'96ish Custom Bontrager CX
- Thread starter pw_pw_la
- Start date
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Loving this Bontrager fun fact! … non of my bonty’s feature rollers - however I have some FAT Chance frames that feature rollers - so will be on the look out when rebuilding.
Really like the choice of top-notch contempory indy parts + with a nice retrospective (not retrograde!) pick of old school parts in the mix. Looking forwards to reading more in due course... have been re visiting Pauls Components who make ton’s more parts than I remember - a motolie (possibly in purple) - would be a useful addition to my own bonty. Thanks for heads-up on Paul’s
Thank you! That's really what I was striving for with this build (maybe with all of them, really), a nice balance. Which I think the finished thing achieves. Nothing (too) anachronistic, and nothing too modern just for modern's sake, all hopefully working harmoniously together.
Or that's the intent, anyway!
Both this and the Merlin were exercises in this approach really. Just in slightly, or very different ways! Hopefully both worked, and even if they didn't, or don't to some people, they both make me really happy and are a joy to ride. Which is all that really matters.
This one was a lot of problem solving, and the feeling of finally riding it after all those battles made the shakedown extra sweet. This bike has felt very much like solving a puzzle, which is it's own reward.
And, yeah, I love Paul stuff. Almost everything then, and almost everything now.
I also loved finding out that Keith allegedly used screen door hardware for all his rollers! I don't even care if it's true.
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
I spent a whole afternoon trying to convince you to buy the Bruce Gordon 26" bargain of the century!
So don't come at me with that $#*&!
But yeah, can't let everyone know about all the bargains, all the time.
What if they snag something out from under you?
Like these blue ano White Industries hub displays from Bruce Gordon's old shop, for example...
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Riiiight, so, before we get to the final few hurdles, and to give a little more time to anyone that wants to try and guess the mistake I made and mentioned in the previous update, let's get back to the drivetrain for a second...
Everything was looking good with the setup as I had it. Right up until the moment I actually tried to set it up!
Running the front derailleur cable, I quickly realized it went straight from the seat tube stop directly into the Problem Solvers braze-on clamp! Bam! A direct hit. No wiggle room. No way around it. No way to move it. Which meant no way to run it!
So this left me with 5 options:
1. Scream.
2. Run the whole thing 1x instead, thus removing any need for a front derailleur and any of the subsequent hassle (although not using cable routing is a sin worse than not using a cantilever stop).
3. Try a top pull derailleur and ignore only the roller (not as bad as the sin above, but still).
4. Try an M950 front derailleur, which has an incredibly low profile (although not as easy to find in the 28.6 clamp size).
5. Try some kind of sub-compact crankset, and hope that allows enough room to sneak in a normal road double beneath the bottle braze-on.
Right then...
1. Done.
2. I would never!
3. The problem with this idea is the placement of the cable stop. As it's on the driveside face of the downtube the cable would be forced to run at an incredibly crazy angle from stop to derailleur, thus potentially resulting in all kinds of irritating shifting issues. So a non-starter, really.
4:
Okay, so it fits. And I don't hate it as much as I expected to. And it would be period correct. But it is a triple running only two rings, and..
Before I could think any more about how I felt about it, I took a slightly closer look:
Yeah, well that's that debate settled! As I don't much fancy risking that kind of microscopic clearance. All it takes is one small rock, a hefty twig or two, and...
So that left Option 5.
Luckily, I still have the minty, barely ridden XC Pro group from the Marin, which was stripped of all its beautiful parts when I turned it into a bike for the missus.
(A real romantic, I know!)
Anyway, the extra nice thing about the group in my possession is that not only is the drivetrain MicroDrive, but it's also already missing the original granny ring!
So, let's just ditch it completely and turn it into a sub-compact double, throw on that original NOS clamp-version of the 7700-FD and see how it all fits...
Now, is Suntour XC Pro, XTR M953 and Dura-Ace 7700 a weird mix? You bet! Does it have a certain idiosyncratic, Cyclocross race-mechanic, whatever-works-works kind of vibe? Well, it sure does! Do I think it looks cool as shit regardless of any of this? Why yes, yes I do!
Does it work, really, really well alltogether in practice?
It absolutely does!
I have a professional mechanic friend, a real standup guy, and recently he's been looking over all my bikes when I finish them and making sure everything is as it should be and correcting any mistakes I've made along the way.
After all the issues big and small I had with this bike, I left the final cabling and indexing to him this time.
Anyway, when I stopped by to pick it up, he said, "You know, I usually hate the way vintage bikes ride. There's almost always something wrong, or just a little off with them, no matter what you do. But this bike feels super smooth and perfectly dialed-in right away."
I can't think of much higher praise than that!
This is a guy that rides with Bluetooth shifting and disc brakes; Crust and Rivendell bikes loaded with modern stuff; whose idea of a casual Sunday ride is 120-miles of mixed terrain. This is a professional mechanic who's very much into randonneuring. Basically, he knows his shit!
So I must have done something right, and made the right choice... eventually!
Everything was looking good with the setup as I had it. Right up until the moment I actually tried to set it up!
Running the front derailleur cable, I quickly realized it went straight from the seat tube stop directly into the Problem Solvers braze-on clamp! Bam! A direct hit. No wiggle room. No way around it. No way to move it. Which meant no way to run it!
So this left me with 5 options:
1. Scream.
2. Run the whole thing 1x instead, thus removing any need for a front derailleur and any of the subsequent hassle (although not using cable routing is a sin worse than not using a cantilever stop).
3. Try a top pull derailleur and ignore only the roller (not as bad as the sin above, but still).
4. Try an M950 front derailleur, which has an incredibly low profile (although not as easy to find in the 28.6 clamp size).
5. Try some kind of sub-compact crankset, and hope that allows enough room to sneak in a normal road double beneath the bottle braze-on.
Right then...
1. Done.
2. I would never!
3. The problem with this idea is the placement of the cable stop. As it's on the driveside face of the downtube the cable would be forced to run at an incredibly crazy angle from stop to derailleur, thus potentially resulting in all kinds of irritating shifting issues. So a non-starter, really.
4:
Okay, so it fits. And I don't hate it as much as I expected to. And it would be period correct. But it is a triple running only two rings, and..
Before I could think any more about how I felt about it, I took a slightly closer look:
Yeah, well that's that debate settled! As I don't much fancy risking that kind of microscopic clearance. All it takes is one small rock, a hefty twig or two, and...
So that left Option 5.
Luckily, I still have the minty, barely ridden XC Pro group from the Marin, which was stripped of all its beautiful parts when I turned it into a bike for the missus.
(A real romantic, I know!)
Anyway, the extra nice thing about the group in my possession is that not only is the drivetrain MicroDrive, but it's also already missing the original granny ring!
So, let's just ditch it completely and turn it into a sub-compact double, throw on that original NOS clamp-version of the 7700-FD and see how it all fits...
Now, is Suntour XC Pro, XTR M953 and Dura-Ace 7700 a weird mix? You bet! Does it have a certain idiosyncratic, Cyclocross race-mechanic, whatever-works-works kind of vibe? Well, it sure does! Do I think it looks cool as shit regardless of any of this? Why yes, yes I do!
Does it work, really, really well alltogether in practice?
It absolutely does!
I have a professional mechanic friend, a real standup guy, and recently he's been looking over all my bikes when I finish them and making sure everything is as it should be and correcting any mistakes I've made along the way.
After all the issues big and small I had with this bike, I left the final cabling and indexing to him this time.
Anyway, when I stopped by to pick it up, he said, "You know, I usually hate the way vintage bikes ride. There's almost always something wrong, or just a little off with them, no matter what you do. But this bike feels super smooth and perfectly dialed-in right away."
I can't think of much higher praise than that!
This is a guy that rides with Bluetooth shifting and disc brakes; Crust and Rivendell bikes loaded with modern stuff; whose idea of a casual Sunday ride is 120-miles of mixed terrain. This is a professional mechanic who's very much into randonneuring. Basically, he knows his shit!
So I must have done something right, and made the right choice... eventually!
Last edited:
br0qn
Retro Guru
I spent a whole afternoon trying to convince you to buy the Bruce Gordon 26" bargain of the century!
So don't come at me with that $#*&!
that thing was so cool but built for someone far more vertically challenged than I.
Glad the m950 front mech had it's issues as it lead to such a perfectly imperfect mix. That DA mech is a beaut, makes you want to find a reason/bike to mix and match 7700 with m900
there's something peculiar about this cable routing...
;D
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
that thing was so cool but built for someone far more vertically challenged than I.
Glad the m950 front mech had it's issues as it lead to such a perfectly imperfect mix. That DA mech is a beaut, makes you want to find a reason/bike to mix and match 7700 with m900
there's something peculiar about this cable routing...
View attachment 707261
;D
I hope for your sake and our friendship that's not a serious guess...!
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
would be fascinating to learn what the original owner used as drivetrain parts … seems like the frame has guided you into this cool configuration of components & it works well!
I agree. One of the main reasons I was hoping he'd accept my LinkedIn request! I'm desperate to know how he originally ran it, or why he had it designed that way.
I know at least one previous owner who ran it with a Suntour XC Pro triple.
And now I know why!
