vp's Cogworks: The Marin and Beyond

And here we go. It certainly is a bike. Meanwhile I realized that I have a spare set of big knobby tyres at a friend's place, so might pop those on.

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Lowered the stem and rotated the bars a bit on the Redwood, looks and feels a lot better. Stopping power is brilliant even in the rain - love these brakes, they are a great combination with the Veloce levers. Will need to shorten some cable housing. And of course now that everything's properly dialed, my left pedal started creaking like crazy.

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It looks mean with beefy tyres. Might keep the mudguards actually.

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Very nice. I think it looks better with the chunky tyres. Are they much slower?

Thanks! Actually no idea, didn't get to try it yet. Hopefully over the weekend.

This one on the other hand got to see some use. Millstones for size reference.

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Have to N-1, so the Diamondback is up for sale now, discount for lufuguss people. If anyone's interested hit me up, Netherlands only. With some extra parts and accessories. Will take some more pics over the weekend.

So the Diamondback was sold in a day. New owner will get a custom frame bag for it and will take the bike to France to do some big touring. I'm happy that it found a good home so quickly.

In other news I now own a neat 1997 Koga-Miyata RoadRunner, which was an absolute bargain. Double butted aluminium tubing, 3x8 gears, mix of LX and STX parts, almost a catalog build. Already starting fixing it up, needs a new chain, cables and brake pads then it's ready to go.
Perfect example of "too nice to keep", I wanted a bike that I can lock anywhere, and this obviously doesn't fall into that category... oh well.

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That does look nice!

Thanks! Hope to have it ready by the weekend. Then hope to sell it in a few days.

And if everything goes well, by the end of next weel I will also have this one here.
Planning to upgrade it with compact bars, a black Turbo saddle and a set of ~700x25C folding tyres. It's another machine that I don't ever want to sell.

That downtube looks so skinny in side view that I thought this was a steel frame until I read your post. Is it ovalised?
Forks still look steel to me, am I right?
What is that mysterious grey tab sticking out of the headset bottom cup (present on both your bike and the catalogue photo?)

What's the shifter thingy on the seat tube for?

I reckon it's to adjust a bottle dynamo on/off.

Yep, you can see it peeking out just under the chain guard at the bottom.

@vpCogworks: Solid bikes you’re accumulating. Which one would you use for a tour?

There's actually two downtubes. :P

Fork is indeed CrMo, and the grey tab actually holds a little hoop at its end, where you route the shift cables, so they don't rub on the headtube.

@jtfh That pulls the dynamo towards the rear wheel.

@Tijs Thanks! The Marin for sure. Will need some more gear range if I actually want to tour it though. Project for next year I reckon. :)

Ha - would never have guessed that. Cheers! Marin's looking lovely as ever btw

Such an amazing bike.

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Puch is finally here. Treated some screws with Evaporust straight away, then installed compact bars. Up next: tyres. Pirelli P7 Sport probably.
Might swap the 80mm stem for a 100mm one in the future.

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If all goes well I'll have a pair of proper tyres on this by the weekend or very latest the beginning of next week. Unfortunately it seems either the derailleur hanger is a bit out of alignment, or the derailleur cage is crooked, will have to fix because there's quite some friction going on. Doesn't seem to affect the actual shifting though, long live 7 speed and its simplicity!

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Sweet Puch. What's the tyre width you're going for? There seems to be plenty clearance.

Thanks! Actually not much room at the chainstays. I found a set of barely used 26mm Pirelli P Zeros for cheap, so I'll risk it.

Tubeless ready tyres + vintage narrow rims = not particularly a match made in heaven.
After half an hour or so I won the first battle though, while inventing a couple of new curse words. Couldn't be arsed to continue with the second wheel today.
Plenty of clearance on the chainstays, as the tyre measures about 24.5 mm on this rim.

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I love this bike. Hit 50 km/h on flats without much effort. Haven't done that in a long time. These tyres are amazing!
The frame is actually a lot darker blue irl, photos don't do much justice.

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And more.

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Nice. Road tubeless holding up? Love that closed cage rear derailleur.