Current Projects chat and miscellany

lol at all the CK get on the floor and thank the lord attitude.

my 2p ----> far too expensive, it's just a headset.

P.S Don't bother Max, i know already :P

Get yourself to the pub, Mr. Dylan. It has been far too long.

I didn't mean that in a "Get yourself to the pub, it has been far too long since your last drink" way, I meant come to West's, I haven't seen you in ages... :-)

I just like the sound of the hubs , couldnt give a fuck about the number of engagements or any of that blah blah......(shallow, me?)

Thanks dude

I'm running a Stratos because i had a crash and didn't want to shell out 400 clams for a new custom fork. Honesly this one rides nicer and is much stiffer. It also has less rake and length. A bit heavier though. I had it sprayed to black, but sort of wish i still had it pink for rats sake

this is the fork (click to enlarge):

shame on the original forks, I was curious cos they looked so minimal, which is something i quite like.

The stratos is probably a more confident choice.

Get yourself to the pub, Mr. Dylan. It has been far too long.

I just spent 2p, that my beer money gone,
but then again
i could just blag one.

Life is full of choices

2p or not 2p, that's what she said,
Shakspeare that is.

OK, maybe you do need a drink... ;-)

seriously, that would be some bombproof shit. on a ti frame,
(blatantly dreaming......)

I dream of Hot women in lingerie bringing me pitchers of beer.

Stop dreaming about your bikes and ride them ... I managed to beat 3 or 4 ricers down dorchester road on my mountain bike ... by spinning my nuts off and making it through the lights before them.

OK, maybe you do need a drink... ;-)

sanity as never been my strong point hehe

^ You wouldn't be saying that if you had a Chris King.

All my bikes are integrated. CK hates integrated headsets, so I'm happy.

I'm sure MDCC will come back with some numbers or something

No, the quality/boutique/bling (pick according to prejudice) threaded headset market CK pretty much have to themselves, and the centring issue only applies to threadless. For the record, I have CK threadless on two of my bikes and I'm not going to change them just because Cane Creek have moved ahead (no pun intended). I expect the CK ones I already have to last longer than I keep either bike.

In retrospect, though, it's clear that the CK analysis of headsets and particularly 1: their animosity to integrated and 2: their obsession with facing stems etc. arises at least in part out of their lack of a solid grip on the steerer. None of the CK obsessiveness about precision facing and reaming, even facing the stem, and obsessing over the squareness of spacers is wrong, and it will improve the chances of a long and happy life for any headset. Nonetheless, CK themselves have pretty much conceded that their O-ring isn't up to the job of keeping the headset centred in the long term, and now recommend annual replacement (YMMV)

I dream of Hot women in lingerie bringing me pitchers of beer.

I don't have to dream.

(Get a King, get a King, get a King)

Get the King if you're going to ride the bike often on the city roads.
Get the Hatta if you're going to keep the traditional look, and it's your sunday bike.

I killed my hatta very quickly commuting every day like a maniac jumping over pot holes and flying over speed bumps. Turns out cheaper to get a CK than replacing your headset/bearings every two months.

i use an fsa pig. unsealed. muthafuckaz!

I think it's a Chris King you want.

Oh sorry what was the question?

Do they do Campagnolo ones?

Have finally (just about) finished the S3X Kogswell and had my first ride on it and while it still need some tweaking, am very happy with it. Here are a couple of pics;

Initial impressions are that there is some backlash in the hub, but not enough to worry about, not sure I'd want to rely entirely on the hub for stopping, hence the rear brake.

To start with the hub kept dropping out of gear in the lowest gear when under load (i.e. making my way up a couple of steepish hills) but think I've got it properly adjusted now. This wasn't a problem once I got a feel for what was required, instructions weren't great, very minimal, but like I said think things will be okay now.

Started with 48x14 gearing as I thought 46x14 would be a bit low, but think I got this wrong, 48x14 is too high, think I'm going to try 49x15 next.

The Kogswell frame has quite a long top-tube and relaxed geometry, so thought the straight seat post and short stem would work with the moustache bars, but this is feeling a touch short in the cockpit, so am going to fit a slightly longer stem and a seat post with some lay back.

Going to fit some black Brooks bar tape, swap the Lepper Voyager for a black Brooks, haven't decided which one yet and will fit a Velo-Orange Constructeur front rack, will also fit mud guards in the winter. Think I might ride this for the Dunwich Dynamo.

Lovely to see one (S3X) built, it's the first I've seen.

Keeo us posted on how you get on with it!

Thanks to all the folks I got good deals from.
Sorry to the purists.

Ah no pic..?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/downlo70/4635198134/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/downlo70/4635198134/

cut and paste the pic you want from flickr (all sizes) and it will appear here. Voila!

PS grips/bartape time. Bare bars are shit!

Haha thanks..
Yeah still a work in progress really. Want some track bars n stem really but not sure what..
Thanks for putting up the image.

Hehe. I forgot to say: nice bike!

Bars look OK for a bike of that vintage, but I can understand your desire to put tracky ones on. Stem looks good enough, GB spearpoint?

Ask hilarystone for some pics of track-ish bars that would suit, he put up a thread with SHED LOADS of bars listed, but only a few pics...

Have fun!

Tanx..

spearpoint..? think so. its a Gb anyways

spearpoint: they're cast with these swooshy pointy bits on to look like an old fashioned lugged steel one.

In case you don't know: they have a 25.4mm clamp. hilary had lots of nice-sounding GB bars, and plenty of others needing that clamp-size.