Varonha Frameworks winter bike / FW Evans 650b conversion rat bike fun

Time for a photo of something (mildly) more interesting than a brake nut or a rear light.
Today I finalised the measurements and dropped off the lugs... So here's how the frame's shaping up so far:

1 Attachment

Pretty snazzy I'm sure we can all agree.

Right then.... time to get a stem for this.
I'm after a 10cm, 26.0 black quill stem.

Without resorting to Kaloy straight away, what are the readily available options? Does anyone in London / online have a decent selection of NOS stuff... Cinelli / 3ttt etc?

Or even better a black Nitto Pearl?

Pretty snazzy, I'm sure we can all agree.

Agreed!

Or even better a black Nitto Pearl?

I've put a Nitto stem (and bars actually) I had on the Dawes Galaxy and I think it is my favorite part of the bike... If I end up using that bike a lot I'll probably get a Nitto seat post for it too. It's just such lovely stuff...

Yeah I'm big fan of the Nitto stuff. s65 / Pearl ftw.

You might wanna check what diameter seatpost the Galaxy takes... iirc mine takes something weird like 26.8, which limits choices.

It's 27mm on this one, which annoyed me when I found out as I had a spare 27.2mm inline post I wanted to use for it. The Nitto inline post is pricey and you're right I don't know if it exists in 27mm dia...

Aaah that sucks.
Pretty sure Thompson do inline posts in all sorts of sizes.

Went round to finalise a few details this afternoon and things are already starting to look a lot more like a bike!

1 Attachment

.

1 Attachment

In other news: I've decided to keep the Galaxy after all... at least for now.

Yes yes, I know this whole thing was supposed to about making a 'do-it-all' frame... but the further I got into the details, the more I realised I was either building a shit touring bike, or a shit winter bike.

Tubing for touring bikes has to be heavier, geometry has to change, gearing has to be easier, wheels have to be sturdier, etc etc. I use the front rack of my Galaxy quite a lot for carting stuff home from the supermarket, and I use the 'carry anything' rear rack all the time. The thought of switching racks every time I need to go to the shops doesn't appeal, and neither does the thought of leaving them permanently attached to a 'light' road bike for the lanes.

Plus, the idea of leaving a custom frame locked up for any serious time anywhere in London is terrifying - the Galaxy has buckets of sentimental value but essentially looks like a pile of old dog plops to most thieves.

So yeah, basically I'm better off with three bikes (or N + 1 bikes, as it's better known).

Tough decision to make as (believe it or not) I was genuinely determined to have only two bikes in my life.... and I now have to fork out for a groupset.

So... to groupsets:

I've just pulled the trigger on some 105 r7000 bits: STIs, front and rear mechs, cassette and chain.
Haven't bought the chainset yet as I wanted to research other options first.

I've also pulled the trigger on a new dynamo light, as I still want battery-free lighting at the front and the Galaxy is now keeping all that stuff. I found a good deal on a Supernova E3 Pure3, and also a mudguard mount for it.

1 Attachment

And now to Chainsets...

I'd still like to keep gearing options open so I can use this bike with a fairly heavy load if needs be. And I'd still like to use the Zephyr chainrings, so 110 bcd seems sensible for that. Although it must be said that for some curious reason TA only make 11 speed Zephyrs for the inner ring position.

But I have it on good authority (what better authority is there than Tester?) that a 10 speed Zephyr should work fine with an 11 speed chain... and as I already have one in roughly the right tooth-count, I'm gonna give it a go. Otherwise Spa Cycles have their own silver 11 speed outer rings that look alright; not quite as durable as the Zephyrs but not too bad. I think they might be rebranded Stronglight Zicral..?

My thoughts so far are: 11-32 and 49 / 33.

Crank-wise, it might nice to go with something modular to give me the option to switch between different spiders. There have been a few relatively cheap Rotor chainsets on ebay recently, so if can find one for the right price that would be grand. The 3D / 3D+ (etc) apparently have a decent selection of compatible spiders, even one that would allow a 110 / 74 bcd double with a low Q-factor.

Any other ideas welcome (if anyone's read this far!)

Some progress tonight drilling the front mudguard for the dynamo light; I used an angled Di2 grommet, then Gorilla tape to hold it in place underneath. Also made a little rubber pad so the light doesn't rattle around.

Quite pleased with the result... not going to drill the exit hole until I have the forks here.

1 Attachment

Not sure what to do with the unused wire for the rear light....

Any suggestions?!

Stopped in to double-check some measurements before ordering a stem and seatpost, quite exciting to see it coming together : )

It'll be going to the shot-blasters tomorrow to get cleaned up, then Winston will do a bit more filing and sanding before it goes upstairs to Mario for paint. With any luck it should be with me by the end of November.

1 Attachment

The frame and forks are back from the shot blasters and more or less done now. Winston actually finished on the 6th but the 8th was my birthday so he put that on there instead - what a legend! : )

1 Attachment

Beautiful crown!

Scored a pewter(?) / dark purple CK 2nut headset on ebay. The Varonha frame will (probably) be the same colour as my Roberts so I popped it on to see how it looked.

What do people think about this colour combo?
Or should I go with black? Most of the other bits will be black.

1 Attachment

Fit combo, it’s a keeper.

Cheers @ectoplasmosis : )
Anyone else? These things are important, dammit.

That's subtle and nice, keep this unusual combo for the build !

Can't believe I missed this! Only realised because of your reply on my thread about sand blasters. Looking great!
I love socketed ends and dropouts... What are they?

I hope I get to see it in the flesh when I go pick mine from Mario!

Cheers Loic!

I have no idea who makes the dropouts... I just saw them on a couple of other Varonha frames and asked for the same.

Guessing we'll be picking up our frames up at about the same time as each other - excites!