My bicycles

[lunar_c]

Hey all,

Just joined the forum and thought I'd introduce myself. I'm building a bike for training / faster riding from a steel frame and parts I bought for $40.

I have no idea what it is but it's probably late 70's or up to mid 80's japanese (has over the top BB cable routing which seems to point towards it being late 70's early 80's I'm told) english threaded, forged drop outs (rear looks very similiar to a campagnolo but it's not) with no markings on it anywhere.. has drop out adjusters and a proper derailleur hanger, takes a 26.7 seat post and the bare frame weighs 1850g, with the fork being 700g. It's a 57cm top tube and 58.5cm seat tube which is just right for me.

This is the only marking I could find on the entire frame :



The components will be mostly Shimano 600 EX (derailleurs, brakes, levers) and I also have a Sugino GLP crankset and SunTour Sprint 9000 shifters. I'll be running 6 speed SIS though I can run 7 speed with the right freewheel. I'm running a Selle Italia Turbo saddle in white.

The wheels are 36 spoke Sansin hubs with Araya 700c rims and a Shimano freewheel.

Here's a few pics :







(Have since sold those brakes and pedals and got the Selle Italia turbo seat..)

I also commute to work by bicycle as often as possible on my flat bar .. a cheapie I've kitted out with a bontrager saddle, Topeak Super Tourist rack and MTX expanding panniers and some shimano clipless pedals.



In the future I'd like to build another drop bar steel frame bike with mounts for a rack as my commuter and run fenders on it.

Cheers,
Ben

[Lorday]

Wow cool build. Interesting to see if you can indentify the frame.

[lunar_c]

Thanks dude,

Unfortunately the identity of the frame is a mystery .. and there are no markings anywhere on it nor where there when I got it.

The marking on the lug seems to be a japanese kanjei character (according to another forum) so hints at japanese origin, but apart from that I have nothing.

It's a SWEET frame though, and should ride very nice.

No markings on the steerer tube - but I'm not sure that fork has always been with this bike anyway.

Dropping it off at the powdercoater today .. thinking I'll base my colour scheme on this bike :

http://www.cycleexif.com/1969-rene-herse-racer

[lunar_c]

Look what just arrived to go with my brakes :



Almost mint .. just a little grazing on the levers.

[lunar_c]

Here's my wheels. thanks to sambo3 .. Sansin alloy hubs (screw-on 6spd shimano freewheel on the rear, running a 14-26) with matching Sansin Q/R skewers, and Araya 700c alloy rims. I simply cleaned them up a little and put some new 16mm continental easytape on them as they were completely straight and true. I'll re-pack the bearings soon when I put the new tyres on.



The groupset, Sugino GLP cranks (with matching dust caps!) Suntour Sprint 9000 indexed shifters, Shimano 600 EX front and rear derrailleurs, brake callipers, and brake levers, Kalloy 26.6mm seatpost, Champion 42cm bars, and ALPS 90mm stem. Still debating what pedals to use. It'll probably end up with my Shimano SPDR540's. I did debate putting the set of 1980's PP65 Look's I have on it which would look sweet but don't want to have to have different pairs of shoes/cleats for each bike I have.



Also here's my saddle, a classic Selle Italia Turbo :



Got pretty much everything ready now .. just waiting for my frame to be done.

[lunar_c]

French blue for the win! I love it.

The powdercoating around the lugs turned out perfectly smooth too

[lunar_c]

Just got off my evening shift and put the fork race on / headset together and put the dropout adjusters in. I love these things, they look so classy. Can't wait to finish this bike!

Here's some pics :
Frame pic, these pics are showing off the colour better :


The headset (a generic one from ebay thats actually really nicely made) ..


And the dropout adjusters ..
[img]http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/221904_10150166659046496

[keviny]

Ooo I like where this is going... French blue is and awesome color with gold chrome...

Nice one!!

[lunar_c]

Thanks!
I'll put some gold pinstriping somewhere on the frame for sure.
All I really need to finish the bike now (apart from spare time) are some brake adjusters for my shimano 600 calipers .. Can anyone help me out there?

[chamois]

your kanji character is 互. in the word 互い it sort of means "mutual" and is read as "tagai".

not sure if this kanji is used in japanese names at all though.

also, as a chinese character it means pretty much the same thing so it could be chinese, but i would agree that japanese is more likely...

edit: tokyo drifter might be more help on this one, though he's in the middle of nowhere in alaska at the moment...