Dawes Touring Frame Project

[rh100]

If by aero levers, you mean the ones that have a position to rest on the levers at the top, like a moulded plastic fitting, that's the type I have. I also have cantilever brakes which perform quite poorly despite new cable and blocks and best effort to set them up.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

If by aero levers, you mean the ones that have a position to rest on the levers at the top, like a moulded plastic fitting, that's the type I have. I also have cantilever brakes which perform quite poorly despite new cable and blocks and best effort to set them up.

These are traditional, non-aero levers, they can have rubber hoods to rest hands on. Unlike aero levers, the cables come out of the top of the hoods.

Brakes can perform poorly because the rim material is chrome steel, e.g. Have you tried kool stop brake blocks?

 

[rh100]

No they come from beneath the rim tape so must come out the sides.

Will try the kool stops. Admittedly, there are only very cheap blocks on at the moment. Cheers.

 

[emulsifier12]

Getting there.

Bike coming together now.

Just got stem shifters put on, complements of Porkpete (thanks again).
Saddle in the post, should have that tomorrow.

Still need :
Wheels 700c : Budget has taken a bit of a knock, so looking at the £80 - £120 region. Looking at Shimano RS 10 or Shimano Tiagra WH-R500 or Omega Mach 1 rims or Mavic Aksiums / Open Sports. What are your opinions?


Front derailleur : Will one for a 48t work on a 52t?

Brake Callipers : Need some help with this one. I can get road callipers with 60mm drop but will then be left with canti / V bosses on the frame and fork. Anyone had any luck with fitting cantis or Vs to a frame with narrow bosses? Mine are 63mm (front) and 72mm (back) apart from each other making it awkward to fit them on the front as they stick out very far.


Brake levers : Will decide once I have sorted the calipers / cantis – Vs.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Brake Callipers : Need some help with this one. I can get road callipers with 60mm drop but will then be left with canti / V bosses on the frame and fork. Anyone had any luck with fitting cantis or Vs to a frame with narrow bosses? Mine are 63mm (front) and 72mm (back) apart from each other making it awkward to fit them on the front as they stick out very far.


Brake levers : Will decide once I have sorted the calipers / cantis – Vs.

I wonder if you are looking at the low profile cantis like the current Shimanos or Avid Shortys, they stick out less than the traditional ones. Obviously you want to check, especially for the front, to see whether there is enough room for the pads, and whether the pads can be swiveled to hit the rim surface flat on. These low profile cantis do need a bit more care to set up properly.

 

[rh100]

Bike coming together now.

Just got stem shifters put on, complements of Porkpete (thanks again).
Saddle in the post, should have that tomorrow.

Still need :
Wheels 700c : Budget has taken a bit of a knock, so looking at the £80 - £120 region. Looking at Shimano RS 10 or Shimano Tiagra WH-R500 or Omega Mach 1 rims or Mavic Aksiums / Open Sports. What are your opinions?


Front derailleur : Will one for a 48t work on a 52t?

Brake Callipers : Need some help with this one. I can get road callipers with 60mm drop but will then be left with canti / V bosses on the frame and fork. Anyone had any luck with fitting cantis or Vs to a frame with narrow bosses? Mine are 63mm (front) and 72mm (back) apart from each other making it awkward to fit them on the front as they stick out very far.


Brake levers : Will decide once I have sorted the calipers / cantis – Vs.

Be sure to post a pic when it's done. Had mine stripped right down today Got as far as regreasing the headset but still waiting for some bits to turn up, can't wait to get it going.

 

[emulsifier12]

Visitted the LBS yesterday and got some V brakes and drop bar brakes levers with cables. I only went in to buy a spoke and landed up buying and arranging the spares for the rest of the project. The remainder such as wheels are will prob be sourced through the LBS. He said he could build me a pair of light 36 spoke wheels with double walled rims, chromed spokes and a decent shimano hub for about £100. I was only in the shop for 10 minutes and the build is sorted... I spent an entires weeks evenings reading forums and on ebay and bike websites... must have been 15hours or more to walk in the LBS and spend just 10 minutes...

The shop was very busy and I told him I would come back during the week once he had a price for the front derailleur and cable adjusters that bolt onto the bosses of the downtube shifters. He is going to look into the wheels option for me and will give me the exact spec on Tuesday before he proceeds.

I started putting the bike together. I had it stripped right down and have reasembled the fork and handlebars, bb with new 52 / 42 gearset and brakes.

Should be up and riding for the half term break.

 

[emulsifier12]

Going out for a ride now on my old bike with fixed spoke... should have the new bike sorted for next weekend.

 

[PpPete]

He said he could build me a pair of light 36 spoke wheels with double walled rims, chromed spokes and a decent shimano hub for about £100.

That sounds like a good deal, has he indicated a weight? Oh and I'd pay extra for stainless spokes IFIWY.

 

[emulsifier12]

No, but I will update you when I have spoken to him on Tuesday.

Just broke another spoke on my Claude Butler Urban 100s rear wheel. Very frustrating as this brought my ride to a quick end as I was only 2 miles from home when it happened. I turned back and went home.

Can't wait to get the dawes galaxy frame finished now.

 

[PpPete]

Spokes tend to fail through fatigue because they are too loose.
When you've replaced that one, go round the whole wheel checking the spoke tensions on drive side are even, then same on non-drive side. You can do this by plucking each spoke like a guitar string.

 

[emulsifier12]

Galaxy Build update

I have finished building the Galaxy up now. I took it out on a ride tonight after assembling all the bits and it was great. Nice and quick, a very different kind of ride when compared to the hybrid.

I sourced the remaining spares through Ebay as the LBS was pricey and could not give me the exact spec on the wheels.

I have only one problem. The frame came with a Sachs Huret Rival Touring Derailleur which I have cleaned up and which is working well, but it is only able to select 7 out of 8 gears on the rear cassette using a 6 speed shimano stem shifter in friction mode.

The derailleur can reach all 8 gears when I push it over by hand, but it seems that the stem shifters are not pulling enough cable to get to the 8th gear?

Is the problem the 6 speed stem shifter in friction mode or is it the derailleur which is about 20 years old and was designed for 6 speeds?

Will a new derailleur eg Shimano TX31 Tourney Derailleur 6/7 speed work? The reason is that they are on special for £6 at Halfrauds and I can pick one up tomorrow and use it over the bank holiday weekend.

Is there a difference between a 7 speed derailleur and a 8 speed one?

I have attached pictures of the rear derailleur and of the finished bike.

It has Shimano RSX 52 / 42 chainset, HG50 chain, 8 Speed HG40 11 - 30 rear cassette.

 

[rh100]

Will be interested to see how you get on with these levers, was thinking about it for mine but thought I may have to go with bar end shifters eventually, as I've not seen any 7 or 8 speed stem shifters anywhere.

Nice looking bike BTW, how do you find the change from Hybrid to tourer? More comfy?

 

[PpPete]

Rear mechs are usually OK with any number of different numbers of speeds. You just have to get the cable pull right for the indexing (or use friction setting as you have done). The limiting factor with old mechs is often the amount of sideways motion but it sounds like you have enough of that, so I suspect those shifters just don't pull enough cable. Unfortunately stem shifters faded out before cassettes with 7, 8 & more speeds took over from freewheels.
You could try a new derailleur though because the "gain ratio" (amount of sideways travel per mm of cable pulled) may be slightly higher on a more modern mech. For £6 it's got to be worth a try!

 

[emulsifier12]

Thanks PorkyPete.
On my way way to halfrauds now to pick one up. I hope that the new derailleur will sort out the problem of 7 out of 8 gears.

I went out on a quick 15 miler this morning. It was great, although the rain brought the ride to premature end as I could have done another 15 miles... I love the different positions available on the drop bars. The bike is definitely quicker as I had my brother working hard to keep up with me on the new bike now as apposed to my hybrid.

The ride position is much further forward and lower and the BB is closer to the ground, I must remember that when cornering. As for selecting the gears at the back the stem shifter was a breeze, got it sussed within about 5 miles. Front derailleur changing well too.

I had to stop a few times to make small adjustments to seat height and front derailleur alignment. I have had great satisfaction from doing this build and would recommend it to anyone who wants a project and has some spare cash lying about.