Overbury's 531 project

Cheers Stedlocks,

Yea, i have to say i'm trying to take on board what other people on here are saying. Just won myself a brown brooks on ebay and going to get soem matching grip tape. Think on the tyre fron i'm going to give some gatorskins a go seen as they're on offer in halfrauds at the moment. That, and i keep getting bloody punctures !

Main problem i've got at the moment is the crank, that needs to be changed from the one that's stuck on there at the moment. Want to try and stick with 50T on the fron though.

Watch this space, it'll be in line with that modern/classic look at some point in the coming weeks .....

Can anyone recommend some decent honey brown grip tape. Would rather not pay the £40 for brooks stuff. Something middle of the line but failry padded still....if that's possible ? ?

i've done that same search my self
wasn't really to many options in brown leather
went for some crappy faux leather grips in the end.

one option maybe 31TRUM on here
he does leather goods and might be able to get some nice leather to wrap the bars up with but i think they'll probably be on a similar price point to brooks

There's the fizik microtex stuff which is about £12 but looks a bit like Brooks leather. Didn't really like it when I tried it though.

And I'm only helping you out on the precondition that you get rid of all that orange

Yea i saw that stuff on fleabay. Just tried to post a link to it a second ago to say has anyone used it.

Have no fear, the orange is going tommmmm. I agree with everyone that it'll look better without anyway. Only went off the lairy fixie's i'd seen on ebay when i bought the other bits for it. I hadn't signed up on here then. Kind of wish i'd have just signed up here before, save me changing it all again. Half the fun though i suppose.

You know if the padding is any good on the fizik stuff ?

I didn't like the fizik.....it looked cheap in honey. I bit the bullet and went for the brooks....if you do a bit of digging, you can get it for about £27.....

Just about to order some gatorskin's on recommendation of above. Most of my riding is done on road into work; and the roads round here are pretty crappy. Would i be better to go for 25's or would sticking with the 23's be ok with the conti's ?

Grip tape and saddle paid for and been shipped. Will post pics once they're all fitted along with the new tires. Will just need a silver chain then and will be back to a normal looking bike not something from a comic book.

So, just an update with things so far. Gum wall tyres on, brooks and new grip tape (which i wrapped slightly wrong and ended up with too little on the top of the bars but oh well)

Next on the list is; chrome seat post, silver chain, pedals, campag crank, 50t front ring, brake pads. would love some really minimal spoke wheels as well so if anyone can recommend any i'd love to hear suggestions.

Be good to see people's thoughts now the orange is fading away though !

Looking much much better, once you've got some decent wheels and cranks and a good chain it will look great.

One thing you might want to look at is your cable routing though, looks like there are a couple of sharp bends which won't be doing your braking performance any favours. Could be a good idea to redo them and have them both going up and over your handlebars to make them a bit smoother. Be careful with the 'suicide levers' as well, they earned that nickname for a reason. Don't rely on them!

didn't spot it was a cyclocross / tourer before ... nice touch / different

i had those levers on a raleigh arena as a kid i'm still alive, and i did use them for braking quite a lot
whats suicidal about them ... apart from their slight lack of bite ?

Just that really, they don't work as well as normal flat-bar levers so if you ever find yourself riding like that and relying on them it can be pretty dodgy.

Loads better! Good call on the new seatpost too. The white rims look alright and tie in somewhat with the hoods, but still think it would be total WIN set up as a tourer with some gears and box rims/silver hubs. You sold that TVR+got some cash spare?!...could always buy a cheapish track frame, stick these white wheels on that and get to work with a seriously nice build with this nice frame.

Yea i have to say it's looking better. I don't mind the suicide levers, i've just got the pads set really close to the rims so i do get pretty much the same bite. The front is basically the same amount of force but the rear definitely isn't....that's probably something to do with the cable routing as tom said though.

Going to polish up the old front rim tonight and stick that on to see what it looks like...better than the current one's i imagine, then just going to keep my eye out for a SS rear that's nice. I'm thinking of keeping this one fixie for now, or at least until i get another frame to stick the other bits and bobs on. Not sold the TVR yet but it'll be going on no reserve on fleabay once the plates that were on it have transferred over. May well invest in a nice shiny new frame then ;)

On another note, is it wrong to want to get some brown cable outer to try and match the saddleand grip tape, or just keep it white ?

So, got home and whilst sat in the lounge the tyre blew randomly, thought that would be an opportune time to change the front rim. See what you guys think. I actually don't mind it with the white rear now...

Changed the chain to silver as well and on the look out for a silver seat post. Watching a couple of campag one's on ebay.

Much nicer. What happened to the rear wheel?

improving on a daily basis

I think once you've put all the original parts back on it it will be perfect!

Alright, you can keep the saddle and bar tape.

Rear wheel was buggered which is why they were taken off in the first place. I also found out this morning, after a HORRIBLE ride into work, that the front has been overtightened at some point so it was literally like riding through cement the whole way to work. Massive no test ride fail !!!!

Anyone know if there's any single speed rear's going anywhere that would match the front ?

would love to see a picture of how it used to look........

No idea how it used to look as I got it in bits.

New crankset to be fitted this week at some point...

Just about to put the new crank on, bit of a delay I know. The old crank was 50t on the outer ring and I was running 16t at the rear. I'd really like to try and replicate this with the new crank. Does anyone know what I'd need to change to at the back to get the same feel ? Would it be 48/15 or 48/17?

Also, new gum wall schawlbe's in 28 ordered (riding in high Wycombe is pretty bumpy). Looking for a seat post now and just need to figure out what width it is. Is there a standard size it would be ?

Any help would be great !

look for gear inch / gear ratio charts on the internet they will give you a good idea of gear inches for a variety of ratio's

50/16 gives 82.3 inches of travel per rotation of the cranks

using a 48 ring with 16 or 15 gives you 78.9 or 84.2

so 48 / 16 will be a slightly easier gear than your previous set up or 48/15 slightly higher gearing

Cool, cheers dicki ! Going to go for the 16 for now I think.