650b conversions, some new bikes, all nonsense

Sooooo the brother got out of hand. I decided the stack under the Geoff's didn't look okay, so I nabbed some riser Jones off the bay for an okay about of money.

Holy heck, I love the crap out of them. They feel weird and narrow, but good. Currently have a brooks on there, but I'm searching for an Ergon SMC mens mountain saddle in large. Otherwise, this bike is amazing.

In other bike news, the rear end is twisted. Not enough to stop me riding it, but enough to start making plans. I found myself with an hour this evening so I made a little progress on the stem. I tried a widow's peak thing, but I'm not feeling it, I'll put a little more bronze on there and see where it goes.

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Found some time in the workshop this evening and bashed out the stem. I made the quill wayyyy to long so that will get trimmed some to let the bars slam a little. Otherwise I'm happy, I reckon this prototype is cool.

Next step is to order some tubes and copy it/solve my mistakes.

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Very cool but BDHU

I've always struggled with this, my general plan was to have the hoods level with the top on the flats of the bars?

They're not flats on the bars. Rotate bars down so the ends are horizontal (ish), then place your levers so they create a little hammock for your hands with the ramps.

Kinda like this.

You’re making @Hulsroy proud!

He's a very busy chap, so I'd thought I'd give a helping hand (as I have no CP thread to bugger about in anymore).

Bit more finishing on the stem. Previously I had the wedge tighten from the bottom, but it meant you had to take the wheel out to adjust the stem. Not really a problem, but I didn't like it, so I made a top cap and a long arse bolt to work normal quill style from the top. I also shortened the stem a touch and machined the wedge bit on the mill, rather then the belt sander. It looks better and works better. Please ignore the hood position, I need to recable the bike anyway, but the bars should be good now?

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Also finally got the saddle I wanted for the brother, I can not express how much I like this bike. It's so fantastic, I've been riding it non stop.

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what fixture table is that?

https://weldingtablesdirect.co.uk/buildpror-slotted-welding-table-1960-x-1000-with-adjustable-legs.html

After a bit of doing we managed to get to down too 1mm deviation corner to corner, which is way more accurate than it needs to be.

Nice but pricey. Been looking at the Mac ones, not got a lot of space to work with

Sooo I'm going to the dolomites in 3 weeks, and have done no planning and no riding. So I made a rack.

It's got almost zero clearance to the tyre, BUT IT CLEARS!

It will get a lick of paint and we are good to go. Also the lower tubes are copper coloured because they are think l thin walled hydraulic tubes, got some cheap, brazed real nice.

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Looks good without the paint too. Hope that gap doesn't get any smaller, lol.

So, I made it! I went on my trip, which ended up being 10 days in the Dolomites. I can highly recommend, it's an insanely beautiful place- almost unfair how beautiful it is.

The Brother preformed fantastically, it's a brilliant bike. That being said, for the route we did, I'm not sure I could ethically recommend riding rigid. I'm not a great mountain biker, but I've been doing it for a decent while, and while I didn't crash, it was bloody hard work getting down hill. Mostly the fist sized boulders on 20% slopes.

But don't let me put you off, it's an amazing place. Plus don't take camping gear, rifugios are €30-50 a night and come with dinner and breakfast, plus you get a bed, shower and campari spritz'.

On a very positive note, my rack survived! Well it kinda did. It was fine for the trip and took a nasty knock on the way home which has bent it out of shape, but that's okay. It was a prototype. I'm thinking about knocking up a fixture to make them "in mass" if anyone is ever interested.

Now that the trip is over, it's back to regular programming- I recently got two tube sets from ceeway with the intention of knocking up a frame to replace the beater roadie and a cool town bike for my partner. When we used to live in Aus, I bought her a Tokyo bike with my first paycheck from my first design job and she loved it so much it's carefully stored at her mother's in fear of it ever coming to London and being stolen, so I figured I would make something similar to that but with actually tyres clearance, not the amusing 28 max it currently takes.

Edit: before the question is asked, the frame bag wasn't made for this bike, it was a last minute lend from a smaller friend, but it worked fine.

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Looks mega, very much agree with your views on the Dolomites :)

Awesome, post more pics :)

So after failing to get rid of my old Pearson, it's being turned into a lovely pub bike. To fit bigger fenders more easily I've decided to use cantis and while setting them up I realised I have lost the straddle cable holders.

This got me thinking about how the system works and why it's so hard to balance cantis sometimes, then promptly remembered big daddy Jan makes those hangers with a roller wheel in them. After decided I wanted to try them to see if there is any measurable difference in performance or setup I checked the website and realised they will cost near on £100 to get them state side.

Not a chance.

So I started making my own. These are just rough prototypes, which is why they are bad looking and poorly made, the mill is it of comission currently getting a pneumatic drawbar changer installed, so I did this all on the drill press with the dodgey vice. Either way, just need to knock up the roller wheels and the cable clamp pin, but that won't take long, I'll do it next week.

If they work like I think they work, I'll re-make them a bit nicer. Might splurge on some CNC parts. Idk.

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Cool little project.
Dia Compe also make them, £20 from Freshtripe.

The Dia-Compe hangers look great and work well, cant say that I feel any difference to normal hangers though...

It's not about feeling the difference, it's about knowing that there might be a difference.

Ahhh but then I would be £40 poorer. Thankfully my time is worth nothing to myself.

They look spectacular, what more do we need in this world.

Couldn't have said it better myself.