First a bit of background. I have had this frame for a while after a friend rescued it from a clean-up. ‘That’s about the right size for my girlfriend’ I thought, ‘might make a good fixie’. Fixed wasn’t quite it, nor was single speed, not with the hills and the toe overlap. So with a lick rust converter, a quick touch up, and a few old parts it was good to go.
Lo rode it for a while, liked it but hated the paint. I didn’t mind the rough aesthetics and despite my assurances that it really was the best frame in the garage, she wanted something flash.
So off to Star Enamellers. I thought about painting it myself, but I would have spent half as much to get a rubbish job. Getting it painted professionally was the best decision, it came out so well.
Curiously, I found out a bit more about the frame. When sanding back a bit of the paint on the seat stay caps I found ‘MICHELL’ pantographed there and on the fork crown. Turns out this name was used on some frames sold at Ashfield Cycles. Why it was bogged over we don’t know for sure, but I got the pantographing picked out in white and I have a bit of a story with the frame.
As soon as we picked it up, I knew that the budget was about to blow out.
I wanted to do justice to the frame and reference the period that it was built aesthetically.
It had to be functional with compact gearing and a modern groupset.
It had to be done on a modest budget.
After spending way too much time on Cycle Exif, Fyxo, and here it was done.
A few details:
Sram Apex group.
Nitto cockpit
8-speed Shimano 600 hubs laced to low profile polished h plus son rims. This was the last bit to get sorted, but it was worth it in the end.
Gatorskins and spd’s because it is a bike to be ridden.
Favourite detail is the elk hide chainstay protector from VO.
biggest compromise is having to use an exceptionally ugly braze-on adapter.
A few more photos: Gefsco - a set on Flickr
And the plot thickens here:
http://www.fixed.org.au/forums/f8/gefsco-1028/index2.html
