This year's project - ideas and questions

[All uphill]

We are approaching the time of year when I start to plan a winter project, and I have a few ideas and questions for you.

I'm on a tight budget - which means I will probably spend a lot, but in small purchases on ebay, so the pain is spread across months.

I already have a lovely Tange steel frame and fork from my 1994 Marin hybrid with 700c wheels, which I had resprayed a dark metallic red in 2018. Unfortunately the paint flaked from day one, so it's tatty now.

I love the look of @Elybazza61 Stayer with 26" wheels or 650b wheels , so that's my provisional starting point. Big tan wall tyres, 650b wheels, hub dynamo, maybe some beaten steel mudguards.

if I put smaller wheels on the 700c frame I think I will have to accept or overcome the following:

Brakes - the frame has canti posts, and I have used v- brakes. Is there a solution to this, short of welding new posts on?

Bottom bracket ground clearance. If the BB is about 20mm closer to the ground but I use much bigger tyres (say 47mm, in place of 32mm) I don't think this will be a problem. If necessary I could use shorter cranks.

Mounting mudguards will need some innovation.

Thanks for reading this far. What have I missed?

 

[Elybazza61]

We are approaching the time of year when I start to plan a winter project, and I have a few ideas and questions for you.

I'm on a tight budget - which means I will probably spend a lot, but in small purchases on ebay, so the pain is spread across months.

I already have a lovely Tange steel frame and fork from my 1994 Marin hybrid with 700c wheels, which I had resprayed a dark metallic red in 2018. Unfortunately the paint flaked from day one, so it's tatty now.

I love the look of @Elybazza61 Stayer with 26" wheels or 650b wheels , so that's my provisional starting point. Big tan wall tyres, 650b wheels, hub dynamo, maybe some beaten steel mudguards.

if I put smaller wheels on the 700c frame I think I will have to accept or overcome the following:

Brakes - the frame has canti posts, and I have used v- brakes. Is there a solution to this, short of welding new posts on?

Bottom bracket ground clearance. If the BB is about 20mm closer to the ground but I use much bigger tyres (say 47mm, in place of 32mm) I don't think this will be a problem. If necessary I could use shorter cranks.

Mounting mudguards will need some innovation.

Thanks for reading this far. What have I missed?

You will probably have to stick with 700's with the canti posts; you could get someone to weld an is disc mount on (Stayer and other bods do this) and either do the same to the fork or get a disc fork, not the cheap option though.

https://www.stayercycles.com/product/disc-brake-conversion/

Thanks for the mention and it's 650b wheels on the Stayer OG.

 

[All uphill]

You will probably have to stick with 700's with the canti posts; you could get someone to weld an is disc mount on (Stayer and other bods do this) and either do the same to the fork or get a disc fork, not the cheap option though.

https://www.stayercycles.com/product/disc-brake-conversion/

Thanks for the mention and it's 650b wheels on the Stayer OG.

Thanks for that. A disc fork is an interesting option that I hadn't considered. I think a £100 fork would just about be OK within my self-imposed faux budget.