Ok some, if not most, of you know the story of my resto project but for those who don’t.
I found an old frame on the road side and knew only very little about riding fixed so being a total dick I filed off everything that made it look like a road frame, blasted it, got a dodgey 2pac job and thought I was ‘all hipster’.
I rode it and I loved it!!
I knew the frame had some special ‘stays’ etc and I do treasure my hobbies so I decided to find out more about it.
I asked on a few forums and got an absolute hiding from some very experienced bicycle masters (and fair enough too).
I persisted and eventually found that my frame had been hand built by a man called George McDonald who made frames in his garage for Cecil Walker Bicycles.
Thinking that someone had made this frame over a number of hours and I had bastardised it with a file in a number of minutes really played on my mind and so to ‘make things right’ with the Bicycles Gods I have completely rebuilt this myself with a close neighbour and lots of advice from a friend here on this forum.
Everything is as close to what might have been on it in 1975. I especially loved building the wheels. Very cathartic!
Thanks to all those who sold me parts.
Thanks to all those who gave me good advice.
Thanks to my neighbour the ‘Jungle Bunny’.
Thanks to Spiritos…you are brilliant.
2 things
1- before anyone says the brake hoods are the wrong colour…they were donated to me and remind me that bikes are pretty special and shouldn’t be a sign of how cool you are but rather how cool they are.
2- what’s it like to ride? ABSOLUTE CRAP (give me a track bike anytime) but that’s not what this is about.
Bike looks great, green looks a lot darker in these photos than previous - a product of the amount of clear coats, or do you need to take some photos in direct mid-day sun for full effect?
Well done. I know it was a hard one and most every step of the way you met issues but you get props for not only doing a magnificent job but sticking with it, even though you went the long way round ;) Good thing is you’ve already encountered most of the tricky situations and are now armed to help and advise others.
I really like it. It’s more restrained than I was expecting and that deserves RespeK
The unicanitor looks great and even the bartape is in the style that suits it. The only thing I might suggest is that you need to have a longer rear brake cable housing but that’s an easy fix. Just enough length so that it blips a touch upwards at the seat tube area … that way it’ll have a nice line as it reaches toward the rear brake caliper.
When you get the brake cable clips carefully cut thin slithers of clear tape to line the insides of them. That way when you attach them they’re less likely to scrape or scratch the top tube paint, it’ll prove more resilient to making rust spots and it’s not visible to the eye.
Well done. Really, really well done !!! You’ve had quite a journey with the bike and I’m really proud of you. Not many would have shown such temerity, resolve and conviction especially after copping an earful of abuse from cunts like me
Good thing is you’ve already encountered most of the tricky situations and are now armed to help and advise others.