My first true project bike is near complete! I can at least take it for a spin, finally.
The frame is a slight variant on a holdsworth mystuiqe. It originated in one of the Harding cycle shops, hence its branding as such. I bought it from a nice gentlemen off the CL.
It's original form was a 5×3 with a front derailur that was only designed for 2 gears on 27" tires.


First picture. Its truest (but still semi-frankienstiened) form.

The shifting was rough and the tires where shredded so I did some experimenting with parts I had from a stripped frame whose shifting was profoundly smooth.
I performed a full drive change swap over with indexed shimano 105 DT shifters on an origin8 down tube adapter. This life and it's current gave the Harding 700cs. The deep V front rim came to me free and its got a Hope Pro hub in it so I'm finding it difficult to let go despite the stylistic mismatch. The tires cost me $20 total and frankly I was curious to see if the clearance could handle 700c×40. They are truly, foolishly large tires. They are comfy but I will definitely be changing them out for something more reasonable when I can.


Its first, second life, pre DT adaptors it required for 105 shifters.

The rear rim turned out to be shot so I put the cassette on a newer 700c. It needed a spacer and this pushed the cassette so close to the frame that the chain had about a hairs clearance from the frame in the lowest gear. I wanted to eventually put a rear rack on it so this would not do. I went back to the drawing board. I toyed with turning it into an IGH 3 speed and then bought a NOS 4 speed hub off Ebay on a lark. It didnt come with a trigger and that plus a wheel build and all the bits I still needed were adding up fast.
My local LBS, listening to me opine, brought out a dusty alfine 8 wheel build they had on the shelf and sold it to me for basically cost. It was $250, but I was so exhausted with trying to get this bike into actual rideable shape that I was happy to pay it just to have a guarantee things would work once I got it together.
Now finally with that IGH alfine 8 hub its alive! It rides!


"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place be afforded: it can give form to dark shapeless substances but cannot bring into being the substance itself."



"We are fashioned creatures, but half made up."



"Let your compassion be moved, and do not disdain me." Probably the prettiest angle of the monster.

The crankset is shimano 600 I got for $7 with an origin 8 chainring. This I will eventually change out for my Lambert of England TA style cranks with a TA chainring.
The handlebars are Nitto Noodles I got off an old super course.
Oh and the stem. Just look at that stem!
the old appropriately silver stem I had was much much too long as it had some sweep back bars on it. When I converted to drop bars, to work with the alfines trigger shifters, I was terribly stretched out. This stem was laying on the work bench of the LBS and they just gave it too me. "Bring it back when you have something better" she said. Well I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth so I threw it on. No tape yet because I'm making sure the drops are placed right (I'm thinking a tad higher may be nice). When I do wrap them up I'll have Black brooks leather tape on the noodles. I'll clearly need a new seat to match!
The bag was a lovely gift from my lovely girlfriend and the fender is a cherry and black walnut from woodys. It will be reviving a matching front partner come Christmas.
There is clearance for a rear rack, the shifting is smooth and I'm happy... mostly.
I can't ride it no handed like I can my 70 Raleigh sport. I think it also needs a new headset. But hey, I'm close!

I'm happy to hear critiques, suggestions, or anything else that comes to mind.


All quotes from Mary Shelly's Frankienstien because I am uninspired and thoroughly enjoy cliches.

Thanks!
They'll probably be the last thing I change. If I change them haha I want to start with the headset and stem.
They are pretty fun to ride on for sure!

What shifter are you using for the Alfine hub? Who makes it? How much does it cost?

The Versa 8 shifters. I believe they are standard and cone with the hub normally.
I can't find any for sale separately. The closest thing I'm seeing are these .
I'm pondering getting some bar end shifters eventually but these came with it and they work wonderfully.

Yikes! Almost $200 for a shifter/brake lever. That's not for me, not in the near term. Not until I prove out the design. I'm not yet even sure I want drop bars on the bike.

In the 1960s and 1970s I bought lots of parts at Charlie Harding's shop on Westwood Bl., just south of UCLA. I remember when the Harding brand started showing up in the early 1970s, and I remember the curly-stay Hetchins bikes and the 90-speed bike he had on display.

Nice to see a Harding brought back to use.

I didnt want drop bars but I figured I'd set it up the way it was given to me first. I'll likely change it out to something else once I have a feel for the hub.
DQRider just suggested these to me in the 3 speed thread as a reasonable alternative. They are MUCH cheaper and would likley work for your needs.

I LOVE the history of the Harding cycle shops and it is a huge part of what has inspired me in this project. Knowing my bike came from such a relatively small, compared to full mass production, set of cycles makes me quite happy.
I want to keep that Harding legacy alive and running.

I also saw those but could not find info on the ID of that clamp. My ALFINE shifter is too small for my road bars.

Let me add this - shift levers and shifter cable routing have been a bugaboo with this hub since day one. I wonder why Shimano has not released additional shifter styles for this hub and made at least a clamp-on cable routing package to go with them. It is almost as thought the bike has to be designed to use this hub from day one with all its related cable routing braze-ons.

Good grief!, the hubs are $250-$500, for the 8 and 11 speed versions! Customers deserve better support to go with the hub.

I am with you there! I was surprised to see they had not realeased some options for control of the lever. Do they usually supply the versa 8 for that price point or is it just on the consumer to figure it out?

to cable routing;
Are you using the alfine currently? What kind of a set up do you have? I used some after market cable clamps sized for the gore-pro cable housing on the DT (they were kind of silly.expensive for a hunk of metal and I found myself once again thinking I need to buy a few old three speeds and strip them for hardware) and good old zip ties to run the housing below the rear drive side drop out stay.
I did find it very odd that the hub had its cable entrance (wrong term for sure but I dont know what to call the hole the housing goes into haha) set up to run under the drop out stay. My last couple bikes have had runs over the top, but I'm not sure how universal braze on location is.
I ran mine with no break in the housing from the exit point in the shifter all the way to the hub. I figured the less exposure and the fewer chances I had to mess up the cable or have it pull through my braze ons the better. I should also say I didn't actually attach the cables. I ran the housing but couldnt figure out how to get the cable in the shifter so that magic was done by the LBS free of charge.

I am with you! For that price point you should be getting a pretty intuitive system or some help haha
my lbs walked me through the whole process of it for free. They are good peoples.

I've run it two ways.

The first was using the cable routing braze-ons left over from the thumb shifters on the mountain bike frame (see photo below).
The tricky bit there was in the rear, going from the frame into the hub.
The cable stop is intended to have housing going to a derailleur (that's good).
The cable stop is over the chain stay (that's bad).
The distance from the cable stop to the hub is very short - only about 2-3" (that's bad).
An S-shaped bend was needed but it was a fairly tight pair of bends.
The resulting friction slowed the response of the gear changing mechanism.
It worked but I was always looking for something better.

The current set up is as you describe - uninterrupted cable housing from the thumb shifter to the hub, held in place using zip ties. It is inelegant and still has a lot of friction in the system.

what kind of frame is that on? I'd love to see the whole set up.
My local LBS that I got it from said this (uninterrupted routing) is as good as it gets. I dont buy it though and I'm going to keep my eye out for more elegant solutions.
I wonder... could you set the hub in the frame so that its cable entrance is angled up? That way the cable and housing travel up along the rear triangle and then along the TT? Have it set up more in the traditional 3 speed style? I'm not sure but perhaps that would help with the friction issue. Shortest distance and the pull on the cable being up instead of out.



Blue is the location the cable entrance goes too, red is new cable run. I dont know if the alfine allows this or not?

The bike is based on a Specialized Stumpjumper Sport. I don't have any pictures of its final configuration but can post an older version.

I have also thought about that approach and have found you can buy a clamp-on version of the little wheel typically used for Sturmey-Archer 3 speed bikes. The wheel is usually located near the seat lug and gives that exact cable route. The washers that lock the hub into the frame are somewhat limited. I don't yet know if one with the proper angle is available.

I had a little bit more success today when I recognized the stem diameter is the proper size for attaching the gear shift lever. I have attached the shifter to the vertical portion of the stem. The cable routing is far from perfect but the shifter is on the bike with no bracketry of any type needed.

The lockouts! Of course, they only work in two positions. I do wonder if you could drill some out, but bot that's a lot of work.
that bike is wonderful! If you get some more pics please share them. I'm always looking to upgrade or just mess with my set up.

I do believe that Charlie has achieved his final form.
I it has become pretty clear that the frame is too small for me, but I'm still very happy with the way it rides. I'm keeping my eye out for that frame that fits and is priced right while I ride this around.
I still haven't put bar tap on it yet because I want to use the brooks tape I have on something else. It is shockingly comfortable as is. I'm sure it's the 40s that stop me from feeling the roughness from the road. I only ride it a few miles to school and back right now but if I find myself doing any longer distances on it I'll definitely bite the bullet and wrap them up.
The stem is a Nitto as are the bars. I LOVED the look of those noodle bars but they were much too narrow for me. These bars feel much better. The noodle bars actually fit neatly inside of the new ones there was such a difference in size haha
I picked up some MKS pedals from my LBS and I am in love with the way they feel. I never realized how much of a difference pedals can make! The change to these from a bottom shelf pair I had on before is night and day.
I got my bottle dyno back on my bike too. I blew the rear light flying down a hill so untill I find an LED replacement for the rear I'm sticking with good old battery power.
I have a concern about the metal dynamo against my textured 40s though. I'm worried I will get a rather expedient uneven wear pattern.
I dont use the dyno that often but as the days get shorter I think I'll find my 630 ride home and my 8 am ride in both need light. Perhaps I'll "upgrade" to a plastic one.
It doesnt look much different but I think I can say that it feels complete now.
Now I just have to decide what I'll do with my cannondale and my supercourse frames next!

"It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world."

Beautiful! Sounds like the Harding was a fun journey.

To run the cable along the seat stays (which is an excellent idea, of course!) you would need different anti-rotation washers for the axle.



I never found the correct washers to do this. I am not sure any of the washers in the photo above would work. If not, one could have them made --either by a machinist or perhaps by 3D printing.

Expanding on the above.... I found this photo by a Google search:


Note the flat spots on the axle, and the tab on the anti-rotation washer. To run the cable up the seat stay, the axle needs to rotate 90 degrees or so. One of the washers made for vertical dropouts might work, I'm not sure.

Now that's an idea!
I think there must be some antiroatation washers that would work and if not I like the idea of just having one machined.
As it stands now I'm looking for a frame whose cable routing goes along the bottom of the chain stay. I figure since I need a different frame (size wise) anyway I should go with one that will aid this build.
so far I've found trek, bridgestone, and nishiki all have models with the below the chain stay cable routing.

Your dynamo's axle should point straight to the axle of the wheel it rubs on. It's out of alignment.

I'm curious as to what you thought of the crazy bars that you show in the 2nd photo in this thread.Even though I'm not keen on the look of them, I've toyed with the idea of using those on my Nishiki Cresta touring bike since they would allow upright riding as well as a somewhat aero position. I haven't moved on that thought yet though. What led you to remove them? Did you dislike them for some reason?

I actually really loved them!
they offer so many hand positions, and they are very comfortable. The only problem I had was that I do a lot of a city commuting and they are WIDE. I couldn't make the tight spaces on some streets or pass other cyclists very easily. I think they would be ideal for a touring rig though. I still may put them on my next project bike.