You are reading a single comment by @veLLo and its replies. Click here to read the full conversation.
  • I picked up the frame from Mario on sat, hanger is back... once cleaned / polished, you don't see much of the damage once the wheel and rear mech is on so this is still a flashy pink frame, not a beater style paintwork...

    I started building the bike yesterday afternoon. The BB gave me a bit of trouble on the non drive side. I could not use any of my old cup style BBs because none of the axles I had in my spares were the right lenght, so I had to do with a recent shimano sealed one, which is a bit too long but fits OK, I'll build the bike like that, ride it a bit, and get it changed in a bike shop for one of the perfect lenght one, I'll ask them to re-taper the threads on this occasion.

    I have a dilema with regards to the brakes. I thought I would use centre pull vintage brakes (mafac style), which would have beed perfect as I have a nice set of them, and the frame has a dedicated bridge for this at the back. But, these centre pull brakes (these ones in particular, but most centre pulls I came accross - mafac, weinman, shimano), have quite a long reach. They could work at the back with the pads set that the higer position, but the clearance is way too narrow at the front, I need normal calipers... Also, the fork steerer is a tat too short and there is no space to fit the centre pull cable stop...
    I would hate to have a different style of brakes front and back, so I'll go for calipers. So that bridge is now redundant. As pointed out by Theo, and I agree with him, that bridge was a later addition to the frame. It's quite obvious as the quality of the brazing it inferior to the rest of the frame. Also, I'd never seen such a big bridge for centre pull cable stop, they are usually much smaller... I am quite tempted to remove that bridge because it only served a vey specific purpose at some point, but unless I miss something, it does not really make sense... but I'd like to hear what people here think... Opinions please?

    Can't wait to ride that bike!

    L

About

Avatar for veLLo @veLLo started