thenomad

I went through the whole thread of SSCX photos and all the bikes but one were high dollar masterpieces. I'm building an old vintage frame into a SSCX bike and would like to see any other cobbled together bastardized vintage CX bikes.
Long reach centerpulls, or 27" wheels, old lugged steel, old roadies with cross forks, stem shifters, all welcome!

Cynikal 

I wish I had taken pictures of mine when I had it together. It was a early 80's Bridgestone 400 built for 27's. 700's worked really well some centerpulls. It wasn't light but it was a blast to ride. I'm running it as a 1x7 commuter currently.

Andy_K 

I've got just the bike for you.

It's a '77 Gitane Gypsy Sport.



I didn't take a "before" picture, but when I got it, it looked like this:



with these parts on it:



Nice mud clearance on the vintage brakes:



I replaced the rusty 27" wheels with Formula/CXP22's. I also went new with a Nitto stem, Salsa Poco bars, Tektro brake levers, Kalloy seat post and Origin-8 crankset. The pedals tires and saddle were all in my garage already. It ended up way over budget at around $400, but it weighed in around 22 pounds.

The first time I raced it, the seat clamp came loose on a remount and the rest of the race was like riding on a rocking chair.

GrayJay

I fit right into this thread. My vintage cross ride started life as a 1972 Atala record professional, very nice bike in its day with very ornate long point chrome lugs. THe bike came originally with mostly neuvo record parts. Nice slack geometry that works well for cyclocross. Decent mud clearance at the back but not really enough clearance at the front fork for mud. The chain tended to fall off the original campy derailer so I swaped it out for a 600ex to keep the chain on over the bumps. Shifting via single suntour friction bar end shifter. I have kept the universal mod 61 centerpulls, the calipers actually stop decently once I rebuilt the brakes with new pads, cables and newer levers.
I have changed it up even more since the picture last year, ditched the MTB looking stem for a proper horizontal stem, installed wider handlebars, auxillary MTB type brake levers and new saddle. I also got rid of the 170mm campy strada crankset, it was too short for me and I once had a strada crank break while I was sprinting out of a corner, I have never really trusted them since. I still have a bunch of old obsolete freeswheel tubular wheelsets leftover from by late 1980's road racing days, next change I want to make is to get a pair of cross tubular tires so I can swap tubulars onto my cross bike.

austy37

my apollo III, a hi ten bike built for 27" wheels. handlebars are some old vintage ines i turned upside down in a moustach imitation, they worked out ok, but i prefer regular drops

thenomad

Cool! I like the variety of bikes and setups. I've got to buy a wheelset, or find one somewhere that will survive.
Think any old 36 or 32 spoke 700 wheelset with a thread on SS will hold up to the abuse? Spoke would probably bust through the rims...

Here's my frameset:

mzeffex 

Not in commission anymore, but it was raced last year.

Cynikal 

I did it with several old thread-on wheels. I would redish them, it will give you a good chainline and make a stronger wheel. My current wheel is a Dura-Ace freewheel hub laced to an open pro.

cs1

How did you get those brake levers to fit?

myclem

Converted my old Nishiki specifically to race the coming SSCXWC

It will be my pit bike otherwise.
...and possibly taunt me to enter the SS category races, too, if I haven't flogged myself enough during my geared attempt.

Headset is a little loose, and brake caliper clearance barely cuts it, but it performed just fine in the soggy practice race earlier this week. But whoa, that chainstay bridge is like a specially designed mud and grass catcher. I'll be in trouble if it's a mudfest.

emayex

I'll be posting mine soon, right now i'm on a quest for tires. Myclem, are those WTB cross wolfs?

myclem

Yup. The Cross Wolfs have been pretty good down to about 40psi, give or take a few. (I'm 170lbs)

Stubecontinued

Mafac Racers:

Elad63

Late 80's Shogun Ground Breaker. It started it's life as a flat bar mtb/hybrid. Only thing orginal is the frame. Sorry no pics in previous state.

As for cheaply cobbled together, everything came off bikes I found in the local trash, including the bike. Not bad for a TOTALLY free CX bike.

Set up for bad weather/winter commuter bike right now.

thenomad

you found those brifters in the trash? I'm so jealous

mrtornadohead

Concours frame... solf by Huffy! But I think it was actually made by Motobecane (the real one) or Carlton.Still a tank. fork was an eBay find for like $20. Salsa stem, Nitto 115 bars, Kalloy seatpost, Speed V saddle. NOS Coda mtb crank, 11-32 8-speed in back with barconsw, STX cantis up front, centerpull in back. With Kool Stop salmons, stops great. Oh yeah - the Fulcrum 7's I bought for antoher bike. The wheels and saddle don't quite fit on this, as it's like polishing a turd but it's what I had on hand to get this together for the Frankenbike 50 yesterday. It worked!

Used a "C" clamp to squish the chain stays for a bit more tire clearance. I know, crude and ugly but it works.

mrtornadohead

Ah forget it... I can't get my photos to pop in at the correct size using the "photo" button. Ugh.

GipsyKing

Awesome thread, thanks for posting, all.

cyclodan

I've posted this before, but seems appropriate for this thread...
'81 Fuji

Early 70s Dura-Ace brake

emayex

How does that old center pull brake work for you. I've been trying to find a solution for on of my frames, where the long reach calipers dont provide enough clearance for cx tires. I have a set of old mafacs somewhere, I was thinking about using.

cyclodan

Works about as good as the canti on the front. Good levers and pads are not to be overlooked in the equation.
Also note the straddle wire bolt mod, allows for tunability as opposed to the fixed length setup.
Brakes "only slow you down" anyway.

rat fink

See if you can guess what this started life as.

cyclodan

MTB hardtail.

thenomad

Had to add this to the thread. I've been looking this long!
Finally got what I'll be using and converting to SSCX for next year.
I'll commute on it in the mean time.
1978 Trek TX730

FKMTB07

I raced my first local cx series on this:



Fixed gear '79 Motobecane conversion with $7 Kenda cross tires. Did very well in the C's, got upgraded to the B's and even won a couple of B races on it against mostly geared riders.

I've since started racing on an actual geared cx bike.