The Pool's in But the Patio Aint Dry...

Mercifully, Monday brought the eagerly awaited fitting tool allowing the installation of the venerable UN53 copy with much grease and minimal fuss. However, this state of euphoria was short lived upon discovering the disintegration of the plastic cable guides-hardly a crisis but means waiting a few days for the postman to call with a replacementSliding the Stronglight cranks aboard the traditional square tapers had my senses screaming with alarm- the inner ring was apparently warped! Removal and inspection of their integrity atop a flat surface revealed this to be little more than a trick of the light. However, I took the opportunity to re-grease and thoroughly tighten the fasteners.

Justin (Burls) remains indisposed at the moment so, with much of the drivetrain aboard the frame and other components coming together, progress is restricted to installing a new plastic guide and wiring up the derailleurs. The finishing touches such as bars, stem and braking will have to remain on ice until such time as Justin can work his magic.
This resurrection of a treasured machine has forced me to reconsider the Holdsworth’s role in my fleet. Make no mistake, he’s here to stay but rather than becoming a pure TT mount, I’m returning to the basics of the Road Path principle-bikes that are simple to maintain, a blast, yet not “too nice to ride”. In short, pared to the essentials during the brighter months, winter will see it sport Maplewood fenders and 28mm tyres for practical, low maintenance fun.

Low Down n' Dirty

I was planning on installing the Acor bottom bracket this morning having flooded the frame internally with Waxoyl on Friday night. This was somewhat dependant upon the splined fitting tool arriving in today’s post. Sadly the postman brought it to my door but fought shy of ringing the bell, choosing to deliver his calling card instead.Undeterred, with a Saturday to myself, I took advantage of the warm spring weather and set up camp on the back garden’s concrete quarter. Teenage dream securely in the stand, I set about cleaning the derailleur hanger, lever and bottle boss threads before lightly greasing and installing the respective components.

The transmission save for bottom bracket and chain remains unchanged but elsewhere there’s select modernisation to herald personal and technological developments over the past eighteen years.

I couldn’t resist upgrading the stoppers to these high lustre dual pivot callipers with Ti fittings keeping the weight low. The front end is taking an equally radical departure. Gone are the classic, if conservative 42cm Cinelli bar, stem and Campagnolo Athena brake levers. Enter Nitto pursuit bars and Ahead stem-naturally demanding an adaptor and lacking the outright rigidity of threadless configurations but silver anodising keeps things aesthetically crisp. The Athena were substituted for some very sweet Acor carbon TT levers-the sort secured into the ends by expandable wedges, eliminating the need for plugs. Offering the bottom bracket to the shell and threading it hand tight allowed me to temporarily position the crank, providing a useful template for accurately mounting the Victory front mech. These beautiful NOS derailleurs from 1982 were an eighteenth birthday present from a friend who sadly hasn’t been in touch for ten years so they’re staying. As the old saying goes, Campagnolo wears in…others wear out.

The coming days should present sufficient opportunity to install the bottom bracket and crankset. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks Justin will have a spare couple of hours to fit the new headset and of course, ream the seat-tube properly. From there it’s simply a question of wiring everything up, taping the bars and enjoying some long summer miles…

Low down n’ dirty might be an apt description of British Politicians at the moment but I’m starting to think it’d look great emblazoned along the Teenage dream’s top-tube. Hmm, might have a graphic designer knock me up some decals…