Fondriest Steel Track

^^ This
Second.. What are the wheels? Especially the hubs.. Looking brill, get it finished asap and some nice gearing for the 2000m landing way strip of Tempelhof!

Wheels are Open Pro CDs laced to Halo Track Hubs. They're really shiny! Hopefully they also work well.

Yeah, first stop is definitely Tempelhof. I live just around the corner from it, what a crazy and awesome place.

Wheels look great. I'd leave as is, since they're a good match w.r.t. colour and "busy-ness" of decal font, if you see what I mean.

See your point wrt wheels, I'll leave them.

Having a hell of a time finding a 80/90mm stem for the Nitto B105 bars (25.4 clamp), I would ideally like something which matches the finish of the bars. Can't find the Nitto Pearl stem in stock in the right size and it's also pretty expensive.

Alternatively there's the Nitto Crystem 3, but it's also not cheap and looks kind of funky (not sure if good or bad). Otherwise there's the BLB Lil' Quill, which is cheap, but just think I'd get annoyed with the BLB logo.

Try looking in some bike shops round here. Rembetis had an amazing-looking pantographed Eddy Merckx stem for €50, and there's a shop on the next street to mine called Cikago Stube which has a good selection of quill stems too.

Yeah, will have to get off my arse and actually look for parts rather than just order everything on the internet.

Unfortunately, yesterday I pulled a muscle in my calf, leaving me basically unable to walk. Doubt I'll be riding a bike for a couple of weeks as well. I'll probably have to put the project on hold for a bit, as my freedom of movement is pretty limited and it doesn't make much sense hurrying to build up a bike which I can't ride.

Fucking awesome.

Htfu

Ha! That's what I keep telling my calf, doesn't really seem to work though.

Now it looks like this, Italian steel from the 80/90s certainly isn't the easiest on the eye unless you're big on retro ski wear & acid house.

Haha, yes, I will have to get a matching outfit in order to ride it, something like this:

The forks came drilled, they were this shape, but there not any more.

Is that a hammerite finish?

Is that a hammerite finish?

Rattle tin Halfords™ matt black & acrylic trim paint that was floating around the garage.

So, finally a bit of progress! Finally received the crankset. Also bought an 18t cog, should give me a nice 48-18 ratio. Also picking up a headset today, so hoping to have it installed monday.

Gotta say, I didn't realise the chainring was black. In most pictures the chainring looks kind of champagne/grey, rather than totally black. So, not quite sure what to do. I guess it kind of ties in with the wheels. Or I could buy a new silver chainring which costs another ~£50.

So, finally some progress!

Received a big bunch of parts from wiggle:

And spent most of the day yesterday putting it together, ended up looking like this:

Issues so far:

1. Steerer is too long/headset is too short. So either need to cut the steerer or find a spacer for the headset. 1 inch spacers seem to be pretty hard to come by, but would be easier and less scary than cutting the steerer. Alternatively I need a different headset, I'm pretty sure a Campagnolo Record should fit perfectly.

2. Need to find a dia-compe track brake. No one in Berlin stocks them and Keirin Berlin told me that they weren't available currently, which is a bit of a worry. Interestingly they also told me they were working on a nicer solution, which sounds very interesting. Alternatively I could GASP drill the forks?

3. Still need to do a test run, but think I might have to move the brake levers up a bit.

4. Need a different seatpost, Campagnolo Aero?

5. The black chainring is really annoying me, think I'll have to change it. What do you guys think?

6. Why the fuck does the finish on the cinelli 1A stem and the Giro d'Italia bars not match at all?! A minor thing all in all, just find it strange.

change the kmc chain (looks too fat) and the tires (looks like cross tires).
i think you can buy the dia compe brakes in different only stores

Hey, thanks for your comment, both are excellent points!

I was a bit disappointed when I got the tyres as well, but they're brand new, so would be hesitant about changing them. I'm hoping the thread will wear down a bit, so they won't look so cross-like.

It's kind of difficult to find gumwall tyres with good puncture protection, the Paselas seemed to be the best choice from what I could gather from the forum, but as you say, they don't look quite right. Does anyone have experience with the BLB Black Mamba tyres? They come in a gumwall version and have less thread on them.

Will have to change the chain. Any recommendations for a thinner looking chain (1/8")?

buy a normal miche pista chain, costs only 12euros, never ever had any problem with it in the last years, either street or vdrome

I got a Wippermann 1Z1 chain based on many recommendations here, cheap and it doesn't look fat. At least it didn't think it did, but after reading all this it's getting a complex and might have to cut down on the greasy food.

I think the tyres will look fine once they've been ridden a bit, don't spend any more money yet, it looks like that haul from Wiggle set you back a bit already!

Also this German online shop stocks the clamp-on brake:

http://singlespeedshop.com/

Will look into those chains, thanks guys. I think we might have reached a new level of pedantry with the chain fatness, Eingang is right though :)

I'm gonna hold off on new tyres at least until these are worn out, maybe I'll have to do a few extra skids to get rid of the thread.

tommm, thanks for the link! Was getting a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to find one.

Just had a quick test ride and very pleased so far. Drivetrain is silent and feels nice and stiff. Very pleased with the Omniums, the setup and everything is just so much simpler and more hassle-free compared to square taper bottom brackets.

Also 48x18 (70 GI) feels a lot easier to stop/skid/slow down with than 44x16 (72,5 GI) which I usually ride. Didn't expect 2,5 GI to make such a big difference. The cranks are 167,5 on this compared to 165 on the other bike, so wonder if the added leverage has anything to do with it?

I'm not so sure about the bars though. With the hoods in their current position it's a fairly low riding position and if I move the hoods up for a more relaxed riding position, I can't reach the levers from the drops. So I'm wondering if a compact bar would be more appropriate. It might also just be a matter of getting used to it, so I'll have to do some further testing before I decide.

Wrapped the bars yesterday, somehow I find wrapping bars really stressful!

Caleido!

Man this looks amazing.
Loving the paintjob combined with that bar tape. So many colours!
I quite like the black chainring, as it's nice and slim. but I'm having the same trouble with my own bike too; older track frame with a black chainring.
Your bike looks lovely though, done a really nice job with it.

Really like this mate, good work!

^This, you still up in time to do a lap of Tempelhof tomo? Just flop on a 20/21 and a 15/16 for racing and bob's your uncle.. Are those the Panaracer Paselas you linked me too? What size are they, becaue if they indeed in real life are the tractor tyres they look like then I might go for challenges form planet x..

Thanks!

When do you wanna go to Tempelhof? I have time earlier on in the day, but not really after 4.

Yeah, they're the Paselas, 23mm. I think with a bit of riding they should be ok, when I got them there was some white residue in the treads which kind of highlights the tread even more. Also there are lots of little pieces of rubber from the production sticking out, which should wear off quickly as well.

Obviously they do have some tread though (I don't really understand why either, it's a road tyre?!), so if I had known I would probably have chosen something different.