-
Thanks for the input.
Couldn't disagree more about the colour scheme, I love it, though the
right pink will be great on it tooYeah, it's growing on me… Also, in my experience, the most hideos colour schemes can grow on you if you really enjoy your bike. Normally, pink is pretty much the opposite of anything I'd pick, be it clothes wise or whatever. On a bike, it's a different story.
Looks cool, i like the paint and personally i'd go with silver
finishing kit and risers with black track grips to match the saddle.Black is the choice if pink doesn't work out for sure. I was briefly thinking about blue, but nah.
Cranks sound like a minefield, good luck.
I'm sure it will be…
-
Hello,
I thought, I might as well do a project thread, and be it just to keep me engaged. This is my first build from (almost) scratch, and I'll be outsourcing a few things (e.g. wheelbuilding). It will also be rather slow, because I'm in the process of graduation and my spare time is scarce.
Backstory
I've been riding fixed for the last five years, exclusively. I'm 1.65m/5'5", currently riding a 48cm Gitane.
I always wanted to build up a 650c bike, not so much because I need it size-wise (the one I have fits perfectly), but because of the looks and – well, I don't really know tbh.The Frame
Finding a 650c track frame is not easy. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a frame which fits. It's a Biemmezeta, which, from what I gathered is a brand that was mostly building frames for other companies (Colossi comes to mind). Apparently, they come in all quality ranges and this one is one the bottom of it. The tubing is gaspipe; you can actually see the seam when you look down the seat tube. This also means that it is heavy for its size (I don't have a scale, but according to the previous owner, it's around 2.9kg including fork and headset). The dropouts look nice though, kinda like keirin frames.
The colour scheme is… challenging. I think I'll go with pink grips, just to go over the top. Some black parts where they fit, like stem or handlebars…The Parts
Given the quality of the frame, I initially thought not to spend too much money and energy on it, but all in all, I want to enjoy this bike. There are some restrictions, though.For one, 650c track/road rims are not that easy to find. I went with the Mavic Open Pros. I'm not a fan of the fat brake surface, but I prefer this over having to worry about the older rims I have blowing up.
Secondly, I want low flange hubs. 650c with high flange hubs doesn't seem to look right in my mind. I'm going with Miche Primato hubs, because the alternative (Dura-Ace) is twice as expensive and given that this isn't going to be a track bike, I prefer sealed bearings.
The saddle will be a Brooks Cambium C15 carved, at least for now. I'm starting to get numbness on my other bike (80s Turbo saddle), so I want to see how this works for me. But as it is with saddles, maybe it's not the right fit for me. What I'm not going to do is pick a saddle on looks alone, even though a pink saddle would probably look hilariously over the top, given the overall colour scheme.
I managed to get a Sugino Mighty Competition crankset, which is pretty much what I was looking for (Sugino Super Mighty or even Campa Record would've been the ultimate score in my book), but sadly, the arms are not the same length… The right one is 165mm, which is what I'm looking for, while the left is 168mm. I'm still unsure how I'll handle this.
Also, I'm a bit concerned about fitting the cranks without completely fucking up the chainline. The chainstay has no indentions to fit crank and chainring and due to the smaller wheel size, it has a different angle than a 622 chainstay would have. We'll see how that turns out.As far as handlebars goes, I'll go with risers for now.
I'll also fit one of those Dia-Compe clamp-on brakes on it. They look ugly as hell, but I don't like riding with only one way to stop my bike. In fact, I'm thinking about fitting one of those HHSB racks on it, just to hide the brake a bit (and maybe actually use it, who knows).
This is what I have so far.
-
Hello,
long story short, turns out that the thing that looked like a "165" on the picture actually was a "165" and not a "168"… So now I have a crankset with a 165mm right and a 168mm left arm and I'd prefer them to be the same length.
It is the track version of this one:
I'm not too fussed about it being the exact same model, but it should be rasonably alike. I.e. Sugino Super Mighty would be fine as well (even better, because I actually have a fitting Mighty Competition crank arm on my daily bike, whose right side is a Super Mighty), or Suntour or whathaveyou.
From what I gathered so far, the cranks have an ISO taper.
I'm located in Germany, if that's a concern. I don't have Paypal, but I could probably ask a friend. Payment via Bitcoin (or ETH) possible. Or, you know, swapping for a 168mm left crank arm -__-
-
-
-
-
Thank you both, but I just bit the bullet and got a pair of mavic rims. I don't want to worry about wheel collapsing under me every time I ride the bike.
Looking at the picture of @jono84 this might have been premature :/
But I'll go with low flange hubs; I feel like that's a better look on an already small wheel.That's a lovely frame by the way, looks like a breeze to ride.
(I'm also not UK based, so stuff needs to be sent internationally. I appreciate the offers nonetheless).
-
Thank you both.
Good call on the Kinlin. Definitely a consideration (although they look, well, ugly).
Yeah, the gambling thing is the problem… The only new 650c rims I can find have a maximum of 32 spokeholes while mine are 36 and I don't have hubs laying around, which means when I buy the hubs, I'm commited either way.
It's going to be a road rat, fixed, brake in the front, none in the back.
I'm not in a rush, so I'll give it a bit more thought, but currently I'm tending to spend the extra cash for peace of mind.
-
Hello, I'm new here* :)
I'm in the process of building my first bike relatively from scratch. It's a 650c track frame, which means I have to get wheels built for it. Finding rims is not easy, all I found so far are Mavic Open Pros, at least when it comes to modern rims.
I do have a pair of older 36 spoke rims, but I'm not sure whether they are ridable, because they have a number of issues (I'll attach pictures)
- Some of the eyelets have rust.
- One eyelets is missing
- One rim has a significant gap where it is connected.
- Someone obviously took a Dremel like tool to the rim, I assume to remove stuck spoke nipples. It seems like they hit the outside of the rim and left a mark.
Writing it out, the answer seems somewhat obvious, but I wanted to have an outside opinion.
The frame itself is nothing to write home about, low quality tubing and quite heavy for its size(just shy of 3kg with fork and headset, for a 48 cm t-t, 650c frame), so I am not too keen on dumping tons and tons of money into building it up. At the same time, rims are obviously one of the parts which are on the "should not fail" list within the top three, so buying a set of new rims will happen if it needs to be done.
Thanks in advance :)
*I've been lurking here for years, especially the bike porn (and anti-porn) thread.
- Some of the eyelets have rust.
Is there generally a big difference between street and track versions of 70s/80s cranksets, e.g. Campagnolo Record Pista/Strada, Dura-Ace and so on?
Except for the inner chainring thingies that is.