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Preferably looking to sell the whole bike for ease, but will let you know if that changes.

here’s the dimensions, approximately (centre-centre):

55cm top tube
62cm down tube
54cm seat stay tube

Cheers! Very helpful!

90's (?) Bianchi Caurus Vento 840 Frameset been built up into a fixie, reason for sale - Was going to be a winter fixie to save my nicer one for summer, but frame doesn't fit me (I'll try to post measurements later if I remember), components as follows.

1. H Plus Son Archetype wheels, rear has a new sprocket which I think is 18T from memory (originally bought from here a couple of years ago, then stored in my garage until I had time to build this up - baby/house move/work delayed this...). Think I still have the 22T (iirc) sprocket that was bought with this and could supply that with it.
   
2. Miche Primato Advanced Crankset - 49T - cranks have had about 60 miles use, Chainring new unused as I was using an Alter 49T which I'm keeping ;)
   
3. Cane Creek bar end brake levers - new, only about 30 miles use
   
4. BLB bullhorn bars with Fiz:k bartape - these were new when they went on
   
5. Stem, Seat post, saddle, nothing special.
   
6. Tektro brake calipers
   
   

Located South Nottinghamshire/North Leicestershire. I'll be in London (Hendon) a week on Saturday/Sunday 14/15th July, so could potentially bring it down with me then.

Not sure what it's worth, so reasonable offers considered? Feel free to PM me.

No filters etc applied to photos - just as taken yesterday...

I wouldn't buy a used or perhaps more importantly in this case a second hand helmet - not even from mates who I know really well. Like @poodles said - a cheap new one is better than used or second hand. Whilst this wasn't used, to me it's still second hand and just because there's no surface issues showing signs of a crash you just never know internally...

Let me know. I'd still be interested.

2nd dibs if zip zinger doesn't take. Can collect.

Would you consider selling it?

Kind of still interested actually, although my other half would kill me...Ive managed to amass too many bikes in the last two years.....and we've just had a baby.

Have you had that frame re-coated/sprayed? Or is that just the photos? The paintwork around the lug on the headset area looks a bit iffy which is why I ask.

I wouldn't be looking to spend as much as that either despite it being a complete bike (assuming you're selling it as shown?).

Ah, I feel you would have taken a more traditional approach than me? I've never really been into the traditional side to be honest, hence the way this turned out. Not normally into bling either, but couldn't resist...

Cheers JT. Will look them up.

TRA thanks! Out of interest what part changes would you make? Some parts I would have like to get different ones, but either couldn't find them easily/afford them.

I realise it's not up to some of the standards set out by others on here, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it looks, and it's had a fair bit of praise locally which is nice (but there isn't much of a fgss scene around here, certainly not within the club I ride with most of the time) - in fact many had said why would you want a ss? The answer was simple: I'm not sure really, but fancy something different to ride on every now and then. I don't care if it doesn't get used a lot, it can brighten up the garage!

I took it out for it's first 20m ride last night and it was surprisingly nice to ride, but is going to take some time for me to adjust and not reach out to change gears when I come to lumps and bumps in our countryside!

Do you know any decent vinyl sticker printers?

Yeah, I'd been in touch with Planet X before I had armourtex powder coat this frame, and they said they'd be in touch shortly. They took a while, then sent me details of all the Holdsworth decals they had. None for the Elan which was no surprise. I could have bought similar ones from ebay and made my own Elan specific ones, but the extra cost to have them applied at the time was too much to justify for various reasons.

That's why I was asking if there is any way to do it with Vinyls so they don't need sealing again? or would it look naff?

Now I have one question - I love this bike as it is, but I'm stuck as to whether or not I should add decals back onto it, and if so what's the best way to do it?

Is it possible to get vinyl printed rather than decal transfers negating the need to lacquer the frame again?

Or just leave it as it is?

I had a few issues with BB's - the BB I'd purchased was 103mm, and the threads were all messed up (they didn't look it). Rather than doing the sensible thing and taking it to get the BB shell rethreaded I thought I'd be clever and try a Velo Orange threadless BB...that worked, but when I attached the crankset the crank bolts were catching the frame.

Used the LBS again, and he found a Shimano BB that did the job, after struggling to find something retro looking to use.

Finally, built finished building the bike last weekend, and here it is:

Started buying parts....
Parts were sourced:

NOS Cinellie Quill Stem
Vintage Cinelli Handlbars
Campagnolo Record Headset
TRP brake levers (yes I know, I've wimped out for the moment!)
Tektro 359 calipers
H+Son SL42 Rims
Sapim spokes
System Ex hub (flip flop on the rear - yet to decide what to put on the fixed side)
BLB Cobra Seatpost
Selle Italia SLR Carbonio saddle - recovered in brown leather
Factory 5 Lattice chainset (48t)
Sturmey Archer freewheel (18t)
Izumi chain
Shimano BB
Veloflex Master 23 Tyres

This is where I ran into a few problems, and not being brilliant with my technical side!

The F5 Lattice Chainring was one of the reasons I decided to convert this frame as I love that design.

Then there were the H+Son Rims...laced them myself, and did have plans to finish them myself (well attempt to), but when I got everything into a truing stand and started to turn nipples etc, I thought it was a bit like ironing...there are some things in life I'm happy to pay someone to do...this was one of them!

Recovered Selle Italia SLR Carbonio:

It started to look a little like this then:

and then this:

(Apologies for the tour of the house! The bike spent its time indoors until it got tyres...)

This is my first build, and although I should be more technically minded, I'm not, and this resulted in some expensive mistakes along the way, but various bits of advice from a couple of trusted local bike shops really helped and got me through (along with Sheldon Brown's website amongst many, many others) and a couple of questions on these very forums. So if you helped me - cheers! Even though I've gone through it all now, I'm still fairly clueless......

This project has been about 9 months in the making...a baby on the way prompted me to get it finished otherwise it never would, and I'd probably be forced to flog the frame/parts!

I bought this Holdsworth Elan frameset (1981?) frame from ebay last Autumn and was originally going to restore it to its former glory, but when I started looking at parts, I discovered many new shiny things I liked the look of, and couldn't resist them... I apologise in advance if there are styling faux pas etc...

The frame as it was when I bought it. I did love the colour and decals. As I say the original plan was to restore it - I was going to get it resprayed and a fresh set of decals put on it, but didn't know just how much that was going to cost!

After doing some research into the costs of refurbing the frame, I discovered Armourtex and their 3 day service was great. Frame sandblasted, nickel coated then blue lacquer as I understand it:

Cheers guys. I've taken it to my 'not quite lbs' and they reckon they can retread it and use a adjustable miche bb to realign things.

I did wonder about that but would like to try to avoid extra expense if possible, and although using it as a single speed at the moment, I was quite looking forward to trying the fixed side soon too.

I've just taken a look at Sheldon Browns website and read these two paras that might help:

Bottom Bracket Spacer:
If you need to increase the chainline (move the chainring to the right) you can usually add a spacer washer between the right-side bottom bracket mounting ring (or cup) and the bottom bracket shell of the frame. The usual spacer for this is a Sturmey-Archer sprocket spacer. Metal spacers without internal lugs used with Shimano cassettes also will work. These fit all threaded bottom brackets except Italian size. Sorry, I don't know of any source for a spacer that will fit an Italian (36 mm) bottom bracket. Adding a spacer on the right side will move the left bottom bracket cup or mounting ring inward -- a lockring might not then engage enough threads, so check before you commit to this.

Change the Bottom Bracket
......With steel frames, it used to be common to add a bit of clearance for the small inner chainring of a triple crankset by a light hammer blow to the right chainstay, using a broom handle to soften and spread the impact. Only do this with a steel frame!

Would I be right in thinking a spacer (1.6mm and only 99p) will still knock the chainline out and therefore not be a great solution for my rear wheel? Also, I don't know if that would work with the threadless hub I'm using - I assume it would, since it would be pulled into place with everything else when tightened up.

I've already spent more than I should (read as 'was allowed by my OH'), and we're now expecting, so pennies saved on the bike score me big brownie points now that I feel I will be needing in about 6 months time! ;)

It nicked it enough to take the lovely new paintwork off with it. I hadn't quite finished tightening it up by that point, so I imagine it could still pass but not cleanly.

I've been converting an 80's Holdsworth Elan to single speed and ran into an issue whilst starting to install everything yesterday.

103mm Velo Orange Threadless BB with a Factory 5's Lattice Crankset (Crank is attached on the inside of the chainring), and when installed the chainring is striking the frame (actually it's not the teeth, but the chainring bolt that's catching). I'm assuming this is down to my own noviceness of conversion etc.

Do I just need to use a wider BB or is there another solution?

I've already had wheels built with a 120mm System Ex Flip Flop hub, paired with a sturmey archer freewheel. If the BB does need to be wider will this mean I need a different hub for chainline? If not what do I need to look out for?

Sorry if these questions are stupid, but I'm totally confused as I thought I had this all figured out until I started installing everything!

Sure. I'm not necessarily going to get mine from there but saying thanks for the link. Looking to go Sapim or DT Swiss if my funds will allow, but really curious about coloured spokes. Wondering if I'll be better spraying them myself though?

So in a previous thread of mine about hubs Dogtemple mentioned spokesave.co.uk which seem to be great on price for spokes if you want stainless steel (thanks for that).

I do mainly want the stainless steel look, but love what Bianchi have done on the Zurigo I have. Most of the spokes are black, but the 4 opposite the valve hole are white. I was thinking of doing the same sort of thing to my single speed build, but using silver and blue spokes. H+Son polished deep sections, silver hubs going on a blue frame, so I thought amongst all that lovely shinyness it would be a good injection of colour, but I don't want to do it unless the spokes are good quality. Do quality coloured (blue in particular) spokes exist, and can you point me in the direction of a reliable seller of such things?

Once again, cheers as I'm only asking lots of questions since I'm learning at the moment! I'm not really qualified to answer others....

Is there anything to watch out for in terms of spokes to match too?

Cheers. That's just the kind of information I've been looking for. Also makes it easier to justify to my wife!