Building a road bike

Condensing the ratios

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:58:00 +0100

My current gear set is a single front crank with 48 teeth. I’m happy with this. It’s coupled with a rear cassette of seven gears. These range from 12 teeth to 28 teeth. It’s simple to work out how many wheel revolutions you get per pedal turn by dividing the crank tooth count by the rear cog tooth count. So when crunching up a hill I switch to my lightest gear which is 48 / 28, giving me the lowest number of wheel turns per pedal cycle, that being 1.7 revolutions. And then when flying along a flat I can go up the gears until in 7th I’m hitting 4 revolutions per cycle (48 / 12).

However what I’m finding is that I’m not really using 1st or 7th that much. A bit, but not much. Traffic lights, taxis, pedestrians and squirrels all conspire to keep my speeds below 7th gear, and in turn the flattish terrain of the London suburbs rarely requires me to go so far down to 1st. Add to this that in the middle of the current 12T-28T range it feels a little jumpy, like its jumping one too many teeth when changing gear. So I’d like to condense the ratio range so I use all seven gears more, and have smaller increments through the range.

Unfortunately seven gear cassette blocks are rather limited these days but you can still get them. The three main permutations are a heavier 11T-19T, my current 12T-28T or the one that has caught my eye, 13T-26T. The 11T obviously will go much faster with a max 4.4 revolutions and min 2.5 revolutions but has a very narrow range, especially for a front single crank. The 12T range (limits in yellow) is double. Whereas the 13T isn’t just a shift to something lighter with the same spread, the range is reigned in a both ends, giving a heavier first gear and a lighter 7th gear (limits in green.) Just what I was looking for:

Ideally I’d probably be looking for something around 13T-23T but its not out there. Perhaps I can build it up from single cogs myself but I’m not inclined to right now, I’ll see how this one works out.

We talk about love, love, love

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:25:00 +0100

I’m in the middle of a chain reaction, No seriously, you give me all the after midnight action. No, enough Diana Ross. But I am. I’ve got a bit of a chain reaction going on. Unfortunately it’s not the love kind. It’s the hit fourth gear while going over a bump and the chain falls of kind. Hardly the stuff of Bee Gee songs.

It’s quite specific too. Change up from third to fourth while bouncing a bit and it comes off. Rarely any other combination up or down. A chain coming off is usually on the first or last gear meaning the dérailleur is misaligned literally moving the chain off the last cog of the cassette. But this is slap bang in the middle of my seven gears on the fourth.

The first thing that came to mind was that the chain didn’t have enough tension. I’ve tweaked that and then started taking out chain links. I’d say my chain is now too tight but it still comes off from time to time when going from third to fourth. It’s infuriating. Looking at the cassette, fourth is definitely the most worn. Coupled with the desire to tweak the gear ratios I’ve decided to start afresh with a new chain and new cassette.

Tall Stack Stem

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:06:00 +0100

I’ve long admired the stem work of Robin Mather. A tall stack threadless stem is the closest I can get to the classic quill of old racers on my carbon frame. Fortunately, about a year ago Velo Orange started producing one. 17 degree angle just about works on my frame, not quite parallel to the top tube but then the top tube isn’t horizontal anyway. I was also lucky that the length I’d cut my fork tube to just fitted the recommended inner height as indicted below:

Bit blurry but the top of the inner fork tube had to sit in that marked range of lines. Had it not then the stem would have even been a bit unsafe or I’d need a new fork recut to the right size, neither attractive options but I lucked out.

I then realised that the handlebar thickness required a shim to fit the stem clamp. Not a problem but I then had a minor tick about the shim protruding through the cut-away front of the clamp. To solve this I simply filed away the shim to the shape of the cutaway:

Once smoothed off you can see how this works:

So all good. My fork fits, my handle bar fits and the shim hasn’t upset my tidy-lines tick. Also I picked a much shorter stem length. As mentioned before, the frame is quite long and I’d accidentally picked a 120mm long stem, this one is 90mm and taking the 30mm off the position of the handle bar has lessened the weight bearing down on my wrists somewhat. I’ve been quite surprised at the positive effect.

I think it looks great. Side, front and angled shots below:

Are we there yet?

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:45:00 +0100

We are. But we enjoyed the ride so much we’re gonna do a few laps of the block before going in for tea. It’s been 16 months since my last post on this project. I hadn’t really intended doing any more to the bike but a few minor ideas grew and next thing you know here we are again.

So what’s to do?

Stem
Well, the carbon frame is quite long. Not too long, and I’m not one of these nuts who thinks an off-the-peg frame couldn’t possibly fit any rider perfectly, but I think on reflection the slight extra length should have been negated with more consideration to the length of the stem. I bought a pretty long 120mm stem when really this should have been between 90-100cm.

My commute recently went up from 11/12 miles a day to 15/16 miles a day, not much but enough that I started feeling numbness in my wrists. I think this is due to too much weight bearing down on them - and this in turn I think comes from a mixture of frame length, seat height and stem. So more on that soon.

Gears
Other things I might address is that I feel the gap between the mid gears is a little large and I barely use first. So I might make second gear first, and add one in the middle somewhere.

Chain
That chain bounce still rears its head now and then, particularly after cleaning. I’m sure I’ll have a few other anally retentive things to post too.

Summing up for now

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:09:00 +0100

I think its worth pitching a recent handlebar picture back with the original - I feel I’ve come a long way, perhaps disappeared up my own arse, but always kept to my goal of minimalism without sacrificing functionality. Third picture to help get an angle on proportions.

Initial 44cm Bullhorns:

New 36cm Bullhorns:

Initial Bullhorns at the top, new ones at the bottom:

The Three Amigos

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:52:00 +0100

Here are the three bullhorns for an idea of their difference. From the top its the original ones at 44cm. Then the mid-sized at 40cm. Lastly the smallest at 36cm:

I started riding on the 36cm which I initially assumed would be too narrow. Coming from the 44cm width they just felt ridiculously small. But I did love the narrow look. Over the week I really got into them. It surprised me somewhat after my initial reservations. At the weekend I put the mid-sized horns on and instantly realised I’d become addicted to the 36cm’s. A quick cycle confirmed this so back to the 36cm’s I went.

With this decided I did the final touch of wrapping up the bars in lovely Brooks leather with their very quaint cork plugs:

The bars feel even better now with a much firmer grip - I don’t understand these guys rolling round town with metal only bars. It’s just not a nice ride.

Clearing the dashboard

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:07:00 +0100

I’ve now received my two alternative bullhorn widths. My gut instinct instantly says the 36cm is too narrow. My god its narrow. Still, I’m determined to ride both and not close my mind to either alternative until I’ve given both a good go. What is clear though is that to even entertain riding either narrower bullhorn I need to proceed first with my plan to rid the shifter of its own mount and incorporate it into the right hand lever somehow.

After a lot of flaffing around I had a eureka moment. And its so simple. So here’s my steps that got to the prototype mounted onto the 36cm bullhorns for my first set of trials:

1) Took off the old 44cm bullhorns, and removed the shifter mount (A) from the shifter (B):

A: Shifter mount still on the old bullhorns

B: The now uncapped shifter

2) Went to the hardware shop and bought a 25mm washer and a short metal plate with screw holes at either end, I re-drilled the holes to fit the shifter and brake bolts as they were slightly to small:

3) Fit the washer snug into the round cavity left by the removed mount. It also makes it more weather proof by sealing the internals away from exposure. Then using the existing shifter bolt I clamped one side of the metal plate then through the washer and onto the shifter. The other end of the plate was then simply clamped via the brake lever bolt and voila:

I’ve now ridden this set up for 2 days and can’t believe how effective its been. The 36cm bullhorns are very narrow but there’s something quite enjoyable about the ride. I’ll give it a few more days and then switch to the 40cm ones and see how I feel. I hate riding without bar tape but it’ll have to do until I’ve decided which bar to tape up. Below is the 36cm current setup - incredibly minimal and shiny now but not an ounce of functionality compromised:

Fortunately it’s approaching summer now and I rarely need my light as that’s currently not on the bars. I’ll probably work out a similar solution to the shifter but for the left hand lever. That can wait for now though.

Soma Cross Levers

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:42:00 +0100

They took a while to get here but I’ve finally got hold of a pair of Soma Cross Levers. They’re lovely. Hinged clamps make struggling to get them onto bullhorns a thing of the past. And the best part is they’re polished chrome in finish. The plastic of the Shimano’s was really starting to annoy me.

There’s a train of thought that you shouldn’t ride with cross levers as your sole/primary braking system but I used up a few lunch hours going round bike shops asking different mechanics what they thought. The general consensus was that they’re absolutely fine. The impression I got is that this idea arose as they were designed originally for secondary braking and therefore shouldn’t be used as primary. But just because they were designed with something else in mind doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t be used differently. As ever, the internet can find a problem with anything. You just have to make a judgement call.

I also had to get new brake cables as the old ones that came with the Shimano brakes were mountain bike form. The cylinder that the brake pulls goes across the cable end, whereas road cables have the cylinder run along the same direction as the cable. The road ones then fit snug into the Soma brakes.

Again son, harder

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:32:00 +0100

So the bike has been riding like a dream the last 6 months. There was a definite shift after around 3 months where it felt all the parts had finally gelled. It was lovely. For a whole week in there somewhere everytime I got off the bike from a ride I actually muttered to myself ‘damn that was a nice ride.’

Still things can always be improved and I increasingly feel my handlebar arrangement isn’t quite up to the rest of the parts. The bullhorns on reflection feel very wide, the plastic finishing of the Shimano brakes and shifter feel cheap next to the finishing throughout the rest of the bike. The Bontrager cork tape, while comfortable, also feels a bit ‘synthetic’.

So I’m going to append a few posts here regarding the tweaks I’m looking to make. These are:

1) Narrower bullhorns
I’m fully aware I’m going to end up with two unused bullhorns here. The current ones are 44cm wide. I’m going to try an extreme 36cm wide and a mid-level 40cm wide. I think I can only truly decide what works for me by riding them for a few days each. The key considerations here will be how to fit brakes, shifters and light mountings onto such a narrow bar. Traditionally these narrower bars are for fixed-gear bikes that need no brakes, or single-speeds that only require a single thumb lever.

2) New brakes
Nothing wrong with the existing brakes but they are quite big and are plastic moulded. With the experiments in narrower bars the size becomes an issue.

3) New tape
This ones easy. I’ll be getting Brooks black leather tape to match the seat.

I’ve a feeling I might start getting inventive with the light mount and shifter mount. I’d like to remove them ideally to leave more room on the bars. I’ve some loose ideas around mounting under the bar via the brake lever bolts. We shall see.

Final shots

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:03:00 +0100

Well, the bike was completed almost a month ago. I’ve been so busy using it I haven’t taken final photos to finish off this little part of my site. Not strictly true, I’ve also been lazy but here they are anyway - with added rainy mud that comes with cycling in our summers.

Facing left:

Facing right:

Stem/steering:

Seat and (muddy) post:

Rear mech/chain/crank:

That’s it. All done. I absolutely loved doing this, my knowledge of cycle maintenance and philosophy has gone through the roof. As a birthday present (the budget) it lasted several months and I actually think in retrospect I’ve built something not only original but of more value than you’d get in the shops.

Something I actually thought the opposite about when I’d first finished it. All good.

Tweaking the system

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:09:00 +0100

So I’ve been riding the bike for a little over 2 weeks now. From the moment I got on it I knew it was gonna be a great ride but unfortunately there were all sorts of tweaks needed. I’ll go through a bunch of them in no particular order.

Bottom Bracket
This was the most scary one. Straight away the pedals felt wrong, with a skewed feeling on circulation and occasionally a clicking sound (yikes!). Initially I assumed either pedals or crankshaft. Several times I took the cranks off and refitted. I read up on the merits of using grease or not on tapered edges, under-tightening, over-tightening, pedal cracks. It was none of these. In the end I gave in and with tail between my legs went into the local bike shop and asked what was wrong. On inspection it turns out the bottom bracket hadn’t been fitted correctly - or not incorrectly, but there was too much ‘grime’ in there. So Mario’s brother hadn’t cleaned and primed properly before fitting it. Still, I was pretty chuffed that a) I hadn’t broken anything and b) I hadn’t personally got anything wrong. Bottom bracket fitted cleanly, cranks glide lovely. Lesson there I suppose is make sure someone does the bottom bracket who really knows what they’re doing. That’ll be the local bike shop.

Headset
This one has only just settled down. I could feel a slight give in the front wheel. I’d fitted Pinhead skewers for security and immediately assumed they were coming loose. But that wasn’t it, the headset wasn’t fitted tight enough. I went over the parts and it was a micro thin washer type thing that sits over the top bearings. Then I noticed I had another two in the headset box unused. I added one then re-secured the headset. Much better but not quite. Added the third and bang, all tight and snug without crushing the bearings. It was good in a way, I was forced to study the headset mechanism in relation to the frame and get it just so. It came slightly loose the other day but I think that’s it now and is merely the usual 2-3 week settling down period for a new build.

Seat
It wasn’t until the bracket and crank had been fixed that I heard this. A creaking noise, very slight, but annoying all the same after all the way I’ve come on this project. I wanted that baby silent. This turned out simple, the brooks seat wasn’t quite secured enough, a few turns with the Allen key and we were sorted. There’s still a slight creak but this is within the leather, I’ve got tub of leather wax that came with the seat I’m going to apply this weekend, apparently that preserves the leather and prevents this creaking, which tends to happen once the leather has been in the rain a bit.

Gears
Probably goes without saying that these needed a few tweaks. I always find gears such a black art. You can get them 95% of the way tuned quite quickly, but to get them bang on I just can’t quite seem to do. I can see me forever doing this to be honest.

Chain
Last but not least. The chain seemed fine but on the occasional ride it would come off. Confused I thought this was the gearing but it turns out this is how tight the chain is. While testing the gears you see the chain flying round, everything doing what it should and think all is well. Then it comes off. Asking around it turns out there’s a thing called ‘chain bounce’. You go over a pothole or speed bump and you bounce the wheels, this sends an upward ripple through the chain, and if you’re on a certain gear where its loose enough, your chain comes straight off the crank. This I haven’t fully solved yet, but know how to at least. I need to take a link out of the chain to just tighten that up slightly, then the bounce won’t matter as its got nowhere to go. I’ll be doing that this weekend.

So that’s it. I’m on the cusp of signing this project off now. But those things above have taken nearly 3 weeks to work through - a mix of some of the factors combining to make you think its something else causing the issue but mostly my basic lack of bicycle knowledge. In reality I learnt just as much the last two weeks about cycling as I did when reading up on the parts and what I’d need to build one in the first place.

All good really.

Shake that ass

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:31:00 +0100

Contact points. There are three on a bike: your hands, your feet & your ass. The first has been completed.

Pedal wise I’ve opted for some old fashioned platform types. Again a few people have asked why no clip-ins or at least toe-clips. Simple really, I’m a bit of a flip-flop man, not a performance man.

If you’re going to wear soft soled shoes of any kind, you need platforms otherwise your feet are going to get sore pretty quick. I’ve got the MKS-GR9s:

That leaves just your ass. Again, being a man of comfort rather than performance, I have no desire to ride on a razor blade. Brooks make wonderful saddles. The B17 is their classic and having ridden one a few times there wasn’t really much deliberation. I’ve mounted that onto a Velo Orange Grand Cru seat post. It has a long setback specifically designed for these type of Brook saddles. I do like Velo Orange, in case you haven’t noticed:

That’s it. I’m fitting lights on which don’t really warrant a blog post and then I’m buying a new D-Lock. Not sure about whether to mount the lock or carry it in a bag. I’ll do the latter for now and see how I go. Final post on this project when I can get the bike out to the park in the sun and take a shiny shiny closing picture.

Headset and stem

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:23:00 +0100

The frame uses an integrated headset. Part of the reason for this project was that I didn’t know enough about the bike I was riding. If you’d said to me “integrated headset” last month, I’d have looked blankly at you. I bought the frame more than a month ago.

After much reading it seems there’s a train of thought that integrated headsets are inferior because the bearings sit straight onto the frame, the frame having integrated lips that hold the bearings in place. This is opposed to normal headsets which have a top and bottom cup that slot into the frame head and hold the bearings in place. The idea being if the bearings crack for some reason, they’ll start wearing and destroying your frame, if the bearings crack in a traditional headset they only destroy the cups. Like almost every other dilemma I’ve come across on this project these things are mostly theoretical and usually only happen at the extreme end of cycling.

Too late for me either way, I’ve got integrated and that’s that. I bought a Cane Creek set mainly because it was the only threadless integrated headset I could find that wasn’t black. Added a few chrome spacers and then the lovely Velo Orange 6-degree stem:

I’ve turned the stem upside down. Its only a little touch, but the result is the stem runs almost in line with the frame top bar, rather than turning steeply upwards. I like clean lines you see, and this way it evokes the older and far more elegant quill stems of yore. Not much left to go really. The handlebar is now on, taped up and wired to the gears and brakes. I’m excited.

Rapidfire Bullhorns

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:27:00 +0100

Onto the handlebars. I’ve waited a bloody age for these bullhorns to turn up. Completely unavailable in the UK currently even though they’re from a UK company. The Charge Slice Bullhorn. There was a Nitto RB-018 option, but only recently had the 42cm bar become available, I’d already ordered across the Atlantic by then.

Narrower handlebars are fine for single speeds etc, but I’m looking to fit mountain bike type brake levers and gear shifters on there so need a certain amount of space. Also the wider 42cm is closer to my chest width, something I consider a good ergonomic pointer for how wide your bar should be for yourself. So I’ve fitted the bar with Shimano Deore LX T660 V-Brake Levers and a rear STX Rapidfire MTB 7 speed gear shifter:

Loving the feel of the Bontrager tape, not so keen on those plugs, will probably get some unbranded silver or black ones. I’ve left everything loose on the bars for now, I’ll firm things up once mounted onto the bike. Last photo here is to show the 7 speed gear shifter:

The Magnificent Seven

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:14:00 +0100

I had decided right from the off to have as least gears as possible for a comfortable city bike ride. In my head it was eight gears at the back, with a single crank at the front.

A few friends asked why I didn’t want a single-speed or fixed gear set up if I was so into the minimal approach regarding gears. Well, as ever, YouTube covers these things quite adequately. Besides regarding the single-speed bike around town as the natural successor to the Hoxton Fin and the bike that the modern day Nathan Barley would ride, I still want a range of gears. I just wanted to cover that range with the least gears. One gear doesn’t do that. So, a Shimano HG70 7-speed 12T to 28T:

Lovely jubbly. Coupled with a sugino 48T single crank:

And with a standard Shimano HG 7-9 speed chain I’m getting a nice ratio. I can whizz up hills, cruise down hills, fly through the flats and always be safe in the knowledge that a red light or idiot taxi driver will prevent me from needing any further ratios either side of this set up.

Last but not least, I’ve fitted a Shimano 105 rear derailleur. It states that the 105 won’t take a gear with any more than 27T, but it does have a range of 17T. So my 12T-28T is within the range but could potentially have a tooth too many at 28T. The main concern here is can the derailleur pass underneath the gear without hitting it. Yes it can, and coupled with the fact I’ve only a single crank at the front, the variables are far less complicated:

Bottom bracket and Mavic wheels

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:32:00 +0100

You’ll note on the previous post the wheels have been added. These are entry level Mavic Aksium 2009’s. Lovely wheels I think, bladed spoke and thankfully with easily removable stickers. A friend lost over a day with fingernails and lighter fluid trying to remove branding from rims, mine came off instantly leaving no glue residue.

The bottom bracket that Mario’s brother fitted for me is a Sugino 103mm bracket to fit the 48 tooth single crank I’ve also bought from Sugino (more on that later as I fit it):

And here it is close up fitting nice, clean and snug in the frame, you may even see a hint of the damn brown I can’t seem to capture in this shot:

Darker than brown

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:19:00 +0100

There’s been a bit of a gap since the last post. The frame got dropped off to Mario Vaz in Hither Green for a respray, but that only took a week. The delay then was that I went on holiday for two weeks, and then on my return got my camera stolen.

But here we are again, compliments of my girlfriends camera. I got Mario to spray the frame a dark brown, but so dark it looks black and only in certain light or against true black you can tell its brown. I’m not sure why, but it gives a retro feel, perhaps say an old black bike that’s been in the sun too long or something. And then heavily varnished for a lovely glossy finish. His brother (I believe) then fitted the bottom bracket for me.

I know this is a bit unscientific and glib but I couldn’t get the photos to capture the brown you can see in the flesh so I’ve knocked up a loose jpg representation of the contrast:

I see a red door and I want to

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:39:00 +0100

Yes I excitedly claimed no respray required after seeing my shiny carbon weave frame arrive. However, as I started buying the parts - more of that later - the minimal or retro stylings really didn’t suit the techno feel of the carbon weave. So I’ve return to the idea of painting it. But without the go faster stripes I think. Not sure, but I think.

It was while pondering the minimalism I realised the front left braze-on for holding the front derailleur cable was completely superfluous to my needs - I don’t have a front derailleur to wire up. So I decided to remove the braze-on before I get the frame sprayed.

This dodgy picture shows the fruits of scarily taking a drill and hammer to my new carbon frame. (1) shows the braze-on. I then drilled very delicately and slowly into the rivet heads until they came loose and could be tapped out (2). I thought the braze-on would just come off then but it didn’t so I had to grit my teeth and take a hammer to it. (3) shows the braze-on is no more. I then used a water resistant epoxy to cover the holes (4). This has now been sanded and the frame has been sent to Mario Vaz in Hither Green to be sprayed a dark brown/ almost black paint, then varnished twice for a classic retro glossy finish. More on that when it arrives.

Gulp.

It's a beauty

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:10:00 +0100

Finally I get the frame I’ve been after. The previous frame was every bit as good as this one, but too modern and flashy for me. This has almost symmetrical tube sizing and all the lines are clean without fuss. Beautiful.

A friend has been moaning at me to not buy carbon. While I understand the argument against - that if you get hit it’s almost guaranteed the frame will be toast - I’m ready to take the risk. In fact I don’t see it as a risk. Early carbon frames did crack easily, but that was nearly 20 years ago. Emerging technologies rarely evolve without a few wobbles and I see carbon frames all around me these days. I want to try one. If it does crack, c’est la vie, I’ll either go buy a replacement or then switch to steel.

Enough of the carbon vs. aluminium crap. Just look at those clean lines. Mmmmmmmm. It’s now also official, no respray required.

The wrong kind of love

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:41:00 +0100

So the frame arrived but unfortunately a certain little something quite crucial got lost in translation and I ended up with the wrong frame. It’s a beautiful frame but very modern looking with accents, curves and pinches flying around which simply don’t suit the minimalist vision of this project.

A really nice finish of black stain over a 12k carbon weave leaves the frame looking black from a far with the weave coming through on closer inspection. That means my evil idle hands on Friday plotting a respray were wasted - as the finish doesn’t need anything. Lovely and light too, coming in at ~1k.

Side on:

3 quarter:

The girl in Taiwan I’ve been dealing with has been great. I could have returned the frame, but customs and logistics simply make this an unattractive process. Still the frame is so nice I doubt I’ll have trouble selling on eBay - particularly with the risks of Taiwan and customs removed. I’ve since cleared up exactly which frame I wanted and the delivery process from Taiwan has once again begun.