zzpza
Well-Known Member
It's been a while since I posted my last projects (#0, #1 and #2) so I thought it was time for an update on my latest. 
A friend of mine has wanted a road bike for a while. His friends and I decided to build him a bike for his birthday.
Originally I wanted to buy a good quality 2nd hand bike that just needed servicing, but he needs a 52cm frame which don't show up that often on eBay. In the end we went for a frameset that came with some extra 'bits' from eBay.
The description sounded ok, it was the right size, made of alloy (he wanted something light) and looked pretty cool with internal routing of the rear brake cable. The auction described the frame as such: "Although the frame is a lovely frame to ride it has a few paint chip’s on it, however these can be touched up easily."
What eventually turned up (2 weeks late, and only after I lodged a dispute with eBay) wasn't really what I had expected. Suffice to say I had to break out the P38 and rattle cans. And I'd missed my friend's Birthday.
Anyway... here's what turned up. This is the 'frameset' as I unboxed it.
First thing I did was to test the tyre clearance and see if the drop of the brakes I'd bought were OK. Normally I would have waited for the frame to turn up before buying the rest of the parts, but I was already 2 week behind so had to push on using best judgement.
Rear brake - OK
Front brake - OK too.
I had made my mind up by this point that I was going to have to paint the frame, so off came the stickers and the tear down started.
Some highlights of the road rash...
This had dented the soft alloy tubing...
After I had washed the frame it was ready for sanding and keying (N.B. I really didn't want to remove the cups as the previous headset was one of the few things I reused).
In previous conversations about road bikes I had trying to lure my friend away from flat bars, but he didn't like drops. When I got some Profile Airwings for one of my other bikes, he really liked them. So I had the idea of trying to fit gears to aero bars without having tribars. This was my result:
So, back to the frame. This is after initial degrease and sanding:
As I had gone right down to the metal, I used an etch primer to cover up after myself.
Then the frame received its first coat of colour!
It was at that point that I realised that the really bad road rash was still visible.
It never pays to scrimp on prep to save time. It will cost you in the long run. So out came the P38.
Which I then sanded 98% off...
Then followed several applications of paint followed by lacquer which resulted in this:
Then started the reassembly.
As it was well past my friend's birthday he wanted to help in it's assembly so he could feel a part of the bike too. We had already come clean about the delays, so the cat was already out of the bag.
We polished the fork with t-cut and then cut it down to actually fit this frame. I have no idea how the PO had ever ridden the bicycle with the steerer being about 5cm too long. We also used a quill to ahead converter, which was fun to fit! The PO had left the wedge from the previous quill stuck inside the steerer tube. We had to drift it out with a mallet.
The bars went on next.
Then the rear mech...
A spare Campy crankset I had...
Front mech...
Gear and brake cables were next.
Bar tape and saddle were all that were left to fit.
All in it cost about £250 plus some spare bits from me (wheelset and crankset).
I think it looks pretty good. There are still a few small dings that I didn't notice when I was filling the frame (I was working pretty late to get it done quickly after missing the deadline) but my friend thinks it looks awesome. It took about 12 man hours excluding paint drying time.
If you want to see even MORE pix, they are here.
A friend of mine has wanted a road bike for a while. His friends and I decided to build him a bike for his birthday.
Originally I wanted to buy a good quality 2nd hand bike that just needed servicing, but he needs a 52cm frame which don't show up that often on eBay. In the end we went for a frameset that came with some extra 'bits' from eBay.
The description sounded ok, it was the right size, made of alloy (he wanted something light) and looked pretty cool with internal routing of the rear brake cable. The auction described the frame as such: "Although the frame is a lovely frame to ride it has a few paint chip’s on it, however these can be touched up easily."
What eventually turned up (2 weeks late, and only after I lodged a dispute with eBay) wasn't really what I had expected. Suffice to say I had to break out the P38 and rattle cans. And I'd missed my friend's Birthday.
Anyway... here's what turned up. This is the 'frameset' as I unboxed it.
First thing I did was to test the tyre clearance and see if the drop of the brakes I'd bought were OK. Normally I would have waited for the frame to turn up before buying the rest of the parts, but I was already 2 week behind so had to push on using best judgement.
Rear brake - OK
Front brake - OK too.
I had made my mind up by this point that I was going to have to paint the frame, so off came the stickers and the tear down started.
Some highlights of the road rash...
This had dented the soft alloy tubing...
After I had washed the frame it was ready for sanding and keying (N.B. I really didn't want to remove the cups as the previous headset was one of the few things I reused).
In previous conversations about road bikes I had trying to lure my friend away from flat bars, but he didn't like drops. When I got some Profile Airwings for one of my other bikes, he really liked them. So I had the idea of trying to fit gears to aero bars without having tribars. This was my result:
So, back to the frame. This is after initial degrease and sanding:
As I had gone right down to the metal, I used an etch primer to cover up after myself.
Then the frame received its first coat of colour!
It was at that point that I realised that the really bad road rash was still visible.
It never pays to scrimp on prep to save time. It will cost you in the long run. So out came the P38.Which I then sanded 98% off...
Then followed several applications of paint followed by lacquer which resulted in this:
Then started the reassembly.
As it was well past my friend's birthday he wanted to help in it's assembly so he could feel a part of the bike too. We had already come clean about the delays, so the cat was already out of the bag.
We polished the fork with t-cut and then cut it down to actually fit this frame. I have no idea how the PO had ever ridden the bicycle with the steerer being about 5cm too long. We also used a quill to ahead converter, which was fun to fit! The PO had left the wedge from the previous quill stuck inside the steerer tube. We had to drift it out with a mallet.
The bars went on next.
Then the rear mech...
A spare Campy crankset I had...
Front mech...
Gear and brake cables were next.
Bar tape and saddle were all that were left to fit.
All in it cost about £250 plus some spare bits from me (wheelset and crankset).
I think it looks pretty good. There are still a few small dings that I didn't notice when I was filling the frame (I was working pretty late to get it done quickly after missing the deadline) but my friend thinks it looks awesome.
It took about 12 man hours excluding paint drying time.
If you want to see even MORE pix, they are here.
