deux jambes

And here it is finally! My first effort at a bike build, and a bike that I’m fortunate to have only because of the help of BF C&V members.

Purchased January 2019 from eBay as a frame, and fork, it’s taken 8 months to plan this build, gather its parts, and put it together. The goal has always been a fun bike that would serve equally well on city streets for daily affairs as it would miles out of town for occasional camping, and scenic riding.

Just as BF members helped me to procure the frame, and fork, members have also provided a number of the components that went into the build. And the build itself was also made possible by the sharing of members’ knowledge, and experience. You’ve all brought a killer bike to fruition, and you’ve have made a better mechanic out of me for it. Much gratitude.

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Do note that I built this bike with limited tools. I used a chair with straps as a stand. The frame, and zip ties allowed for wheel truing. Three soup cans on table top served as a dishing tool. And the headset press, as well as the dropout alignment gauges were homemade. This might have made the process a little more difficult, but no less enjoyable.

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Serial # identifies this frame as a Limited model with a 1976 build date. Eisentraut was known to mix tube sets, and while the steerer tube here is stamped for Reynolds 531, the remaining tubes are yet to be identified. Nervex lugs with spade cutouts. Campagnolo dropouts, and fork tips.

5 lbs 13 oz.
55 seat tube c-c
54 cm top tube c-c
27.0 mm seat post
44 cm chainstays
120 mm rear spread

Paint has its fair share of road scars, and the lone decal has suffered a scrape, but no dents among the tubes, and all is rust free.

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The bottom bracket was chased, and faced, and prior to installing any components I a shot a dose of Frame Saver into each of the tubes.

Tange Levin headset & TA bottom bracket assembly were both Co-Op finds. Sta-Lube marine grease for both applications & grade 25 loose balls all around. Decaluer is from Velo Orange.

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Wheelset was a Craigslist find. Mavic MA40 700c 36h rims, DT double butted spokes, and 1984 Record hubs. Record skewers were found on eBay.

Wheels received full overhaul starting with new bearings, and Mobil 1 grease for the hubs. The rear was also respaced, or “restored” from a 127mm configuration to its original 120mm width. This latter work was due to the discovery of a poor chainline later in the bikes assembly.

Wheels were completely loosened, nipples lubed, spokes brought back up to even tension, dished, and trued within 0.55 mm radially, and 0.25 mm laterally.

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Selecting tires was one of the more difficult decisions for this build given the many options out there. But for considering the variety of riding I plan to cover, economy, and aesthetics, I settled on 32c Gravelking slicks to cover all needs. They’re mounted with Velox cotton tape, and Sunlite tubes.

The SunTour New Winner is an Ultra 6 that came with the wheelset. It was given a double bath of mineral spirits & Marvel Mystery Oil prior to a slow trickle of Phil’s Tenacious Oil. Cogs are 14-16-18-21-25-30 which look to offer a sensible, and usable range in conjunction with the triple up front.

Stem came from the Co-Op, and I believe it’s an SR Royal, or at least nice knock off. Belleri bars came from an ‘84 Trek 520 I’d once planned to build up, but instead parted out. Gran Compe slotted lever, and NOS Dia Compe gum hoods from eBay.

Brooks B17 Champion was found on Craigslist, while the two bolt Record seat post came from BF member @3speedslow (thank you friend, and I have not forgotten about you, and that Raleigh Apex).

TA Cyclotouriste crankset was pieced together. Drive side crank came off of a Craigslist parts bike. It was mismatched with a Nevar left side are. The missing arm was found on eBay. Of course, I was also short one dust cap, but @cudak888 took care of that (many thanks, and I still have eyes out for your list). The 48/38/28 chainset came BF member @hazetguy (thank you sir).

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Gran Compe calipers we’re found on eBay. The rear was already assembled with a Campy drop bolt which was a necessity in order to convert this frame to take a 700c wheelset. Both units were in need of rebuild, and that was made possible with an extra set of Gran Compes pulled from the legendary C&V Box ‘O Crap (thank you to who ever put those in there)! “SunTour Superbe” pads were ordered from Kool Stop to fit the original holders.

Jim Blackburn front rack was sourced from Craigslist.

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It was mentioned earlier that I ran into an issue with the chainline during assembly. Due to the rear hub being previously spaced at 127 mm, using of it with the Ultra 6 in between dropouts spaced at 120 mm, put the chain out of line by 3 mm. The bb spindle, and crankset were right on, so rebuild the rear wheel for proper spacing, and dish was in order. The hub was restored to its nominal 120 mm, and the chainline was brought to within 0.50 mm of effectiveness. I also took this as an opportunity to align the rear dropouts, and derailleur hanger.

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While purchasing the wheelset from its previous owner, I mentioned that I was looking for a set of SunTour barcons. He turned around, dug through a box, and presented a pair of the levers. They were taken apart, cleaned, and lubed prior to installation.

While I’m a pretty big SunTour fan, I wanted to be sure that whatever derailleurs would be used for this build could handle a 20t chain drop, a tall rear cog, and a large chain capacity. Shimano Deore XT was the east choice, and a beautiful set was provided by BF member @Nemosengineer (thanks again for your generosity). A spare rear for parts should I ever need them was provided by @nlerner (much appreciated sir).

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Wanting to maintain the vintage aesthetics, both brake cable, and housing had to come from Porkchop BMX. And for the same reason, shift cable housing came from an overseas eBayer by the recommendation of @merziac (thank you friend).

Top tube cable clamps were saved from a mid 70’s Fuji Dynamic 10 that had been parted out, while the SunTour cable stop was found at the Co-Op. MKS AR-1 pedals with matching cages were also found at the Co-Op, while the NOS MKS straps came from the LBS.

Chain is a Sram PC 850 from the parts stash.

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And with the mechanicals all hooked up, pedals installed, and the saddle, and cockpit roughly dialed into fit, it was time to take it for a spin. First ride was at night, and it was a thrill!

Second ride was two days later, and after a bit of tuning since the last ride. It was raining so I was hesitant, but out into the wet I rode, and rode, and rode...

Stopped briefly to snap a few shots of it show n’ tell:







I’m happy with the cable routing, and the lever fit up front, which means that I’ll wrap the bars this week (updates soon)! But until then, one more for the road...

noobinsf 

Gorgeous bike, love how it is turning out. Protect that Brooks!

Prowler 

Great work. Lovely bike. Two thoughts:

Now that you have a few miles on the bike, check the true on the wheels again. If you find they are still "bang on" then you feel great about it. But you may find the need a whisker of turning. Not unusual if you want to maintain those tolerances. You may have heard a tick or two on the first ride. Again, not unusual as the spokes 'settle a bit'. I had that yesterday on a customer's bike. Came in with two broken spokes on the rear. Dialed in the new ones and heard the couple of faint ticks on the test ride. Normal.

Pedal straps - I'm a big fan. I have them on my 7 road bikes, no clipless pedals, only toe cages and straps. However I'm also convinced that only leather straps will do. They hold open and round nicely which makes sliding your shoes in and out easy. Web straps are too flexible, would flop around, not stay rounded and may inhibit toe entry. I keep my straps adjusted 'just so': loose enough that I can pick up or drop the pedal easily but tight enough that my foot is held well and I can use the whole pedal stroke.

Oh, yes, I know. I'm the only one who ever pulls up on the back stroke. It's so lonely out here.

friendofpugs

Excellent build thread, thank you very much! How do you like the touring geometry compared to other rides?

nlerner

Lovely! My only functional nit to pick is that I have found the headset mount VO devaleur has a tendency to move around under load. That might not be a problem with a bag also attached to your front rack, but I suggest you consider a slick @gugie made unit.

bikemig 

I haven't used toe straps and clips in years but I recently installed them on an early 70s Fuji Finest I rebuilt. I went with they nylon toe straps. They do the job but I agree they don't stay rounded and the ends do flop around (I'm using toe strap buttons). I think I'll try leather straps to see if that helps.

Trsnrtr

Chapeau!

Nice build.

bikemig 

@deux jambes, lovely build and impressive job both of restoring the bike and tracking down all the parts. Sometimes I think half the fun is just tracking down stuff for that "perfect" build.

Two questions.

1. What do you think of that TA crank? I like them but my experience with them is that the chainrings are very close together (which makes sense given the narrow Q factor) but that requires more trimming of the FD than is the case with other cranks. Are you experiencing that as well? Have you tried sourcing a TA sticker for the crank arm? I'd love to track a set down for a Moto Grand Record I have with a TA crank.

2. I'm impressed that you slackened off all the spokes and then retensioned the rear wheel. I have not done that with my old wheels but that intuitively makes sense to me. Old wheels tend to lose tension over time and the spokes are generally not very evenly tensioned (especially on the rear). That's a heck of a lot of work but I may do that with an old wheel set that I want to start using regularly. I'm curious whether anyone else is doing that as well. Maybe we need a thread on how forum members get old wheels road worthy.

Sir_Name 

Looking good! The deer head was a great choice.

thinktubes 

That really came together nice - great work!

TenGrainBread 

@bikemig these are the go to TA crank decals. Very high quality.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TA-Speciali...RANSJ&LH_BIN=1

bikemig 

Thanks, these look awesome!

due ruote 

That’s quite a first build. Well done.
What are the plans for bar tape? Any thoughts on fenders after your wet ride?

TenGrainBread 

Yep. They took a couple weeks to make it from Australia but they are very nice decals. I put a pair on my daily rider a few months ago and they still look brand new.

The Golden Boy 

Congratulations!!

This build has been a long time coming, and it’s looking glorious!

Have fun Fall rides with it!!!

rando_couche

Beautiful.

John E

Just WOW!