Vitus Track Pursuit Build

I like Sundays

Details to follow once I've popped out to pick up some illusive internal spoke nipples

Crackin` wheelset! Not too sure about the saddle, though..
Rep for the headtube decal.;-)

Nice wheels! looking forward to see it built-up

Concor Superleggera in sales would fit this proper

Finally! Been waiting to see aroseisaroseis' Vitus getting build up. What about concor supercorsa?

^ yes!

Had a feeling I'd see you on here Kal! This build should be fun, but there are definitely some unexpected quirks and decisions left...

Firstly, Vytas, great job restoring the frame! Sad to think it could have just wasted away in that store room in Lithuania. Hence the headtube decal to give a nod to its heritage. Plus it reminded me of this :-)

So frame, forks, seatpost (lovely shiny Campag aero) and cockpit (LA84 to Cinelli 1R stem) all came over from Vytas in Lithuania. Included some quite confusing conversations with Lithuanian couriers (thanks for your help again V!)

As for the rest of the build, I've had that 16 spoke 650c FIR Super Rialto laced to Dura Ace hub for ages now and figured it was time to dust it off. Is a beautiful wheel. But finding a matching rear has been cause for some headaches. I managed to track down either a 36h or 24h 700c rim (NOS). Would have preferred the 24h, but wanted to match the hub and I know Shimano can make a 24h low flange track rear hub but I can't seem to get one over here...so alas, I settled for an 36h NJS low flange DA rear ("settled for..."). To get some consistency to the front wheel which has huge bladed spokes on it, I opted for elliptical aero spokes (like Sapim CX-Ray) on the rear (the widest spokes you can get without slotting the hub).

Rim and hub measured, I ordered the spokes. They didn't fit. Minor annoyance. Rim re-measured and it dawned on me that I hadn't tightened the spoke nipple to where I wanted when I measured. Fail

Spokes re-ordered. Still not a good fit. Some seemed to fit, some were ridicilously loose. hmm. So I conjured a plan. With the longer spokes I had, I could use some upside-down internal spoke nipples (they finish internally anyway on these aero rims) and that would work fine. But finding internal spoke nipples in London has been the bain of my free time recently. Rejoice when I found some at Fitzrovia cycles over this weekend. Dismay when I was re-assembling the wheel yesterday and something still didn't fit. about half of the spokes met up with the nipple fine but some were just determined not to...Took until yesterday night to realise that all this time I had just mislaced the spokes and had the crossed spokes ending in adjacent holes rather than one apart...major annoyance! I should have just splashed out on a custom 24h rear and saved wasting money on expensive spare spokes and illusive spoke nipples! I still might go for the 24h in the future....

So that's the wheels, (although still not quite as I need some nipple washers...and I'm not sure it's ok to use that search term on the work computer...).

BB was going to be a Phil but due to another measurement problem I've resorted to a Campag Chorus I forgot I had in an old build.

Cranks are Sugino Mighty (proper) Pista, 165mm, 151BCD. They're definitely ISO despite the JIS stamp on the back (there's many a thread discussing them...)

Ring was going to be NOS Sugino Mighty 53t but it just clashes with the chainstay...so that's a new problem to resolve...

Pedals = ??? but with the double gates and straps pictured. Always wanted some proper straps like this. I have just made my own foot retention on my other bikes but these are much shinier. Anyone with suggestions on pedals? I really like a pair of basically NOS Suntour Superbe Sprints that Hilary Stone has at the moment. But they seem very overpriced...http://www.hilarystone.com/pedals.html

Saddle. I have such a (literal) soft spot for Brooks saddles. So comfortable. I used to ride a Concor and there was some disagreement between it and my rear...I quite like the Cambium too. Feel that might split some people on here but hell, it's my arse! I've also managed to track down some lovely continental GP3000 tyres with brown sidewalls and am thinking of doing another leather wrap on the handlebars as per all of my other bikes...If so, the Brooks actually fits in very nicely (cambium or swift). Watch this space I guess...

Cambium and cloth tape would be my vote if you are set on a brooks, lovely build though

Getting a pair of Matching 650/700 FIR rims is always a PITA, waited half a year to find a matching 700c.:) Seconding OK123 on the contact points, black cambium and cotton tape would look great.
Regarding the pedals- I've actually had a pair of those suntour sprints on this frame, liked their design, the price is fair IMO, it is worth mentioning that they`re actually road pedals.

I've always had a little bit of a thing for these Vitus'! This is going to be awesome!

Seconding OK123 on the contact points, black cambium and cotton tape would look great.

it is worth mentioning that they`re actually road pedals.

Black cambium would be the one…will see how things are looking once I finally get the new chainring, wheel finished and tyres on.

And thanks for the info on the Sprints. Would prefer track kit but it's not the end of the world (seeing as those are road rims really…).

Anyone have any other good pedal suggestions? Or offers?

Spot the deliberate mistake…

So I guess I can add cranks to the pedals and saddle hunt…Shame as I've been waiting to put those cranks to use for almost a year now. I figure it's just because they're old 151 BCD and the chain stays on the Vitus are pretty chunky. On the bright side, the chain line would have been spot on

Are you sure it's not a bottom bracket spindle length thing? Iso\jis?

From the photo it seems like the cranks are really close to bb...

What BB do you have? I think these old suginos used jis 106 mm... Or something like that...

Do you want a longer Phil BB :-)?

From the photo above it seems like you have campag 102 or so mm BB and that is way tooo short... And if the cranks are jis and campag bb is iso it will make the cranks go even more closer to the frame...

Do you want a longer Phil BB :-)?
touché!

vigilant Kifla - I am indeed running a 102 Campy ISO BB and it would get a 42mm chain line spot on if it wasn't for the clashing. These old Mighty's are definitely ISO - have both JIS and ISO BB's at home and they sit correctly on them. I thought the 102 was short too but if it gets 42mm at the chainring it must be right, right? (you know, other than the gouging out bits of my chainstay…)

102 mm ISOs are usually for double or triple chainrings... Most of the ISO pista cranksets we all use (gipiemme, campagnolo, sugino, dura ace...) run on 109-111 mm spindle for 42 mm chainline. That's why i think this one is too short or the cranks are really JIS. Jis crank on an iso spindle goes closer to the frame by a couple of mm.
And it's really easy to miss chainline measuring by a couple of mm. Slight movement of your hand + missing the center of the seattube and it is off by a few... And missing a few mm on one side automatically adds the same on the other side. 3 mm here and there and thats 6mm altogether. 102+6... ~ 109mm... :)

Don't change the cranks because these will look awesome on this frame.

^ this. Get a 109mm bb and sort it out.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread122841.html#post4107675

Should have stuck with my original gut feeling that I needed a 108 - I even have the Phil cups ready to go. You're spot on Kifla about the dodgy measurements I'm doing, thanks!

Based on ^ ^ ^ I came up with a new method for peace of mind. Now, I measure from centre line of chainring direct to edge of seat tube. Then measuring (or knowing) the diameter of the seat tube I can use a bit of (old) school maths and figure out the radius. Doing that, with the cranks tightened on the 102mm BB, it looks like I need to move the cranks out about 3mm…paging marxist_vulcan and your 108mm Phil!

"measure twice, cut once"

Various packages have arrived and pick ups been made over the last couple of weeks.

First, Pedals. MKS RX-1 NJS Pedals - Thanks countryboj

Then, chainring - 48t Dura Ace old 151bcd size ring in great condition - thanks allister. It's NJS too to continue the NNJS drive train (*Nearly). Running a 15t DA cog on the back which I found in the tool box and an Izumi ESH chain which came with the cranks when I bought them. And a nice Phil Wood 108mm ISO BB at the core of it all thanks to dr-roboto (he seriously waited at my house for at least an hour whilst I borrowed his tools and kept cocking it up! If I knew what 'repping' really involved he would definitely receive some!)

Then, mini-project. Cranks. They was loads of scuffs, pits and marks all over them from their previous life so it was polishing time. This was the starting point

Step 1: fairly rough 80 grit paper (with the help of a similar grit dremel sanding tool for the really bad bits)
Step 2: 120 then 240 then 400 grit paper (this was painstaking)
Step 3: Dremel polishing compound and soft felt disk (quite a few of them)
Step 4: Brasso to (pun intended) polish it off

I could do with another run over the fluted parts but I got bored so here's them as they're probably going to stay

And finally tyres. Sounds easy right. Unfortunately I really wanted a set of matching tan sidewall tyres and it turns out 650c tyres like this are few and far between. I love the darker colour of the old Conti GP3000 and found one on eBay in 650c only to have it lost in the post. Had been watching a pair of 700c GP3000's for ages and eventually just purchased them anyway thinking if I managed to find a matching front it would be unbelievably annoying to have missed out on the back ones. Thankfully, I asked the seller about 650c versions and he had a stash of them so included them in the sale. Boom! So I have bought 2 complete sets to keep me going. I shouldn't feel so attached to a pair of tyres but I thought I was never going to get them so am particularly proud of these