Evening all. Well Santa’s been making unseasonably early deliveries at my house for the last two weeks….
I've managed to source a lovely 28.6 Litespeed titanium seatpost from a very nice chap in California, a pair of NOS Hyperends from a very patient guy in Germany (all correspondence was done in German through Google Translate!), a pair of XT shifters, a near NOS XT rear mech and a Hyperlite bar (thanks again Adrian). Just need to find some brake levers and we’re done(ish).
Would it be frowned upon if I use a “modern” set of cables/housing? I like Jagwire’s Ripcord stuff but I’m not sure they can be considered “retro”. However, they are only cables; suggestions/comments please.
Very tasty! I love the color mix and build so far. Tough to beat the classic set up in your first pics....but it looks like you just might match it without copying it. Cool cool
After a bit of web research, I’m now of the opinion that given most of the cables are exposed, using PTFE coated ones would make little if any noticeable difference. Frustratingly most bike shops I’ve visited recently don’t seem to stock many colour options, so going with pink (I did consider it) would have meant going from a picture on the internet. The final choice was Jagwire Switch in titanium, plus blue ferrules (I think I need to join the AA; Anodisers Anonymous that is!).
Most of the drive train has been assembled but as I prefer the look (from the back) of the 8 speed XTR cassette, the next challenge is to get it working with the 7 speed XT thumb shifters; anyone got any experience here?
I’ve also bought some Panaracer Timbuk II’s from the MOMBAT website and I’m really pleased with them. If anyone’s thinking about amber/skin wall tyres then I would definitely recommend these, plus if we can place a bulk order we’ll bring the price down further.
Lastly the eagle eyed ones of you may notice that I’ve used the latest springs and spring nuts on the brakes. Both sets of original springs were in pretty bad shape, so I bought some new ones from Paul Components only to find that the original spring nut wouldn’t take the new square profile spring and there wasn’t enough metal to drill them out, so I had to order some new spring nuts… One day I might try and make some replacement springs; where can I get stainless spring wire?