East Anglian Tourer ( Black Shuck )

Okay. This project stems from my failed resurrection of an old Schwinn Traveler and a commuter project. A combination of parts are coming together to form a curious beast. It might not be pretty but it's going to work this time.
Here is a parts list so far;

• Reynolds 501 frame&forks in black.
  
• Sakae custom drops.
  
• Sakae quill stem.
  
• Suntour, stem mounted shifters 80's vintage.
  
• Campag 10spd crankset.
  
• System Ex touring pedals with clips and leather straps.
  
• Etc seatpost and 80's Selle seat.
  
• Dia-compe brake levers 80's vintage.
  
• Wienmann brake calipers.
  
• Suntour gear mechs.
  
• Rear qr wienmann wheel with 6spd cassette.
  
• no name front wheel.
  
  

I plan to keep it 12 speed, but all depends on what wheelset I replace the existing ones with. I hope I can keep the suntour shifters, so the gears will be the main hurdle. Then ill get all the trimmings done to make a tourer. Hope I have better luck this time. Pics to follow.

As this bike will be for medium distance touring mainly, a new wheelset is a must, any ideas? I'm leaning towards the affordable end of shimano, that way i can then easily get a cassette to fit and maybe go for shimano front and rear derraileurs ( i can never spell that ). I'm wondering if the Campag chainset will work okay with Shimano gears and the Suntour shifters, too many mixtures? Ill put up with the weinmann brakes for now, just need to get new cables and test the old Dia-compe levers with the weinmanns once i have a working bike. For tyres i may go with Michelin World tour or something similar. Just need to check the clearance for mudguards once i have the wheels.

Crazy idea , how about i use the derailleurs from my mtb on this bike, to give it a cross type set up? They are deore and work okay. Then i could get a 700c shimano wheel with up to 9spd cassette. That just might work, right? The suntour shifters might not give enough travel, that is my concern. Mmm, off to tinker about with the set up and take some pics for this thread.

Okay, the deore didn't fit as it is for an mtb frame (duh!) but here is the bike with parts from the Schwinn attached, as well as my recently purchased System Ex Touring Pedals.

Checking the suntour shifters and derailleurs still work (Flip/flop wheel on as i'm going to ride it around SS until i sort the gearing out). The front derailleur won't reach the outer ring properly, which i'm guessing is a compatibility issue. When i tried the sugino cranks and chainset they rubbed on the frame, so i switched to a camapag set that i had on this bike to begin with. I also need to find a way to attach the gear cables to the frame, it doesn't have attachments where i need them. Zip-ties?

Why didn't the Deore stuff fit? If the FD clamp diameter is too large you can use a shim, or if it's bolt-on then you can buy an adaptor. The RD should fit fine.

I would go with 7sp personally - it's tougher and cheaper. I use old Deore mechs and 7sp Deore hubs on my Gazelle which is set up for light touring.

Looks like it'll be a good bike for it - what rack are you planning on using? Love the gold Weinmanns!

Jubilee clips?

I like the shifter position, i am leaning towards only using 8spd with a single chainring though ( It is pretty flat round here after all ). I haven't decided on the brake levers yet, i like retro, but the suicide brakes tend to be just that. Also i want to mount a water bottle on the bars so they might get in the way.

Why didn't the Deore stuff fit? If the FD clamp diameter is too large you can use a shim, or if it's bolt-on then you can buy an adaptor. The RD should fit fine.

I would go with 7sp personally - it's tougher and cheaper. I use old Deore mechs and 7sp Deore hubs on my Gazelle which is set up for light touring.

Looks like it'll be a good bike for it - what rack are you planning on using? Love the gold Weinmanns!

Cheers, those weinmanns look good but are a bugger to get right (as in making the bike stop ). The deore front derailleur was a little big. As i'm thinking of keeping it 7-8spd that probably isn't an issue for now.
Racks, yes that is another choice to make. Nothing too OTT, something black, maybe Topeak. The Surly ones are nice but a little pricy and not really suited to this bike i think.

Jubilee clips?

Yes, an option. I also need to fix the bottle cage mounts if i want to use them, they all seem to have threaded for some reason. But to be honest i plan to use a Camelbak and water bottle on the handlebars.

As this bike will be for medium distance touring mainly, a new wheelset is a must, any ideas? I'm leaning towards the affordable end of shimano...

Crazy idea , how about i use the derailleurs from my mtb on this bike, to give it a cross type set up?

Bits of the build sound like my Dawes. I got a good deal on so Mavic A319s so used those laced to new 105 hubs. If I hadn't had the A319s I would have gone for Rigida sputnik or possibly Sun Rhyno Lite's* (cheap) or Velocity Dyad (medium).

My hubs were £47.96 from Ribble
Spokes were c£20 from Cycle Basket
Budget for rims £40-80

Total = £110 - £150

I bought some veloplugs from Plant X, after smallfurry pointed out that they'd be useful for touring. To replace spokes.

I also looked at building the rear with stronger spokes like the Alpine III's, but figured with a 36 spokes double butted ACI's would be plenty and wasn't worth the (significant) extra cost for the build.

The wheels are holding up well and ride nicely. The difference between using the wider rim with a 32mm tyre over a the 28mm panaracers on road rims is night and day. I really would recommend getting wider rims. Another option if you want something lighter is a 32/32h build with A23's or HSon Archetypes. The HSon's *should *give you a stronger wheel with the extra depth. But then silver A23's would fit better visually. Otherwise HSon TB14 would look really nice...but may be a bit too £s for this bike.

On the rear mech. It shouldn't make a difference what you use as long as the cage is long enough for the cassette. It's the cassette + shifters that really need to match/control things. The one you need to watch is the front mech as MTB and road stuff isn't compatible. I'm using decore front and back, but with barend's - so the front is friction not indexed. If I ever switch to STI's shimano road front mech's are ten a penny second hand.

Also I'd have thought that for cx it's more about the chainset. Isn't cx usually 48/36t -ish? But 1x8(or 9) is a good shout.

• if you want something seriously wide
  

^ Thanks Hugo for all those tips. My LBS builds wheels, so i might pop in there and have a chat. I do want to reign in the spend a bit for this one, which is why i keep raiding the parts bin and trying different setups. I am going into town tomorrow for brake cables for this project and stuff for my SS mtb as well.

The deore rear derailleur fits nicely, and if i end up using black rims will look pretty cool, i think.

In it's current (Single Speed)state, awaiting new brake cables, i'm going to give it a test run to get the ride height/drops positioned nicely. Also it will give me a chance to decide if i really want to use the dia-compe levers or go all new and stuff.

Myself, I think down tube or bar end levers would look better.

The brake levers are'nt that great, but better blocks will improve the brakes.

Where are you Norfolk or Suffolk? I may be able to help you with some of that stuff.

And keep of the beache when Old Shucks about!

Yeah, I may get new levers. We shall see how the dia-compes go. Got a rear wheel being built by the guys at Bicycle Ambulance, picking it up tomorrow. I want to try and keep the stem shifters for now. I'm Cambridgeshire by the way, that black shuck gets around.

In all my years in Norfolk, and all those thousands of miles cycling, I never saw Black Shuck. He's a wily beast.

I was chased by an Alsatian once near Cromer. I could've out-sprinted Cav that afternoon.

Cromer's too busy for him now. He does'nt run along the prom ever since Conan Doyle wrote about him in the Hound of the Baskerville

He's usually to be found between Sheringham and Salthouse these days scaring the pants off the twitchers. I ve heard he likes a quiet pint in the Whymondham Arms in Sheringham..

AAAAAARRRSSSSE !

Got my new rear wheel today, handbuilt Sputnik rim and deore hub. Gotsome nice tyres too for front and rear. Would you adam and eve it, the effing wheel doesn't fit. Okay some of that is down to me not being specific about the width between my stays, but it still annoyed the hell out of me. Back to the shop i guess to see what can be done. The wheel itself is fine, its the hub width that is causing the problem, my spacing is 120mm, the hub is 130mm. Too much of a stretch for the stays. Im hoping they can just stick a different hub in, or adjust things somehow, otherwise it will be a refund and a rethink. Sometimes this bike building malarkey gets frustrating.
I went for the Schwalbe Marathon tyres, should be good (when i get a wheel that fits). Also got new brake cables and white cable housing, for a splash of colour.

Oh yeah, i did manage to use the QR skewer from the Schwinn in the new wheel, that fits okay but is a little bent so again it will go back in the parts bin.

Lesson learned: measure before you buy.

Ditch those levers! I've got a pair of Weinmann's with good hoods you can have for postage.

I've also got a band-on Sachs Huret front mech you can also have for the cost of a stamp.

It sounds like your bottom bracket is too wide for your crankset: aren't 10 speed 102mm? Is it a loose bearing BB? If so measure your spindle: I've some knocking about and if I have a shorter one then you're also welcome to that.

If you don't get your wheels sorted out, I've got a couple of screw-on hub wheelsets (and a freewheel) that will get you on the road: your stays will stretch to 126mm OK.

Been reading Sheldon Browns article about cold setting, with help from some 2x4. As the bend would only be 5mm either side this is apparently acceptable. It can cause issues with gears though if not aligned properly afterwards. Mmm, decisions.

FFS. I think ill just take the wheel back and forget the whole bending frame nonsense. If they can't adjust the wheel to fit ill get a refund. Another project going in the bin at this rate.

Or, i could just buy a new frame and then leave this one as a single speed. Oh i don't know, i'll sleep on it.

This recent cold-setting thread on CycleChat might be useful.

This recent cold-setting thread on CycleChat might be useful.

Cheers. I'm still a little sceptical about potentially ruining a perfectly good frame. I think i'll return this frame to SS duties and get a different frame for the tourer.