1995 Lava Dome ATB

[originsoundd]

Tomorrow I'm going to mock the bike up the best I can and gonna take it to a home-run shop near me to figure out what to do with my headset. I want to run threadless ideally so going to look into fork options and/or a replacement headset. Also getting my wheels trued.

I've already had a look at the chainline by eye and it seems quite out of whack. The middle cog on the 9x casette lines up with the smallest on the front. Pretty confident the 122.5mm BB is also the smallest that would work without the cranks contacting the frame. Maybe 118 would just work.

 

[originsoundd]

Mocked it up today and took it to an LBS for truing. Excited to get this done! Bars, pedals, seatpost, saddle and maybe shifters are all placeholder for now. Ordered a 4.5mm shorter axle BB to try bring the Q factor down a bit but the chainline is spot on with the 122.5 BB. Frustratingly I couldn't find any ISO 68x118mm BBs so I ordered a JIS one to try with some different cranks. Maybe I'll end up using those. Also not sure if I'm keen on the friction shifting, on the 10 min ride to the LBS it was a bit confusing but perhaps it's something I need to get used to. Will go for a longer ride this weekend once I get the bike back. As for the headset, decided to go for a stem converter to run the bars I originally intended rather than changing the fork.

 

[shepp]

Mocked it up today and took it to an LBS for truing. Excited to get this done! Bars, pedals, seatpost, saddle and maybe shifters are all placeholder for now. Ordered a 4.5mm shorter axle BB to try bring the Q factor down a bit but the chainline is spot on with the 122.5 BB. Frustratingly I couldn't find any ISO 68x118mm BBs so I ordered a JIS one to try with some different cranks. Maybe I'll end up using those. Also not sure if I'm keen on the friction shifting, on the 10 min ride to the LBS it was a bit confusing but perhaps it's something I need to get used to. Will go for a longer ride this weekend once I get the bike back. As for the headset, decided to go for a stem converter to run the bars I originally intended rather than changing the fork.

View attachment 949299

Lovely build, definitely a good choice with the stem adapter!!

 

[originsoundd]

Went for a shakedown ride today with the new stem converter, bars and grips. I was not expecting it to be perfect but I also didn't expect it to be that bad. I'm using a placeholder stem, of which the reach is wayyyy too long and my shoulders were aching after about 40 minutes. I'm hoping a shorter stem resolves this (and the odd look), but I have a feeling I might have to go up in frame size so a frame swap might be pending. My seat is substantially higher than the bars are at their max height and it feels like I'm putting too much weight on my wrists/shoulders. In any case I'll have to see once I get the stem. My 18" Hahanna that I ride to work feels much bigger and weightier but it's a lot more comfortable, where as this is super agile and snappy but feels a little small. I think a 17" frame might be a perfect size for me.

I also installed a front mech today, an Exage 500LX. It works well but the chainline seems less than ideal. Again, further shakedowns will confirm whether it's that much of an issue. The clearances around this area of the bike are ridiculous, I'm guessing due to the size but I managed to adjust the limit screws accordingly and I now have a working front mech.

I also had a go at the cable routing I queried about in this thread and completley cocked it up! I think my small frame has shorter chainstays so drilling out the dog collar to fit the cable wasn't going to work, learning the hard way I suppose! I could sort of see it wasn't going to fit as soon as I put the seatclamp on but I decided to just send it with the rest of it to see how bad it really was. It's bad.

To be perfectly honest I'm feeling pretty deflated about this whole build. I've spent ~£1,200 on parts, frames and tools as well as 100s of hours of research and part hunting to get to this point and it doesn't really feel coherent or complete at all. I'm planning a mini trip to Bristol (~230km) in 2 weeks time so am gonna have try something put together for that to test the full setup, bags and all.

 

[bikeworkshop]

You can rotate the collar and bend the noodle to get the cable run working on the v brake - once the pads are aligned and the cable tensioned.
Wide bars often cause shoulder pain over longer distances.