, CNC stem, SPD pedals etc - with a nod to the past with skinwall tyres, weird track bars and a steel frame (albeit with a slightly sloping top tube - **>:-[ **)

Now first and foremost, the colours of the below products were "forced" on me by budgetary requirements - aka. they were discounted because of the grim colours. They look even worse when combined together! This maybe be remedied soon.

OK to start with probably the most beautiful piece of kit on the bike - a Sunline V1 stem - neat, clever CNCing, alot of internal machining, chamfered bar clamp area and only 34mm stack height on the steerer. The colour isn't too bad in isolation, but wait until you see the bars!

The stem is 65mm long, weighing 180g approx. I don't like to scrimp on strength in this area and always use MTB/AM/DH stems on all my bikes. The weight penalties aren't too high, little more strength and easier to get in short lengths (which I prefer).

And rather aesthetically pleasing!

Now on to a component that has been and is a "bone of contention", Charge Bowl bars. I was after a real shallow drop track style bar, with not much reach, in aluminium. BOOM - they fit the brief perfectly. I wanted a shallow drop as I haven't ridden drops in about 20 years and need to work on my flexibility from years of BMX and MTBing.

Bit of a breath, bear in mind they were half price - I do wonder why??

As you can see, an odd but pleasing shape. Now the problems - the top bar area is very narrow and with the brake lever I'm using my non-brake hand will probably be in the way of the exiting brake cable. Due to the odd but pleasing shape to run the brake lever on the correct side of the stem would only allow half the lever travel - making brake setup a pain. But I'll review them once they are all bolted up and can get a good feel of any issues. Also got some Campagnolo brakes - do like Campag ever since my first set of handbuilt MTB wheels were Campag Atek rims on super smooth Mavic hubs.

Next parts to be purchased will be deep section wheels, a chainset/BB, a hollow pin chain and probably a few finishing bit (bar shims, brake cables, maybe a new saddle) - then its on to the build.

[B]Geometry[/B]

As alluded to in a previous post, the geometry for the Kona Rat frame:

(in both metric & imeprial measurements, save you dividing by 25.4)

Advertised size 540mm/21.3"
C-to-T seat tube 520mm/20.5"
Top tube length 550mm/21.7"
Seat tube angle 75*
Head tube angle 74*
Chainstay length 388mm/15.3"
Fork length 365mm/14.4"
Fork offset 37mm/1.5"
Bottom bracket height 281mm/11.1
Head tube length 130mm/5.1"

The below image shows the nice clearances, but as a package its not as "aggressive" as the numbers suggest. With a reasonably long top tube, toe-overlap won't be a major issue, yet the steep angles and short rear triangle will keep the over-the-pedals body position and quick handling.
Proof is in the pudding, so to speak - I'll do a full test report when its all put together.

[B]Addendum to Miche Headset[/B]

A quick picture of the needle/roller bearing Of the Miche headset, nice miniature precision bearings - maybe a little OTT since the max rotational range will be 180* ?!!!

Bit of a test build

Got various shims to make the bars, stem and steer tube to all work correctly.

This really illustrates the shallow drop of the bars, (I'm sure I'll work up (down??) to a proper track style drop. (Test fitted on my commuter MTB)

An interesting shape! Not sure how long they will last, but I'll update once everything is together and rolling.

Here is a partial build after getting my headset installed by a local bike shop who were more or less rubbish !

Add some Charge knurled rubber grips to the bars, I prefer this style over bars tape/ribbon, from years of mountain biking.

After going round in circles for weeks, trying to decide on a set of wheels. Seemed to be a weigh up between deep section (40mm) and 600g per rim( 1.5+kg per wheel) or something around 25-30mm medium profile and being quite light (or going crazy and doing carbon and deep profile for many Dorra!). I looked at Halo, V-sprint, few eBay specials, Mavic, Token etc. But found a good deal on Miche Pistard WR wheels, pretty light, great hubs/bearings, 28mm med profile rims and a low-ish spoke count - so I gone/going for these. And they look really slick !

Next payday should bring the wheels, hollow pin chain and a road style crankset/BB (external bearings), then apart from some cables and tweeking should be there and then I can start detailing the changes!!.........

Ordered wheels today and got most of it built up.

Got a nice SRAM external bottom bracket fitted and got a matching SRAM Rival crankset (50/34t) pics to follow.

Should have its first ride next week. Woop woop.

After a long couple of days and driving 700 miles, I was greeted by a large box! Tres exciting!

My Miche wheels had arrived, quick "hi" to the girlfriend and I set to work. Fitted the tyres and tubes and was mighty impressed with the weight and solid feel of the wheels - hopefully helps my confidence as its been 20+ years since I last rode on skinny tyres!

As I thought, the skinwall looks great with the deep section black rim. Now I had pre-decided to remove the stickers on the wheels (I'm not a huge fan of OTT branding) - but think they look quite slick and understated. We'll see. . . . . .

Got all over excited putting air in the tyres, think the gauge read 120psi and something (the tube) went pop - so a bit of a delay before the first ride. Think karma had something to do with it, as I didn't line up the tyre label with the valve hole (did on the back wheel) - lesson learnt, don't f**k with tyre labels and karma.

Got this hollow pin chain from KMC, looks very nice in 1/8" track size, hopefully its strong enough!
And a chunk lighter than my half-link chain.

So rattled together the rest of the bike, (with temp seat/post) and took some pics.

Au Nature . . . . .

And a little more urbanised. (Apologies for the flat dull photography)

Clearances are nice and close (although a bladed carbon fork a touch shorter would be nice) and quite like the look of the compact-style geometry. Ended up running 50/17t gear ratio (80") after running a 40/12t (72"ish on a 24" wheel??) but have scope to go higher/lower should I need it.

So I'm very happy with the final product (despite the green bars/blue stem!). So to finish, need a new tube and a brake cable (& pos a skinny Selle Italia Flite-style saddle). Then I need to put some miles in.

On a side note, popped up North (where I originally hail from and went past this (see link) I thought it had been knocked down, so my bro now lives 1/2 mile from this tarmac 400 velodrome, with steep banking. Next time I'm up North I'll take the Kona and do some sprints...

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=south+shields&hl=en&ll=54.995029,-1.409136&spn=0.003047,0.010568&sll=51.580257,0.02717&sspn=0.013201,0.042272&hnear=South+Shields,+Tyne+and+Wear,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=17

Updates to follow.

Those Specialized Turbo tyres are very narrow for their quoted size. They are really good though; supple and good quality (made in Japan).

That green bar + blue dh stem have to go.
Other than that I think it's a great looking bike.

Those Specialized Turbo tyres are very narrow for their quoted size. They are really good though; supple and good quality (made in Japan).

And cheap as well ! I measured them as 20/21mm at 90psi.

That green bar + blue dh stem have to go.
Other than that I think it's a great looking bike.

Thanks and I agree - is it just the colours? Aside from a Thompson, what is a nice looking clamp-on road stem. They all look dull to me. Bars will be changed as I get myeye in with drops.

Cheers
Jonny

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=16367
The silver one to match your seatpost.

Ah of course - the "done" thing is matchy matchy seatpost+stem ! Beginners stupidity !

Thanks for the link but that Pro stem has been discontinued, and I would need a 60mm (+/-5-10mm) stem - for no other reason than an old hip joint injury that needs a less actue back to thigh angle (although I'm only 35 !) while riding.

Cheers
Jonny

Lovely bike! And I actually really dig the colours of that stem and bar combo. sad to read that they have to go :) but mine's probably a minority taste anyway...

I really need to ride them for a few weeks before I finally decide.

Only cost me £40 for both bar & stem, so I'll give them a chance and maybe de-anodise them to silver.

I'll update soon.

First ride tonight between rain showers.

F-me it's a quick little bike, wheels are superb and made a great whistling noise at speed. A few pings as the wheels bed in.

Realised the moron bike shop who fitted the headset have screwed it! It either rocks or is over preloaded, zero middle ground. Visually it looks straight and fitted properly, wondering if they have the lower race skewed or warped. Shame as it seemed like a nice headset. I'm going to dismantle it and have a closer look, or replace it.

Overall very happy with the whole setup.

Couple of possible changes:
Tape the bare part of the bars - any suggestions?
Up tyre pressure 10psi
Remove stickers from braked wheel
Pos. increase gearing, 50/17t seems to spin up very quickly, I'll do a few hills and decide.
Learn to corner on skinny tyres . . . . . . .

Your headset might well be fine. Needle bearing headsets do feel stiffer on pre-tension but work fine once you are riding. I've used a couple and it's a consistent theme. The LBS that fitted mine actually pointed this out to me when I collected the bike as they have had people come back before with just the issue you describe. Personally I prefer them to standard ball race ones.

Bars - just tape the lot and loose the grips you have.

Gears - Depends on what you ride and the state of your legs but personally I ride a hell of a lot lower. While I spin like mad on a clear road I find the extra control in traffic a real bonus.

You won't be able to do tri on a fixed at most races, but I wouldn't let that worry you, nice ride!

F&B thanks for the input, I've been out again today trying to find the sweet spot with the headset. With the right amount of load on the bearings, there isn't any "self-centering" coming out of a bend - almost feels like I have to counter steer to get te bike to stand up. A touch un-nerving. Just ordered another headset (a little flambuoyant, but got a tax rebate!) to see if it fixes it - if it doesn't there will be 1" threadless in the classifieds and I'll have to get used to it.

I've given tape a crack on the top section, see if I unravel it on my first climb. I find rubber grips way more secure when gunning it (intervals/sprint).

I'm going to leave the gear for the moment, review it later on or when I need knee surgery, which ever happens first.

Tallboy: I've heard some folks get away with it + front brake, but I'll probs run just SS for racing.

You might want to try a longer stem before you throw the headset out. That short stem might work fine on an MTB but the steeper angles on the track frame don't take to it in the same way. It's amazing what 30mm can do to the way the front end feels.

After stripping the headset and finding shards of alloy and a mullered fork race, swapped the headset for a new Miche one - fitted it myself this time, works perfectly.

Took the bike out for a short 15mile run and averaged 17.5mph (on a 50/17t gear) and fastest of 29.3mph. Not too bad in and out of traffic.

Rear wheel went rather soft, but really happy with the ride, but may go for some bullhorns as the I don't find the bars particularly comfortable. Any suggestions?i

Keep on trying to dial the bars in.

They're are hard to get just right. So I'd say preserver and continue to make small adjustments.

What exactly is the issue?

Bit of an update

More or less spent the past month and a half riding the bike - its brilliant, so fast, great ride, stable and comfortable..

Made a few changes position wise:
Swapped the mini-drops for bullhorns (Profile Airwing) and a nice SRAM CF lever.
Swapped the saddle and post (and got my hips a foot above the bars)
AND (don't laugh.....) got a pair of Cinelli Spinacci "Aero" Bars (for £15) they make a great difference once up to speed.
(Flat pedas were just for a warm down ride (see Concorde) to the shop)

Did a 25mile TT-style ride in 1hr15mins (19mph average) from Wanstead to Bishop's Stortford (not hugely flat) - kind of proves I need more miles in my legs and maybe 1 less tooth on the back (although on the way back, legs went with 5 miles to go and needed 20 teeth less on the front) - but great fun.

Also pick up this from one of our European forum members (girlfriend still doesn't know I've bought it :-s - hidden in the loft) :

Swapped to white tape and saddle for that faux-pro look and added a C-Record chainset for pimpness (and blasphemed with some silver MTB SPDs). Lovely bike in great condition, beaut to ride.

Cheers
Jonny

Hi Johnny,

I really enjoyed reading about your project. I hope the bike is spinning along just perfectly.

I am thinking about getting a The Rat frame, but am unsure about which framesize to get. I gather that your frame is size 54cm. How tall are you? (if you don't mind me asking?:)) I am 180 cm tall.

Best,
Benjamin