Re:
cont....
A few parts I’m really digging:
Microshift rear mech was peanuts and is light, discrete and well built -- it’s big brother Sun XCD was planned, but as the peerless Disraeligears put it - “[the xcd] has little to distinguish it from its, less-storied, microSHIFT bretheren except its sheer silveriness.”
disraeli
Jack Brown tyres: these are a Grant Pederson [Rivbike] design knocked out by Panaracer and available here through Planet X. At 33.33333mm they are cushy even on wide mavic t-261 rims, and although I was sceptical about puncture resistance, they’ve somehow survived the dreaded hedge trimming [by which I mean industrial decimation with those massive flails that spew thorns far and wide] season. They also performed brilliantly in a massive downpour that I got caught in on my first audax.
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“Mashup” brake levers. I’ve had a few builds with drop levers and cantis, and while there are some good performing levers, they are usually too modern or aero. So initially I opted for dia compe Gran Compe 202s which look great, are non-aero and have groovy adjusters. But once fitted they were just a bit too flimsy and squishy - not as positive as some old Shimno 105s I’d used on an MTB drop bar build a few years ago (SLR cable pull and sprung levers). So I dug out the 105s cleaned off the logos, transferred the hoods and adjusters from the Gran Compes and voila: well sprung, nicely modulated and powerful when hooked up to proper wide-profile Tektro cr720s.
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Ride.
The more I ride this the better I like it. Its the balance between practicality and agility that stands out. The frame is comfy and responsive. It’s stiff enough not to feel noodly under power, and light enough to build into a quick bike that doesn’t hate hills. The steering is quick too. This is accentuated by the short stem and relatively narrow flared bar set up I have, and I considered using a wider Nitto Randonneur bar. But I love the BB1s and will just man up. It’s rock solid down hill too. Apart from an eventual upgrade to a dynamo hub wheelset, the only changes I’m considering are moving the shifters from the down tube to the stem steerer. This grieves me somewhat, but I have to acknowledger that on long rides I’m getting an old-man-ache-on-one-side from reaching down. Perhaps Yoga is the answer ….
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It would be great to build some more detail on these bikes, and in researching this I came across a snippett again from a Hilary Stone advert that mentions the build process:
[the 708 frames] were very carefully designed and very well built in Raleigh’s Special Products Division. We followed the building of one of these frames in Cycling Plus Issue 40 and there was a test of the complete bike C+36. I was very impressed – because the photography meant that the brazing torches were on for longer, they cut the frame up at the end as they thought the tubing might have been overheated… That was the sort of level of care Raleigh SPD took with their frames…
Let me know if you have a copy of Cycling Plus issues 36 and/or 40 [I think from 1995] I’ll pay good gold.
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