Current Projects chat and miscellany

Thanks for the comments!

the frame is an aluminium vitus futural 787 (so the year is 1987 and yeah it's french). I used pretty much all the spare parts I had on this one so I have a mosaic groupset but it does a really great job!
In details:
handlebars: mavic comte de coucy with brooks guidoline
stem: mavic 360
crankset: mavic 631
pedals: mavic 640
mavic open pro wheels
derailleurs shimano 105
headset shimano 105
brifters shimano rx100
campagnolo record seatpost
velo orange model 6 saddle
front brake is a miche and rear is a shimano ultegra

Looks a bit cadexy too.

^ roubaix bike? what's one of those - a bike for riding on cobbles?
(at risk of sounding patronising - did you mean audax?)

DOH!! face palms

Yeah... cheers. ;P

It's not really setup for that either ( sorry AngelID ).

And the newest addition (will actually do updates on this one as it may take a while!)
url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/52046897@N04/7575944584/][/url]

This has huge HHSTTB potential.
:)

So, Croix de Fer frame arrived yesterday at last. I need to buy some handlebars, and get my wheels built, but other than that its project on!

Question. I have Hope XC mtb hubs (not Hope Pro's that I mentioned previously). Can I use a road cassette (Tiagra 4600 10 speed)? Am I correct in thinking I may need a spacer?

done!!!

For sale? :)

So, as the only drops I had were Deda tracks and some ITM carbon over alu ergo bars, which both had +150mm drop, and as my front already has +100mm saddle to bar drop, I decided some short & shallow compacts were in order as my stomach keeps getting in the way and my nads get crushed!

Ordered a set of FSA Omega's, which seem like a nice bar if a bit smaller than I expected, wouldn't mind about 10mm more drop, but as there seems to be very few out there with 135mm, and as the double radius drop actually fits my XL hands very well I'll keep em for now (or till I lose some weight!).

But, I made the rookie mistake and got some bar gel... my tiny bars are now about 31.8mm ALL OVER!

Is it worth trying to take the fizik soft touch tape off, chucking the gel pads and hoping the tape will still stick back back on the bars?

You can usually re-wrap with the same tape. I'd imagine if you're careful it should be OK!

Fizik soft touch is the breakiest tape ever so be careful taking it off. You should be ok because it also has the shittest glue ever too, so comes off easily.

You can always use some double-sided tape to help it stick a 2nd time.

comfy?

Cheers guys, will give it a go.

^ As I also use Specialized Comp gloves which are padded (although not the most padded in their range), going off a curb felt like a dull thump!

FSA omegas are cracking. Love the set I have in my roadie.

The Omega or Wing were the OG compact bar I think.

They're also cheap so you can replace them after a spill without wallet pain adding to that of your injuries!

That worked a beauty, nice one guys! :D

Yeah, so far they're great bars, the fit is surprising good.
I've got pretty big hands and some bars just do not have a long enough straight on the drops to really use well.
Did think about some proper anatomical bars, but most I found had 145-155mm drop.
Think this shape in the drops is great, and hoping as I gain fitness (and lose beer gut), I'll find something with same shape but about 10-15mm deeper.
And like that they don't have big cable groove too!

I have FSA Omegas on my road bike, but I'm going to try out the Planet-X strada compacts. They look pretty similar to the FSAs (though, as I type this I suddenly remember Planet-X own FSA don't they?)

I doubt that, FSA are a massive operation based in italy.

Ok, not sure where I got that from!

Planet X bought a lot of ITM stock (another big italian outfit) when they went bust?

For sale? :)

not for sale. unless you got a 1972 model to swap with.

^My '72 never sold...

I have Hope XC mtb hubs (not Hope Pro's that I mentioned previously). Can I use a road cassette (Tiagra 4600 10 speed)? Am I correct in thinking I may need a spacer?

Yes, you can use a road 10-speed cassette, you may need a 1mm spacer under the cassette with the higher end cassettes (ones with an aluminium spider for the big cogs, basically), but probably not with a CS-4600 as it looks to have a flat steel biggest sprocket. If you need one, it should be in the box with the cassette.

It's not really setup for that either ( sorry AngelID ).

url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/52046897@N04/7575944584/]
This has huge HHSTTB potential.
:)
Might just do that, as it's going to be a bit of a slow burner..

Swapped a couple things on the tank. Might fit drops or some swept back bars for some comfy cruisin. Happy it rides so well considering how little i spent on it.

I'm gonna ask the question almost just to post the photo again!

what rims are they wharry? mavic...

Rims are Campag Omega 19

Just a quick phone photo but today Butters and I stripped the campag off my old ribble and replaced it with sram apex from my other bike and banged on some 60mm carbon clinchers.
Its fucking lovely to ride

     ![](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/7577094606_1fb87be4c1_b.jpg) 

I will be changing the seatpost to an inline one. Not sure whether to go for black or silver. Im thinking silver

Ive only done about 30 miles or so since thus was reconfigured. By far the stiffest bike ive ever ridden atm.
This will be no doubt a bike for HoP and not for hill training