Frameset transplant: Spa Titanium Touring

[pwa]

download/file.php?mode=view&id=64963

The latest project is nearing completion in our back room. My 18 year old Thorn Club Tour frame was getting rusty around the cable stops and rather than mucking about with repainting (which has never worked for long in the past) I bit the bullet and bought a Spa Titanium Touring (57cm) and swapped over as much as possible.

The trick of course is to get the position right, which needed a different stem that I had in my parts bin. The Thorn had a longer top tube so I needed a longer stem on the Spa. The JTek seatpost is new and you will see a wrap of insulation tape 1mm from where it disappears at the clamp so I can see if it slips down. It is well greased but with a lot of torque I think I have got it immobile. At least, a one mile test ride didn't budge it.

Compared to other people's tourers mine have the bars a bit low. It just works for me. I like it that way. It feels right.

It is a tourer but I will use it mostly on rides around the lanes close to home. I don't really do off-road as there is very little around here, so the 35mm Hypers on the bike are about right for the job. I could get the guards to move out a bit more so a slightly larger tyre size might be okay if I ever need it, which is unlikely.

There are still a few small things to tidy up. I can think of one you might have spotted but I won't spoil it by pointing it out.

[rotavator]

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/download/file.php?mode=view&id=64963


There are still a few small things to tidy up. I can think of one you might have spotted but I won't spoil it by pointing it out.

Silvery coloured bottle cages?

[pwa]

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/download/file.php?mode=view&id=64963


There are still a few small things to tidy up. I can think of one you might have spotted but I won't spoil it by pointing it out.

Silvery coloured bottle cages?

No, I'm not fussy about things like that. It's the rear mech cable outer which is about an inch too long. I re-used the cable outer from the donor frame and just put it on as it was, in a bit of a rush. I knew I would be re-visiting that later on.

[pwa]

The frameset itself is very nice to look at. The welds are unobtrusive and neat, everything looks tidy, and the subtle graphics (including one on the front of the head tube) are just a different finish to the metal. The background is brushed and the writing is blasted. Nice.

The one slight niggle is that the rear brake cable hanger, while very neat, does spring slightly when the brake is applied. It is trivial but on the old Club Tour the hanger was immobile. In practice the rear brake is working well so it is more of a theoretical flaw than a practical one. Cable guides at the head tube would have been nice too. I'll probably end up putting some tube protection there. But generally it is a lovely bit of kit and it built up easily.

I don't expect to see a lot of these on the roads in the future. Discs are taking the market. But I wanted to stick with the cantis I know, which suit my needs and which I already have.

[cyclop]

Nice machine.Is that a bulge in the front guard or an optical illusion,maybe some black on the box?

[PH]

I can think of one you might have spotted but I won't spoil it by pointing it out.

Trim or cap the guard stays and fit the mudflaps.
I'd have gone for V brakes if not using STI's, but that's just personal preference. I'm also fussy about matching the look, so stem, spacers and seatpost would all be the same colour... probably all of it so brakes, rack and bottle cages as well, either black or silver but not mixed, but again it's just preference.
Otherwise very nice and bikes ought to be for riding not looking at anyway
How many years did you get out of the Club Tour? Always seems a shame when a bike comes to the end of it's practical life, though it depends on how good a life that's been.

EDIT - Not that I practice what I preach, though this is my work bike
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3832&hilit=pictures&start=1590#p1411396

[pwa]

Nice machine.Is that a bulge in the front guard or an optical illusion,maybe some black on the box?

The guards are the old ones off the donor and the front has taken some punishment in the past, so the bottom section is a bit deformed. It niggles slightly because, if I say so myself, I can usually get guards on neatly, and apart from that one bit they went on well. But it is just cosmetic. Of more significance is that they are a tad short.

[pwa]

I can think of one you might have spotted but I won't spoil it by pointing it out.

Trim or cap the guard stays and fit the mudflaps.
I'd have gone for V brakes if not using STI's, but that's just personal preference. I'm also fussy about matching the look, so stem, spacers and seatpost would all be the same colour... probably all of it so brakes, rack and bottle cages as well, either black or silver but not mixed, but again it's just preference.
Otherwise very nice and bikes ought to be for riding not looking at anyway
How many years did you get out of the Club Tour? Always seems a shame when a bike comes to the end of it's practical life, though it depends on how good a life that's been.

I agree about mud flaps.

The guard stays are filed and rounded at the ends, for safety, but I left a bit to allow for future adjustment.

My preferences on colour for this bike are black and silver. Anything can be either black or silver. The bottle cages were chucked on because they were what I already had and I'm not bothered by little cosmetic things.

I had the Club Tour for about 18 years and for most of that time it was used 5 days a week for commuting, along with the occasional tour and many day rides. It did well.

[RJC]

Did you consider attaching the front mudguard stays to the next eyelet up on the forks?
Both stays will be shorter so a bit stiffer.
Also if a stick or something catches under the mudguard it will tend to pull away from the tyre rather than towards.

[iandriver]

Interesting you havre tape around the seat post. Is this due to undersize or stopping it sliding down. I've got one of these, don't know it it's a general titanium stiffness thing, but I couldn't stop the seatpost sliding down without too much force on the seat clamp bolt. I solved it with an additional small collar for the post itself from an old carbon post. I may well change it for one of those double collars with a clamp on the post and the frame in one piece.

[pwa]

Interesting you havre tape around the seat post. Is this due to undersize or stopping it sliding down. I've got one of these, don't know it it's a general titanium stiffness thing, but I couldn't stop the seatpost sliding down without too much force on the seat clamp bolt. I solved it with an additional small collar for the post itself from an old carbon post. I may well change it for one of those double collars with a clamp on the post and the frame in one piece.

The bit of black tape is for observational purposes. I have had a lot of experience with seatposts slipping, and with seatposts fusing stuck. You grease them to stop them fusing but then they slip. So i have greased this one well with the anti-seize stuff and done it up tight, then I put the tape on with 1mm of seatpost showing beneath. If that 1mm disappears I will know I have a slowly slipping seatpost. So far, between the rain, I have ridden it just over a mile with no apparent slipping so all may be well. But it is early days. The tape will come off eventually.

[pwa]

Did you consider attaching the front mudguard stays to the next eyelet up on the forks?
Both stays will be shorter so a bit stiffer.
Also if a stick or something catches under the mudguard it will tend to pull away from the tyre rather than towards.

I did consider that but decided to keep the higher ones free for when I want to put the front rack on. I know you can use the same eyelets for both but it is simpler if you don't.

[pwa]

The forks are chromo steel and, therefore, painted. The paint looks like it will last. And unlike with other forks I've had, the steerer is painted. And when I cut it to size the paint at the cut edge behaved very nicely. It didn't flake. It cut cleanly, showing I think that it is well stuck to the metal. That would bode well for anyone buying a steel frame painted that way.

[reohn2]

Looks good but the bottle cages look out of place
I wouldn't bother cutting down the rear mech outer section,I find the extra length give smoother cable routing and stops kinking at the mech.

PS,I like the tyres

[pwa]

Looks good but the bottle cages look out of place
I wouldn't bother cutting down the rear mech outer section,I find the extra length give smoother cable routing and stops kinking at the mech.

PS,I like the tyres

I still have one of those tyres in a box!

The bottle cages are not the colour I would have chosen but I don't care. Cheap alloy things that just work and aren't worth replacing. And if I'm honest I don't like it when everything matches perfectly. It seems a bit creepy. I like it when you can see that a bike was assembled over years, as this one has been, with parts of varying vintages coming together to make something not quite the same as anyone else is riding.

I may leave the rear mech outer. It is actually working perfectly.

Building a bike from old parts forces you do do the maintenance jobs you have been putting off. That rear mech, for example, has never been a problem but it is a long time since I have given it much attention. But as I was transferring it to a new frame it had to have the works. Jockey wheels out, cleaned and lubed. A good clean of all the mech using white spirits, then a bit of lube here and there before reassembly. Rear hub disassembled, cleaned, lubed and reassembled. And so on, right through. It is a good feeling when you have done that, knowing that everything on the bike is optimal.