Restored Bianchi

Reader Mark recently restored a Bianchi road bike with decals he acquired through us here at nippleworks. Mark, it turned out brilliantly. He used a powdercoater for the new red finish and also polished the lugs. Note the Brooks saddle and pro style front downtube shifter. Here are some before and after photos for your enjoyment and edification:

Custom frame is now known as custom bike

Way back in October, I wrote about commissioning a custom lugged steel frame. Tonight was its maiden voyage. It's been a long road with a few building delays, some technical challenges and just plain finding the time, but I eventually got it built up with a carbon CX fork and the components off my Surly Pacer frame (which is for sale wink wink). The frame is just clear coated with Rustoleum Painters Touch Clear which I can't recommend because it creates a finish that is far too delicate for use on a bicycle. Sanding and polishing wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and as a result, it doesn't exactly look like a steel gem. There are also tiny spots of corrosion below the finish, the sort of thing you'd never see if it were painted. The inside of the frame is also coated for rust prevention.

There's only two colors for bike components as far as I'm concerned, black and silver. My black Campy Mirage gruppo made that easy. The front derailer was a bit of a challenge to adjust as the seat tube is a 74 deg, which isn't exactly compatible with the angling of the derailer cage. The first ride went pretty smoothly, and there may be a few small things to adjust (up with the handlebar, down with the seat post, rubbing rear brake pad, etc). The combo of the steel frame, carbon fork and 25mm tires made it feel like really smooth. There are also more handlebar spacers on it than I would like. Maybe for my next custom frame I'll go with a slanted top tube. That will probably be a while off though since I've got more bikes than I need right now in the mean time, maybe this one will take me up the hill to watch Stage 2 of the Tour of California this weekend.

Recovering a leather (or pleather) saddle

I snapped two cell phone pictures of this pretty root beer colored Hunter cross bike at the McLaren Park CX race recently in San Francisco.  The owner stopped to talk to me about how he created that great matching seat.  He started with a worn out plastic and vinyl seat and advised me to do the following:

-Peel the vinyl covering off

-Repair any ruined foam padding with house hold caulk, let that solidify
-Soak the leather to make it stretchy
-Stretch the leather over the sadle and clamp it in place
-After the leather is in place tight on the saddle, trim so that you have just enough to tuck under and glue to the shell using contact cement

Sounds like a slightly messy but rewarding way to get yourself a leather saddle that looks much more classy than any of the stuff you can buy for cheap these days.

A frame has been commisioned

Due to my monkey like proportions, I find I have a hard time fitting off the peg bike frames.  My cross bike, for example, is a 57cm with a tall headset stack.  I had a road frame built for me with a tall seat tube and short top tube, and it fits great.  I've been thinking for some time now that I should have the same done with a cyclocross/touring frame.  Well, the opportunity has recently presented itself.  Sanner and Ratliff Bicycles is a startup frame building outfit with several frames under their belts.  They need to make some showroom models though, and needed the capital.  I fronted that capital (they gave me a price break) and should have a frame in a couple of weeks.  Lugged, steel Deda tubing, custom geometry, cyclocross style.  They're going to deliver it unpainted but otherwise finished.  I'll keep you posted on progress.

For now, I'm thinking that I'll just keep it clearcoated.  Ugly bare metal cyclocross thumpin' stick.

Image swiped from http://www.littlefishbicycles.com/

Homebrew CX Chain Keeper

I recently changed my cheap Scattante cyclocross frame from a 2x9 to a 1x9.  I had purchased a BBG basguard for use as an outer chain guard but I thought I ought to do something about an inner chain guard, or chainkeeper.  Cyclocross season is coming up fast, so now was the time to do something.  Many people recommend the NGear Jump Stop, but my frame had a little braze-on where that would clamp on, so that wouldn't work.  The braze-on was meant for a front derailler pulley so that you could run a road, bottom pull derailler with a top pulling cable.  I thought, why not use that braze-on? 

I had some aluminum L-shaped DIN rail left over from a work project.

Used the band saw to cut off a chunk.

Used the sander to take the edges and corners off said chunk.

Used the drill press to make some holes.

A zip tie to prevent rotation and give it that custom look.

And voila!  I took it out for a spin to the local park and off some jumps to make sure everything worked.  Couldn't get the chain to derail in the first place so the chain keeper wasn't severly tested.  We'll see if that holds true through cyclcross season.  

Have a Scattante CX frame and need one of these?  I could probably help you out.