Building a bike

[yashicamat]

Yeah, I hope the Galaxy frame should work well for a SS as the rear dropouts will allow a degree of adjustment.

Oops, I meant to add the photo showing the brake mount hole too on the fork:

Cheers

Rob

 

[youngoldbloke]

Googling for 1" stems, I have come across this: http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-Sturmey-Archer-Sturmey-Archer-Stem-Forged-Alloy-2972.htm which I assume would be the sort of thing I'd be looking for?

Quill stems are quite hard to come by, and not always available in the length you require, but you could use one of these, or similar, and a modern stem (which would enable you to fit oversize bars if wanted):
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-...inch-Quill-to-1-1-8-inch-Threadless-20442.htm

 

[gbb]

Quill stems are quite hard to come by, and not always available in the length you require, but you could use one of these, or similar, and a modern stem (which would enable you to fit oversize bars if wanted):
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-...inch-Quill-to-1-1-8-inch-Threadless-20442.htm

The Ahead to quill adaptor works well, i have one on my winter commuter.
Beware the price tho...£14.99...i paid £6.99 for mine 18 months ago from the LBS. I think they were glad to get it off the shelves. It may be worth asking your LBS.

 

[PpPete]

I think I'm right in saying that if the hole in the fork is same diameter back & front then it's nut fitting.

If you end up with a spare nut-fitting long-drop front caliper, and want to sell it on to recover some of your outlay, I'd be very interested!


Edit: Plenty of quill stems on ebay...or let me know what length you want, I'll see if I have a spare.

 

[yashicamat]

I'm beginning to get rather concerned by the possible cost of this project (I estimate about £350 further required), especially given the fact that the frame is a bit old and quite a few of parts needed (BB bearing, headset, stem, rear brake) are all going to be pretty much bespoke for this bike and not transferrable to another bike (thanks to the superceeded features such as 1" stems and 27" wheels). Taking into account that a dedicated Specialized Langster SS with a flip flop hub can be bought for £100 more.

What do we reckon? Hunt on eBay for a cheapish 700c roadbike to convert to an SS, or hunt on eBay for the parts to make this one work . . . but probably spend ages doing it and not definitely saving any great amount of money in the process.

Rob

 

[PpPete]

I would have thought you could do it for a lot less than £350....if you are prepared to wait for the right parts on Ebay.

I certainly wouldnt buy 27" wheels - get some 700c then they are transferable to another bike.

£21 for the long drop brakes to cope with the small diameter difference.
You only need the rear caliper, so you can sell the front.

Or go fixed rather than SS, then you only need a brake on front, and that would be an ordinary one because those forks are 700c?

decent chromed 1" threaded headset..£15? That's one thing worth buying new IMO
quill stem or an adapter £10 ?

Everything else is pretty much transferable to another bike.

OR.... sell the frame to put towards the cost of the Langster ?

 

[youngoldbloke]

Life's too short, sell the frame, buy the Langster.

 

[yashicamat]

Managed to get hold of a Rixon CroMo road bike frame for nowt, complete with stem, forks, headset and bottom bracket. The old Galaxy cranks will fit the BB so that's that sorted too.

Might be getting some second hand wheels cheaply from a colleague too which will do in the short term.

Things are going well again now - expected spend sub-£200.

 

[yashicamat]

Mavic Open Pros with 23mm tyres and campag freehub, plus 14T and 16T aquired now. Old double crankset & chainwheels aquired too (campag again) - bit worn but will see me through until the summer at least I should think.

Rust patches treated this evening, wheels cleaned up and tyres fitted. Other parts arriving tomorrow. Getting there slowly.

 

[jay clock]

I must admit I would go for the Langster

a) brown fairly tired looking frame + red fork = not very pretty in my view

cobbling a single sprocket onto a freehub will never look great and in any event you would need a different hub if you went five speed

c) brake reach issues.....

 

[yashicamat]

I must admit I would go for the Langster

a) brown fairly tired looking frame + red fork = not very pretty in my view

cobbling a single sprocket onto a freehub will never look great and in any event you would need a different hub if you went five speed

c) brake reach issues.....

I dunno, I think this is starting to look quite smart (btw, I'm not using the Galaxy frame any more . . .):

Cleaned the old Campag crank up tonight, went out and collected an axle for the rear wheel so that's on now, fitted front and rear brakes and popped the dropped 'bars on.

 

[yashicamat]

Saddle fitted, brake levers mounted, brake cables routed & brakes set up, bar tape fitted (easier than I thought that bit), pedals fitted and rear 14T sprocket fitted with spacers.

Chain next . . . .

 

[yashicamat]

And the finished product . . . just need to fettle the chain tension now:

 

[GrahamNR17]

That looks fantastic

I'd rather assumed a winter commuter was going to be some old bitsa hack that looked like the leftovers from the welders bin

But that's really smart

 

[yashicamat]

That looks fantastic

I'd rather assumed a winter commuter was going to be some old bitsa hack that looked like the leftovers from the welders bin

But that's really smart

Yeah I'm very pleased with how it's turned out too. I think as it went on, I took more pride in it. Overall cost is about £200 which isn't bad. Weight is 10.2kg which is quite light too - I really notice that on hills compared to my 15kg touring bike. Although it was built as a commuter, I can see this one getting a lot of use at other times too.