Current Projects chat and miscellany

that raleigh must be like 66cm c-c
nice frame

@Nahguavkire: Where did you find that Fort frame? Is it black or a dark shade of green? It looks an awful lot like a frame I once had and sold. Thanks!

Hi all.

Just now getting around to posting a picture of my Moser. Pic is from early September when I took it for a first ride. First bottom up build for me and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Fast bike with a nice ride.

Frame was purchased from forum member Bainbridge, components from Pistoffski, Colnago Costa, as well as various sources around the 'net. Thanks to all for high quality parts and fast shipping.

Big thanks also to Retro di Corsa for posting of frame, great follow up, and helpful tips.

http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x396/gotteli/P1030211Large.jpg

Looks pretty laid back, do you know what the angles are? I make it 72° seat and 70° head

Good question, and not something I gave any consideration to at all. I'm not a competitive rider, and built the bike mainly for fun. It fits me pretty well (I'm around 6 ft), and riding position atm is fairly leaned forward (at least based on my limited points of comparison). The bike is most definitely not in its element on steep hills, but that could just as well be attributable to the rider! Might have to do a little research over the winter and fine tune it.

Not a criticism, just looks surprisingly slack for a road race bike of that era

^Like that a lot. Really good looking bike you've built there.

I know this is not retrobike forum but could not resist buying this not had a mountain bike for ages,I actually think I have quite a bit of stuff already for it in the garage.

not a good purchase.

but as with road bikes, you'll buy your way to the top within a few months.

@ M.O.H. – that frame is looking spanking, good job^^^^^^

Thank you but the kudos goes to Argos Racing Cycles in Bristol, who painted it. I just cleaned all the grime off the components. They did a lovely job on it (See the head tube detail photo below) and they were really easy to work with. You can find any number of powdercoaters here in Japan but even old hands are at a loss to find a good enameler. The art seems to have died out. On Sunday a friend was telling me how he'd applied masking tape to an area of the down tube of his recently painted 1950s Gillot to do some work on it and that when he pulled it off it took a strip of clearcoat off with it.

Yesterday I set about putting a tyre on the rear Weinmann I'd spent around 4 hours cleaning up. There was several years of oil and grime around the hub that took Jizer and a stiff brush to remove. Then came 0000 wire wool on the old DB Robergel spokes to remove the rust and more 0000 on the rims followed by Nevr-Dull to bring them to a nice shine.

So, these are wire-ons and I needed tyres so I ordered some Panaracer Paselas from my LBS. The rims are 1 1/4 inch and I asked him if 1 1/8" tyres would be okay and he reckoned not so I got 2 of the larger size. When I fitted the tyre it was huge - no way was that going on the bike. Then, rummaging through the mountain of parts on my balcony I realised I had 3 spare Paselas in 1/ 1/8" that I'd taken off my other Hetchins when I went to Fiamme sprint rims a year or so ago. I also remembered that I'd looked into using narrower tyres than the rim back then and that as long as you kept the pressure lowish it was doable. Figuratively hitting my head with a rubber mallet I removed the tractor tyre and fitted the narrower one.

The hub on this Weinmann is a Powell large flange with fixed on one side and derailleur threads on the other. Imagine my disappointment when I realised that the rear wheel had been dished to use the derailleur side and that fitted with the fixed cog on the drive side the wheel is way over to the left of the rear forks and the tyre rests against the left chain stay. More rubber mallet! I'd noticed the dishing was flatter on the derailleur side but hadn't thought it through...

So, bang goes my plan to finish the bike by tomorrow and go for a ride with the friend with the Gillot. He's taking his just-finished 1940s F.W. Evans for a shakedown ride, nothing very big, maybe 20 or 30 miles in all. It was going to fun. However, on the plus side, now that I know I can't use the rear wheel as it is, I can change the rear hub. All the parts on this bike are from 1954 and I wanted to keep it all original. Even though the ball races in the rear hub are pitted, I'd decided to live with them for a while before changing it. Now I don't have to. All for the better, I guess.

Anyone know if pitted races on a hub can be refaced? It seems a pity to junk such a rare hub.

1 Attachment

Surly Long Haul Trucker project,

Need a shorter stem, but generally happy. Going to fit out with racks and panniers for touring in the spring.

Rides very stable and smooth.

Coming soon to the Rollamonsta. Need to make an adaptor to fit this to a 130mm PCD crank. Gear goes up to about 190" or 60mph at 105rpm, with scope to go over 200" later if I get an 8T driver on the hub to replace the current 56/9 set up. When I first got my rollers and could barely hit 40mph in a sprint, I had no idea that I would eventually find a gear that gives 50mph/100rpm a bit spinny :-)

What the f... that TA is HUGE!! Is that for that thing where you go around a track with a motorcycle in front of you?

Anyone know if pitted races on a hub can be refaced? It seems a pity to junk such a rare hub.

Is it a steel race pressed into an alloy hub shell? If so, it's theoretically possible to remove it and have a replacement made, although the cost may be prohibitive. If it's a steel barrel incorporating the races pressed to alloy flanges, you'd need to dismantle the hub body and get the barrel part built up with weld and reground before attempting to press the flanges back onto the barrel. Again, prohibitively costly. I'm pretty sure there isn't enough spare metal on either design to permit a simple regrind of the existing race.

What the f... that TA is HUGE!! Is that for that thing where you go around a track with a motorcycle in front of you?

That's probably what TA had in mind when they made them, but I'll be using it to ride at >60mph (hoping to peak at >80mph) on rollers.

nice fork choice... what size frame is that?

Yeah, the fork is lovely and light too. Frame is xl which a 57cm top tube, if I remember correctly. Hope to have it all done by next week.

Surly Long Haul Trucker project

Yikes, another lovely bike. This is what I plan to build next year. What drivetrain have you used? That the 700c version? what size frame?

Yikes, another lovely bike. This is what I plan to build next year. What drivetrain have you used? That the 700c version? what size frame?

Thanks, it's the 58cm. Which feels long for me (5ft 11), i'd probably be best with a 56cm but i'll see how it goes.

Drive is ultegra rear mech and shifters, with 105 cranks. Seems pretty smooth, but i've not really tinkered much.

toby nice bike.

my only comment would be to sort out the fender gap(s).

Is it a steel race pressed into an alloy hub shell? If so, it's theoretically possible to remove it and have a replacement made, although the cost may be prohibitive. If it's a steel barrel incorporating the races pressed to alloy flanges, you'd need to dismantle the hub body and get the barrel part built up with weld and reground before attempting to press the flanges back onto the barrel. Again, prohibitively costly. I'm pretty sure there isn't enough spare metal on either design to permit a simple regrind of the existing race.

Many thanks for the pointers! Now that I have to use another hub I'll take the Powell apart and look at how it's made.

However, looking at the front, which is without its spindle at the moment, and presuming the same manufacturing process was involved as with the rear, it looks like the races are incorporated into the ends of the barrel. I don't see any way of either getting at it or removing it without dismantling the hub. As you say, 'prohibitively expensive', IF you could find someone to do it.

Thanks again!

Just picked up another Geoffrey Butler, this time with full 105 groupset, for just over 100 nuggets. Gonna retrofit some mudguards to it for winter commuting but otherwise leave it as is

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140474225810&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

good work, what a bargain

This should be just about painted by now...

(definitely not in Gulf colours, by the way)

Just picked up another Geoffrey Butler, this time with full 105 groupset, for just over 100 nuggets. Gonna retrofit some mudguards to it for winter commuting but otherwise leave it as is

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140474225810&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/crud-roadracer-mk2-mudguard-set/

My finished Freddie Grubb comet. Thanks to innumerable forum folk for money and merchandise, currency and componenetry.

nice, i like the frame a lot. but surely you could take out a link or at least a half link and get it nice and tight in the rear ;)