arthur caygill for the mrs

So I bought this rather small arthur caygill from @OwlBearR2 and am looking forward to receiving it this week

The idea is to build it up as a sort of town bike for my girlfriend (purists, I am so very very sorry). I dont want to spend a lot at all, so wont be able to get amazing components - but I am also not in a rush at all (aim to give it to her for her birthday in december). I have a few parts lined up already, including a stem, tyres, seatpost, crankset.. What I am in need of;

-cheap wheels (geared)
-riser bars 26.0mm (not too massively swept back or "town-bike", but not 0 rise flatbars.. a happy medium?)
-rear mech + shifter + cassette.. (I think 1x9 could be good?)
-cheap pedals

I have never actually had a current projects thread, but as I may be using older parts for this which build require (sometimes) more knowledge I thought it would be easier to keep it all here instead of bits and bobs in the miscellany thread..

any suggestions/ideas very welcome

I just bought an Arthur Caygill 1996 touring frame/forks with cranks and bars. It looks well made but the paint could be better but I suppose it is nearly 20 yrs old. Contact scott.caygill@hotmail etc and he'll be able to tell you your bikes D.O.B and initial purchase price in exchange for the frame number if that is of any interest to you.

ah nice, thanks for that. I may do that just out of interest!

picked up a barely used concor for £10 off someone on facebook and had the nitto pearl lying around, realised it looks pretty ridiculous (that is as far as it will insert) so might see if I can sniff out an alternative somewhere

now just looking for a cheap wheelset, some appropriate bars and then to work out what to do about gears. I think 1x9 might be wise, what sort of thing should I be looking for on ebay? I think a decent bar mounted shifter might be appreciated but not 100% necessary

What about something like this but cheaper (Decathlon).

think I would rather keep a quill

I've got some unbranded silver wheels still in the box from eBay..not 100% sure what they are as my brother bought them for a similar project but yours for £50 if interested.

will keep that in mind. was thinking even cheaper haha

Have a (mismatched - one black one silver) set of Planet X a57 wheels - shimano 10speed freehub. Bearings are all good but the front rim has a small ding in it - only noticeable as a slight pulsing when braking. £15 ?

sounds perfect. can worry about matching colours at a later date haha. am away from bristol for a few things the next few days but next week should be able to meet to get them...? (guessing you are still in bristol?)

yeah - no problem, they are sat in the back of a cupboard - no rush.

Yeah - in Totterdown still, give me a shout when you want to pick them up.

I don't suppose you want to cut down your perfectly good Nitto Pearl though. If you did you'd need to get a thread on the shortened bolt too.

yes but I could just buy a quill with a shorter insertion

Granted.

some wheels from @danb and a 105 cassette and derailleur from the bike jumble at the weekend. turning into a surprisingly inexpensive build. I am really struggling on handlebars

something like these charge bars

orrrrr a bit more rise

unsure..

Go for risers. They will give greater control

tokyo style high rise ones?

No, their rise is too high. Something like in the pic above

the Nitto B260 AA are nice as they have a little bit of sweep

Ergotec Ladytown bars maybe? Cheap, not too mush rise, not too much back sweep

taking my sweet time with this, but as christmas draws closer it needs to be finished! just waiting on some brake levers from alibaba. I am also looking for a 110BCD chainring in the 38-42t range.. I only have a 34 and it looks a bit strange (not that my girlfriend wants to ride fast)

why are town bars so hard to photograph?

shifter wont fit.. this might be temporary, might be permanent.. will see what happens. all in all ive spent £195 which isnt bad (gatorskins and stem were leftovers from another build mind)

I'm sure she'll love it

love caygills.
canny go wrong with a bike for a present.
built my missus one and it was the best present ever. needs some upgrades now but still.

When you mount the shifter from the correct side it will sit better. If your girl has normal sized hands you should be able to squeeze in the shifter and the brake lever on the flat part of the bar.

weirdly the flat part of the bar is super short, if i were to do that I would have to cut the grip in half. odd problem to have

Mount next to stem or unscrew/ dremmel off the indexing tab?