Aniki's was a Rourke, now a Gitane Triomphe Commuter Build

Last winter I decided to retire my Cinelli Vigorelli commuter as it was probably a bit too nice for the abuse it was getting and mainly it attracted a bit too much attention from the 'yutes'.
I put my spare Burls into action as a winter bike, meaning I now have identical summer and winter bikes bar mudguards a slight spoke-count difference and was yearning for a new commuter.
Someone on here linked to a nice looking Rourke from the 80's. Now, this had a special meaning to me as about 35 years ago I had a custom Rourke made for me by Brian that I rode for about 6 months! At that time we asked him to add a 'bit' to allow for growth spurts as I was a mere teen. Unfortunately when it came to trying to ride the bike many moons later, not only had I not grown but I'd actually shrunk a bit. Any attempt to ride the Rourke was basically agony and it soon became clear that it would never fit me.
So as I now have two Burls' fitted with assistance from the Bike Whisperer I was pretty certain as to what geo I needed and the second hand Rourke is as near as I will probably get second hand.
Although it's designed as a geared bike it has horizontal dropouts so I can still run it fixed (not used gears since the old days).
Will add photos as bits turn up....

So this turned up today. It's dinged and scratched and has cable rub and chainring rub and all that stuff. The headset needs some TLC but all in all its serviceable for an almost 40 year old frame. Unfortunately it's actually a bit smaller than I expected so I decided I'll just make it into a clown bike and ride it until it breaks; or something better comes along! I think it should be OK for a commuter.

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This (and a BB) were the only new parts I bought for this build. I'm really quite impressed with it for the money.

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That’s very nice.

Next job; rear wheel. H Plus Son Archetype (graphics removed because Stealth etc.) on a Dura Ace track hub.
The Rourke frame has 130mm spacing whereas my Dura Ace track hubs are 120. I wanted to photograph this process but there was just too much grease involved!
I removed the lock nuts on the axle and used 5mm aluminium spacers. As suspected, what this does is leave you with very little thread engagement. Some may be happy to live with it but I wasn't comfortable. (Photo shows DA axle before I swapped it)
Luckily I had an old (new) Miche axle in my tool box I bought years ago which happens to be about 10mm longer than the dura ace axle.
For anyone reading this in the future; word of warning; the DA axles are fitted with 'keyed' washers that fit between the cones and lock nuts. I believe these do quite a good job of stopping the bearing pre-load from 'self adjusting' when you tighten the wheel nuts.
As the Miche axle just uses plain washers (or in my case 5mm spacers) you have to be a bit more careful when tightening the wheel nuts that nothing 'binds' and overloads the bearings.

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Front wheel re-built with a fresh new rim and graphics removed.

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Headset work today. I was worried I might have had to write off the headset and the fork which would have made this project financially unviable. I wanted to buy as few parts as possible and mainly use donor parts from other bikes getting upgrades or spares I had lying around.
Luckily after a bit of persuasion the headset came apart and other than the top cage everything was still greasy and in decent condition. Didn't photo the whole process as it got too messy but it worked out just fine in the end (I had to spend £6 on new ball bearings)

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I did have a beater seat post in the shed but as most of this build is going to have a 'silver' components theme I couldn't resist a good old Kalloy Uno seat post!

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Upgraded the saddle on my turbo bike to match my regular rides so this (my second favourite saddle) San Marco short-fit Aspide became available and will be fine for shorter rides to work.

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Pedals from the old commuter. These will need to be changed when ebay provides; they’re fixed tension at 8nm which I find far too loose. Even with fixed float cleats the loose tension feels like there’s loads of float and my feet hit the cranks!

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Caliper donated from the old commuter.

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Sticking with a quill stem for now. This was off an old raleigh my mate pulled out a skip a few years ago.

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What’s the crankset there?

It’s an Andel. Complete with chainring which is also decent and bolts was £75 delivered. The quality is superb.

So the maiden voyage to work this morning. All good; I think I’m going to swap saddles though. As this bike is a bit too small I can’t get quite far back enough. I have another saddle with longer rails which should do the trick for now. Otherwise happy with how it turned out. Now to look for a bigger frame!!

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Similar to this One kinda?!?

https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/components-c9/chainsets-cranks-c70/fsa-gimondi-single-speed-jis-170mm-crankset-p5276

Looking great!

HubJub or Velosolo have them, had good service from both . I'll second what @aniki says, the Andel's are really good. I purchased a pair for a stop gap and couldn't find a good reason to replace them.

Got the same crankset (in black) from Hubjub, lovely service.

Fitted some cheap and cheerful 'commuter' tyres from Wiggle today. Was a bit hesitant to go to 28's but to my delight, they just clear the rear brake bridge AND the DA caliper. A quick spin to the local shops suggests they're going to instil a fair bit more confidence than the zaffiros. On the downside they're heavy as funk; but who cares, it's probably a 12kg bike anyway!

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Love the light to dark blue fades, reminds me of some of the Peugeot colour schemes from probably the same time period.

Just a couple more tweaks. Nicked some better pedals off my winter bike and compensated for the small frame with this 130mm monster!

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Done about 12 commutes now (120 miles) and very happy with the results. It's nice to have something I don't care too much about but is still functional and actually nice to ride.

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