Project road path is taking something of a back seat while I await the right wheelset and crucially, the right wheelset at the right price. In my experience when one project slows, another gathers momentum and in this instance, the teenage dream-my bespoke road bike from 1991 has been blasted ready for spraying by the good folk at Maldon Shot Blasting & Powder Coating. They’ve been so busy over the past weeks but Graham found five minutes on Friday morning to work his magic.
Poor finish wasn’t exclusive to the paint-the seat-tube was poorly reamed, scratching nice and indifferent seatposts with equal malice. Supposedly reamed to 27.0 thus preserving the integrity of relatively thin tube walls, I had designs on taking it out to 27.2 but conversation with frame builder Justin (Burls) suggests this is inadvisable. That said, he’s generously offered to clean it up for me and install a new headset into the bargain. While preserving the bike’s character, some modernisation is planned starting with the cockpit. An Ahead adaptor will allow me to enjoy the benefits of stiffer bars and a really nice set of dual pivot Ti callipers will bring stopping bang up to date.
Reasoning that an ISIS type bottom bracket and crank would not only look out of place but means retiring a perfectly worthy Stronglight crank to the spares drawer, the princely sum of £10 changed hands buying another square taper ACOR fit and forget cartridge bearing model-basically a 113mm version of that sported by the Holdsworth. It might lack glamour but remains a marked improvement over the nigh on twenty-year old FAG design it replaces.
Noting the Hutchinson tyres were now ready for pensioning off, I acquired a nice set of folding 700X23 Kevlar belted rubber-the sort that should really blast along with nominal effort. Their super supple carcass should’ve literally slipped aboard the rims but they fought back with gusto, earning my thumb a huge, pulsing blister and snapping a very nice tyre lever in two! Running seven bikes and with a stint on the trade side of the counter under my belt, I’ve changed plenty in my time but the language they induced turned so blue as to shame the Holdsworth.
Poor finish wasn’t exclusive to the paint-the seat-tube was poorly reamed, scratching nice and indifferent seatposts with equal malice. Supposedly reamed to 27.0 thus preserving the integrity of relatively thin tube walls, I had designs on taking it out to 27.2 but conversation with frame builder Justin (Burls) suggests this is inadvisable. That said, he’s generously offered to clean it up for me and install a new headset into the bargain. While preserving the bike’s character, some modernisation is planned starting with the cockpit. An Ahead adaptor will allow me to enjoy the benefits of stiffer bars and a really nice set of dual pivot Ti callipers will bring stopping bang up to date.Reasoning that an ISIS type bottom bracket and crank would not only look out of place but means retiring a perfectly worthy Stronglight crank to the spares drawer, the princely sum of £10 changed hands buying another square taper ACOR fit and forget cartridge bearing model-basically a 113mm version of that sported by the Holdsworth. It might lack glamour but remains a marked improvement over the nigh on twenty-year old FAG design it replaces.Noting the Hutchinson tyres were now ready for pensioning off, I acquired a nice set of folding 700X23 Kevlar belted rubber-the sort that should really blast along with nominal effort. Their super supple carcass should’ve literally slipped aboard the rims but they fought back with gusto, earning my thumb a huge, pulsing blister and snapping a very nice tyre lever in two! Running seven bikes and with a stint on the trade side of the counter under my belt, I’ve changed plenty in my time but the language they induced turned so blue as to shame the Holdsworth.
Next Week: Primed & Ready For Painting