Dave Marsh 653, cranks stripping and polishing

I bought this a while back and have been waiting until I had a bit of time to build it up.

I'm pretty much using my current ribble runaround as a donor bike with just a few changes.

Decided to strip the anodising off the Miche cranks to loose the branding and polish them up.

Mr Muscle oven cleaner has that special ingredient, plus loads of wet and dry, wire wool, and shitloads of elbow grease!

Fancied a change of bars, and popped on the (not) ventos I have. Think I wanna go for a silver wheelset in the end.

Think I'll change the wheelset to silver, but it's done enough for the first day. Just needs bar-tape and some tiny cable ties for the speedo.

Nice build.

Nice build.

Thanks, shit photo! Sorry!

But don't you think it's a bit of a pity to use this frame as a conversion? I mean if you sell it you could buy a nice track frame instead. Which will look cool with those cranks etc.

I currently have 3 geared bikes with another in the pipeline to replace number 3. I was very tempted, especially putting those ventos in there.
It does deserve to be geared really, I agree.
You show me a track frame of that calibre for £100 and I'll do a swap.

But don't you think it's a bit of a pity to use this frame as a conversion?

It's never a pity, a fixed wheel can be used on a road bike as well as a track bike.

I meant for ages to update this as I fitted it with a near matching wheelset and modern black components.

I'm a big fan of modern components on steel frames, although it did take me a while to come around to the look of the huge stem against the headset!

^ That photo was taken last night as a 'before' photo before taking it back to a bit more of a classic look with some open pro SUP wheels with skinwall tyres, and Cinelli Giro bars and 1a stem.

I think I actually preferred it before but it's nice to have a change up!

Nice build, that.

yeah tidy. Much prefer the 'classic look' though