You are reading a single comment by @Arnomatic and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
Tom13
@Arnomatic
The fake 'King' headset I picked up for this bike was passed through my window by my friendly post man Jason yesterday. It's arrival meant I could fit the project two forks and begin to think about a new bar and stem setup.
I went down to Wickes looking for threaded rod and a section of pipe to DIY my headset removal/installation tools but found neither and came home with a pair of carriage bolts and part of a clothes rail I found in a skip on the way home. Clothes rail headset tool crumpled after 5 minutes of relentless bashing so I broke out the big guns and cut up the original seatpost from my Giant which was probably 3 times the thickness.
The headset cups (painted over) came out and revealed bits of white and black paint underneath. I've been in touch with the original owner today to ask if he'd painted the silver over the original white without stripping the paint, and he told me that the silver is on top of a black paint job, which is over the original white! Three paint jobs on this frame. The temptation to sand the whole thing back just to reveal what's going on under there is more tempting that ever now.
Carriage bolts worked like a dream and the headset went in perfectly. Forks in, carbon spacers on and stem fitted brings this bike into the 21st century. Needless to say that this whole cockpit setup is temporary and I am looking to change it ASAP once I've got a feel for position and feel. I'm currently looking at silver risers (spank spoon or similar) and a short, slim stem. The original Velocity stem looks sooo good with the frame, and the idea of getting something custom made with similar aesthetics in mind is tickling me. Any suitable gas pipes still floating around?
I think the bike looks great with the slimmer fork, and the frame has dropped back down to it's original position. Still to get more that 20 minutes of dawdling around the block on it, but so far it's feeling smooth and lovely. Next steps are cockpit, or paint.