The Midge's swarm

I like reading bike compilation threads, they're so much more indicative of the eroded mental state that the endless bike-building saga creates than individual build threads. So here is mine :)

Will start with the OG's and work towards more recent projects, some small, some medium sized, some that just seem to stick around - actually all of them do I have never sold a bike.

First post goes to the bike I've had the longest, and am actually riding the most right now - the venerable B'Twin Triban 540. Being honest my relationship with this bike is extremely toxic, it was my first good road bike and was used voraciously until being replaced as the 'good bike' and being relegated to winter bike status where it takes horrific abuse.

For £500 in 2016 this was superb

Poorly photographed (that's a theme) upgrades of DA c24's with Veloflex masters and some Ritchey wcs neoclassics (classic bend is best)

2018/9 was its first season as a winter bike, however, and this has been the poor thing's role ever since

2020/1 was peak destruction and neglect, everything broke (except the 5700 shifting letsgoooo), but also signalled my <120mm stem on every bike> era so it was not entirely wasted

Here we are now, still on the same headset bearings from all those years ago (they are barely alive but I can't get them out), and perpetually regreasing the awful Rotor bsa30 BB, but I feel more connected with this bike than ever. And having cut the steerer dangerously short with a coping saw, I can never sell it <3

Next is easily my nicest bike, and probably my favourite when it comes down to it. This is the one with a build thread on weight weenies and probably far more time and money put in than all the rest put together. I really like this bike, it has comfortably done the most hours riding out of all my bikes (there are 7).

Cannondale Supersix 2008, which I got as a frame four years ago as an upgrade to the above perfectly serviceable B'twin. Building this up is what taught me most of my mechanical skills, and it's had many changes since then.

2018 initial build - most of the parts swapped over from the B'twin. I think it weighed about 7.3kg like this which looking back is actually pretty good, especially considering how solid a ride it was.

I dare not go through every specific iteration of this bike, there have been too many, but here we are at the start of lockdown in peak early 2000s WW era. Wolber profil 18 alloy tubular wheels, 21mm michelin tibs, 3T Prima 199 ergo bend bars, sanded (but not tuned) Sram Red 10s, Fabric cageless bottles, but still Shimano pd R-540s lol

At 6.5kg of course everything fell apart quite quickly, forcing a rebuild of the wheels to some Ambrosio Cronos, they were so pretty..

But those also broke, along with the left hand shifter, so some weight-gaining upgrades in the name of actually being able to ride and here we are.

Still on the Bitex hubs that my weight weenie tubs had, only now with Kinlin xr22t and GP5000TL. Sram Rival 11s shifters replaced the old 10s Red, power meter for gainz. I've still got the stripped slr on though, and Ciamillo brakes with iLinks, oh and those pd R-540s ;)
This bike is sick, the frame is so quality, super solid, great handling, responsive etc, it weighs about 7.3kg again although I haven't checked recently. If it breaks I will have it repaired. Would defo try get a Caad 5/6/7/8/9 whilst waiting though shhh

Vintage bike number 1 - two Vitus 979s in one.

I've always loved vintage road bikes, they're just great. My first road bike when I was like 10 was an old Peugeot with suicide levers and a singular downtube shifter. It came from the Bike Station in Edinburgh, and went back there when I grew out of it, I hope someone else is out riding it now.

So despite having a perfectly functional modern road bike, I spent all my pennies on this crazy nice (it was a bargain ngl) 'Benotto' branded Vitus 979 with a strange mixture of Campagnolo, Modolo, dia compe, 3ttt parts. It has missmatched tubular wheels, the front being Mavic GL330 with what is apparently a decently rare Omas Big Sliding hub.


I absolutely adored this bike, it rode so well, just a glorious experience. So obviously it was quite inconvenient that I grew out of it. Problem solved first by a longer seatpost, but eventually I got really lucky and found another white Vitus 979 frame, this time branded as Andre Bertin and size 56.

Unfortunately, immediate spanner in the works: the fork that this new frame came with had mangled threads, so I was stuck. It sat semi-built like this for about a year :(

However, renewed efforts (and solved unforeseen BB problems) got it rolling last year!

The headset is still super dodgy, it really just needs a new fork, so the big Vitus is kind of languishing in almost-rideable limbo at the moment. It's far too nice to take to uni, but too emotionally significant to sell, so hopefully one day I'll get it working for the odd sunny ride.

Vintage bike number 2 - Hetchins Super Brilliant

This is my Grandad's bike, which he gave to me after getting too old to ride it himself. Apparently when he got the frame in about 1985 (hence the mixture of 80s parts), it had a rather crusty full chrome finish. I would love to have seen it when it was new (confirmed to be built in November 1939!!!), but as it is the tasteful black is quite nice, although also needing a a respray at this point.

The bike as I adopted it, full 80s ctc spec. I have changed a fair few things over the years (including stealing the ancient SKS chromoplastics for the winter bike, they're still going strong), but the key parts remain the same.

I am not ashamed to admit that I had a bit of a Jan Heine/randonneuring/french650bvibes obesssion, but thankfully neither the funds nor the expertise to fully realise my dreams. Got as far as installing some Velo Orange fenders and making use of the Carradice that went with the bike - which were both great additions.


Unfortunately, the rear mudguard cracked and broke, so I took the opportunity to relive the good old days and get some 25mm Veloflex masters (22mm Panaracer Paselas were not it), as well as go back to wider bars (I had tried some 38cm ones, now on the B'twin).

To be fair I did not think the bar tape was going to be quite that combination of colours, so maybe black next time. As it is, this bike is lovely for a cruise every now and then, 1930s headset technology notwithstanding.

Okay time for the fun bikes, starting with the pub bike.

The bike station in Edinburgh is a fabulous place, such a good way for people to get on bikes. It's also great place to go hunting for random bike things. I was helping a friend look for a first road bike in summer 2019 when I spotted a pair of crazy-looking splatter painted old mtb frames. I remember thinking wow those look cool I'd ride a bike like that just for the paint. Well it took me until November to go back and look, but when I did I came home with this for the princely sum of £20.

1990 (I think?) Muddy Fox Pathfinder, 3.5kgs of what I thought was absolutely the slayest thing I had ever seen in the shape of a bike. I think I had a vague plan to go drop bars and big 26" slicks (was still in my Bicycle Quarterly era), but it ended up just sitting as a frame for a couple years. That was until I got the itch for a bike to run around town and lock up places (too much stressful leaving of nice road bikes), so I went back to the Bike Station and got some brakes, levers, 8s shifter/derailleur, none of them matching. Ebay wheels and bars, pink grips coz they were cheapest on wiggle, and I was set.

Superb from the first ride (apart from all the chain drops), this was basically my gravel bike for a while. I always thought the vintage mtb hype was fake but riding one persuaded me it was real, although it certainly had downsides (1" headset, 140mm stem, inner tubes). I guess it even technically went bike packing a couple times with camping stuff strapped to the bars/rear carradice.

However, commuting to class on it quickly demonstrated the necessity of mudguards on a town bike, so it looked like this (photo taken with actual potato) for a bit, still with the rarely used Carradice bagman.

However, front rack had to happen for full 90s mtb bingo, so it's currently looking like this, as it has for about a year.

The rack is kinda too high, and it could maybe do with its bi-annual clean, but honestly this is easily my most reliable bike. Maybe because it never does more than about 2km at a time, but all those Aldi trips must add up. I love it, immaculate vibes always whilst pootling about, and it's still kind of okay to take down a muddy path every now and then.

Finally (for the moment, I need more pics of bike 7), we have the culmination of road bike upgrades and venturing off road with the muddy fox - building a gravel bike. This one has its own build thread, so I shall be brief, but basically I had spare shifters, some bars to go on them, a saddle, and literally nothing else so I had an ebay moment and acquired a 2001 GT Zaskar frame.

Next an extortionately new Surly bridge club fork, some wheels which I eventually had to rebuild coz the hubs were so shit, and various other new and used ebay parts actually made for a reasonably quick and easy build. Except tubeless that was a pain, although no longer since I discovered the wonders of just putting more rim tape on.

Changed several things in the first year, but it's essentially the same deal. Just has mudguards, no power meter, mtb pedals, working wheel bearings, and side loading bottle cages (fancy Arundel ones I got for a steal).

However, I've been having a small itch for a while now.. and it feels like this -

I like reading bike compilation threads, they're so much more indicative of the eroded mental state that the endless bike-building saga creates than individual build threads. So here is mine :)

Ha! I can definitely relate to that. Quite an entertaining read and your bikes look great, too. It’s unbelievable that the hetchins is almost a houndred years old, such a timeless piece of craftsmanship!

Enjoyable read this! What @Sig_Arlecchino says about the Hetchins… but that Zaskar build is the one I’d want to take for a spin. Long and low but with a bottom bracket up around your chin, what’s not to like : )

Seconded, seen your Supersix on Weight Weenies and it looks bang on, but the Zaskar looks so purposeful! I had an Aggressor that was polished with blue graphics in that style when I was young, so maybe a bit biased

Cheers lads, the GT is definitely my most fun bike, but also the one I think constantly about how it could be different.. Convenient segue the most recent bike-messing saga, only partially intentional.

Ngl I was quite looking forward to using my gears the other day, but apparently my jockey wheels finally decided to kill themselves. They were already this spiky but I guess they finally seized up entirely. Anyway no matter, time to go single speed lol.

And that was the first mistake, here's attempt one at a magic gear, with the 21,23,25 block from a Sram force cassette. Distinctly suboptimal. Design to shift, it shifted up form the 23 to the 25, jam, untangled it, it did it again, obviously no good. The chain line was dead straight and the tension was pretty perfect, so I guess it was just dumb to use multiple cogs.

Part two, tried the 19t from the Force cassette but that was way too loose with a one-link shorter chain I found, dropping instantly.

Part three! Figured that a single cog was essential to avoid ghost-shifts, but I didn't have the right cog for a magic gear (or am in any way sure if that's even a good idea), so I put my single spare jockey wheel on the old x5 derailleur and decided it was a tensioner.

It kinda didn't work, but then I played with the chainline and it seems okay?? Have already ordered 20t and 18t actual single speed cogs but it's looking like a full drivetrain rehash is gonna have to happen. I am however very much enjoying single speed in the fleeting moments of functionality, so I think that's going to be the plan going forward :)

Recently came across this (non-matching) pair of 26" wheels for free, and figured they might be useful for something. Rear is a quite nice STX on Mavic something, rim brake, with a semi-okay conti x-king. Front is a disc only WTB number with a thriving conti vertical 2.3.

They could just live as spare wheels (eg. for the muddy fox, or in a pinch for the GT, clearance and braking issues on both notwithstanding). However I figured it would be more exciting if I kept them in the parts bin as the beginning of a free/extremely cheap parts bike build, no considerations for practicality. Already looking good with the current collection of rear derailleur from the GT (soon to be superseded by a SS tensioner), broken 5800 lever, shimano plastic thumb shifter, and assorted unused bars/stems/seatposts.

Might buy a frame if I find something ideal for £🤏, but would be more fun to wait for a skip find or something. See below for highly romanticised mood board, and don't expect any updates :)

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GT has gone full ssmtb, caved and got a tensioner, 18t cog, and new chain. They seem to go alright with the random praxis 36t little ring I had.
Flat bars have also made the bike wayy more fun, but the real upgrade would be new tyres these g one bites are kinda ass.

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In a surprising turn of events the free bike challenge has made some significant progress with the acquisition of a frame. It's a bit rusty, but was going spare at the local bike project so I figured why not.
As acquired, was a bit of a wobbly journey home:

And looking a bit more bike shaped - amazingly the tyres kind of fit!

The rear needs to be all the way back in the dropouts to actually clear the chainstays, but I would also like to use my freebie cassette and rear derailleur. Solution, file down the lip on the hanger thingy to allow it to slide all the way back. Oh wait then it won't clamp onto the frame. Nvm just file a hole for the bolt to pass through at the back of the dropout, however it didn't really clamp securely, so I think I'll just use the power of the skewer and hope for the best.


Also to mock up the drivetrain I slapped on the cranks I have from when my dad's bike got new gearing, and a rather ancient chain - this could quite quickly become an actual bike!

The major issue however is going to be braking, I guess this frame was made for 27" wheels because the canti posts are way too high for 26", was thinking about sourcing a reeeeeaaally long drop bmx brake for the rear, but recently had an epiphany that I could mount the extenders that people usually use to raise canti posts upside down, and have a v brake or canti that way. Might have to buy (gasp!) those though hmmm... The front, being disc brake, is kind of impossible, might just have to have only one brake. I suppose I could learn to weld..?

Other issues include the seatpost being 27.0 when I only have a 27.2 to hand, and various other small parts missing, more scavenging required. Oh and the stem seems rather seized, but the headset is alright so that's fine I guess :)

ngl the stance isn't horrendous

Dude if you start brazing, I wanna come play too.

There might be some misc bits in the shed that I left but not sure if anything useful. Some cranks I think, possibly rings. There's a 26 seatpost in the container (maybe do a shim?), and some 700 wheels too, maybe the cantis work with that?

Post the built free bike coward

damn i should really keep up with sort of this thing

Ditched the gears a while ago. The entire purpose of this bike is to ride to the bus station, leave it for two days, and then come back knowing it will definitely still be there. It's great.

Since I'm at it, I also fully forgot to post the newest addition to the swarm, which has already been around for a year. After the GT got flat bars I was back to the whole reason of building a gravel bike, spare 1x10 shifters, so this time I actually did it sensibly. Rim brake Ridley X-Ride (I think?) from PaulMilnesCycles, wheels off the winter bike, various other parts lying around or purchased cheaply, and hey presto an actual gravel bike was created!

I think it's like 8.5kg or something, surprisingly fast it actually spends a lot of time on tarmac, which was never enjoyable on the GT. It has even gone bikepacking, good bike 👍

The Supersix also got new bars (38cm bontrager, the reach is crazy long might change them again), black tape, and Challenge Strada 25mm (had a torrid time setting up tubeless, but glad to be back on tan walls)

So much has happened to the GT that it's gonna get its own post, maybe in another 6 months

Post now pls

Cannondale looks sick.

I love those reachy Bonty bars. They're great if you run a rack-mounted bar bag as you can use a shorter stem with the same effective saddle>hoods reach with a comfier tops position to boot.