It started when the lad decided he wanted to race track this summer to keep himself fit for soccer - he plays club soccer and that is his number one passion, but do any of you'd imagine I'd be against him getting involved in cycling more?
So I bought him a ten dollar road bike off ebay, the Road Chief, which he immediately announced was too big and too heavy. Pfft. I knew it was neither and so snaffled it for myself. He quickly realised his bike had been swiped ... so I bought another old roadie for conversion.
A wander around looking for parts produced a pair of brand new track wheels at a right old steal, not to mention a pair of beautiful alloy track bars
This of course, tilted the playing field a little. Then I started pulling the old roadie down (actually, he and his grandad did that while I finished the Road Chief). Once I started putting his bike together, it became obvious it wasn't very good ... and that the bottom bracket and cranks were not going to do the job.
I knew of a local shop that had a brand new, unbuilt track frame for sale ... at a good price. No forks but I reasonned I could use the forks out of the old roadie. So I dashed off and bought the frame ... for much less than they'd been when I first looked at it.
Then off to another shop and, after a lot of heart ache and searching, wound up with them pulling the crankset and cranks out of a brand new Raceline track bike. This was the most expensive part of the exercise and one I could have saved money on if I'd had the time to search ebay and to wait. But I didn't have that time and these parts are new.
And a new seat post seeing the original didn't fit.
And I needed a quill didn't I. They didn't have many quills, but there, on the top shelf, was a brand new Cinelli ... which they were willing to get rid off for a steal
Home to assemble things. The bottom bracket went in easily. The cranks went on perfectly and, when the fancy new wheels slid into the rear fork, the chainline was spot on (as you'd expect but I've learnt not to expect anything in this game).
Now, the forks. Oops, no head set bearings in the new frame (never been built up had it). Now, 1" threaded steerer headsets are as rare as hen's teeth aren't they? So I tapped the bearings out of the old frame and attempted to install them in the new frame. They wouldn't go. So off to the lbs. Bearings fitted in no time. Back home again. Grease over everything. Slot in the old forks. Bugga. See, the new frame is larger than the old roadie and, you guessed it, the forks didn't fit - the steerer tube didn't even clear the headset. Of course, I should have thought of this, but didn't. Back to the lbs. Yup, they've got a pair of new, chrome, road forks with a threaded, 1" steerer tube
You beaut. Sure, they're roadies and for 27" wheels so they'll slow the steering a tad, but seeing he's learning, that's not a bad thing.
"Could you cut them to fit please?"
"Yep. Got the bearings?"
"Um ... not with me."
"Doesn't matter. We've got a new set here, we'll use them."
"You've got a set of new headset bearings? For a 1" threaded headset?"
"Yeah?"
Hang on, you can't get those things? Or so I thought.
So I got them to tap out the old bearings they'd fitted that morning and put in the new bearings. And set up the fork.
While they're doing that, I going through the build in my head - the only thing left from the old bike was the saddle ... so I bought him a new saddle as well.
Home to finish the build. Which I did ... and finished it about the same time that we were supposed to be at the track for its first ride.
Once at the track, the bike rode very well and the lad is rapt with it ... and so he should be. He started with an old roadie and wound up with a brand new bike. As it turned out, the only non-new bits are the pedals (I snaffled the new ones for my Road Chief). Total cost is secret, but it was cheaper than a near new Hillbrink I know of and about what I expected to pay for a second hand bike, but only just. The big benefit was in the process and the amount I learnt throughout it.
And here she is.
Frame: unbranded - Tange straight guage tubing
Forks: unbranded - chromed road forks
Quill: Cinelli alloy
Bars: Italmanubri (is that the brand or 'made in italy'?) alloy
Bar Tape: Bontrager
Bottom Bracket: Shimano cartridge
Cranks: RPM
Rims: Velocity Aero
Hubs: Quandro rear, Sovos front
Tyres: Michelin Erilium
Weight ready to race 8.9 kg
No, I couldn't afford it, but he's got himself a good bike that'll last for a few seasons
Richard
PS - the brand on the frame reads 'Bernie Jones Cycles' - it's their shop sticker. They've give me so much of their time with my weird requests and give me so much help, I thought that for once, a bit of advertising on one of my steeds was in order, so asked them for a couple of stickers
). Need to teach myself how to get up into the mega-cadences.
