All City - Flat Bar 'Gravel'

I actually got this stripped industrially by my sister’s partner. I had some of the ‘old stuff’ from my dad but it’d dried up . I was quite saddened when I opened the bottle other week. I did attempt to strip part myself but gave up with the awful strippers that shops now sell.

Thank you ! I may get it clear coated if I decide not to paint it but I’m not too fussed right now, just enjoying riding it.
I was on hunt for a surly cross check frame for a while but they don’t come up for cheap. In fact, steel canti frames with adequate clearances aren’t too common I’ve found.

Have been riding this in its current from. Still want some bars with sweep and rise. Have been tempted to spend a lot on a nitto finishing kit but keep putting it off. Think I will by some cheap humpert branded 'bosco' style bars and use an old stem to get the fit correct before I drop £100 on bars and a stem. I have some north road bars on my daily and they are super c comfy but think a little more sweep might do.

I will also be picking this up fork (right) when i'm back down in London. It has mid fork mounts so I have more possibilities for a rack in the future. The frame is starting to rust a little but I'll probably hold out till collecting the new fork to paint. Surface rust is fine anyway right ?....

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they look like Thorn forks

Agreed, there aren't a lot of options. Seems like more options in the states but they don't come up for sale much here.

What nittos bars and stem are you looking at? Still set on green for the frame?

I think I am set on green, but maybe a little darker than first thought.

For stem I quite fancy one of these but it leaves the bar options a bit limited (especially in UK) , I want to try out a pair of bosco bars, but I am quite apprehensive about 55cm width. Also they have quite a lot of rise, which I like but maybe too much. I like the losco and chocolate bars but they are exclusive to Blue lug in Japan.

The kind of riding I do is pretty laid back and casual so I like an upright position, I might also use this bike for some overnight tours with a mate whose got into cycling recently so I want a comfy position.

I might buy a brooks as well, this will basically be an old fashioned bicycle but with a modern 1 1/8 frame and a 10 speed drivetrain.

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Have you considered the velo orange klunker bars?

They're not cheap but look retro and a little bit less rise than the bosco.

They are nice but fancy a little more sweep. The bosco aren't in stock at Planet X until mid august which is a great shame as they are about half the price than anywhere else in the world.

Maybe Albatros . These seem similar to cheap north road bar in terms of shape.

find yourself some old 25.4 on one mary's.

They're the bomb.

I've actually been on the hunt for them, only oversized new and used unfortunately. I could of course go oversized, but I'm more likely to buy 25.4 stems.

I would rather have the 25.4 too, which I do!!

Albatross are very nice bars.. I have had the same set on three different bikes.
Though they do need a stem longer than 100mm to work well imo.

Good to know, I ordered some yesterday evening. I think I have a 110/100 stem spare so will try out with that first before buying an expensive steel one. Do you have them set up with a bar end?

I'm bored so used what bars to see what difference I can expect.

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Next up on to buy List:
-Wide rim silver wheel set.
-Bottle Cages, probably gonna go King Iris. I have never spent more than £2 on a bottle cage.
-Silver Headset . Probably ritchey.
-Brooks saddle, although new bars may make my bottom more comfortable.

Wheel options:
https://www.bike24.com/p2200989.html
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s178p376/SPA-CYCLES-Handbuilt-Wheelset-Shimano-105
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s178p2234/SPA-CYCLES-Handbuilt-Wheelset-Shimano-Deore
https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-deore-touring-wheel-700c-107139.html

All seem pretty similar. 135mm rear hub seems to be cheaper option and is what I;m currently running in 130mm spacing. I've not seen many used wheel sets for much less than these.

I have them set up with a sram trigger at the moment and the other setup was with friction thumbies. I am quite curious about using bar ends myself.
A mate of mine has run his with bar ends for eons and is pretty pleased with the setup.

Bars have arrived . First impressions of shape are good, the current high seems appropriate, and with the new fork I will probably buy a 0degree stem. Off to lbs to pick up cables as the current ones are too short, and will probably buy some nicer grips/tape when I get the frame painted.

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I have some wheels that you may be interested in. PM'd

That looks very good!
Depending on you saddle height, you're probably going to want to tilt the bars downwards though. I think mine are more or less parallel with the +17 degree stem.

Yes I ended up tilting the, down 5 -10 degree 100m up the road. Very comfy for a 20 mile ride and appropriate hight for sure. When really relaxing I occasionally found myself at the lower end of the grips a lot, I may go with a slight shorter stem but this was just one ride experience and it's by no means less comfortbale. It seems the newer billie bar by Rivendell achieves this hand position. Despite the trigger shifter being mounted slight around the 'bend' it's a very nice sifting position so won't bother swapping to a bar end for now.

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I have my trigger setup a little around the bend too, and it sits so well that I can't be bothered to change it.
I really like to put my hands a little forward and rest the hand with the brake lever between my index and midle finger.
While riding my albatross equipped bike the other day I realised that it's the one I'd keep if I could have only one bike. It does most things really well.

Will most likely not wait to collect my new fork from London before painting, so planning to buy nice black steel stem to match. Just need to wait for availability for powder coating. Thinking either a shade of green or maybe red now. I'm starting to not care about colour too much just want it painted as I'm boring of the raw steel. Bike cad not working on my computer anymore so drew up some rough colour schemes on illustrator.

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If you can find decent silver rims you like, I have a pair of lightly used Shimano XT t780, 32h, silver hubs you can have for not much money, then just get spokes and build, or find a wheel builder on here that's localish to you.
Edit: sjs have Mavic a319, 32h, silver rims for £27. Pair of them, say £30 for someone to build em (unless you can do it yerself), however much spokes cost, my hubs = nice set of wheels for not much over £140ish.

I think I will finally go with these if they come back in stock (missed my chance) . Getting a pair built would be lovely but I don't think I will build a better pair myself than those. I'm currently out of London and doubt I could get them cheaply built local to me in Leicestershire.

Have a chat in the wheel building thread, see who's near you, or alternatively, get stuff posted to the wheel builder, then you pay for shipping to Leicestershire. Do you need 36h, are you that much of a beast/ doing a world tour?

I'll pop a message into the thread later. 32h will be plenty but not too fussed about either. I did pop into my lbs when I was down in London a couple months back and the quote for labour for a wheel build seemed pretty mad and was thrown off the idea of getting them built at. a shop.