Green Steel Fixed

This is my trusty bike:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tvw6tvti6gfixeo/20140515_175719.jpg

Found it on eBay about 18 months ago and bought it through a private sale. I have absolutely no idea what it is, it came to me from Poland, but could be from anywhere. Had some fairly rare tubes, which aren't oval, or round, but rather like diamonds, with the sides rounded. If anyone has any idea what it is it would be good to know!

Anyway, it's my daily ride to uni, and gets used for Wednesday group rides in Manchester, and the odd jaunt out and I absolutely love it, so am going to upgrade some of the budget original parts I put on it!

Plan is as follows:
1) Replace bars with some compacts. Was probably going to go for Deda Piegas and sand/polish the clamp area. The bars I'm using at the moment are incredibly flexy and not particularly comfortable, though I think they look quite good!
2) Replace the budget wheelset. I have this lovely front wheel from rogan:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q9ez8lqwjbpex8e/20140523_173656.jpg
Which is Mavic Open 4 cd to superbe. I also have a new Open Pro cd which will match closely enough for my liking. I'm interested in hearing what people think about a hub for this? It'll be the rear, I'd like low-flange and not to break the bank. Was thinking about Miche Primato, but they seem to divide opinion!
3) New tyres, tanwalls. Probably Paselas.
4) Fit new EAI cog I bought from Dick years ago.

Also, the paint is getting increasingly ratty, I was wondering if anyone had any advice on stopping it get much worse?

plan points all get my approval. i believe the miche hate is mostlt bout the high flanges; love flange are better regarded (and nicer imo)

what thread and seatpost diameter does the frame have?

The tubes look pretty regular round on your photo, any shots which show more detail ?.

I ride a miche primato high flange rear hub daily. I weight 90kg and never had any problems with it, didn't even take it apart till now.

Yeah I think they're pretty good looking, and really good value. The frame is English threaded, and I think the seatpost is 26.4mm.
I'll try and get some more pictures, the shape of the tubes is really hard to capture

novatec rear hub, check on the polish sites or change your ebay search to europe and loads will come up in poland (I have no idea why) if for no other reason than they have a better reputation, i've not heard of broken flanges and axles like miche, and when you get round to replacing bearings it's a million times easier

compact's will look good on this too, look forward to seeing the changed :)

I had a look around for them, couldn't find anything on a low-flange one?

Anyway, I decided Miche was the way to go, so ordered the hub and bars today, and have some Veloflex Masters on the way (though I'm not entirely convinced they'll be on the bike for long on Manchester roads) and I'm really looking forward to start changing things up!

Still looking for advice on preserving what's left of the paint if anyone knows any tricks? I think I read somewhere about linseed oil?

Never really updated this...
Here's the finished article:

I'm really pleased with how it came out in the end, but I've gone and buckled the front wheel commuting home through High Wycombe tonight. Fuming

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a03c23sqn4skpgp/2014-06-24%2020.02.47.jpg

Embedding didn't work. What's the easiest site to use for embedding in comments? Still a n00b

I just use http://postimage.org

Nice bike, looks like it gets ridden properly

I'm thinking about taking the 1" threadless carbon forks for my roadie and throwing them on this, for a bit extra clearance for the winter, 23mm isn't cutting it. Anyone have any pointers for 1" ahead stems?

Better choice of stems if you just use a shim on the fork.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/m-part/threadless-stem-shim-adapter-ec039894

Instead ordering a shim, order couple of cheapo 3t stems from vintage section on planet-x, all of them come with shims and some of them go for the price of that shim that was linked. Are you not tempted by some road brake levers so you get more hand positions (tektro ones on px go for less then a tenner).

Yeah not keen on using a shim, I have one fitted on the road bike but would prefer a slimmer look to the stem. Cheers @FredyCro I'll be sure to have a look through them.
Definitely tempted by ss road levers, but only interested in some that create a nice transition between bars and levers. Again will check out px, thanks!

If you don't care about the weight 3t forge would compliment the rims and is retro/slim looking. The levers I am talking about are rl320 and give a nice flat transition with compact drops.

Stem and levers ordered! I didn't go for the forge, it seems to only come in 25.4 and 25.8 and my bars are 26. Probably prefer the look of the forge to be honest though.

Does anyone know of anything out there which is -17 degrees, 26mm bar clamp, and decent looking? I'll happily replace the generic modern thing I ordered

25.8 is compatible with 26 bars. Even 25.4 with removable face plate could be ok, maybe some sanding would be needed...
PS 3t 4gx stems from px are really slim but have square profile.

I've been back and looked at that forge stem enough times that I'm probably gonna buy it too, it's smart.
Looking into diy ways to remove and press headset cups now. Looks like a laugh...

It is, make sure you smack them in properly all around so they are aligned as good as possible, it's easier if someone holds the frame for you. Forge will look smart, i'm sure!

Stopped updating this thread, but the bike got built up with the carbon forks, deda zero stem and road levers, and it's fantastic to ride. The carbon fork loosened up the front end a bit making it more comfortable over distance and meant that it fits max 28mm tyres instead of 23 now too. Combine that with the road levers and the experience on the road was revolutionised!
Wish I'd thought of a better name for this thread.

needs a more modern looking black seatpost!

That, a black chainring and a decent front wheel!

DREDGE

The BB in this frame was seized when I bought it, and naturally it eventually gave up. A few shops tried and failed to remove it with heat etc and eventually I just gave up but kept hold of the frame. Last year I resolved to finish removing the bb with files, hacksaw blades etc

2 Attachments

I've been kinda scared to try and fit a bb to it in case it's just fucked (but I guess there's a press fit solution of that's the case?) but yesterday found some motivation to give it a go. The bb I had to hand slipped straight in, the diameter was too small to get near the threads. So I guess it's Italian threaded? Does make me wonder if some of the difficulties in getting it out have been due to people rotating the tool in the wrong direction.

Hung some bits on it yesterday anyway and got very excited. Alter stem is maybe a bit loud and wrong period but it's lived on there in storage so why not

love the thought of sequential bike people each tightening the bb for the next one.