Hub gear commuter

So this is something I've been thinking about for quite a while, but have only recently got round to thinking it through and (more importantly) having the cash to make it happen. I thought that it would be nice to put it up on here, especially considering where some of the parts have come from.

My original plan was to take my singlespeed and do a straight swap for a hub gear, maybe a SA 5spd or an Alfine 8. The frame came from on the parts forum originally but thinking more about it, the dropout spacing was 125mm (all the IGHs are 135) and I wasn't comfortable cold-setting the frame that far. Drop bars would have needed a lot of faffing around with either the jtek bar end shifters or some of those Versa brifters, both expensive and not a guaranteed fix so flat bars are the order of the day, along with slightly better visibility on the roads.

Managed to save some money over the last few months and have decided the best way to get what I want is to get all the parts together from new so the plan is loosely,

Roadrat frame and forks (cracking duckegg colour too)
Alfine 8 (picked up on here from speedyed)
Shimano Dh-3D80 dynamo hub (silver to match the rear hub)
Those then built into some Mavic A719s
Cane Creek 40 threadless headset
Shimano M615 hydraulic discs
Alfine 45T chainset (paired with a 20T sprocket should give a reasonable range)
Tortec velocity hybrid pannier rack (should fit over some 28c tyres with mudguards that way)
SKS Bluemel longboard mudguards (with the whopping great mudflaps)
Ritchey flat bars and stem (100mm)
Thorn bar ends
Charge Pan saddle (have one already and it's particularly comfy)

Most of the parts have been accumulated or are on their way but still waiting to get enough together to go in for the frame. I'll post a few pics of it once the frameset comes in and I start building it up.

On another note, if anyone has suggestions for a frame suitable for a similar build but at a slightly lower price then I'd be grateful. Tasteful* colours encouraged!

*=luminous and eye-hurting

Hope you all enjoy having a gander.

sounds promising, look forward to the build

This is a post that I posted after the transfer cut-off, so I made a copy before it disappeared into the aether. The response from Dancing James is also here too.

So a huge pile of parts has been amassed, awaiting the frame... Delivery due tomorrow (after a slight hiccup involving the wrong frame being delivered) and I'll start building it up gradually. There's still a few parts I'm waiting for, the dynohub is coming from Rose bikes in Germany along with a few other parts (shifter and chainset).
Took a trip to Wickes yesterday to pick up some DIY headset tools:
M10 threaded bar, 50mm washers and nuts for a headset press
Thick wooden dowel to knock down the crown race
Pipe cutter to cut down the steerer
Long dome headed M6 carriage bolts to position the star nut without removing my knuckles...

Quick question for anyone who has an opinion on such matters: is it worth facing the BB shell/head tube? It's a shimano hollowtech 2 BB going on there and a standard external cup headset. There's paint on the faces of both these parts but there seems no other reason to worry about it, they seem flat and are parallel with each other. Opinions?

1 Hour Ago #4
dancing james
Yes, get it faced and chased.

17 Minutes Ago #5
hamrack
Cheers. I've been looking round this for a while, on here as well as elsewhere. The chasing makes sense, but the plastic washers you use with HT2 BBs would seem to negate any improvements from the facing?

Thoughts about headtubes?

And now following on after that post...

Roadrat frame arrived looking all shiny from Cotic. bit of a kerfuffle with them sending the Escapade variant of the frame (designed for drop bars, 3cm shorter on the top tube) by mistake, but that's been quickly resolved. This frame is a) incredibly light for steel, a great poster child and b) ready faced in all the right places so I can jump to and start putting parts on.

I started by popping in the headset cups. My DIY press needed some help from a hammer and a block of wood to get the cups started (and level) but did a nice job after that. The crown race that came with the Cane Creek Forty headset has a rubber seal around it which I did my best to avoid. Mostly successful on that and certainly don't have any damage that goes all the way through. My tactic had been a wooden dowel, but as it got mashed it would start pressing onto the seal and put slight tears in it in places. Non all the way through though.

Next stop was steerer tube. I'd got hold of a plumbing pipe cutter for doing this as I don't have a machine vice and didn't want to cut it freehand. I wanted to check how it would cut so I took a small section off the top of the steerer where I thought it would be safe. Turns out I should have treble checked my measurement as when I came to fit the whole lot together, I could have done with some of that 1cm back! Not a huge problem, just means I only have 1 5mm spacer in there but have some adjustability with flipping the stem over too.

Next stop is going to be BB and brakes, waiting for the crankset to arrive with the dynamo hub from Germany but have plenty of other things to start with.

There's gonna be pics of the a near identical version of this bike but built up on an On-One Pometamine frame coming some time after this build too.

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Right, dynamo hub ordered, parts due to be sent over the DCR Wheels as soon as they arrive. David's going to build the two hubs into DT Swiss TK540 rims that'll be paired with Marathon Plus tyres. Should hopefully get something that doesn't feel too leaden but that doesn't need truing for years :)