Are build threads still a thing or am I 10 years too late? #makeforumsgreatagain
I’ll preface this by saying that I’m a bit of a hoarder and have a thing for mediocre bikes of which this thread will have many. Case in point, this thing…
Ridgeback 'Classic’
Those are the sellers photos of it which say more than a thousand words, the whole thing was a sorry sight. Mismatched cranks, paint was a mess, pick n mix selection of shifters, brakes, wheels, etc.
So far all I’ve done is blow it apart and began stripping the paint with a wire wheel, no shops within 5k’s stock paint stripper unfortunately.
(excuse the chaos that is my garage)
Build Plans
Paint of some description
28c tyres
Planet Bike silver fenders
Parts bin components
6/7/8 speed drivetrain, undecided whether i’ll be Shimergo-ing something or just using some downtube shifters
Some sort of front rack or modified Wald 137 possibly
Idea is to make it nice but not too nice as it’ll be a station/shops/lock up bike.
Cheap(ish), accessible bikes for the win! Father in law has whatever the current highest spec Giant TCR is and whilst I can appreciate it from a technological & engineering perspective (crabon, Di2, power meter, etc), it just seems soulless.
Got the rest of the frame stripped last night after work, 3/10 would not recommend a wire wheel to strip a frame if you like staying clean.
Just waiting on some primer to rock up in the post and then I can start on that step of the project. I’ve got 3 colours that are on the cards which I might spray some test pieces this weekend to decide, hopefully many sparkles much wow so NJS
Did a test spray of the colours that I have on hand for this bike this afternoon, pain the butt to try and photograph but you get the general idea. Dupli-Color Metal Specks range for those of you playing along at home.
Leaning towards the red personally, mostly because it reminds me of Samson track bikes
Mocked up some bits and pieces over the weekend before I was fully commited to the project to make sure it was going to all work together as intended.
In the picture it’s got 32c Vittoria Randonneurs which would work except the fenders hit the brake caliper long before they’re even close to the frame or fork, could probably fit something larger if a dry arse wasn’t a requirement.
Found an Exage 300EX groupset in the parts pin, so that’s having a bath in the parts washer currently. Will be running downtube shifters in friction mode on a 9 speed cassette as I seem to have about 5 of those in the parts bin as well.
Just need a nice sunny weekend so I can lay down some primer and paint.
So the Ridgeback has been put on the back burner, at least until Uni is over. Having said that I still need a quick and easy project to break up sitting behind a computer for hours on end.
Enter stage left, a Panasonic DX2000 from my pile of bikes in the garage. It’s nothing special much like the rest of my hoard but it has nice lugs and head badge.
I bought some Dupli Color Clear Effex a while back that I’ve been wanting to try out so even though this frame is covered in chips and scratches, it still got a thorough coating whilst the sun was out. Looks sick IMO
The Panasonic will be rebuilt with a lot of the Suntour components that it came with, still debating whether to keep it 27" or convert it over to 700c.
Remember that time I started a project (or two) and then completely abandoned it for several months, yeah me neither…
I’ve been busy trying to make a functional workspace, it’s getting there. Slowly.
I got these sick new shelves/pallet racks/work benches. (which are still in the process of being sorted)
Whilst trying to offload all this excess stuff…
Made some progress last night/early this morning on the Ridgeback.
Attempted to fill the top tube dents with filler. The smaller two at opposite ends are all good, the larger one in the middle is proving to need more work. Pretty close though, should be gone when I sand it down this afternoon.
I’m having to go back into the office on Monday and need something to ride, so this will be getting wrapped up this weekend. Went from 0 to 100 real quick…
Basically the same colour scheme as the Panasonic, deep red with sparkly clear coat. Will let it dry up overnight and start assembly tomorrow. Not ideal for it all to be so rushed but these things happen.
Didn’t end up getting it put together, frame uses ISO headset cups, fork is JIS so am waiting on a crown race to suit. Ended up just riding the Giant into work, it’s not supposed to rain this week so no big deal.
