Following the discovery of a crack in my head tube, I've now purchased a replacement frame (mid 80's Dawes Galaxy), so I can move all my parts over.
I know it's one of those 'how long is a piece of string' type questions, but how long do you think this should take? The frame arriving is completely bare - I even have to fit a bottom bracket and headset. Is this something I should be attempting when I get home from work this evening at 7pm, or should I leave it until the weekend (riding round on a cracked frame in the meantime)
Second question: will an Italian threaded headset fit an English threaded fork? Some say yes, some say no - does anyone here have any experience?
Thanks
Time to build a bike from frame up?
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
How good a mechanic are you?
And do you have all the tools necessary or will you be 'improvising' on some?
What time do you go to bed and how do your neighbours cope with banging like a lunatic if you take the improvising route?
I can spend (easily) a full day building my bike and that's not including the tricky stuff like headsets, but someone else might do it in a couple hours.
And do you have all the tools necessary or will you be 'improvising' on some?
What time do you go to bed and how do your neighbours cope with banging like a lunatic if you take the improvising route?
I can spend (easily) a full day building my bike and that's not including the tricky stuff like headsets, but someone else might do it in a couple hours.
Bill
“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
You have a good point
If I can do it by midnight, then I'll give it a go. What I want to avoid is not having a bike to ride to work tomorrow.
I've got most of the tools, but there's always some improvisation necessary, isn't there?
I'm not fitting any racks, as I use a saddlebag. I can leave off the mudguards for now, as there's no rain forecast tomorrow. My dynamo lights similarly can stay off for the moment, as they always take a while to plumb in.
So it's really just putting some wheels, a saddle, some brakes, handlebars, bottom bracket and headset, front and rear derailleurs, chainset, pedals, and a chain together.......
If I can do it by midnight, then I'll give it a go. What I want to avoid is not having a bike to ride to work tomorrow.
I've got most of the tools, but there's always some improvisation necessary, isn't there?
I'm not fitting any racks, as I use a saddlebag. I can leave off the mudguards for now, as there's no rain forecast tomorrow. My dynamo lights similarly can stay off for the moment, as they always take a while to plumb in.
So it's really just putting some wheels, a saddle, some brakes, handlebars, bottom bracket and headset, front and rear derailleurs, chainset, pedals, and a chain together.......
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
Fitting a headset isnt that easy? well not as easy as put in a bottom bracket bearings?
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
mercalia wrote:Fitting a headset isnt that easy? well not as easy as put in a bottom bracket bearings?
It depends. I've got some threaded rod that I can use as a headset press to get the cups in. The only difficult thing can be getting the crown race on, but 10 minutes in the oven usually cures that
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
I have done this many times. Assuming all parts are clean and ready to go, simply a matter of fitting to the frame, it is an easy job for say an hour to an hour and a half but that excludes all the fiddly bits like cutting brake and gear cables, taping bars, fitting mudguards etc. As an example, about 25 years ago I got a new track frame which came with the headset fitted, so no trouble there. It was on the road in not much more than 30 minutes but the bars were already taped and fitted with a brake lever with the brake hanging from its cable (taken from a previous machine). Cutting brake and gear cables, taping bars, fitting mudguards and carrier plus bottle cages are all the fiddly bits that take time to get right and can quite easily take another couple of hours. Say 3 to 4 hours in total. I assume you will take this opportunity to replace all the cables.
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
Rhodrich wrote:mercalia wrote:Fitting a headset isnt that easy? well not as easy as put in a bottom bracket bearings?
It depends. I've got some threaded rod that I can use as a headset press to get the cups in. The only difficult thing can be getting the crown race on, but 10 minutes in the oven usually cures that
Yes I would have to agree it does depend. I recently fitted one with a block of wood and a club hammer. Worked a treat.
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
If the frame is properly prepared (i.e. all the threads have had the paint tapped out, BB shell/head tube facing, fork crown and head tube reaming etc, as required for the components you intend to fit), and you've got the tools you intend to use to hand (eg the nuts & washer stacks to go with the threaded rod headset press), it should be fairly straightforward to build up a frame in an evening. If it gets too late you can always leave mudguards and handlebar tape to the next day.
It's finding you have some tool or component missing that tends to delay things.
If you are moving parts from one frame to another, it can be quicker, as handlebars transfer as a unit
It's finding you have some tool or component missing that tends to delay things.
If you are moving parts from one frame to another, it can be quicker, as handlebars transfer as a unit
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
An evening to strip down the old frame then clean the components, a day to source all those bits that looked OK but could do with replacing now you've cleaned them, and another evening to assemble it all again and maybe another to sort out unexpected problems.
Or you could just throw it together in one evening bodging and ignoring worn parts & as noted above some bits can be moved over in one chunk.
Its really up to how good a job you want to make of it - a bike shop mechanic surrounded by everything he needs could do it in a working day.
Or you could just throw it together in one evening bodging and ignoring worn parts & as noted above some bits can be moved over in one chunk.
Its really up to how good a job you want to make of it - a bike shop mechanic surrounded by everything he needs could do it in a working day.
Cheers
J Bro
J Bro
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
You've got a good chance of the crown race seat on the fork being the wrong size. Most Dawes Galaxies of that era are 27.0mm, most Italian headsets are 26.4mm. You might get lucky and it'll all fit fine, but I'd give myself at least a day to build a bike and I'd also pencil in a trip to the bike shop(s) to get the bits I didn't know I needed!
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
Well I did it!
Started at 7.30pm once the kids were in bed, and finished by midnight, including a short break for dinner, a test ride round the block, and no bodging!
Rode the bike into work this morning (14 miles), and I'd like to say it didn't miss a beat, but the seat went down (too much anti-seize grease, and not enough torque on the adjustment bolt), and the headset loosened slightly. Apart from that, no problems at all. Even managed to fit the mudguards and dynamo lighting (front and rear). Much of the work was just moving things en masse from the old frame though - as Andrew_s says, the handlebars transfer as a unit - no need to even disconnect the front brake (cables are pretty new, so no need to replace them). Mudguards that took a long time to fit initially went straight over too. The only thing that took a while was setting up the bottom bracket, which is a loose ball affair, and setting up all the gears - it's still not indexing perfectly.
With regards to the headset, the Italian one didn't fit. The top part was fine, but the crown race was too big for the forks. Ironically, I think it's a 27mm crown race, so the forks I've got must be 26.4mm. Not a problem though, as I used a headset from my spares box, and will replace this in due course.
Still a few jobs to do in the future, but nothing that can't wait.
I'd forgotten how nicely a 531ST frame rides. I always ride with a fairly heavily loaded Carradice on the back, so the extra stiffness in the seat tube is very welcome. The Viscount almost feels noodly in comparison - though that might have been the frame cracking up!
Started at 7.30pm once the kids were in bed, and finished by midnight, including a short break for dinner, a test ride round the block, and no bodging!
Rode the bike into work this morning (14 miles), and I'd like to say it didn't miss a beat, but the seat went down (too much anti-seize grease, and not enough torque on the adjustment bolt), and the headset loosened slightly. Apart from that, no problems at all. Even managed to fit the mudguards and dynamo lighting (front and rear). Much of the work was just moving things en masse from the old frame though - as Andrew_s says, the handlebars transfer as a unit - no need to even disconnect the front brake (cables are pretty new, so no need to replace them). Mudguards that took a long time to fit initially went straight over too. The only thing that took a while was setting up the bottom bracket, which is a loose ball affair, and setting up all the gears - it's still not indexing perfectly.
With regards to the headset, the Italian one didn't fit. The top part was fine, but the crown race was too big for the forks. Ironically, I think it's a 27mm crown race, so the forks I've got must be 26.4mm. Not a problem though, as I used a headset from my spares box, and will replace this in due course.
Still a few jobs to do in the future, but nothing that can't wait.
I'd forgotten how nicely a 531ST frame rides. I always ride with a fairly heavily loaded Carradice on the back, so the extra stiffness in the seat tube is very welcome. The Viscount almost feels noodly in comparison - though that might have been the frame cracking up!
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
Well done 
Bill
“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
Well done indeed. An excellent evening's work.
Sorry to hear that your previous frame was a Viscount (which model?). Is it beyond economic repair? and if so, will you be getting rid of any Viscount parts?
Sorry to hear that your previous frame was a Viscount (which model?). Is it beyond economic repair? and if so, will you be getting rid of any Viscount parts?
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
Thanks - I'm feeling tired this morning - getting up at 5.30am, when you've been working until midnight is difficult!
Cusqueno - my previous bike was a Viscount Aerospace Pro, from the Trusty era. It has a crack on the lower head tube where the lower headset bearing cup fits in the frame, which has opened up to the extent where the cup is loose in the frame. There is also a suspicious looking crack further up than this, and one on the seat tube to bottom bracket join.
All in all, it's had a hard life, and isn't worth saving. Most original Viscount components have been swapped out over the years, including the chainset and bottom bracket (it's currently fitted with a Mavic one), with probably the only original parts from it that I'm not using on my Galaxy being the headset, seat post and seat binder bolt. I do have the original wheels with the Lambert branded hubs, but they've seen better days too - If I wasn't such a hoarder, I would have binned them already!
Cusqueno - my previous bike was a Viscount Aerospace Pro, from the Trusty era. It has a crack on the lower head tube where the lower headset bearing cup fits in the frame, which has opened up to the extent where the cup is loose in the frame. There is also a suspicious looking crack further up than this, and one on the seat tube to bottom bracket join.
All in all, it's had a hard life, and isn't worth saving. Most original Viscount components have been swapped out over the years, including the chainset and bottom bracket (it's currently fitted with a Mavic one), with probably the only original parts from it that I'm not using on my Galaxy being the headset, seat post and seat binder bolt. I do have the original wheels with the Lambert branded hubs, but they've seen better days too - If I wasn't such a hoarder, I would have binned them already!
Re: Time to build a bike from frame up?
I leave headsets to my LBS, had 2 fitted in recent times a Tange Levin and a Tange Passage, both cost £10 each to fit. I replaced the caged balls with loose ones (25 x 5/32 for 1 inch threaded headset)
Basic assembly should take a few hours, cable rigging and neat bar taping are my trickiest jobs.
Allow a couple of hours to adjust brakes, gears and bike fit after assembly. I usually have a pootle up and down my street followed by a 10 mile local test ride (that way if anything breaks I can walk home)
Basic assembly should take a few hours, cable rigging and neat bar taping are my trickiest jobs.
Allow a couple of hours to adjust brakes, gears and bike fit after assembly. I usually have a pootle up and down my street followed by a 10 mile local test ride (that way if anything breaks I can walk home)