I am doing something very similar with a mid 80's 531DB touring frameset I picked up very cheaply, using a mix of old and new parts. Excellent tyre clearance and the canti's work surprisingly well. Using a 2x crankset presently but might switch to a 1x in the future. I'm using an adapter for aheadset because I have half a dozen stems lying around and I can swap them out for the best fit. Your use of the poly tube along the whole length of the cable is a great tip btw.
Thanks, man. There is nothing better than a quality steel frame. The poly tubing kind of evolved because I noticed that I wore through the paint on my daily driver from picking it up to put on my shoulder, grabbing the exposed rear brake cable with the toptube. I never really liked the donuts, so I had to come up with another solution. Later I realized it solves the cable rub for frame bagsas well.
Love it. Simple machine with nice components, the kind of stuff you have laying in spares drawers or can pick up cheap. I think personally I'd go with a quill adapter and standard stem (or a pimp Velo Orange Swan Neck stem), but that's a personal, nitpicking thing. I like it a lot.
Thanks for the kind words. i get what you are saying about the stem and unfortunately, as you would guess, in 1" with sufficient rise and minimal length, there are no choices. But in some cases I still rather that than put 31.8 stem and bars. Even though its not the most aesthetic I think it maintains the vintage look.
To me, 1x11 seems to a good solution for all kinds of bikes. I built up a 11-42T with 44T ring on my training/events road bike. Great for hills. Lost one top gear compared to my 2x11, but my days of bombing down hills full speed are over.
amazing video i'm building one for my own the frame it is a Trek 830 MT. Track XC, Decided to keep it simple and stay 6 speed flywheel and cantylever brakers, in my case decided to add one adapter for 25.4 to 28.6 so i could use more modern stem Also added a 42 teeth chainring can't wait to finish it. I love your video very interesting.
Thank you. 6 speed can be fine if you have a decent range cassette. Otherwise, especially with the 42 chainring, you may find that its a bit tough for offroad use. Hope it turns out well.
@@TheUndeadMechanic it is now, tested it and it works fine, the purpose of my build was to commute in the city, since the travel it is mostly flat i have no issues, also thanks for the answer.
@@persefone5214 Good to hear😊. In Madrid its quite hilly in a few spots so ratio is hugely important and it varies widely on the strength of each individual so its always an important consideration. I sometime start with a lighter gearing and then as the client gets stronger go up in tooth to suit. Its a technique I picked up building fixed gears for people who have never ridden them before.
I have built mine from a steel hybrid bike. Or as we call it here, Trekking bike. It feels very good, but as you said, the geo isnt perfect. It could be tweaked a few mm here and there. But I ride it not very often, so I am ok with it. It is also 1x7, which is also not very practical for everyday riding. But the cassette is 13-40 tooth, so it works.
For me, trekking and touring frames are the way to go. They make muck more sense than trying to convert a 26"MTB frame. The geometry is much closer to what you would need for a little bit of off road drop bar fun. Also 7 speed isn't an issue if you have that much range. In certain circumstances I think its actually preferable as 10, 11, and 12 index are so delicate that they go out of adjustment just by looking at them.
Nice build! Maybe I missed it, but what is the tyre width? I am thinking of running 40mm tires on my old rim brake wheels, you think that is a stable combo? I also intend to make them tubeless, do you have experience with this? (I always convert old disc wheels to tubeless, even if they are not officially tubeless ready and that works fine. But haven't done it yet with rim brake wheels.)
@momofabian5395 There are some safety concerns with putting very wide tires on older, narrower inner width, rims. Like 38mm and above. The light bulb shape that happens with this combination can lead to the tire rolling over on to its side. This is more likely to be an issue if you are riding hard as opposed to leisurely. So depending on your specific usage it would be more of an issue or not. Mavic has a chart for their recommended inner rim width max tire size combinations that you can find online. They are fairly forgiving as to where most other manufacturers I have seen are much more conservative with their recommendations. Hope that helps.
I just realised why I like your use of subtitle narration. I can watch your vids in silence, without missing anything, while the wife watches another shite Netflix series episode! 👍👌😎
🤣🤣🤣🤣 can't say that was my original intention, but I'm glad it works for you. I just didn't want to ruin the shop sounds with narration, but I did want to be able to describe what's happening and why.
Wow! Good eyes! The seat cluster is a dead giveaway. Its a really early version of that model. Before they really messed up the geometry with that terrible suspension fork.
@@TheUndeadMechanic They called them 28 Series before they started calling them Riverside. I'm now working on a bike with one of those 28 series frames I modified last summer. A few years ago I modified a Riverside frame too. There are a few videos in my channel about my bikes with Riverside frames.
@@ElFurioso Mine wasnt branded btwin , just decathlon. I think some of the earlier steel decathlon frames were actually well produced judging by the quality of the welding and geometry. Im curious as to who was doing the fabricating. Thanks for the comment and I will check those vids.
Good question. I'm actually not certain. I get it in an un packaged roll from a distributor here in spain that I work with. Its fairly generic though. I would figure it shouldnt be too difficult to find something similar.
For me good wide cantis take less hand pressure to generate the same force. Enough to comfortably brake from the hoods. But that also depends if you are carrying lots of weight and/or decending.
@@TheUndeadMechanic I only have experience with mid wides, some said that wide cantis have strong first bite fade in power due to big angle change i.e. that power is not proportional, regarding Paul Comp cantis, the ones who reviewed all of his cantis said that mid wide version (Touring cantis) have the most power
@angel_kandani it's a 53cm tall, and if memory serves me correct, 49cm tall. So I treat it as as 53cm, or an M on the small side. This is typical of touring frames of the 90's. Well thought out really. Makes climbing over the toptube less of an issue even after hours in the saddle. However it does necessitate a stem or bars with a significant rise to compensate. Hope that answers your question.
To each their own preference but I havent found a more aesthetic stem that works better in this situation. The geometry is very low and with a nearly horizontal top tube so its absolutely necessary that the stem have significant rise but add very little to the reach.
Yes, thats always an option. But, I didnt want to go with the adapter because then the stem and bars tend to over power the profile of the front and look bulky in comparison to the 1" stem and bars.
I am doing something very similar with a mid 80's 531DB touring frameset I picked up very cheaply, using a mix of old and new parts. Excellent tyre clearance and the canti's work surprisingly well. Using a 2x crankset presently but might switch to a 1x in the future. I'm using an adapter for aheadset because I have half a dozen stems lying around and I can swap them out for the best fit.
Your use of the poly tube along the whole length of the cable is a great tip btw.
Thanks, man. There is nothing better than a quality steel frame. The poly tubing kind of evolved because I noticed that I wore through the paint on my daily driver from picking it up to put on my shoulder, grabbing the exposed rear brake cable with the toptube. I never really liked the donuts, so I had to come up with another solution. Later I realized it solves the cable rub for frame bagsas well.
Love it. Simple machine with nice components, the kind of stuff you have laying in spares drawers or can pick up cheap.
I think personally I'd go with a quill adapter and standard stem (or a pimp Velo Orange Swan Neck stem), but that's a personal, nitpicking thing.
I like it a lot.
Thanks for the kind words. i get what you are saying about the stem and unfortunately, as you would guess, in 1" with sufficient rise and minimal length, there are no choices. But in some cases I still rather that than put 31.8 stem and bars. Even though its not the most aesthetic I think it maintains the vintage look.
To me, 1x11 seems to a good solution for all kinds of bikes. I built up a 11-42T with 44T ring on my training/events road bike. Great for hills. Lost one top gear compared to my 2x11, but my days of bombing down hills full speed are over.
amazing video i'm building one for my own the frame it is a Trek 830 MT. Track XC, Decided to keep it simple and stay 6 speed flywheel and cantylever brakers, in my case decided to add one adapter for 25.4 to 28.6 so i could use more modern stem Also added a 42 teeth chainring can't wait to finish it. I love your video very interesting.
Thank you. 6 speed can be fine if you have a decent range cassette. Otherwise, especially with the 42 chainring, you may find that its a bit tough for offroad use. Hope it turns out well.
@@TheUndeadMechanic it is now, tested it and it works fine, the purpose of my build was to commute in the city, since the travel it is mostly flat i have no issues, also thanks for the answer.
@@persefone5214 Good to hear😊. In Madrid its quite hilly in a few spots so ratio is hugely important and it varies widely on the strength of each individual so its always an important consideration. I sometime start with a lighter gearing and then as the client gets stronger go up in tooth to suit. Its a technique I picked up building fixed gears for people who have never ridden them before.
I have built mine from a steel hybrid bike. Or as we call it here, Trekking bike. It feels very good, but as you said, the geo isnt perfect. It could be tweaked a few mm here and there. But I ride it not very often, so I am ok with it. It is also 1x7, which is also not very practical for everyday riding. But the cassette is 13-40 tooth, so it works.
For me, trekking and touring frames are the way to go. They make muck more sense than trying to convert a 26"MTB frame. The geometry is much closer to what you would need for a little bit of off road drop bar fun. Also 7 speed isn't an issue if you have that much range. In certain circumstances I think its actually preferable as 10, 11, and 12 index are so delicate that they go out of adjustment just by looking at them.
Amazing.
Thank you.
Nice build! Maybe I missed it, but what is the tyre width? I am thinking of running 40mm tires on my old rim brake wheels, you think that is a stable combo? I also intend to make them tubeless, do you have experience with this? (I always convert old disc wheels to tubeless, even if they are not officially tubeless ready and that works fine. But haven't done it yet with rim brake wheels.)
@momofabian5395 There are some safety concerns with putting very wide tires on older, narrower inner width, rims. Like 38mm and above. The light bulb shape that happens with this combination can lead to the tire rolling over on to its side. This is more likely to be an issue if you are riding hard as opposed to leisurely. So depending on your specific usage it would be more of an issue or not. Mavic has a chart for their recommended inner rim width max tire size combinations that you can find online. They are fairly forgiving as to where most other manufacturers I have seen are much more conservative with their recommendations. Hope that helps.
I just realised why I like your use of subtitle narration. I can watch your vids in silence, without missing anything, while the wife watches another shite Netflix series episode! 👍👌😎
🤣🤣🤣🤣 can't say that was my original intention, but I'm glad it works for you. I just didn't want to ruin the shop sounds with narration, but I did want to be able to describe what's happening and why.
@@TheUndeadMechanic Works great for me 😁👍
Looking good.
That's a Btwin Riverside frame, isn't it?
Wow! Good eyes! The seat cluster is a dead giveaway. Its a really early version of that model. Before they really messed up the geometry with that terrible suspension fork.
@@TheUndeadMechanic They called them 28 Series before they started calling them Riverside. I'm now working on a bike with one of those 28 series frames I modified last summer. A few years ago I modified a Riverside frame too. There are a few videos in my channel about my bikes with Riverside frames.
@@ElFurioso Mine wasnt branded btwin , just decathlon. I think some of the earlier steel decathlon frames were actually well produced judging by the quality of the welding and geometry. Im curious as to who was doing the fabricating. Thanks for the comment and I will check those vids.
Hello
Congrats this bike is really good
What size are the tires ?
Thanks. 700x42c
What is the brand/name of that poly sheath? Looks clever 😀
Good question. I'm actually not certain. I get it in an un packaged roll from a distributor here in spain that I work with. Its fairly generic though. I would figure it shouldnt be too difficult to find something similar.
How do you find wide cantis compared to mid wide ones in braking power?
For me good wide cantis take less hand pressure to generate the same force. Enough to comfortably brake from the hoods. But that also depends if you are carrying lots of weight and/or decending.
@@TheUndeadMechanic I only have experience with mid wides, some said that wide cantis have strong first bite fade in power due to big angle change i.e. that power is not proportional, regarding Paul Comp cantis, the ones who reviewed all of his cantis said that mid wide version (Touring cantis) have the most power
tire size?
700 x 42c
@@TheUndeadMechanic bike size?
@angel_kandani it's a 53cm tall, and if memory serves me correct, 49cm tall. So I treat it as as 53cm, or an M on the small side. This is typical of touring frames of the 90's. Well thought out really. Makes climbing over the toptube less of an issue even after hours in the saddle. However it does necessitate a stem or bars with a significant rise to compensate. Hope that answers your question.
@@TheUndeadMechanic thanksyou! 🫶
1 1/8 steerer?
1"
It looks very nice... but that stem ruins part of it. Too bad
To each their own preference but I havent found a more aesthetic stem that works better in this situation. The geometry is very low and with a nearly horizontal top tube so its absolutely necessary that the stem have significant rise but add very little to the reach.
you have to use something like that. I did something simillar but 31,8. With an adapter. Because it would be like a track bike without it haha
Yes, thats always an option. But, I didnt want to go with the adapter because then the stem and bars tend to over power the profile of the front and look bulky in comparison to the 1" stem and bars.