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The forks are almost certainly not original, but very nice nonetheless. Will get them re-chromed since I've got enough stuff for the local guy's minimum £60 charge. I'm starting to think this build might turn out quite well :cool:

Dirty freewheel With some definite potential. Need to google Regina Corsa later.

I started stripping the bike down today and found a few nice little oddities I hadn't see before... The cranks currently remain in place since I don't have the correct crank removal puller. Apparently pre-80s Stronglight cranks use a 23.35mm thread rather than the "normal" 22mm. A 23.35mm...

Picked this up today and was wondering if anyone could shed a bit of light on it. I've googled and got some basic Dave Russell info back, but couldn't find out much about the range of bikes he produced & whether this was a diamond or a lump of coal. Some of the parts seem a bit incongruous, so...

Finally got round to adding the decals and head tube badge.

Anyway, you will be glad to hear the bike is now finished (if anyone is still looking in) 🤣

Rather than reinstate the wiring for the front light dynamo, I thought it would be fun to see if I could fit an LED into the lamp housing. I bought a small LED torch kit from HERE and wired it all up. I found a small on-off toggle switch which fitted exactly into the hole left by the old wiring...

Back end coming together. Aesthetically I'd ideally like the wheel a bit further forward in the dropouts so it was framed in the mudguard a bit better. However the chain length dictated that it is where it is.

More decalling... The previous decals left quite a pronounced shadow in the paintwork which I couldn't really afford to buff out. The new decals were made up to be exactly the correct size to mask the previous ones. P.S. the touch up paint splodges are not my handiwork. They are there to retain...

On the last lap, not in the home straight yet though… I could have done a better job with the head badge decal if I'd removed the badge and straightened out some of the dings in it, but didn't have any 2.4mm pop rivets and just wanted it done. I've talked myself into thinking the slightly...

How many wheels do you think you might end up building? If it is only ever going to be one or two, then shop-built could be the best option. If it is going to be more, then it is entirely possible to start building solid, unfussy sets of wheels with minimal outlay, e.g. using a jig built from...

They are definitely a bit quirky. It's been great fun working on a couple of them purely because they are very different to an "average" 80s/90s MTB. Would I ride one regularly? ... probably not. I've got to say though, the suspension makes the ride ultra-smooth & once the SA hub is dialed in...

The suspension in the front fork is very clever, but it all only comes apart if you can free up a rusted bolt hidden deep inside the steerer tube. Putting it all back together then requires to fork to be inverted, two 2ft screwdrivers and an ability to balance the bolt on the tip of one of the...

Sans grease and avec grease...

Turned a corner today and bits started going back onto the frame rather than coming off it. The rubber block which sits between the rear fork and frame needs to be compressed under quite a lot of force in order to get the axle into place. All went in without too much fuss though. The replacement...

The mudguards and rack had crossed the fine line from "nice patina" into "crappy looking", plus the rear fork had lost half its paint during re-brazing The frame and front fork will be left as-is though.

After...

Front wheel got the same treatment, Before...

Yeah, the old ones were corroded so badly they needed to be replaced. Just went cheap and cheerful with 14g plain gauge spokes from SJS. They are bullet proof and pretty much come in any length from 122mm up to 246mm (in 2mm increments). Link is here.