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The fly-tipped Lava Dome from last year's Temple Newsam ride has finally debuted ... at this year's Temple Newsam ride! 
This is more a role-call of thanks than a build thread really, so much of this bike has been donated or swapped!
Starting with the frame which I casually remarked was my size in the carpark after the ride. Evidently nobody bought it and I got back to the car to find it had been abandoned in the boot and ChrisV40 had done a runner - and this despite Kiran being on guard in the passenger seat! Suffice to say I got a grand royal bollocking (tiny flat and a dozen bikes in the living room already ) despite my obvious innocence. Suggesting she was on hand to prevent this wanton act of fly-tipping and so really it was her fault did nothing to improve the atmosphere...
Thanks Chris!
The frame was in quite a sorry state with the seat tube extension split by the removal of a particularly recalcitrant seat post, so Easy_Rider took it off my hands along with another frame he's working on for me, and had his tame welder fill it in with whatever welders fill stuff in with. It got sneaked in with four other frames and Gav wouldn't take a penny for it, what a nice man!
Somebody else (please help me remember who!) donated the perfect cable guide (after I'd bought something else of course) which also helps hide the discolouration from where the frame was heated to remove the post!
Next I bought about three pairs of forks in various combinations of wrong steerer/a-c etc before Spencer stepped in with the history of the bike and low and behold the original forks and stem, brilliant! We met up at the Peaks National and again he wouldn't take a penny. Plus I had a saddle off him and drank all of his beer - RB man of the year I reckon :mrgreen:
Turns out that he rescued the bike from a hippy commune when delivering them beer. Apparently it was in a very sad state, rusted up solid behind a shed and he saved it from a tragic end. What a hero!
Sure he'll correct that story and I'll edit it at some point (see above for beer consumption).
In order to justify another bike in the flat I needed to make this different and very, very cheap; so I thought I'd give ss a try, expecting that I'd hate it and then be able to move the bike on quickly and reduce the amount of trouble I'm in at home.
Other bits were fairly easily to hand - Impact headset was in The Box, as were bars, seatpost, grips, ends, cranks & BB, pedals, wheels were pinched off the Proflex (which had to be dismantled to make space ), I bought some DiaCompe 987 cantis and Kona branded levers but mrlee donated a full set of XCM cantis and levers which suit much better
Finally I found some posh nail polish in Kiran's make up bag in just the right shade of purple (close enough anyway) to cover the bare metal of the repair and screwed it all together. Simple really...
Final piece of the puzzle was a short mech bolt karma'd by AndyB to hold the tensioner in place, fitted in the carpark, obviously, whilst Rich Aitch pumped my tyres up...
I kept this fairly quiet to reveal triumphantly on return to Temple Newsam (great ride, cheers MarcTwoTone!) and absolutely loved riding it, handling is brilliant, sliding happily around every corner with great balance and stomping up the climbs like a whippersnapper, which it really isn't - for a ss it's a proper porker but as it's main job is to get me fit fast that's no issue!
So it's a scruffy old beast with peanuts spent on it but a heap of RetroBike love mixed in and it does exactly what a retro should in my book - puts a big fat smile on my face and makes me want to get out and ride
This is more a role-call of thanks than a build thread really, so much of this bike has been donated or swapped!
Starting with the frame which I casually remarked was my size in the carpark after the ride. Evidently nobody bought it and I got back to the car to find it had been abandoned in the boot and ChrisV40 had done a runner - and this despite Kiran being on guard in the passenger seat!
Suffice to say I got a grand royal bollocking (tiny flat and a dozen bikes in the living room already ) despite my obvious innocence. Suggesting she was on hand to prevent this wanton act of fly-tipping and so really it was her fault did nothing to improve the atmosphere...Thanks Chris!
The frame was in quite a sorry state with the seat tube extension split by the removal of a particularly recalcitrant seat post, so Easy_Rider took it off my hands along with another frame he's working on for me, and had his tame welder fill it in with whatever welders fill stuff in with. It got sneaked in with four other frames and Gav wouldn't take a penny for it, what a nice man!
Somebody else (please help me remember who!) donated the perfect cable guide (after I'd bought something else of course) which also helps hide the discolouration from where the frame was heated to remove the post!
Next I bought about three pairs of forks in various combinations of wrong steerer/a-c etc before Spencer stepped in with the history of the bike and low and behold the original forks and stem, brilliant! We met up at the Peaks National and again he wouldn't take a penny. Plus I had a saddle off him and drank all of his beer - RB man of the year I reckon :mrgreen:
Turns out that he rescued the bike from a hippy commune when delivering them beer. Apparently it was in a very sad state, rusted up solid behind a shed and he saved it from a tragic end. What a hero!
Sure he'll correct that story and I'll edit it at some point (see above for beer consumption).
In order to justify another bike in the flat I needed to make this different and very, very cheap; so I thought I'd give ss a try, expecting that I'd hate it and then be able to move the bike on quickly and reduce the amount of trouble I'm in at home.
Other bits were fairly easily to hand - Impact headset was in The Box, as were bars, seatpost, grips, ends, cranks & BB, pedals, wheels were pinched off the Proflex (which had to be dismantled to make space
), I bought some DiaCompe 987 cantis and Kona branded levers but mrlee donated a full set of XCM cantis and levers which suit much better Finally I found some posh nail polish in Kiran's make up bag in just the right shade of purple (close enough anyway) to cover the bare metal of the repair and screwed it all together. Simple really...
Final piece of the puzzle was a short mech bolt karma'd by AndyB to hold the tensioner in place, fitted in the carpark, obviously, whilst Rich Aitch pumped my tyres up...
I kept this fairly quiet to reveal triumphantly on return to Temple Newsam (great ride, cheers MarcTwoTone!) and absolutely loved riding it, handling is brilliant, sliding happily around every corner with great balance and stomping up the climbs like a whippersnapper, which it really isn't - for a ss it's a proper porker but as it's main job is to get me fit fast that's no issue!
So it's a scruffy old beast with peanuts spent on it but a heap of RetroBike love mixed in and it does exactly what a retro should in my book - puts a big fat smile on my face and makes me want to get out and ride
