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Uncharacteristically I've made more progress with both bikes, it's enjoyable seeing them come together reasonably quickly.

Chopped the steerer and v-brake mounts on the Rockhopper and fork. Also removed the rear brake cable guides and ordered some stick on ones that'll take a hydro hose. I've got a plan involving a hinged DMR clamp and some bodgery to fit the dropper cable. I'm glad I chopped the brake mounts as it's cleaned it up visually a little.

Cut a small steel stem spacer to match the outer diameter of the stem steerer tube and I've picked up some paint cans so I can spray over the removed bosses and paint the stem/spacer black.

Also chopped the steerer on the Focus, and fitted a front caliper and an Arione so I can match the fit on the Tricross closely. Still waiting on a few odds and ends in the post to finish it off but I'm pleased with how it's coming together.

Kinda tempted by a red Salsa clamp, but I'm never completely sure about trying to match coloured anodising to frames. I have at least worked out it needs a 35mm one.

Gears!
I started the build thinking I was going to go singlespeed, but I think I prefer the versatility of gears, especially as this may get used for some bikepacking now the Frontier is gone. I've somehow ended up with a stack of Shimano 9spd derailleurs and narrowed it down to the below selection, of which I'll probably go with the XTR m950. Though I do love the old black LX one too, it's less in keeping with an early 2000's frame.

For shifting I found a gunged up LX trigger shifter which freed up nicely with repeated dunkings in degreaser and boiling water, before a liberal spray of WD40 and some time on the radiator. The cassette is a nice and light 970 11-32t SRAM one.

I'm now waiting on various bits in the post, like the chainring, brakes, rotor bolts, grips, and an extra inner tube, which might take a week or so. In the meantime I'll get the v-brake mounts chopped, paint the stem, drill the frame for the dropper cable, and work out how to fit hydro brakes to a frame designed for exposed inner mechanical brake cables.

Wheelset
I finally managed to track down some 20mm endcaps for the Iodine front wheel so they can go on my wife's BFe, which leaves a nice pair of all black Hope Pro2 Evo hubs with Mavic 317 rims available for the Rockhopper. New qr endcaps were found and I've destickered the rims. I have one front Hope skewer so need to find a matching black rear one, does anyone have one? Got an XT placeholder at the moment.

This bike is very much a game of picking and choosing bits from the spares box where possible, rather than buying new bits, which brings me to tyres. Options in the shed are all grey Vittoria Booze Lights or tan wall Maxxis DTH, I think the Vittorias are the winner for me but probably need to try both sets on the frame to see how they look.

I'm still waiting on bolts for the rotors but they'll be some plain Shimano 6 bolt ones in 160mm from the spares box.

Fantastic as always! Love the subtle splatter in the paint.

@tmevans I think once it has a better paint job I'll find it more interesting! I have always fancied trying a splatter job in m_v style..

@MisterMikkel I'm leaning towards chopping them. I'm not too worried as it's a ratty frame, it'll get some clear coat over the bare metal and the fork with get gloss black/clear.

Fitted a Cane Creek 40 headset today, as well as a XT BB and the mech hanger.

Feeling more excited by the Rockhopper at the moment and I'm still waiting on a few bits for the Focus so that is going on the backburner. Going to attempt to document and photograph the build a little better than I usually do, and ask for some input on build choices as I'm still not sure on some things. Aim is for a fast, flat barred town bike for messing around on when the cycletruck is a bit heavy and cumbersome. I did have a nice yellow Merida a while back but that was a bit slow and upright so got sold.

Frameset
I've cleaned and polished up the frame and fork, they've both tidied up quite nicely. There's a black Cane Creek 40 headset and a new mech hanger in the post. Just need to decide if I should chop off the v-brake mounts on the frame and fork as it's going to have discs, thoughts?

Finishing kit
I think I'm going to stick with black. Some experimenting needs to be done with stem length once it's built up but I currently have either a long steel stem (which would be sprayed gloss black) or a 70mm Hope one. The steel stem is 25.4 and the Hope 31.6 though, so that'll influence bar choice, but likely a flat one. Grips will be black ODI.

Still need to find a seatclamp, I'm not 100% sure what size it is, calipers measure 35.9 which isn't a standard size. Might take a 36.4? Kind of tempted by a red one, but doubt I'll be able to find a decent colour match. I also happen to have a nice 150mm SDG dropper post in the right size which I'm quite keen to use. That will involve drilling the seat tube for the cable and finding a lever.

Finally a saddle, I've got a brown Super Turbo which I'd earmarked but I'm not sure it'll be a good match. I've always fancied a Flite so might start hunting for one.

Thanks both, just sorted something with another user.

After a nice 1 1/8th threadless headset in black or silver. Something like a Hope or Cane Creek

So the Focus might actually end up being better than I thought, looks alright with a long, slammed stem and should be a better fit.
Pulled all the bits off the Dolan and moved them across. The Turbo will go on the Rockhopper and I've got an Arione in the post. Also waiting on a few other bits; rotor, caliper, axle, front mech adapter etc.
If it rides well I'll pull it apart again and respray the frame, currently thinking the same hot pink as the Tricross or a pink/yellow rhubarb and custard fade.

Both bikes now sold

Hi, just replied to your DM.

• Frontier - sold
  
• Univega - sold pending payment
  

The local bike charity is downsizing their shop and had a big jumble sale over the weekend to make space, which ended up with me picking up a few projects and bits and bobs.

I had my first proper bike fit on the Tricross just after Christmas and a few tweaks have made it even more comfortable, back up to a 120mm stem and dropped the saddle a bit. It's highlighted that the red Dolan is too small though, so I picked up a cheap Focus Culebro frame and fork. It's no Caad, but it's the right size and should make a reasonably fast winter road bike. Along with that I picked up a lonely Mavic Cosmic carbon rear wheel. Getting it home I discovered a spare disc fork I've got fits straight into the frame, so I'm thinking a Frankenstein front disc/rear rim brake set up is going to be the plan, with a carbon front wheel too. I'll probably give it a rattle can respray as it manages to be both boring and hideous at the same time. Then it'll be the Force 22 groupset and other bits off the Dolan to finish it off.

Second project is a circa 2000 aluminium Rockhopper and Kona P2 fork to make a ratty, lightweight around town 26" bike. Thinking singlespeed as it's been a while since I've had one, Hope/Mavic wheels from the BFe, RaceFace Evolve cranks, long steel stem, flar bars, Flite saddle, and some grey Booze Light tyres.

Not sure why I didn't think of trying that! I'll give it a go later on.
The Deore calipers on the BFe are leaking so I need to have a hunt through the shed for a replacement brake set. Rear Iodine wheel is on and looks good, going to get the front one sorted shortly. Switched over some silver XT cranks as well, which are a bit shorter so should be a better fit.

Price drops:

• Frontier - sold
  
• Univega - £80 + P&P
  

Univega Alpina 508 90's MTB - extra small/14"

26" wheels, extra small frame, set up for someone 5'1 in pics.

Lovely 90's mountain bike frame in reasonable condition, loads of clearance in frame for big tyres. It'll get a good clean before sale!

Shimano v-brakes, STX rear derailleur, 3x7 gripshifters, Alivio crankset, Deore LX hubs with Matrix SingleTrack rims, Continental CrossKing tyres (outer knobs snipped off rear tyre for clearance on a different frame I had them on), new silicone grips, Brand X swept back trekking bars, Brooks saddle (not leather). Seat post has a coke can shim as it's an odd sized seat tube.

Collection in Shrewsbury, Shropshire or postage for £20.

Price - £80 + P&P

Sold sold sold

Sonder Frontier 29er - large

https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-frontier-frame-only?variant=31072639844457

Bought this new as a frame only a couple of years ago and built it up for bike packing. A lovely, fast and light bike to ride, just need to make some space in the shed as it doesn't get used enough, only ridden 1100km according to Strava. Good mechanical condition with a few scratches and scuffs from bikepacking bags, no dents though. Plenty of bosses for bottles/cages (2 bosses on seat tube, 3 bosses on inside of down tube and 2 underneath down tube), routing for a dropper post.

Frameset - Sonder Frontier, with Chinese carbon fork, sealed bearing headset (smooth).

Wheels - handbuilt with Novatec D772/771 hubs (142x12 and 100x15), WTB i25 rims and double butted spokes, some scuffs on rims but straight and true. WTB Ranger 29x2.25 Fast & Light tyres (tubeless). Frame is Boost (148x12) spacing so running adapters on rear hub.

Drivetrain - FSA Comet cranks, 32t narrow wide chainring, Shimano bb, 11spd SRAM X01 shifter and mech, Shimano XT 11-42t cassette.

Brakes - Avid BB7 calipers, Avid Speed Dial 7 levers, 160mm Avid discs.

Finishing kit - Alpkit Confusious loop bars (taped up loop, great for attaching bags, lights, and for extra hand positions), Madison Flux saddle, generic seat post, Hope seatclamp, new silicone grips, 50mm Kore stem. No pedals. Spare mech hanger included.

Points to note:

• Wheels set up tubeless but could probably do with a sealant top up, rear tyre fairly worn.
  
• Various scuffs and scratches on frame but no dents, I can provide more pics.
  
• Could probably do with fresh brake pads soon and rear caliper is missing the red adjuster knob on the outside, available for a few quid online.
  
• I'll give it a good clean before sale!
  
  

Collection from Shrewsbury, Shropshire or postage for £20.

Price - sold

A longshot but I'm looking for 20mm end caps for an early Crank Brothers Iodine front wheel. They're the Gen 1 wheel (2008-2010ish) and the cap should be silver. I think caps from CB Sage and Cobalt wheels fit too.
Thanks

As one project wraps up another (light touch) one appears. I've had a saved search on eBay for ages for an extra small 26" steel hardtail for my wife, ideally a Cotic, but they don't come up often in the size we needed. She's been riding a rigid, rim braked 90's Univega for a few years now and we've got plans for more mountain biking together next year, so it was time for an upgrade, meaning disc brakes, suspension, and more modern geometry.

I was hugely excited when a notification for an XS Cotic BFe popped up last week at a great price. Even better it's the same model and colour that I had 8 or 9 years ago, although 3 sizes smaller!

The seller very kindly offered to drop it off to avoid boxing and posting it, and it's honestly the best condition secondhand bike I've ever bought. Used but spotlessly clean and freshly serviced, everything perfectly adjusted, which is very refreshing after some of the things I've bought..

It's got a nice selection of bits:

• XS Cotic BFe frame with a mix of 631 and 853 tubing
  
• old school 26" u-turn Pike 327
  
• 10 spd XT/SLX w/ RaceFace cranks
  
• Hope Pro2 Evo on Mavic rims
  
• Deore brakes
  
  

So far I've swapped the stem for a shorter 50mm Ragley Stubbing and popped on a Hope seatclamp. I've also got a pair of shorter silver XT cranks waiting. Longer term I'll think about brazing on guides and drilling a hole for an internal dropper post. I've also got a pair of blingy Crank Bros Iodine wheels that I picked up a couple of years back and had been saving for the right project, not sure if they'll be too much on this though, thoughts?

So far we've had a test ride and will be back out once the wind and rain eases, my wife loves it which is what it's all about. Pic of my old BFe too.

Cheers all, I've really enjoyed building it (at a faster pace than normal!) and especially riding it. Looking forward to refining it now.

@si_mon628 exactly that, a rolling chainring was chasing us down the road at one point!
I'm hoping the the increased stiffness of extra tubes plus a lower gear ratio so you're not pushing such a high gear should stop the chain bouncing around so much and reduce the chances of the ring dropping out. As a stoker you could look down and see the whole bottom bracket assembly/crankset moving around quite dramatically with each pedal stroke.

The ride was a great success and a heap of fun! Managed about 25km on and off road in the end. It was really noodly as expected but rode well enough that I'm going to go to the effort of adding a couple more tubes to improve rigidity. The brakes worked adequately and the drivechain/shifting was smooth, I think we dropped the floating rings twice on the ride, so I'm not going to go to the effort of finding a more complicated solution. A few other minor mods planned including bottle bosses, cable guides, a smaller rear chainring to reduce the gear ratios and perhaps a new front stem so I can have a pair of matching 25.4 bars on the front too.

I'm looking forward to riding it some more with my wife now. We're nearly a foot in height difference so the 20" wheels and small frame sizes means we'll both be able to use it.

Thanks both! Long term it's going to need some more tubing to make it less noodly but I think it's rideable for now. Probably an extra one on each half.

Spacing the BBs, chainrings and cranks was a bit of a faff but it's mostly rub free now, we'll see what it's like tomorrow with both of us pedalling.

Chain tension on the front chain was initially one floating ring, which was a bit loose. Mocked up a few options with jockey wheels and rear derailleurs to tension it then just settled with two floating rings as it's quicker and easier for now. Another thing to revisit when I've got more time. Biopace ring has now been swapped for a round one.

The brakes are surprisingly decent and the gearing ratios feels okay. XT friction thumb shifter instead of the Sturmey trigger works a treat.

Looking forward to giving it a good ride tomorrow, should be fun if nothing else!

Today has seen some good progress. Sorted the best of the wheels and tyres and waved a scrubbing brush in there direction.

Chopped up a couple of tubes and brazed them up. It was very much a rough and ready job on the patio, alignment was done with some high tech string and the tubes were eyeball mitred with a flap wheel on the angle grinder. But it's all together and straight as far as you can tell by eye.

Frustratingly the largest diameter tubing I had in the shed was 28.6mm (though thick walled at 1.6mm) so I suspect it'll be a bit noodly to ride. I'll build it up and can then put another brace in if needed after a test ride.

I've got a few more bits to get from the bike charity (2nd chainring, grips, seatclamp, tandem brake cable) still. Hopefully should be test rideable mid-week.

@Tom13 the ride starts at 10am at a yet to be released place in the town centre and there's an event early afternoon in the Flaxmill with music, parts sale, drinks etc. Come along and say hi if you make it over, I'll be fairly hard to miss..

@M_V I'm hoping it's going to be fun to ride. The paint on your Raleigh is fantastic and I'm digging the dropbars. This has really made me think about picking up another to do up, I think a fully stripped down flat bar one would be ideal for around town and a hanger would be fairly straightforward. I've yet to try making a full fork, so potentially a disc one with a fixed rear end would be interesting too.

@Chaley that definitely has potential! Space for a decent sized cargo platform at the front of that.

It's project time again. There's a local event coming up next weekend, the Salop Sludger, that I've done with a friend a few times. This year it's an alley cat around town and we fancied doing it on a daft bike (yes, bike singular). I spotted the Raleigh Twenty tandem someone was selling on here a while back and thought I'd have a go at doing something similar.

The local bike charity has a stack of old 20" shopper bikes which I had a pick through, initially selecting a couple of Raleighs Twenties. A bit of research showed that Dawes Kingpins would be a better choice though, they have a 68mm English threaded bb, better headsets, half decent Weimann brake calipers, and the frames are nicer quality. So two were purchased last weekend. Budget for the build is near zero and time is limited so this is going to be a ratty, cobbled together from the bottom of the parts bin special.

Both bikes have been almost fully stripped down. A huge amount of weight has been saved by ditching the kickstands, mudguards, racks, light brackets, seatclamps (most of which are made of steel!) etc. The actual frames are reasonably light and well made. The cottered cranks are gone too which will be another big weight saving. I'll be swapping out the original saddles, pedals, brake levers and grips to make some concession to comfort for the ~50km ride.

Next up was the chopping of the frames, everything behind the seatube is gone from the front frame and everything in front of it from the rear one. It'll then have two new tubes brazed in. I was going to keep the top tube of the rear bike (similar to the one for sold recently) but it would have been ridiculously short and upright for the stoker. Handily the seatposts are a close enough diameter (another win for Dawes!) that a 1 1/8" stem works for the stoker bars.

I've got one decent rear wheel with a working Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub which will stay and the drivetrain will be a pair of road square taper cranks. One chainring on the front set and two on the rear so all the chain business is on the drive side, a chain will run from front crank to rear crank on the inner rings, then a second chain from the big outer ring on the rear crank to the hub. I've got a few different BBs to mess with chainline. I'll cross the tensioning the front chain bridge when I get to it, thinking perhaps an sliding tensioner with a jockey wheel on the frame tube or a big chainring in the middle of the chain run. Front rider will do the braking and stoker the shifting to avoid having to buy long shifter cables (I did say this would be low budget!). The route is mostly flat so braking should hopefully get close to adequate with new cables, decent levers and the Weimann calipers.

That's as far as I've got and a big dump of what's in my brain. The event/deadline is Saturday 9th so for once it'll be a project that doesn't go on for months.