Cutting a steerer tube

Before and after photos of the steerer on my Iceni TT bike. It was too long, but I wanted to leave some spacers above the stem, in case the bike ever is converted back to a road bike. Before:

 After. Now that's much safer!

 

After removing the required number of spacers, I scored the steerer tube. Then put the pipe cutter in place, 3mm below the scored line. 

 Had to remove the stem in order to be able to rotate the pipe cutter.

 

Took the fork out (carefully placing the headset parts on a sheet, so as to not lose their order). Then, knock in a new star fangled nut. I use an old screwdriver in the hole, but there are great dies for it. Also, when hammering it, I support the fork in my hand under the crown. That way, you are not risking hammering when the forks are braced against the ground!

 I love this top cap. I had a Ritchey one before, but this looks way cooler. I'll need that when I'm sweating on top of it during my next TT!

Time Trial on a Raleigh Twenty and a steel Iceni

I decided to revamp the Iceni into a dedicated TT bike. I enlisted the assistance of AWCycles who did a great job (I can highly recommend them). It cost me around £200 to do that - see photo above - whereas a new TT bike would've cost ten times that price. She weighs in around 10.4kg and my best 10mile TT so far on her is 25:51. Whereas the TT mean machine below weighs 16.0kg!!

I fitted basic new tyres to the £25 Raleigh 20 (Stowaway model), an alloy seatpost, modern saddle, but everything else is as original. I rode this bike, exactly as shown in the photo above, in a 10 mile TT, clocking 31:28. Great thing about riding a shopper at an evening club TT is that it seems to cheer everyone up! Afterwards, I did catch myself thinking "Sub 30 min is possible if I lower the bars to get more aero, fitted alloy rims, slicks, service the bb and hubs, new chain, lose the rack, mudguards and kick stand, etc... :)

How to Shimergo your bike

Campagnolo ERGO levers can work with a SHIMano drivetrain, mechs and cassette. In an earlier post here, I showed some photos of a bike that I had converted to Shimergo. Now I'm going to explain how I did it. Here's a photo of the bike as it was originally. The brake levers are cheap and nasty.

The plan was to replace the brake levers and down tube shifters with Campagnolo Ergo levers (Veloce 10 QS Ergo Levers, from around 2009 vintage). The following links are essential reading:

The CTC's Chris Juden on the subject: http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=3946
CX Magazine on it: http://cxmagazine.com/shimano-campagnol ... patibility
10spd, 8spd success story: http://bikesarethesolution.wordpress.co ... onversion/

Original set up was as follows:

Cassette: Shimano 9 speed, 12-23
Rear mech: Shimano Tiagra
Front mech: Campag Mirage
D/T Levers: Shimano Dura ace
Chainset: Stronglight Impact Triple 28-38-48

According to the above links, the lever swap should work with a little trick to play on the rear mech, namely, the cable attachment bolt washer to be spun round - or "hubbubed".

There's a lot more writing out there, but the above three really convinced me. Plus I saw a forum posting somewhere in which a cyclocross racer reported a season's worth of racing using 10spd Campy shifters on 9spd Shimano with hubbub. That clinched it for me!


Old faithful Shimano Dura Ace down tube levers (9 speed indexed). I'll end up removing these (gulp!)

These cheepo brake levers are going to go too. I'll be happy about that!

First step is to take the old bar tape and levers off.

New 10 Speed Campy levers on. I needed to buy a Torx T25 tool for the main lever clamp bolt. The Veloce levers feel superb in the hand, almost perfectly shaped hoods.


Cable housing fitted for brake and gears, taped down ready for handlebar tape.

The old down tube levers were replaced with Campagnolo resin cable stops. Although inexpensive, these turned out to be simply brilliant. So easy to adjust, even while riding.


This is the hubbub clamping arrangement. All you do is rotate the clamp hook, run the cable over the hook, and tighten the bolt as shown. Dead easy.



Swanky new bar tape. Now, to my total amazement, both the new levers worked beautifully with NO adjustment needed at all. After a few days riding, I had to adjust some cable tension from the down tube cable stops, but that was it. I believe in Shimergo now!

Campagnolo levers added a touch of modern class to a good ol' Reynolds 531C road bike. Apart from being able to change gear without moving hands from the bars, another benefit was improved braking performance.

Shimergo Reynolds 531C road bike

I bought this Reynolds 531C frame brand new from SJS Cycles' eBay store. Originally, I fitted it with Shimano down tube gear levers, but later, I replaced them with Campagnolo Ergos, in a configuration widely known as Shimergo. This article by the CTC's Chris Juden explains it all. And I describe how I did it here.

Campagnolo Veloce 10 levers. These fit the hands really well. A friend of mine has a bike that is all Veloce 10 and he says that this Shimergo bike shifts just as well if not better his all Campag groupset.

Side view. I love the ride of 531C steel. It has a kind of springy, live feel. Steel is real!

Rigida flyer rims, allow hubs.

Closely spaced teeth numbers on the rear block.


I love the blue and red contrast! Personal taste, I guess.

Campag Veloce levers fit the hand really nicely.

Trusty Stronglight Triple and cartridge bottom bracket.

Shimano Tiagra rear mech.

Front brake, Shimano Tiagra dual caliper, in the evening sun...

Awesome Wooden bike

A wooden frame? This beauty is to die for! More details here and click here for the Waldmeister website. Marcus Wall Meyer seems to be a genius...the prices are tasty too!

Iceni Road Bike Photographs

In an earlier blog post, I explained that I'd bought this frame from Askew Cycles, and built it up from that. Here are some more images of the bike.


A view more from the front. Do you like the orange handlebar tape? Not to everyone's taste, I suspect!


It's a Reynolds 520 frame, which I think is the same as good old weldable Chro-Moly 4130. The Reynolds site says that it is similar in properties to old 531. Well I'm not sure about "standard" or touring types of 531, but my view is that 531C feels a bit springier, whereas 520 feels more "solid" in comparison. Still feels great though. Just my view.


Selle San Marco Rolls saddle, which I find very comfortable, and Lezyne saddlepack, which is nicely made and well designed.


The view from the "driving seat".


Stronglight Impact Triple chainset 28-38-50, the middle and outer rings are alloy, the inner one is steel.

Tektro brake levers, pedals Shimano SPD one side/flat other side, and Shimano 105 brakes front and rear. The whole bike cost me just under £500 in total for the frame and all parts. I dunno how long I spent building her, but I enjoyed every minute! Less than 1000 miles on the clock so far and a number of day rides of over 60km. She's a comfortable climber with lowest gear of about 23 inches (28T front, 32T back), also pretty nippy.

Iceni Road Frame

Recently, I bought a frame from Askew Cycles in Cumbria. It was excellent value for money and I built it up into the bike shown above - there are more Photos of the bike here. A triple on the front and 9 speed at the back, with a wide spread of gears. It handles really well, and for touring, I like the down tube shifters because it's simpler, easier to fix if it goes wrong on tour, and forces you to change hand positions which is good for long rides (don't misunderstand, I love Ergos and STIs too).

Sadly, there was insufficient clearance for full-size mudguards and the rear dual pivot caliper arms would interfere with a pannier rack. A bit irritating because the frame has mudguard and rack eyes! Nevertheless, it's a great bike, surefooted and stable up 73kmh (which is as fast I dare go on it!).

I'll use it for "saddlebag touring".