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Probably my favourite project (certainly the most difficult); an old Roberts track bike left unclaimed in storage at HHV, rebuilt with full period correct Campag Pista and Cinelli 'Flying-C'...

Before:

Wheels are awesome!

Do the stem and seatpost have to be the same brand?
WR Compositi WRC seatposts are suitably fancy pants and very pretty... another option could be a Colnago one. Little Italian flag would match the older Deda stem design.

Re. bottle cages, I bought these Ali Express Carbonworks knock-offs, and they seem decent enough.

Always thought the 15mm layback Superleggeros looked great but the inline and 25mm versions looked kinda weird. I'd go Deda if the geo / fit allows you run 15mm, otherwise maybe look into other options.

For stems, the other popular choice on these builds is Extralight, which are great but $$.

I'm waiting for a bruised coccyx to heal, then I have a few months of physio to sort out the broken femur stuff... and then, when everything's approaching normal again, I can get proper numbers and order the frame.

As soon it's delivered I'll ride it as hard as I can into a wall and start again. Good to have something to look forward to.

Had forgotten I'd asked for oil slick nipples either side of the valve hole : )

Brief update... Light Bicycle have finally finished the wheels, and have very generously (and a bit bafflingly) sent me 17 very professional-looking photos of them.

Here are three:

Too much for any sensible person, really.

https://www.njs-export.com/collections/frames/products/nagasawa-road-bike-dark-blue-metallic-55cm

@Skülly @veLLo

Reading up on V-brakes, I think they'll give me added problems with tyre clearance and cable pull (with the levers I have), so probably a no-go.

I think this is why I prefer the light being in the middle / above the bags, wheel, forks, etc
Most of my touring has been in Europe so it makes sense to have the light where people on both sides of the road will be able to see it.

That said, is bike touring in Europe even a thing any more?!

Cheers man, these actually look like just the ticket... although seemingly not available in a smooth post canti option, so I'd probably have to get new brakes. (EDIT: only just read your second comment).

Winston has done some work sorting out the tracking, and Arup is currently re-trueing the wheels... so we'll see what's what when everything's back here.

@jontea - If all else fails,it'll probably be easier to get the canti studs brought down a few more millimetres. The thought of randomly trial-and-erroring my way through every brake on the market until something works makes me feel slightly depressed!

Cheers @Skülly : )
Serious question: are V-brakes likely to be the solution to this?

Just waiting to get the wheels back from Arup... hopefully it will easier when the wheels are perfect circles, but not going to get my hopes up.

Always enjoyed @Gast๑ຖ🐒's little stegosaurus:

Cheers @Oddo

My parnter's bike has slim pads so will give it a go... worth a try!

I'm pretty sure the chainstay thing predates Winston's mods... I remember it going in wonky a couple of times in the workshop. I suspect it's been badly coldset or something. Hopefully fixable.

You might well be right.... I have two Shimano sets here and I think one works marginally better than the other.

Difficult to know what the problem is before I get the wheels trued and the tracking fixed, so those are my next chores.

Winston had the wheels and the brakes in the workshop so it's unlikely he'd get it wrong.

Even better!
Has to be said that plastic is the stupidest possible material for BB cups.

In other news: been trying to make a start on the canti set-up tonight and have run into a very annoying problem: when the blocks aren't touching the rim (ie: when the brakes aren't being used), it's impossible to position the blocks so they don't rub on the underside of the balloony tyres.

My big fear is that the new canti studs are a fraction too high for the new wheels. I think the angle from lower down would allow the line of travel I'm looking for. But it might also be because the wheels are out of true, as it does work for some of the rotation, just not all of it. But even then the clearance is wafer thin and the blocks would have to be extremely close to the braking surface for them to clear the tyre, so not ideal.

Another thing that might be causing the mischief is the rear wheel not sitting straight in the drop-outs: It looks central enough between the seat stays, but is very much not central between the chain stays (there's about 3mm clearance on the left and about 8mm on the right).

So who knows... another classic example of "I'll just quickly do that little thing" turning into an entire evening of bafflement and swearing!

EDIT: difficult to photograph, but you can see how close the top edge of the block is to the bottom of the tyre bulge:

@Skülly : Agree re struts - seems eminently sensible.
@c.h.e. (pfff, full stops don't allow me tag) : mid fork eyelets is a good idea. I'm all set up for low-riders so probably won't be getting anything else for now. I quite like having the light over the front wheel anyway... Not that I've ever mounted one off to the side, but I imagine it's less effective with the wheel in the way?

Oh, cool man, thanks!
I didn't get round to investigating it further today but will let you know if I need a spare plastic thing : )

Ah, I see what you mean.
With all the bubbled-up paint and burn marks from the extra braze-ons, it would've been way too much like hard work to achieve that kind of effect.

Really I was just going for the same finish as the Dawes had with as little work as possible!

Whilst this is back up, here's a photo of the build so far....

Aside from the stem, there are a few other issues:

• The wheels have somehow gone out of true so I need to get them sorted.
  
• One of the DT shifters also got squashed out of shape, which I only noticed when I tried to put them back on. Had a spare in the box but have a feeling it's in the box because it's already knackered. Seems to work for now but might need replacing.
  
• The bottom bracket has developed a nasty creaking noise since I washed it with soapy water... and the plastic non-driveside cup got a bit mangled when I was putting it in. Need to unscrew it and have a proper look, but it is about 30 years old so maybe it's time to replace it anyway.
  
• I think I need to move the front light back a bit so it doesn't flop about and snap the mudguard (which is what happened to the Varonha after a few weeks of bumpy roads).
  
  

Otherwise, I think it's coming together quite nicely:

Ha ha, glad to see you're not dropping the campaign to see this painted!

Thanks for the advice... must say it's reassuring to know there are people that have done this before.
That all sounds reasonable to me. Will throw it Winston's way... I have no vice and no solid surfaces.

Yeah, these old Salsa stems are steel.
How would you go about applying the force?

Had the steerer cut / headset fitted yesterday, so made a start on the build.

But I've noticed that the bars aren't level... And as they're brand new, I have cunningly deduced that the stem is damaged. Which makes sense as the whole previous build got squashed like an empty packet of crisps.

It took me forever to find a 70mm 5 degree, 26.0 quill stem... and I had to pay over the odds for a stem because everyone has gone mental for Salsa, and they're the only people niche enough to make them.

So... what's the solution to this?
The stem is steel and there's no cracks that I can see... maybe I can just twist it back? If so, how can I do that?

Or is it time for a new stem?