Paconi "kid carrier" touring build, now 1x10 commuter, now 1x10 gravel bike.

The frame is an interesting one. It has cable routing similar to old MTB or CX frames (everything is top tube mounted), but has cable guides under the bottom bracket as well. It has rack mounts on the seat stays, and mudguard and rack eyelets on the drop outs, and two bottle cages, like a touring frame.

The forks aren't original (I remember seeing this frame on eBay and the original forks had a snapped canti post), but the replacement forks have rack and mudguard eyelets, and mid fork braze-ons.

You can see how ratty the paint is, so I'll be getting it powdercoated ASAP.

I hate you for posting pictures that lovely sunny day to us. London's got pretty grim weather-wise.

Good luck with the build.

Oh, and the birth! Nearly forgot that.

Traced the decals to scan, redraw and cut out of vinyl once it's been powdercoated.

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Well he arrived. 16 days early, but healthy and perfect. I started my paternity leave the day he was born, and have almost a month off, which is going to be awesome.

Anyway, back to the build... Shimano Alivio shifters will be ordered tonight. I am going to run 3x9, with the Sora rear derailleur. I weighed up buying new 7 speed SRAM cassette, spacer, left shifter, chain and front derailleur or buying a Shimano shifter set and a front derailleur. I'm possibly buying some an old Sugino XD cranks to use to keep it slightly vintage looking.

A MONTH off?!?! Jebus! I took 2 days... holiday! The UK rocks, if we have another going to come home to have it!

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out...

Well it's a combination of paternity leave, annual leave and long service leave, so it doesn't sound as crazy when it's broken down.

EDIT: I'm in Australia.

Well I have been at home for the last five weeks (sadly returning to work tomorrow), and have the chance to order a couple of parts for this build, and have them arrive.

First up were some Tektro FL750 brake levers in black and silver:

Then I got some PDW Whiskey Grips in black leather to match my Brooks saddle.

I also ordered Shimano Alivio Shifters (3x9) and the matching front top pull derailleur. I'm using a Shimano Sora long cage rear derailleur.

Once everything arrived and I put the shifters, brakes and grips on the bars, and discovered that there wasn't enough grip area for everything to sit nicely on the Tokyo Bike bars I planned to use. I did some google searching and came across the Sim Works Get Around bar, which looked perfect. Sadly Sim Works products are kind of hard to get in Australia. I emailed Sim Works and they said they had none in stock in silver in Japan, but they could get some shipped from Portland in the US. The Australian dollar is terrible against the USD at the moment, plus shipping from the US is always ridiculously expensive, so I wasn't too keen on that.

I posted on another forum I wanted the Sim Works bars and someone mentioned that a shop in Sydney have some in stock in silver. Quick text message to a Sydney friend, who went and bought and posted them to me, and I now have the exact bars I wanted. I will pick them up from the post office tomorrow.

Also, discovered that they're the same bars that are on this bike, which I posted on the previous page.

For now, I'm going to use some WTB Cross Wolf CX tyres I have lying around. I really like the look of this build with knobby tyres.

The only thing I am not sure about is the crankset. I don't know to go with new Shimano Alivio MTB cranks, or a vintage Shimano or Sugino triple.

vintage all the way! new shimano cranksets >>>>>>

Congratulations on the birth. It was a long 9 months waiting for my son to be ready to go on the back of my bike. He was an early crawler/roller/head holder but you need to be really careful with the up/down bumps when they're on the bike. I think we have a Bell helmet which is about the smallest you can get - fine from 6 months or so.
I had some lovely days this summer, bombing down gravel roads on balloon tyres with my son on the back of the bike. It's a decent leg workout as well...

Yeah, think I've found some nice old Sugino cranks that just need a clean / polish. I also have a bottom bracket in my parts box that will work nicely with them. No idea why I have it though.

Thanks!

And yeah, looking forward to taking my son out on this build... but by the time he's big enough, it'll be going into bad weather here. Won't stop us though.

More inspiration.

Great stuff, I did all this 23 years ago on a steel 26" mtb with 1.5 or 1.75 tyres. Smaller diameter tyres were not comfortable or safe . Yes to lower gears and good brakes.

I think my son and his sister rode on the back until they were 4 or 4 . The trip was usually to the Nursery and back or local trips to the swimming pool. The seat came off so I'd leave it at the nursery and then cycle onto work..

Yeah, I'm using 700x32 tyres for now. Might go bigger eventually.

Test fitted the grips, shifters and brake levers on my bars tonight. Looks awesome with the Salsa stem.

I think 28mm was as big as 700cs got in those days . 26" was the dominant wheelsize .

And beware of your kids thinking it's a great laugh to pull your shorts down as you ride along....Mike, my son, thought this was the best thing ever!

This has been on hold for a bit while other stuff has been happening. Finally dropped it off at my local bike shop to get powder coated. Three-ish weeks later it was finished.

I originally wanted it a teal / aqua blue like the Ahearne cycletruck I posted earlier, but once I took the frame in, I found out that I was very limited to what colours I could choose through that powdercoater. I've always liked this Rosko (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nycvelo/albums/72157629106307999), so I made a very quick decision to get it coated in Dulux "Mistletoe" green with a sparkle. The frame came back to the bike shop today. It's not as apple green as the Rosko frame, but I'm still pretty happy with it. Haven't seen it in the flesh yet, these are photos my friend who works there sent me. I just need to get the decals cut out of white vinyl, clear coat it, have all the threads chased and then build it up.

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^ nice & sparkly

Picked it up today. The powdercoating has brought to light a few little dents out that I didn't notice before, but I'm not too concerned. The colour looks great in the sun.

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Nice!

Started mocking it up today.

Came across some unintentional colour matching with the bars and the frame.

Fitted the bar and stem, wheels, seat and seat post, but didn't get too carried away because I need to get the decals done and then clear coat it. Also tried to fit front Velo Orange rando rack. Will need some tweaking to fit.

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Lovely!

What happened to your mtb again?