An Unusual Formula 1 - final pictures on page 3 and 4

[raidan73]

This gets better and better

 

[August Bicycles]

Where was I? Ah yes, stem… so the issue with the bike is it was designed for cantilevers but the original owner has clipped off the cantilever hanger when converting it to v-brakes, and the Pace stem steerer hasn’t got a hanger either as it was designed for Maguras. Then we have the issue of the old Rohloff hanger tab, the fact that the steerer is too long for the headtube and the paint on the legs and rear end is poor and totally missing on the stem.

What I need is a some sort of bearded super star who is equally adept at frame building and powder coating and has a passion for retro bikes. Step up @August Bicycles .

Gav is a rare breed. He crafts beautiful steel bikes through his frame shop https://www.augustbicycles.cc/ with his better half, Amy. He creates cool little trinkets like coffee tampers and seat clamp light brackets, but he was also willing to find time to help me out.
He has a genuine passion for retro, and that came through in the discussions I had with him about what I wanted to do. I gave him my list of tasks, ‘no problem’ he said. He didn’t even blink when I didn’t send him the whole frame, just the rear steel bits, the front steel bits and some dodgy drawings

He has an amazing attention to details, things that no normal person would think of.
-When he cut the steerer to fit, he welded a stainless cap on the end as a normal steel cap would rust due to exposure under the crown.
-He had me mark the stem exactly where the hanger should go to ensure the brake cable ran parallel to the headtube
-He designed the front hanger to mirror the rear hanger so they both matched perfectly

Despite the fact that he managed to almost cut his thumb off (not on my job, I hasten to add), he ensured that the tiniest details were monitored. He wasn’t happy with the finish on one part so the powder coat was redone until perfect, and they were all perfect.

Honestly, if you need a new bike or some expert advice on sorting your old one, Gav is your man

It was a pleasure to be part of the project Pete, glad I could be of help and also thank you for the kind words! The bike looks superb now it’s complete!

 

[al-onestare]

Excellent work so far

 

[pete_mcc]

Now to get this project rolling. Needs wheels.

The frame uses a Formula 1 carbon seatpost, that seatpost uses an American Classic head so it felt right to continue that theme with American Classic hubs. This was also driven by the fact that the frame was 130mm spaced and AM hubs can be adjusted to any width courtesy of some hub spacers bought years back from @Rod_Saetan ’s shop https://bicyclist.cc/

Rims needed to be age perfect, Mavic 231 was the factory choice, so they were my choice too. A decent set (built up with STX hubs) came up from @gtturbo and, after a clandestine meeting in a supermarket carpark, the rims were mine.

I love wheel building, I’m not as good as experts like @August Bicycles , but I can build a mean wheel. So, having stripped the rims off the @gtturbo ’s wheels, I set to:

 

[doctor-bond]

Fab work. What a great project, with an excellent cast of contributors. Go RB.

 

[pete_mcc]

The bike needs parts. The headset, rims and bottom bracket are Mavic so I’m wanted to continue that theme.

Only downside is that the front mech is a direct mount bandless affair like the ones used on Alpinestar, Kirk and others and that would either mean using a shimano front mech, which would hurt my completist OCD, or hand make a bracket so that I can use,a braze on Mavic front mech. I think we all know which approach I took…

I took a braze on adapter and butchered it, files, saws, the lot.
Prototype:

Final version:

Final, mounted mech:

 

[pete_mcc]

So. Bullseyes and Mavic rings from my collection and a rather nice chap in Germany, the Mavic front mech bolted together out of a few in my boxes, Frankenstein style and a NOS set of DX spuds like the first set I ever owned fresh from eBay and a nicevNOS sedismchain to compliment the black and silver theme

 

[pete_mcc]

Home stretch now.

Italian FRO brakes with hard anodizing matches parts of the Mavic group and are age perfect. They’ve been sat in a box for far too long. Married up with Mathauser superpads and some funky, tiny hangers that I picked up years ago:

At the back, the FRO cantis (which are end specific and differently shaped) is paired with an IRD booster in steel to match the 531 Chas Roberts rear end:

Levers are Techlites, shifters are Mavic (well, the Simplex branded version as they’re silver and black), the bars are NOS Donnay hand laid carbon with a disconcertingly worrying amount of flex, bar ends are LP:

 

[Frankenorange]

I think those little hangers are called Micro Dots. Not sure who made them.

 

[pete_mcc]

Saddle is a 1992 perforated flite courtesy of @Tomianson , seatpost is the original Formula 1 carbon, the rear mech is Mavic thanks to a good friend in Germany, freewheel is a Maillard from the spares box, skewers are Ringle because, why not!