ojwithbikes

I did the King Alfred’s Way last week on a rigid 26” spesh rockhopper (pictured below), as it was my only suitable off-roady geared bike. It was great fun, did it in 4 days with about 90km a day, but it made me finally give in and start building the bike I’ve been wanting for ages now cos Jesus Christ that bike felt like pushing a Vauxhall zafira up a hill sometimes. Probably did pack too much stuff mind.

So I got home, found a Brother Kepler frame that had been lightly used on Facebook in my size, sold the rockhopper, got a train to Bath and bought it.

Now begins the journey of building it up into a day tripper and bike packing rig that can take me further out the city - with more stuff strapped on it - than my fixie (which is now my only functioning bike).

Current plan is a mullet drivetrain scenario of:

• 105 11 speed hydraulic levers
  
• Decent Shimano hydraulic brake setup
  
• Grx rd rx-812 1x11 rear derailleur
  
• Entry level gravel wheels
  
• 42c tires black semi slick stylé (I see you terraveil)
  
• Some cheap 11-46 cassette helped along by a Wolftooth goat link
  
  

Finishing kit and accessories aren’t currently the priority, just want to get it functional, but will just be mostly silver, and cheap. I am dreaming of carradice, nitto, voile, naglene, witslingers and all that great stuff but that’s way off in the future <\3

Hoping some of you people will follow along and pity my lack of knowledge and help me out with some mechanical questions as they come up. This my first disc brake build - hydraulic or otherwise - and the most expensive bike I’ve worked on so definitely need to think things through a lot more than I usually do!

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Nice colour. I'm just building up a pink/yellow kepler myself. Looking forward to seeing yours built.

Ah sick - love that paint job. How’s yours going? What’s the setup looking like?

subbed. great colour.
I have a Kepler I built up from a frameset and it's still going strong so it can't be that difficult!

What's up with the GWR seats?

🙏🙏🙏

Great Western railway, Bath spa waiting room

Hahah what do you mean? Bath Spa does have the biggest and nicest waiting room I’ve seen tbf

Looks like a great base, any more pics of the Swift

I jumped to the conclusion (confusion?) they were in your house.

Yeah is a bit of a dream bike to be honest! Going to be paying for it but I almost believe myself when I says it’s the only other bike I would ever want… well bar a beater fixie and an Omnium… heh

Coupla bad of photos how the swift stands now!

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Would be pretty cool

I think I read about this on the #kingalfredsway Insta! nice to put the bike to the story :)

great frameset to start a solid build. nice color also.

Ah really! I haven’t seen it, a few people stopped us round the way to mention a Facebook post someone had written about a guy riding the route on a bike with a shopping basket haha. My £20 Wald basket was offended. Have these people never heard of #partypace or been on ultraromance’s instagram!?!

It's pretty much finished, bar bar tape ha. Sram 1x, 10-46 cassette, BB7s at the moment, but preliminary ride round the block on those wasn't encouraging but I'll see how I get on with them. I'll post some pictures in my thread soon.

Bought this practically new DT Swiss C1800 wheelset sans freehub driver for £130 off of eBay. Not quite dream wheels but think they should do the job. Now I just need to buy a 3-pawl driver or the upgrade to ratchet LN hub.

Anyone familiar with the DT Swiss 3-pawl stuff? Is it really that bad? Looks like £40 for the 3 pawl or £70/80 for the 18t ratchet hub conversion. Worth it?

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Parts are arriving <3

Saved some money on a bit battered Apex crankset (selling the silver 42t it came with if you want it)

Almost bought the first model of Shimano 105 hydraulic levers but an offer for the following years much better looking model came up and I couldn’t resist. Just need some rotors if anyone has any?

The savings continued and thereby ‘justified’ the spenny 105 purchase when a very nice friend leaving country gave me some used bits: 11-42t cassette, double sided Shimano pedals, and this selle italia novus saddle which has since had a touch of sharpie to the white side logo.

Seatpost is a Condor basic thing, 80mm Ritchey stem, and 42ctc Ritchey road bars - why no flared gravel bars you ask? Because £ I answer. But seriously do the flared drops make much of a difference? Never tried them.

In the post is the freehub to make those silly wheels work. Although pretty sure I need to spend another £20 to get the right end cap… love that. As well as the 1x11 GRX derailleur and a fresh chain to be rapidly worn by my worn spinny bits :)

Moving house in a couple days so is still going to be a couple more weeks till this is all put together, then I gotta tackle my first hydraulic setup n tubeless setup which should be fun with the help of more loving friends.

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It’s almost time!

Except that I need some shorter bolts for the rear calliper, anyone with a Kepler got any knowledge here?

And of course, the bagel holder steerer although helpful for round bread storage will be adjusted, as will the funky saddle height and angle. Also definitely not passing the bdhu tests is it…. So much to do, so little knowledge

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Been riding the bike to work on and off the past couple weeks but now finally got out on a decent riiiiide

It’s not a special build, classic case of ‘I have great taste I swear, just not the means to afford it’.

Also, given that amount, changed the name of this thread from ‘budget’ cos I’m no longer sure that it’s too applicable. Figure I’ll turn this into my general project thread, for now just two bikes. So I’m gonna take some better photos of the Brother fixie I own - not that anyone particularly cares but I think it’s very lovely and want some compliments.

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Going to continue using this echo chamber thread to distract me from the big sad that has been caused by taking the Kepler to the shop for its third Shimano 105 calliper, by posting about my new plans to turn the Swift into a road fixed thingy to get some winter miles in and to do HDIJ next year.

To start though, here’s the Kepler and an action shot for added pizzaz (hope you don’t mind the theft of it @LukeG ) It was on this lovely day where my suspicions about a third calliper replacement was confirmed :(

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Obligatory mood board for the road-fixed build - and some photos of how the project bike in question is currently looking.

I’m hoping cycling fixed in the lanes is going to imbue me with a sense of sophistication that im just lacking in all other areas of my life. I also believe I will be humbled on multiple levels, at multiple times.

Currently, the tool roll and bar bag that Dan made me for the other bike that is currently broken, are going some way to making this silly ultra-cool #brakele$$ 49/17 build look like it’s going in the right direction.

I’ve got some drop bars with a dummy Cane Creek lever and a SRAM S500 lever coming in the post. Then gotta collect a 19t cog, a pair of King Cage USBs, and a front Musguard thing from around town in the next few days, then it’ll be pretty much done and ready for some longer distance riding. Although I’m fairly sure the 130mm stem that I’ve paired with risers here is going to be too long when it comes to drops with hoods, so I’m probably going to need to get something in the 100/110 range but I guess I’ll try that out first.

Till next time

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kepler looking rowdy with the big rubber.
makes me think i should change mine up a bit from it's current "functional/commuter" guise.

What have you got on it? It’s fun off-road! Get it in the ol’ ‘groad’ mode friend! I’ve got some 40c Goodyear Connectors on it at the moment, really fun.

currently running flat bars, guards, pizza rack and 35mm paselas.
I've had it in various configurations though, they're very versatile framesets.

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