-holiday76

Post pics of parts you've come across that you feel warrant building an entire bike around. If you've done it already then a pic of the bike too. I want to know what parts are so great either in function or probably more likely aestetic that inspired you to create the entire bike around it. I know this must have been done by a few of you. BTW frames don't count since they're really the only stand alone part that is basically a bike in of itself.

sailorbenjamin

Wheels get me. I might bore some of you with more pics of these... Well, maybe I'll just show the latest. They're 26x1 1/4 (EA!) wheels from a '28 Raleigh club racer. The tires are the Schwinn size of course. I've had them on at least 4 bikes but I really like them on this latest build. The extra 7mm (597 vs 590) fills out a 3 speed fender nicely. The fenders are from an American lightweight, '38 Shelby Traveler and Banjo Mole sent me the classy pump peg. The frame is just a 72 Phillips. They've got those really cool old Raleigh "R" wingnuts that you only see on really old bikes




Here they are on one of the Raleighs, They make standard EA3s look puny.

sailorbenjamin

Then there's this Campy Record rear derailler with the homemade long cage. I've been testing it's limits and it'll handle 27 speeds, though not always gracefully. Actually, it's the stock CR front deraillier that gets cranky. A Shimano FD would probably solve all of my problems but I'm not willing to make that compromise. I'll work it out.
Actually, I've found a period correct half step Raleigh chainring that is a pretty decent fit with this IRD 7 speed freewheel that I've got. That might be a nice combo.

ColonelJLloyd 

^ Nice builds!

Holiday, I'm sure you'd agree that the Specialties TA Cyclotouriste crank is one of those parts that many great looking and performing bikes have been built around. I don't have any pics of my own to share, but I know others on this forum can provide some great examples.

KonAaron Snake 

I bought the water bottle first and got the rest to give it a place to rest:

gridplan

I love pantographed bikes of the 1980's. I bought a 51 cm Guerciotti (pics) strictly for its parts so I could build one more my size (pics). I then sold the smaller frame to defray the cost of the larger one.

Chombi

Well,...........

My stash of parts is ready to hang itself on a dream frame as soon as I find the right one. I was hoping to build up a Peugeot PY10FC or a mid 80's Gitane Pro, but no luck so far (Dang, why can't I find a PY10FC that isn't so beat to hell!)........ Now the Titan pantographed stem shows up in the stash so a Titan frame is also in the running if I ever find one with a paintjob I can live with.......In the meantime I have tested some of these on my two other bikes while I wait......

Chombi

ldmataya 

Finding this crank inspired me to finish the bike. It took about 2 years...



...but then it was worth it

Andrew F

This is the inspiration for converting my 1960 Raliegh Sports into a 3x2 geared, dropbar road bike. I have a set of vintage raleigh dropbars, now I just need a set of Bluemels Club Specials.

JohnDThompson 

I found this Zeus 2000 Pista crank and built a bike around it:

-holiday76

great replies everyone!


thanks!

Colonel, you're right, its definitely a peice worth building around. They're beautiful. With that said I purchased mine but it was a great option for running a compact crank that's vintage. I guess I normally go for function over form..

-holiday76

So my entry, though I don't have a pic right now, is that I've collected gold simplex retrofriction dt shifters, and gold mafac 2000 brakeset and levers. I'm still hopefull that I can find a long cage simplex rear mech but if I can't I'll have to settle for a shorter cages version and gear down the front as much as possible.

What will all of this go on?

I don't know yet, but the best contender right now is my late 60's px-10. This is a long term project as the frame needs paint and it's already taken me 18 months or so just to collects the parts I have so far.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

all gold bits = Black Frame. how bad ass would that be? IMHO extremely.

Like sailorbenjamin I also love wheels. I started with this new Sturmey X-FDD (Drum Brake & Dynamo) front hub knowing that I wanted fat 26" wheels on a Schwinn Varsity. JJPistols made me do it.



ended up growing into a serious project, drum brakes all around, 7 speed Indexing, threadless stem conversion..... and thats how I got my varsity grocery bomber.

treebound 

Very nice. Nice hairnet too. I keep my eyes open for an old "helmet" like that.

I'm also playing with ideas to build a bike around these aerobars:

IMG_0456..JPG