Here it is in all of its glory, finally finished. I’ve had a couple of rides on it now so have got it tweaked to my liking.
It’s a nice ride and pretty agile although to be 100% truthful I could be on an aluminium frame rather than a reynolds 520 frameset. It’s almost impossible to tell the difference with the exception of the more comfy steel fork. The high flange white Formula hubs are nice on a bike of this price, they also have good bearings from the looks of it. The tyres are a bit slow but are comfy being 25s. I’ve decided to run this single speed rather than fixed so I’ve added a White Industries trials 18t Free wheel, what a beauty!! This really puts the Shimano ones to shame, smooth with no grumbles at all. It also makes a lovely loud tick when freewheeling, similar to Campag, which I like when approaching people/horses etc. on narrow lanes. I was going to use all polished campag bits to tart it up but changed my mind because it’s not an old lugged frame, it is actually a modern steel so I used all Ritchey finishing kit.
I’ve also added a 16t sprocket on the other side of the hub, this did need a small 1mm spacer on the inside to get a perfect chainline. Why people have found this a problem is a mystery to me!!
The only complaint I have with the bike is the need to add the third top tube cable clip. I went out with just the 2 on and the cable rattled on the top tube so much that I stopped and put a cable tie on it!! The third clip has cured it now. It also only has bolts for one bottle cage so the other bottle unfortunately has to be in my pocket.
So far the alterations include:
SRAM Rival brake calipers
44t Surly chain ring
Ritchey wet white seat post / stem / handlebars
Fizik Tundra white/ sid blue saddle with matching fizik sid blue bar tape
White industries 18t trials eno freewheel. Yes the green does match, the bike has green lining on the name plates.
Blackburn stainless bottle cage
below is a full shot and a slideshow of the close up bits
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Yet again, very nice.
I’ve always found the 520 frame to be nice and comfortable.
My Formula hubs have been excellent. I’ve been very pleased with just how smoothly they seem to roll. With the 25mm tyres the wheels do feel slightly on the heavy side; but i’ve never found this to be an issue.
Where did you get that 1mm spacer from? I’ve been finding that some sprockets align correctly whereas others are a 1/2mm out. This slight miss-alignment has never caused me any issues other than a marginal increase in chain noise, but it would be nice to have it all perfect.
Thanks Red, I’m fairly impressed with it considering it’s the cheapest bike I own. The ride is actually pretty good but not as quick as the Langster but the wheels are much better than I expected. I’m enjoying singlespeed more than I thought I would. I’m on quite a spinney gear but I can get up anything.
The spacer is an external bearing bottom bracket spacer. It works perfectly.
The chainline wasn’t out that much but the spacer has put it in a perfect line.
I think they come in packs of about 3 widths but the 1mm is great.
Pop over to Tim @ Sideways in Alsager, he’s got the DayOne cross in the window, don’t know the size though. I didn’t dare ask………just in case!!