1996ish Banana Boy RestoMod

[wiredfool]

I originally picked up this frame in the 96 or 97 from the original owner, built it up with a grab bag collection of parts. Rode and raced it for a few years, then it hung in the garage, then it was left in storage, and now I've finally retrieved it from the states for a bit of resto mod.

It's a hand built TIG welded Columbus EL frame, 63cm c-t, from a frame builder in Seattle, with Kinesis aluminium fork. 8sp Sachs Ergo Shifters & Rear Derailleur, 7 speed 105 + open4cd wheels. Shimano 600 cranks, Front Derailleur, and Headset. Aero Grand Comp front brake, RX100 rear, both modded to koolstop pads. Profile stem and handlebars, Campy Aero Record seatpost, Selle Italia Turbomatic2 seat.

It needs some work:

I don't trust the fork anymore. It's 25 yr old bonded aluminium which might be ok, but I didn't really _like_ the ride quality at the time. I just couldn't afford a carbon fork then. Now though, I think I'm going to get a steel one made.

There's a little bit of surface rust, but that seems to have cleaned up ok. Couple spots around the bottom bracket and the cable stops but they came off with a little emery paper.

The bottom bracket is stuck in. It still spins well enough, it's a Shimano sealed unit, but the cups are solidly in place. I'd like to get it out, if for no other reason than to be able to inspect the inside of the frame down there for rust. I'm pondering penetrating oil + a long wrench, but I'm also a little leery of using too much force on it. So I'm undecided how much effort is too much before I just say "good enough for now".

The shifting was bad before it was put away, looks like the rear shift cable was frayed at the shifter, so that one is simple. New cables and housing all around. The tires are scary too, so they'll be replaced. I'm hoping to fit 28's on there, but 25 might be the max. The rear has a 23 on it now. I don't think my body could take the thought of 23's anymore.

There's at least one eyelet pulling through on the rear rim, so I think a wheelset is probably in order. I might replace the rim, but it's probably not worth building up on those hubs. I'd like to go to an 8sp rear, ideally with 1.8/1.6 spokes and dura-ace hubs. I can be patient on that though, as I've got enough non-period-correct 8-11sp wheels around here to get the rest of it done.

 

[Frankenorange]

More history on Banana Boy please.

 

[wiredfool]

Banana Boy was a brand from the framebuilder Matt Houle in Seattle, who started a business called Bicycle Specialties which did painting and frame building for both his brands and production work for others (including Rodriguez of R&E). (I've got a Rodriguez tandem as well, from ~ 2001 or so. It's a sweet bike.)

I originally ran across Banana Boy because he sponsored the UW Cycling team one year I was there, and made a couple of frames for the team, one of which is this one. I've only ever seen one other Banana Boy, and oddly enough it was just this summer, owned by the brother of a guy I knew when we lived on Whidbey.

 

[Frankenorange]

Cool story and history. Thank you

 

[georges1]

Very interesting and rare bike First because you rarely see TIG Welded EL Columbus frames, most of them were brazed with lugs or filet brazed and with an unicrown or brazed fork.You must check tire clearance before installing larger tyres.Secondly, the Sachs new success was very rarely encountered among professional teams in the 90's

 

[wiredfool]

BB is out, it took some persuading (heat + soaking in penetrating oil for days + 2' breaker bar finally worked).

So looking more closely at it, it's EL-OS, and I'd totally believe fillet brazed. They're just small fillets. It's certainly not lugged, and if it is welded, the welds have been well filed.

Clearance in the rear is super tight -- I think 25mm will be as much as will fit, and even that's pretty close.

 

[wiredfool]

Finally some progress -- my custom steel fork has arrived. It's just a bit long in the steerer, so either I need 5mm of spacer or I need to cut it. I think I'm going to start with spacer, as I don't need the stem _quite_ as slammed as it used to be.

 

[wiredfool]

Got it together, after a lot of fussing with the bottom bracket threads to make sure I wasn't destroying them.

Took a couple good rides on it this weekend, fixed up the fit. My 25 yr old self had the hoods _way_ down, even after moving them up on the bars, I wound up tilting the bars up three times on the road. Also, I'm not sure what kind of maniac I was, but I apparently used to ride a 39x23 low gear on a 700x23 rear. The 25's on there are only marginally acceptable in that they're probably a mm or two too tight in the back, and the roads here are crap. I've put on a new SRAM 12-28 8sp cluster and that 28 feels kind of hard for the hills now. On the other hand, it feels fast, especially with a tail wind. There's something nice about the closer ratios after riding a 1x for a while. The saddle is still good after all this time, and I'd buy more with the same shape/padding.

Frame is 2024g with the headset cups in and everything else stripped, fork is 709g.

* Shimano 600 1" headset
* Shimano 600 Cranks
* Shimano SG 53/39 rings
* Shimano 600 FD
* Shimano UN7x BB
* Shimano 105 single pivot brakes, with bodged koolstops on the back.
* Sachs New Success 8sp Shifters
* Sachs New Success RD + new pulleys
* Campy Record Aero seatpost
* SRAM 8sp cluster, 12-28
* SRAM 8sp chain
* Profile quill stem, steel
* Profile bars
* Selle Italia Turbomatic2 saddle
* Random wheels from the shed, stolen from other bikes.

Still pondering what to do about wheels -- Whatever it gets should be in silver/polish, I'm kind of torn between converting to 650b and running 32s and deep drop brakes or just leaving it as is and being careful about what roads I go on.