Bolsover & District Cycling Club

After undertaking a few 10 mile time trials last season, improving my PB on the cuckney course and having a go at a 25 miler are two of my key targets for next year..

To add to the motivation (and maybe the speed), I decided to build up on the cheap a Lo-Pro hack with a nice stretched aero position, but money being very tight with two kids and a demanding budget leading up to Xmas, I needed to do this on a shoestring, probably around £100 !

The wheels can come from the cross bike as that will be shelved in the summer, so the quest began to hunt down spare parts to make up a chassis and running gear.

First up, a blog post on this very site led to lee Hyson donating a cracking (not literally i hope) alloy frame and forks that he had resigned himself to shedding.a frame size smaller than i normally ride, so i should be able to get nice and low on it. This is a real find and I owe Lee some mates rates big style, shows you just what this club is about really

A second blog post, and Gary Hibbard came up with a Hollowtech Ultegra chainset and BB, with an all important 53t chainring and 175mm cranks. The LH pedal thread looks a bit shaky, but time will tell, he also had an unused easton seatpost - £25 all in !!

An old pair of tektro dual pivot brakes from a former project came out of the spares bin

From Ebay , a pair of Syntace cowhorns , with full aero extensions complete with the dangerous Dia Compe aero brake levers and amazingly some 9 speed shimano bar end shifters, for £55 all in.This is stretching the budget somewhat but aero bars are what the bike was bulit for, almost everything else is incidental..coming with shifters and levers is a big plus

So now I'm hunting last minute deals on Ebay , and checking the road section of retrobike for:-

• Front & Rear Mech, dont need anything too flashy
• Saddle, I'd really like a selle italia flite, but im wishing
• A nice welded 1" quill stem (I hate forged alloy ones)
• Seat collar
• Shimano road pedals

I'll keep you updated as the build progresses, with some photos as soon as i have a stem, so it looks like a real bike (but if anyone has anything knocking about in the parts box, im receptive to great deals !!

Sounds like it's building up a treat Steve. It's all about getting a comfy powerful and stable aero position and you can always upgrade the kit at a later date( sky's the limit the tasty expensive t.t kit).

Bar end shifters on the aero extensions certainly save valuable seconds and they look cool as well. I have several old but decent saddles that you can look at and possibly a quill stem kicking around( i'll have a look). Don't forget that the frame needs a full run/length of outer back brake cable as it's internal routing.

I'll text you as/when i find any other parts

Good effort Steve, so far, obviously inspired by the recent Cycling Weekly effort.... I have some Shimano pedals and a pair of unused slick race tyres you can have if if you need them. 

G

So , with a Sunday morning free, due to illness making me forgo my usual sunday ride, i took a trip to the Cycle Jumble at Thurcroft. Now having never been to a cycle jumble before i had no idea what to expect..I was astounded at the range of stuff on offer ! If you are after bling, forget it but if like me you are scraping together keeping stuff running on a budget its amazing, with paste tables full of rare shifters, bars, forks ..everything all priced at rock bottom prices and open to negotiation. I very nearly bought some carbon forks for £15, but thought better of it, instead settling for a nice stem for this build for £4 ! I just wish I'd planned my visit better as there was more to be had, but i wasnt sure on a few measurements.

Anyway , the build progresses nicely, the stem allows me to mount the bars now, and Lee Hyson has come up trumps again and found me an old flite saddle with vanadium rails, almost as good as the titanium version ! cheers mate..thats more i owe you

Anyway, heres the current progress, I called past Rutland Cycles in my lunch break today and got a seat clamp that fits nicely for just a fiver. Its pictured here with the wheels from the road bike..I've tried it for size as best as i can (without pedals fitted) and its feeling good , nicely stretched and surprisingly light!

So ,the shopping list for whats left..... (and thanks to Graham for the offer of pedals and tyres its become a lot shorter)

• 31.8mm front mech - bottom pull
• 9spd rear mech (shimano)
• a 9spd cassette , 11-24 would be nice (part worn accepted)

Double checked: it is actually a 31.8mm. Might be worth seeing if it'll work. I was using it with a 26-38-48 touring chainset, but it's also for a 22-32-44. Step from middle to largest will work on 10 or 12 teeth and you need it to work on step of 14 teeth. Probably need to adjust spacers between frame and bottom bracket so that derailleur lines with inside ring. Shift to outside ring comes from shifter so that’ll not be an issue. Whether derailleur will cope with different radius of 53 ring against a 48 I’m not sure. Saying all that, loads of bargains on eBay at this of year.

Thanks Gary, but ive tried just that before and the fact that you have to lift the mech to compensate for the tighter outer cage radius leads to dropped chains on the downshift..ill become an EBay lurker, but thanks for the offer

Bikes looking cook Mr C !! Roll on the "Two up" and Cuckney's