juice.bikes
Devout Dirtbag
Been a while since I've been thinking about bikes let alone riding them since I lost my workshop last year but somehow I've managed to end up with one more..
Was watching this bike on ebay for a few weeks and was genuinely surprised that I wasn't outbid when I took a very very last second punt at auction.. I bought it to build up and sell on as it was labelled 23" but after the ride home from Euston station I was very impressed by how stiff and fast it felt! I've had a couple of 731os frames through my workshop, one was a Mercian 700c time trial frame I built up as a cruiser for riding around LA back in 2019 and it felt great to ride albeit a bit small/low.
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Stuart felt a bit small for what I thought was a 58cm frame - I don't really use inches - so was pleasantly surprised that top tube measured 56.5cm ctc and seat tube 56cm ctc. Only a cm bigger than my 531c Brian Rourke which is my summer run around. I slept on it for a week and thought that if I can fit some bigger tyres, the "23mm" horrible green tyres on there atm made me feel sick, then I'll fix it up to potentially keep it.
I dug out some GP5000s from the stash and told myself theres no way these will fit in the already tight front brake bridge clearance but by some stroke of luck the front tucked in with about 1mm to spare.. def channeled my inner track/fixie/hhsb! Re done the cables, tape and switched out the stem/bars to something a bit more aesthetically pleasing.. can't really stand the 3ttt Pro Chrome stems, especially on a smooth fillet brazed frame like this. A quick service and I was off riding it to work and back with only praises to mention! Felt great overall and the power transfer was a big step up compared to the Rourke but wasn't fully convinced it would work out size wise.
Anyways, took some photos today and here it is as it currently sits -
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Plan is loose and very much tbc but for now I think an emphasis on upgraded to lightweight equivalents, 9 Speed DA for example. I want to sell the wheels as I can't get with the red tbh. I have a set of Hope TI Glides I want to use on something and this seems like the best bet but need to decide on rims, something shallow and silver or anodised grey. A slightly longer titanium? stem and modern compact bars like Nitto M106 - the shape on the 3tt's don't really work for me aesthetically Titanium seatpost maybe? or a Ultegra 6600 smooth finish post? shaved 50 grams putting on this Nitto S65 compared to the 600 it came with so could be easy to loose some weight here...
Anyways, any input welcome. Oh an if anyone has any history or info on Stuart Sinclair please send in
Was watching this bike on ebay for a few weeks and was genuinely surprised that I wasn't outbid when I took a very very last second punt at auction.. I bought it to build up and sell on as it was labelled 23" but after the ride home from Euston station I was very impressed by how stiff and fast it felt! I've had a couple of 731os frames through my workshop, one was a Mercian 700c time trial frame I built up as a cruiser for riding around LA back in 2019 and it felt great to ride albeit a bit small/low.
-
Stuart felt a bit small for what I thought was a 58cm frame - I don't really use inches - so was pleasantly surprised that top tube measured 56.5cm ctc and seat tube 56cm ctc. Only a cm bigger than my 531c Brian Rourke which is my summer run around. I slept on it for a week and thought that if I can fit some bigger tyres, the "23mm" horrible green tyres on there atm made me feel sick, then I'll fix it up to potentially keep it.
I dug out some GP5000s from the stash and told myself theres no way these will fit in the already tight front brake bridge clearance but by some stroke of luck the front tucked in with about 1mm to spare.. def channeled my inner track/fixie/hhsb! Re done the cables, tape and switched out the stem/bars to something a bit more aesthetically pleasing.. can't really stand the 3ttt Pro Chrome stems, especially on a smooth fillet brazed frame like this. A quick service and I was off riding it to work and back with only praises to mention! Felt great overall and the power transfer was a big step up compared to the Rourke but wasn't fully convinced it would work out size wise.
Anyways, took some photos today and here it is as it currently sits -
-
Plan is loose and very much tbc but for now I think an emphasis on upgraded to lightweight equivalents, 9 Speed DA for example. I want to sell the wheels as I can't get with the red tbh. I have a set of Hope TI Glides I want to use on something and this seems like the best bet but need to decide on rims, something shallow and silver or anodised grey. A slightly longer titanium? stem and modern compact bars like Nitto M106 - the shape on the 3tt's don't really work for me aesthetically Titanium seatpost maybe? or a Ultegra 6600 smooth finish post? shaved 50 grams putting on this Nitto S65 compared to the 600 it came with so could be easy to loose some weight here...
Anyways, any input welcome. Oh an if anyone has any history or info on Stuart Sinclair please send in
. And I certainly agree about the wheels – those might work on some bikes, but not this one. Silver or grey will be a big improvement.
