Current Projects chat and miscellany

I'm building this up for the Mrs. Not finished yet, but I'm pretty happy so far (I accept that others might not be so enthusiastic :-)

This looks great. Any more details?

this thing is so nice to ride

This looks great. Any more details?

Thanks, it's nice to hear that others are liking it too.

The frameset is an Orlowski custom (there's also a front rack), tubing is columbus life. Internal routing for gear cables and in the fork for a dynamo light. Brakes are basic deores. Rear derailleur deore shadow 9sp, front tiagra. Shifters are dura ace bar-ends on paul thumbies (I thought these worked very nice, and they manage to co-exist with the bulky brake levers). Wheels are DT XR400 29er rims, DT competition spokes, front dynamo hub SP PD-8 and rear hub XT. Thomson bits and a cane creek 110 headset from my parts bin.

Felt quite fun the little I rode it. Nimble, but still comfortable leaning into corners. Didn't feel a bit sluggish either, even though the tyres measured a bit over 36mm.

Building up my Ottadini frame at the mo. this is what I have so far. Bars will change though.

Nice... Finish it right! Good to hear that you're changing the bars.

Problem, i was fitting a brake on the Vivalo so i can do some club/charity rides, but it rubs on the headset slightly, i guess just filing the bolt down is my only option? i'll try higher it and dropping the pads down, but not sure it will be enough

ill put some pvc tape over those clamps...

Why don't you get something like This?

Well, i do, it's a bit of a dilemma though, i got a Brother Steel track which would do the job quite well actually, but its a great commuter to, real solid and ideal bike to nip around town on, but id also have to change half the parts on it to, the Vivalo is lighter and probably stiffer, already have lighter wheels, spd's, bottle cage etc, so i can just stick a front brake on that and its safe to ride along with some roadies.

You get me?

Not really, just put brakes on the Brother and ride it as it is, you don't need to change* "half the parts"* on it just to make it suitable, you're not TM.

If you can't keep up, it's just mean you need to get fitter, not a faster bike.

I reckon he means its got the wrong bar, stem and the pedals. All fairly easy fixes/swops but if you don't have them in your parts bin and you don't want to change your daily set up it is a hassle.

IMO the clamp on seems like a good interim solution and other than struggling to get it to fit I don't really see what all the fuss is about.

Clamp on brakes put unnecessary pressure on a part of the fork that isn't designed to take braking loads. It would be more sensible to use a fork built to use a brake if he had one. Which he does.

Serious question rob, but how many track fork that have failed due to the "unnecessary pressure" on the fork blade?

Some.

Some?

Some.

Some?

*Some.*

Problem, i was fitting a brake on the Vivalo so i can do some club/charity rides, but it rubs on the headset slightly, i guess just filing the bolt down is my only option? i'll try higher it and dropping the pads down, but not sure it will be enough

ill put some pvc tape over those clamps...

See the tiny little scew down below with the spring on it? you screw that all the way in (screw head ought to be on the front iirc so slip in the screwdriver in from the front under the brake). It'll go in far enough to eventually push on the fork bridge, in doing so it will push away the upper screw from the headset.

Re: Originally Posted by Aches and pains
Problem, i was fitting a brake on the Vivalo so i can do some club/charity rides, but it rubs on the headset slightly, i guess just filing the bolt down is my only option?

I believe there is a small screw, has a spring round it (can just about see in the photo), adjust that so it rests on the fork crown leaving a small gap between headset and nut thingy.
http://www.lfgss.com/thread101772.html

Serious question rob, but how many track fork that have failed due to the "unnecessary pressure" on the fork blade?

I have round blade forks on my track bike.
I tried once fitting a clamp-on brake.
I had the (not nice) impression that when braking the forks were bending.
I wanted to have "scientific" verification of the impression.

I packed some cardboard between the tyre and the downtube with adhesive tape, only leaving 2mm clearance between the tyre and the surface of the cardboard.

I tried the bike, used the brake, and looked. There was a tyre mark on the cardboard.

I did the same again with fewer cardboard packing. Leving 3mm, then 5mm, etc. Until there was enough clearance for the carboard not to be touched by the tyre when braking.

I don't remember what was exactly the final required clearance to avoid contact between the tyre and the cardboard, but it was around 6-7mm (not very far from the overall clearance, without any packing)

My conclusion was that I did not like my forks to travel backwards like this, whether it would or not lead to a failure (can't be bothered sourcing a chrome track fork with french steerer...), so I removed the clamp on brake. I only use that bike at herne hill anyway, and to commute on track days...

Now, I wonder if all round blades are the same, because, as Ed knows, some touring bikes do have round blade forks (for instance some of Alex Singer ones) and they are supposed to receive some luggages and have a front brake...

Could be down to the wall thickness of the blade rather than the blade shape.

Example would be a disc brake fork that fail due to insufficient blade thickness to withstand the sheer braking force on the lower left of the fork rather than on the centre of the crown.

Perhaps track bicycle have a different wall thickness or is there's something else?

^^ Doesn't sound like an unusual amount of flex to be honest. I can get visible fore-aft flex on both my steel-forked bikes just by holding the brake on and pushing forward on the bars. But if they didn't flex in that way they'd probably be pretty uncomfortable.

Fork Flex.MOV - YouTube

lol

That actually look fairly normal.

The clicking sound is apparently the spokes flexing out and hitting the brake calliper.

Brake are death.

The clicking sound is apparently the spokes flexing out and hitting the brake calliper.

Brake are death.

^ that is my favourite gif