Nod to the oldschool

Ok, every time I build/buy a bike I try and find a purpose as a afterthought. It means I sometimes don't use bikes for a month or so purely because I don't need them.

I've been having troubles with my current commuter MTB being a little slow, mudguards being a nightmare to take on and off each time I go off-road and generally a pain. My sunday best bike isn't something I want to trash around when it gets really wet and salty (ooohh eerr).

I wrote down a list of things I needed:

. comfortable
. cheap
. fast
. something my dad can use (hopefully)
. something that didn't ride shit and old (sorry to all of those who love down-tube shifters)
. use parts I've already got
. 700c
. 54cm square
. mudguard eyes
. something I didn't feel like a tit riding around
.

I was looking all over the net for something that covered all of these things but I couldn't really find anything until I looked in my workshop and realised I had this..

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/DSC_0184_zps298406a9.jpg

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/DSC_0185_zps3810a954.jpg

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/DSC_0187_zpsd01a7c5f.jpg

Mechanically it was sound. Wheels where straight, gears changed nice but the bike as a whole was kinda shit. Safety levers on the brakes and a pretty sure the stem was made of cheese. Brakes where not very powerful even when adjusted and it was all just a bit tedious. It was perfect. 54cm square, cheap and hopefully going to be fast. The only box it didn't tick was the 700c box as it's 27" but nothing drop brakes wouldn't sort it.

I stripped the whole bike and cleaned it plus adding parts I already had, here is where I am now:

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/172C9EE5-4D6E-4718-AAAD-605E3ED6021C-1117-000000FA56C77688_zpsf31e8203.jpg

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/62CFE036-F348-4CE8-94DB-EF01699619EA-1117-000000FA5EDFCC93_zps1d46aaaa.jpg

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/08D7CB40-29B1-4268-BCC9-AFF59706E3D2-1117-000000FA66E33626_zpsef3a05bd.jpg

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/FFF888CA-CCB4-4F75-B886-17FA467B8489-1117-000000FA6F9F2161_zpsecf1ed29.jpg

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q748/nqbikes123/0D23D401-4AED-4BA5-B5E9-CC0D94FB76FF-1117-000000FA77B24C3B_zps87bf656d.jpg

Slightly undecided regarding the black mechs + chainset or silver? If I went black I'd need to change the seatpost and headset to a black one.

Also undecided about bar tape. I was just thinking black Fizik microtex. Thinking for mudguards possibly some of those thin salmon guards that i've got in my workshop or just some chromoplastics...

Stick some 28s on there no? Comfier and close those clearances up. Plus your wheels look skinny. Just saying.

...that stem.

Trying to use as many parts bin parts as possible. When things wear out I'll get some 28s but for now current tyres are fine. I work somewhere else 1 day a week so turning this into a full commuter beast isn't really my plan, just something more suitable than my sunday best and faster than than my mountain bike.

60mm stem FTW. I've got a 100mm knocking about somewhere, that's going on when I find it.

Black brakes = black mechs.
Can the rims be destickered?

They can but I'm going to keep them on, think modern components work well on classic frames.

Basically you brought a decent bike only to ditch everything apart from the frame?

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just get a frameset instead?

It look like it only need to have a new wheelset, tyres and brake levers (those Cane Creek SCR5).

nothing was brought/bought as the OP explained, an existing bike in the worshop using as many parts bin finds as possible.

just needs black veloce groupset and the original mudguards = good to go

About to fit a set of mudguards to this. They are salmon something or other super thin guards that I found in my workshop. How effective are these?

Also, fairly sure they are 27" not 700c but they look pretty flexible

Just paid for this little beauty.

It doesn't have mud-guard eyes but ticked all the boxes other than that. Anyone want my John Fearn!?

Awful picture but here it is all built up. Running campagnolo Xenon/Veloce.

Looking to change to a Thomson seatpost, Fizik Arione saddle, Thomson stem and FSA bars soon.

Excuse the 60mm stem, it's the only 1 1/8 I had in my parts bin. Also bars are 44s which are waaaay too big. If anyone has a 80mm and/or 42cm bars that they'd like to swap please let me know.

It's turned into quite a nice bike actually. I'll weight it tomorrow but it's not far off double my carbon bike. Only gripe is the cockpit feels a little flexy. I'm running a 1" quill to ahead convertor and a 1" to 1 1/8th convertor shim on top which is less than ideal.

Guessing if I go straight for a 1" quill to 1 1/8th convertor this will stiffen it up a little?

Ok so someone has lacquered this frame with what looks like PVA glue, it's all bubbly and horrid.

Do I leave it (not sure that its' original) or do I go for fadez?

No bar tape?

Yes, it's now got the most 'anti' white bar-tape but as it's a winter parts bin build that's all it deserves

It shall receive some nice treats in the spring

I've got a soft spot for gazelles, I reckon keep the paintwork as is.

If I where to paint it again I'd probably do roughly the same masking, just do a better job and pick some cooler colours.

maybe have the blue bright pink and have the green bright yellow

(slightly) better pictures. Please excuse the poor lighting and messy room, we're in the process of having some work done to the house.

Few changes in the way of headset, saddle, new bar-tape and tyres.

Still very happy with the bike, does ride lovely except the chain-set which I'm fairly sure is made of cheese, it's being changed for a campag chorus ergo next month.

Riding the bike daily; commuting, pleasure riding and just generally thrashing it around. I've built it using correct tools, lubes, torqued everything up and runs like a swiss clock. Not exactly a porn build as I've used whatever I had in my parts bin (minus frame + forks) but I ride the bike enough to start treating it to some goodies fairly soon, it should also start getting a little prettier.

Next year I'll slowly be changing a few parts out. Saddle is getting swapped for a black fizik arione, bar tape is going black, new chain-set and BB, possibly some bladed carbon or steel forks. Will also be changing the brake pads out, stock ones are pretty shit..

Some before and after pics for y'all!

You know you've got the downtube cable stops on the wrong way?

Otherwise it looks a solid build and I like the frame .. I'm a bit biased as both the Gazelle bikes I've had have ridden lovely.

1 Attachment

before you take it out again, redo the cable tension on your front brake as you've got fuck all adjustment left

Oswald, I realised this after indexing the gears, I spent too long getting them to shift nicely to then pull them off and flip them. Next time my gears go out I'll be changing it over, thanks.

RG, that was sorted in the 'after' pictures :)

Update,

change everything but the frame and forks! Rebuilding it with full 10sp Athena ergo with a lovely set of fulcrum wheels so everything in the pics above will be for sale :)

Ok so sold my horridly fast depreciating carbon bike and now this is my 'sunday best'. I do have quite a few other bikes knocking around which I'm hoping to thin out but this is fact becoming my favourite since it's rebuild.

Since the last pictures I've completely stripped the bike, cleaned and re-built with brand new Campagnolo Centaur 10sp, it rides lovely!

Still thinking about selling this and getting a brand new bob jackson olympus as I'd like a 1 1/8th steerer but then again I could get this converted. If I where to do that I'd also want another bottle cage brazing and possibly internal cable routing.

Going to be upgrading the bar to a compact drop with a flat top, thomson x2 black stem, fizik microtex and black pedals.

I did have this bike on the bay but I've actually came surprisingly attached to it..

plan was to sell this and build something modern but even with usual some cheaper parts I was still looking at over £1k which at the moment I have better used for that kind of money.

I've used a front wheel I had lying around and changed the forks plus headset. I know this isn't the name of the game but the front end has dropped nearly 400g singe changing these parts.

I've got fizik microtex and a gorgeous inline 27.2 post on order plus looking to get a thomson X2 stem. Also looking to get some 42cm FSA wing comp bars which are proving a little hard to track down as they don't make them anymore. There are tons on eBay but I want black ones, not white.

Updated a few parts..

new seatpost, bar-tape, bars and headset. Crappy iPhone pics I know, I shall get some quality pictures soon.

Please excuse parts of the kitchen missing, we're about to get it redone..

Actually very happy with how the bikes rides now. New forks have sorted some of the issues with flexing under braking plus have bought the front end in a little more. Carbon seatpost has lost a few grams and I can actually centre the saddle on the rails now making it a lot firmer. Compact drops with new tape are a dream to ride.

Crunching quite a few miles a day on this.. it's nice having just a standard steel frame with some nice components, this is my winter bike, pub bike, touring bike, everything all in one bike! I must have about 10 bike projects at the moment and this is the only one which is actually rideable, I plan to keep it that way!

I plan to keep it that way!

Classic James