rowebr

Looking good! I'm sure most of the performance difference comes from the new wheels and tires, but I like how you got creative with the stem and seatpost. About that fender rattle, maybe try using an L-bracket with a leather washer at the rear brake bridge instead of the bracket?

ThermionicScott 

Thanks @rowebr! I noticed upon reviewing the thread that my bike is starting to look a lot more like yours. Good call on the L-bracket -- that idea is in my back pocket in case the rattles start up again.

noglider 

Very nice! My commuter bike is a Bianchi Volpe, similarly equipped. I think it's about 34 lbs with no water bottles. It has fenders, a rack, dynamo hub, headlight, tail light, and a bell. I tend to think I can't do much to lighten it significantly. Maybe I can. I'm not sure. And I'm not sure if it's worth the expense. But you've given me food for thought.

2.2 lbs per inch is impressive, even skinnier than I am. I'm 5'9" and 157 lbs, which is 2.27 lbs/in.

ThermionicScott 

I'm about at that latter ratio as we head into winter. Like most, it takes a little more diligence to keep the weight off when I don't have a few extra hours of sun to ride each day.

After about 35 miles on the new setup, I'd say that the nicer wheels and tires represent at least half, maybe 2/3 of the improvement, for what that's worth.

noglider 

I totally believe it. Recently, people have been saying that weight loss on the bike, especially the rims and wheels, don't make as big a difference as we think. I disagree with them. I definitely feel those differences, even when they're small.

mountaindave 

I have certainly noticed the difference when swapping tires on other bikes (granted one set had a difference of 500g per tire!!!). I also think most of us would agree that the quality of the tire makes a difference.

I think the Pacenti rims look real sweet on your Bianchi. The black rims with machined sidewalls complement the dark color of your frame nicely. The red and white Pacenti logos seem to match your decals too. Beautiful build!

ThermionicScott 

Thanks, Dave! I was initially bummed that there weren't any all-silver SL23's left in 32h, and thought the black ones would look too modern, but I'm really digging them now.

(Coincidentally, I'm just now noticing that the three labels are arranged so that they are right-side up when the valve stem is at 12 o'clock. If I had taken the picture with the valve stem at 6 o'clock, they'd all be upside-down, and I might not have caught it until it was too late. )

PaintItCeleste

I quoted your post just to see your bike photo again. What a beaut! Absolutely those black rims are helping this look out. It's impressive how classic the whole look still feels. I just came in on this thread and I love seeing your process. It rings very true. Tweaking and changing. Building and rebuilding.

One thought, with regards to your fender rattle: I have always used the L bracket and a leather washer on the rear bridge, instead of that silly bracket apparatus, with VO fenders and had excellent, rattle-free results. I second that suggestion!

NormanF

OP could have bought a Raleigh Club Special - its available in Japan and saved himself the build!

As it stands, a very beautiful bicycle all the same.

TimmyT 

This looks good.



That just looks heavy, and I think the OP didn't miss out on anything. Plus, it has 700c wheels, and I think @ThermionicScott was going for a plusher tire.

PaintItCeleste

But the build is half the fun! AND it's dialed in to him. AND I think OP's looks wayyyy cooler. Just my opinion!

***Oops, meant to quote @NormanF

SteveP223

@ThermionicScott----what a great looking bike! Great build.

Could you expand a bit on the following: 'using #2 brass washers where necessary to support the spoke heads'

Is there a problem with these rims that needed this additional step? I am thinking of picking some up and would like to know if there are any issues.

Thanks,
Steve.

ThermionicScott 

Thanks, folks! That Raleigh does tick a lot of the same boxes, but this thread should be evidence that I like to take the hard way to my goals.

ThermionicScott 

Thanks! The rims were no issue at all, although I had to learn some new tricks for getting the nipples where they need to go in aero rims.

I had read (pretty sure from old Jobst Brandt postings) that newer hubs tend to have larger spoke drillings, and that thinner spokes ran the risk of having the heads break off due to seating at an angle. So I bought these brass washers on Amazon so I could make sure the spoke heads seated flat against the hub flanges, and so that the spoke elbows weren't hanging out in space. In the end, some of the spokes I received had longer elbows (different production runs?), so it was the rear DS and front inboard spokes that got the washers, the others seeming to find good support without them. (More detail, if you're interested -- I ordered three lengths for this project: 266mm for front, 269mm rear NDS, 267mm rear DS. The 267's I received were the wrong type -- 2.0 straight-gauge -- so I impatiently went ahead and built my rear wheel with a mix of 269's and 266's. Once I got the correct 267's in the mail, I built up the front wheel using the remaining 266's for the inboard spokes and 267's for the outboard spokes, and it worked out great since outboard spokes take a slightly longer path anyway. Now that I think about it, it was the 266's that had the longer elbows.)

If anyone is wondering why I bothered with 1.8/1.6/1.8 spokes when 2.0/1.8/2.0 spokes are much easier to find, it was a combination of saving a little weight, JB's exhortations that 1.8's were strong enough for anything, and the "why not?" factor.

NormanF

It appears to be a 650A wheelset. Its common to see 590 mm wheels on sport bicycles in Japan. The retro bike market has a big following there.

TimmyT 

It's listed as 700c on the Rakuten website.

Drillium Dude 

I don't know if you'd be interested, but since you show mighty fine Dremel skillz, you might cut those guides completely off, touch up the black paint in that area and install a pair of those Blackburn Rack Eyes. They fit in the diamond-shaped opening on the dropout on bikes without pre-existing eyelets. I have a pair I'll never use I'd be happy to donate to this project

DD

ThermionicScott 

There's an idea! To be honest, I haven't fully decided what I want to do about that, long-term. I have an LBS friend who does brazing on the side, and had considered having him remove the damaged eyelet and stick on a new one.

Drillium Dude 

Well, I'll pull 'em out of my spares box and have them standing by in case you go this route. Just let me know if you decide to go with them and we'll exchange shipping info.

DD

ThermionicScott 

Will do, thanks!

rowebr

This got me wondering, so I just had to weigh my 650B Bianchi to compare to yours. As you did, I weighed mine as ridden but without water bottles. It turns out that my Bianchi is very close at 25.0 pounds. Kind of amazing how similar the weights are!

ThermionicScott 

So, the ol' rando-commuter is living up to its name more and more...

The new fork made by @gugie is doing a nice job of keeping the steering light and the front wheel out of the way of my feet. Even with a cable lock, small toolkit, and a couple of tallboys in the handlebar bag, the bike rides wonderfully, so I've been putting a lot of extra miles on it. The fork adds about 40 grams over the original, but it has earned the right.



I'm targeting a slightly lower pressure in the 650B Pacenti Pari-Motos. I was using 40psi in front and 50psi in the rear but the wear pattern on the rear tire is a little narrower than I'd prefer, indicating that I've been using more air than needed for the load. So now I pump up to 40/50 and don't check it again (except by thumb and forefinger) for the next two weeks, or pump them up to about 35/45 before a ride. The ride is plusher and no less fast. Maybe even faster!

The Shutter Precision dyno and B&M Eyc headlight continue to make my life easy and low-stress on night rides. The Axiom taillight has great battery life, otherwise I'd wish I'd used a 3W dyno hub and a dyno taillight.

The 13-14-15-17-19-21-24 cassette configuration saved me quite a few grams over the original 13-28, but I wasn't entirely happy with it. My 35" low gear design goal wasn't being met, and I always had to cross-chain a little to ride in my 65" base gear. I grabbed an unused 23T and 26T cog from my collection, and built up a 13-15-17-19-21-23-26. Fantastic, this gearing was perfect for RAGBRAI a few weeks ago. But it added back many precious grams. So I spent some quality time in the garage with my Dremel and whittled it down to 248g including the lockring. By comparison, a stock 13-26 "H" cassette weighs about 300g out of the package. Much better. (I threw an unmolested 23T cog into the last picture to illustrate how much "sculpting" I did.)




So there you have it. I'm really happy with this project now, and while it's not perfect yet, that just gives me more to tinker with. At some point, I'll fix the images earlier in this thread. Stupid greedy Photobucket.

palincss

6mm in the bead seat diameter (590 vs 584) and a world of difference in the available tires. In this country, 650A aka 26 x 1 3/8" is mostly found on English 3 speeds and the tires, supposedly available in every Walmart, are generally utility tires.

bikemig 

@ThermionicScott, great thread but it's a drag how photobucket (a company that deserves to go under financially) has ruined the thread. If you attached a few pics to the end of the thread, that would be useful.

This is my winter bike build, https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/...ter-build.html

The bike has been a trooper and has seen me through 3 IA winters so far. I'll add update the thread later this fall as the bike is undergoing a bit of rehab; winter commutes are tough on a bike.

ThermionicScott 

I pulled the trigger, started an imgur account, and fixed all the pictures in this thread. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, thanks imgur!

Though if imgur decides to follow Photobucket's lead, I think I'll just burn down the Internet.

It would be cool to hear more about the Heinz 57 bike!