Wilou
Kona Fan
Hello !
I've been busy since the end of june as I was working (that's a big word, more of tinkering with a lot of pleasure) on a frame I've found almost by accident on a well-known auctions site.
The last bike I "made" was last year, my Raymond Clerc singlespeed, it's fabulous, I love it very much, but I love so much to assemble bikes, search and find components I wanted to have this experience again. I had found three frames which were interesting to me and I hesitated a lot. There was a Trek 7000 one, from 1990, a Klein Mantra Comp, and the one I chose.
The Trek was very nice, all green with purple accents, a little dent on one tube but otherwise in very good condition, but a little too expensive for me. The Klein was more affordable, and it seems iit's not so common and so 90s, but I didn't like the paint so much (mainly blue, with white decals and black rear triangle) and the paint itself was not pristine (I don't imagine a Klein without a fancy and perfect paint). And I didn't want to have to have it redone, mainly because I don't know who could do that here (certainly not me) and it would probably have cost a little too much for this very bike. And also, it's a little tricky to ride, suspended bikes are not what I crave the most and I wanted something more relaxed (kinda !
).
So, I continued to search and I found an Heavy Tools HT-Laser, probably from 1993 or 1994 as it features the SCF decals (Suspension Compatible Frame) on the seat tube and on the fork. Several reasons explain why I chose this one (not in the best condition but) :
- the color is silver (I love silver, my Clerc is also a chrome bike) ;
- the original bike has purple accents and the one I found has purple decals, the original purple thing to block the saddle (and I love purple and silver association, It's so nineties ! I was drooling back then about that !
). I also have the original purple cantilever cable hanger but as I chose V brakes, I don't use it. I don't want too much purple, but just what's necessary to be seen without being indigestible !
- this frame is absolutely perfect for me size-wise (for a not-so-common bike, it's fantastic), 44 cm seat tube, 53,5 cm horizontal tube ;
- I love the geometry ;
- it seemed affordable for what it is (that's always a personal appreciation).
As I said, the frame is not in perfect shape, there are marks on the chrome, mainly on the horizontal tube, and as it's a steel frame, there also is little rust (inside the tubes, but not too much as far as I have seen). Surface rust on the inside of the tubes. I cleaned it the best I could, lots of WD40, polish, white spirit and Miror. I cleaned the bottom bracket (lots of rust dust, but at the bottom of the bike, it seems normal), I also cleaned every piece of the headset and its bearings. The results are not bad at all and I don't want a pristine bike either. It has, for me, the right amount of patina. To complete it, I bought some components, some new, some aftermarket/even NOS. The first bike I made was a singlespeed (back then in 2015), the last one, last year, was also a singlespeed. As they say, never two without three, so the HT-Laser will be also a singlespeed.
I thought a lot about the aesthetics of the bike. As I said, I love the chrome/purple mix, but I don't want too much purple. And I also wanted to avoid black and that I failed, but it can be corrected and all in all, it's not too much black (the saddle, the rims and the rolling part of the tyres). I'll look for silver wheels in the next days/weeks.
I always have in the corner of my head the three-colors rule. One main color (60 %), a second one (contrast color - 30 %) and another - accentuation color - that represent 10 % of the total. With chrome, it's so difficult that for my Clerc, I finally used only two colors (and the result is absolutely wonderful). But for the HT, I don't want to have 50 % chrome, 50 % purple, it would be too much purple. So there is a little black and if I replace it (with silver), it would probably be 80 % silver and 20 % purple, or 90/10. Knowing that there is the saddle, and I don't plan to have a purple nor a grey one, so black would still be here, just on the tyres and the saddle.
Note : it's not completely finished, tomorrow, I'll received the quick rekeases (purple ones), and I'm searching a aluminium bottle (purple too) and it's veeeeeeeeery difficult to find. I bought one that is very lovely but it only has purple accents, the main color is blue, it's not exactly what I wanted. I was able to find the right one, but on the site where I can buy it, it's not possible to have a delivery in France. I continued the searching and I found another site, it's possible to have a delivery in my country but there seems to have a problem with the purchase form, I have sent an e-mail to the support team, I'll probably have an answer on next monday... Well, tomorrow it is !
The components I used :
- HT-Laser frame ;
- original BB and headset ;
- Decathlon wheels ;
- Continental Cross King Bernstein Edition tyres (26 x 2.2) ;
- Shimano silver BL-T610 brake levers ;
- Shimano silver BR-T4000 V-brakes ;
- Jagwire cables (carbon silver housing) <<<< very nice and clever product, so better than the Shimano equivalent !
- Uberbike Half Waffle grips with lock on system (it's possible to choose and the color of the grip and the color of the lock rings, for me,it was grey and purple) ;
- UNO aluminium seatpost, Ø 29,8 mm, length 30 cm ;
- Bassano Vuelta Vision saddle ;
- Crankbrothers Stamp 1 pedals (small version) ;
- Shimano RX 100 crankset with a 39T chainring (there was a second 52T chainring I put away) ;
- KCNC bolts to attach the chainring to the spider (I didn't want to modify the original bolts) ;
- Wolftooth bolts for the bottle holder and various other holes (6 in total, purple of course) ;
- DMR Singlespeed kit with 21T pinion ;
- XLC chain tensioner ;
- NOS polished aluminium stem 130 mm, Ø 25,4 mm for the head tube and the handlebar ;
- SRAM chain ;
- 56 cm aluminium straight handlebar ;
- various lights and reflectors, a purple aluminium bottle opener (mandatory on every bike !).
I wanted to add brake boosters but the ones I found are probably too narrow and the seller hasn't answered me yet about that (he probably never will as I asked him 2 weeks ago)...
Without further ado, some pics (warning : I'm not the best photographer in the world ). I have others / I can take others if you want to see a specific part.
EDIT : I finally could buy the bottle, yeah !
And if you're interested by the grips, you'll find their products here : https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/category/553/Lock-on-Grips-Grip-Builder. The only thing I regret (but a little) is that the brand appears on the lock rings and it's written with the same orientation on everyone of them. So, when you install the grips, it's not symetrical. I tried every combination (the locking rings can be reversed) but it's never perfectly symetrical. If the name is in the same orientation, the screws are too and if we put the writing in the good orientation, the screws are not. So, I chose to have the writings good and if I want to screw/unscrew the grips then for the left one, the screws are at the front and for the right one, they are at the back. Not a big problem but I'm somewhat picky sometimes.
EDIT : Yeah, I have received the bottle today and it's exactly what I was expecting ! Verry happy ! Gourde en aluminium 500ml - Violet | Regatta FR
I've been busy since the end of june as I was working (that's a big word, more of tinkering with a lot of pleasure) on a frame I've found almost by accident on a well-known auctions site.
The last bike I "made" was last year, my Raymond Clerc singlespeed, it's fabulous, I love it very much, but I love so much to assemble bikes, search and find components I wanted to have this experience again. I had found three frames which were interesting to me and I hesitated a lot. There was a Trek 7000 one, from 1990, a Klein Mantra Comp, and the one I chose.
The Trek was very nice, all green with purple accents, a little dent on one tube but otherwise in very good condition, but a little too expensive for me. The Klein was more affordable, and it seems iit's not so common and so 90s, but I didn't like the paint so much (mainly blue, with white decals and black rear triangle) and the paint itself was not pristine (I don't imagine a Klein without a fancy and perfect paint). And I didn't want to have to have it redone, mainly because I don't know who could do that here (certainly not me) and it would probably have cost a little too much for this very bike. And also, it's a little tricky to ride, suspended bikes are not what I crave the most and I wanted something more relaxed (kinda !
).So, I continued to search and I found an Heavy Tools HT-Laser, probably from 1993 or 1994 as it features the SCF decals (Suspension Compatible Frame) on the seat tube and on the fork. Several reasons explain why I chose this one (not in the best condition but) :
- the color is silver (I love silver, my Clerc is also a chrome bike) ;
- the original bike has purple accents and the one I found has purple decals, the original purple thing to block the saddle (and I love purple and silver association, It's so nineties ! I was drooling back then about that !
). I also have the original purple cantilever cable hanger but as I chose V brakes, I don't use it. I don't want too much purple, but just what's necessary to be seen without being indigestible !- this frame is absolutely perfect for me size-wise (for a not-so-common bike, it's fantastic), 44 cm seat tube, 53,5 cm horizontal tube ;
- I love the geometry ;
- it seemed affordable for what it is (that's always a personal appreciation).
As I said, the frame is not in perfect shape, there are marks on the chrome, mainly on the horizontal tube, and as it's a steel frame, there also is little rust (inside the tubes, but not too much as far as I have seen). Surface rust on the inside of the tubes. I cleaned it the best I could, lots of WD40, polish, white spirit and Miror. I cleaned the bottom bracket (lots of rust dust, but at the bottom of the bike, it seems normal), I also cleaned every piece of the headset and its bearings. The results are not bad at all and I don't want a pristine bike either. It has, for me, the right amount of patina. To complete it, I bought some components, some new, some aftermarket/even NOS. The first bike I made was a singlespeed (back then in 2015), the last one, last year, was also a singlespeed. As they say, never two without three, so the HT-Laser will be also a singlespeed.
I thought a lot about the aesthetics of the bike. As I said, I love the chrome/purple mix, but I don't want too much purple. And I also wanted to avoid black and that I failed, but it can be corrected and all in all, it's not too much black (the saddle, the rims and the rolling part of the tyres). I'll look for silver wheels in the next days/weeks.
I always have in the corner of my head the three-colors rule. One main color (60 %), a second one (contrast color - 30 %) and another - accentuation color - that represent 10 % of the total. With chrome, it's so difficult that for my Clerc, I finally used only two colors (and the result is absolutely wonderful). But for the HT, I don't want to have 50 % chrome, 50 % purple, it would be too much purple. So there is a little black and if I replace it (with silver), it would probably be 80 % silver and 20 % purple, or 90/10. Knowing that there is the saddle, and I don't plan to have a purple nor a grey one, so black would still be here, just on the tyres and the saddle.
Note : it's not completely finished, tomorrow, I'll received the quick rekeases (purple ones), and I'm searching a aluminium bottle (purple too) and it's veeeeeeeeery difficult to find. I bought one that is very lovely but it only has purple accents, the main color is blue, it's not exactly what I wanted. I was able to find the right one, but on the site where I can buy it, it's not possible to have a delivery in France. I continued the searching and I found another site, it's possible to have a delivery in my country but there seems to have a problem with the purchase form, I have sent an e-mail to the support team, I'll probably have an answer on next monday... Well, tomorrow it is !
The components I used :
- HT-Laser frame ;
- original BB and headset ;
- Decathlon wheels ;
- Continental Cross King Bernstein Edition tyres (26 x 2.2) ;
- Shimano silver BL-T610 brake levers ;
- Shimano silver BR-T4000 V-brakes ;
- Jagwire cables (carbon silver housing) <<<< very nice and clever product, so better than the Shimano equivalent !
- Uberbike Half Waffle grips with lock on system (it's possible to choose and the color of the grip and the color of the lock rings, for me,it was grey and purple) ;
- UNO aluminium seatpost, Ø 29,8 mm, length 30 cm ;
- Bassano Vuelta Vision saddle ;
- Crankbrothers Stamp 1 pedals (small version) ;
- Shimano RX 100 crankset with a 39T chainring (there was a second 52T chainring I put away) ;
- KCNC bolts to attach the chainring to the spider (I didn't want to modify the original bolts) ;
- Wolftooth bolts for the bottle holder and various other holes (6 in total, purple of course) ;
- DMR Singlespeed kit with 21T pinion ;
- XLC chain tensioner ;
- NOS polished aluminium stem 130 mm, Ø 25,4 mm for the head tube and the handlebar ;
- SRAM chain ;
- 56 cm aluminium straight handlebar ;
- various lights and reflectors, a purple aluminium bottle opener (mandatory on every bike !).
I wanted to add brake boosters but the ones I found are probably too narrow and the seller hasn't answered me yet about that (he probably never will as I asked him 2 weeks ago)...
Without further ado, some pics (warning : I'm not the best photographer in the world
). I have others / I can take others if you want to see a specific part. EDIT : I finally could buy the bottle, yeah !
And if you're interested by the grips, you'll find their products here : https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/category/553/Lock-on-Grips-Grip-Builder. The only thing I regret (but a little) is that the brand appears on the lock rings and it's written with the same orientation on everyone of them. So, when you install the grips, it's not symetrical. I tried every combination (the locking rings can be reversed) but it's never perfectly symetrical. If the name is in the same orientation, the screws are too and if we put the writing in the good orientation, the screws are not. So, I chose to have the writings good and if I want to screw/unscrew the grips then for the left one, the screws are at the front and for the right one, they are at the back. Not a big problem but I'm somewhat picky sometimes.
EDIT : Yeah, I have received the bottle today and it's exactly what I was expecting ! Verry happy ! Gourde en aluminium 500ml - Violet | Regatta FR
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