mattface 

My old winter bike was only supposed to last 3 or 4 winters, but I think it lasted about 8. Then the other day the rear wheel exploded with 4 spokes breaking out of the drive side flange. I COULD rebuild it. I do have the technology, but I feel like maybe it's time has come and I had the parts laying around for a nice fixed winter wheel set. A pair of Black CR18s and a pair of Nashbar black Fixed/free hubs, and 64 black spokes and nipples. My winter bike also doubles as my foul weather/utility bike in the warmer months, and I think these wheels would form the perfect platform for that bike. I also scrounged a great SS crank with a built-in chainguard on the outside ring step at the bike coop. In my stash I have a whole drive train and a brand new set of Cantis. Basically all I need is a 700c frame with clearance for fenders and studded 32c tires, canti bosses, and horizontal dropouts.

Finding the perfect frame is easy enough, if money were no object, but this is suppossed to be a winter bike. The All City Nature Boy looks pretty much tailor made for my purposes, but it's not cheap and Nashbar has a SS Cyclocross bike that's pretty inexpensive, but I just want the frame, and it's expensive for a frame. I probably want to find a used older touring bike with cantis and Horizontal dropouts, or an older Hybrid, but if one does not turn up soon, I'll probably need to buy something cheap. a 29er, or SS Cyclocross frame could work. Anybody have any suggestions for something inexpensive and readily available to bolt my parts to?

bones_mcbones

Old 27" frames fit fat studded winter tires no problem. that's what I use, it has the reverse horizontal dropouts, and mad room for fenders.

mattface 

Yeah, if I can come up with one with canti bosses in my size I'll jump on it. So far though my search of the bike coop frame pile has turned up dry on that. If I give up on my desire to run Cantis my options will open way up, but I have a Cetma rack that is going on there, and a freewheel I might use some day, I like having lots of brake for the cargo hauling capacity. Of course I could run a canti fork, and a caliper in the rear, but that messes with my sense of symmetry.

mattface 

Found a frame! It's the right size, and has canti posts brazeons for fenders and plenty of clearance. The fact that it's hand made and lugged is just a bonus.


New winter bike frame by mattface, on Flickr

bones_mcbones

boom!

seau grateau

Noice. Build it build it build it.

mattface 

Couple cans of black Rustoleum, some studded tires and some more parts and we'll be good to go!

TejanoTrackie 

Holy clearances, Batman !

mattface 

You shoulda seen it with 26"ers on it. It had these weird U-brakes on it that dropped the brake pads down into 26" range.

DiegoFrogs

How are you going to mount the cantilever brakes on it, then? The posts appear to be roughly at the same level or even above the braking surface, but cantilevers and V-brakes mount below it.

mattface 

Posts are slightly above the braking surface. I think they should fir alright.

jgedwa

Huh?

mattface 

Ah dangit you know you're right! Not only aren't the posts in the right position relative to the rim, they are also a larger diameter than the holes on cantilever brakes, so they won't even fit on the posts at all. I guess I'm going to need to see if the original U-brakes will work with 700, and if not I'll have to scrap this plan and find something different.

Thanks for pointing it out. I blame the fact that I'm usually beat when I get home from a bike coop shift, but I'm really glad I didn't invest too much time in the frame before determining for sure that it will work with my wheels.

DiegoFrogs

I'm not sure there's any setup that will work with those posts and that rim. The posts are at almost the exact same radius from the hub centerline as the rim's braking surface.

Did you actually build the wheels yesterday, too? I probably would have suggested a 26" build with an old mountain bike if you hadn't progressed on this project with lightning speed before I saw the thread.

bones_mcbones

I run a u-brake on the front of my winter fixie, and no brake on the back. It's easy to skid stop because of the snow/ice.

btw this should turn into a post your winter fixie thread.

mattface 

No I already had the wheels. My old winter bike is an old geared MTB, and when I decided to retire it, I realized I had these wheels (in the form of parts) that would make a good winter fixie build, so basically I decided to build the bike around the wheels. Might be a little harder to build around a a 700c wheelset, but I actually think I'd rather have 700c for my winter wheelset. If this frame doesn't work out I'll just have to find a different one. I'll be headed back to the bike coop today totry the brakes on the frame as soon as I get done stacking the 2 tons of wood pellets that got delivered this morning. If it doesn't work it will go back in the pile.

mattface 

I have considered running a canti fork on a non canti frame, and either using a caliper in the back or no brake. I probably don't really need a rear brake. The rear wheel has a freewheel on the free side, but mostly that's to protect the threads. I've never had much use for the free side on a fixed/free wheel.

bikemig 

Nice looking stereo system. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I like the bike too, .

bones_mcbones

I recently just pulled my freewheel off, never used it and it was totally gritty. I just greased the threads.

DiegoFrogs

Proper touring bikes with cantilevers seem to be in high demand right now, and the prices can be quite crazy. You might consider something that takes centerpull calipers which, with a bit of skill and patience, can be made to work very good with aluminum rims.

I actually don't have a bike with cantilevers that I ride right now (I do have an old Ross MTB that I keep at my parents' house with unimpressive Dia Compe cantilevers), but I've been able to make both brazed-on centerpull brakes, low-end conventional Weinmann/Dia Compe centerpulls and Paul's Racers work as well as I've ever needed. On my Carlton with the Paul's, I could probably put a 50 mm tire in the front and a 45 mm tire in the rear without fenders. On my Centurion, I'm pretty much limited to 32 mm tires with fenders.

mattface 

Thanks! The turntable was my grandfathers. My dad built the David Hafler preamp from a kit when I was a kid.

mattface 

There is a green Carlton-built Raleigh Supercourse I am considering fro this project if I give up on finding a frame with cantis. I used to have an orange Supercourse that I liked quite a bit.

DiegoFrogs

I would be all over that Raleigh for your purposes.

Out of curiosity, why did you get rid of the Japanese built Super Course? They seem like fantastic bikes.

IAmSam

Are you bound and determined to use those wheels on your build?
When I saw the 1st pic of that frame it screamed late 80/early 90 mountain bike and I wondered what you had in mind but wondered whether maybe you had 26" CR18 rims. Guess not?
If you can get yourself off that 700c wheelset & back to using MTB wheels with the u-brakes you have an ideal beginning for a winter bike.
Or, if you are absolutely committed to your newly built wheels, are you willing to spend a few bux on a new frame? Something very reasonably priced & built for cantis? Look into an On One Pompino:

mattface 

It was actually a Carlton Supercourse. I loved it, and I had just replaced the original bars with Mustache bars when I sold it which made it an even better setup for me, but I had too many bikes and I was culling the herd. The good news is the guy that got it also loved it and rode the snot out of it.

I am bound and determined to use this wheelset, because it seems an ideal wheelset for my vision for this bike, which more than just a winter bike will be my year round foul weather and utility bike. If I give up on the canti brake idea I have two other frames available that might work well. Both have plenty of tire clearance, and horizontal drops. If I can find one, I might replace the fork with a canti fork.

The aforementioned Supercoarse which actually has a pretty decent B17 on it. It would definitely need paint. Somewhere I've got a brand new pair of Phil Wood cups for Raleigh threading.


This Nishiki is pretty sweet, Tange DB tubing, and actually has plenty of clearance i checked the back with a 27" wheel with 27x1 3/8 knobby, and there's still plenty of room for a fender even with that. It's probably lighter than the Raleigh. The paint is chipped up, but looks so cool I would probably keep it as is for now.