Ladles and Jellyspoons, allow me to present
n+1, the latest addition to the stable. No name as yet so it'll have to be just 'the red'un' to go alongside the 'blue'un', my long serving and longsuffering British Eagle 653 trainer-cum-tourer.
The red'un began life as half an itch to be scratched for my 50th birthday. The the other half was to tackle Mont Ventoux which was duly accomplished on the 1st August last year on a hired Trek Domaine. The long, slow 3h 50minutes it took me from Badoin were without doubt the hardest 21km of my cycling life, but done it was and a personal palmares added.
Back to the first half. Mrs653 asked what I wanted for my birthday and the reply was 'permission to build
n+1´. With said permision granted, the search was on for a frame around which to hang some ideas. I wanted a handbuilt frame from a well known builder, the aspiration of all club riders back in my day – the early 1980's - but one that I never achieved at the time. Better late than never. That meant it probably had to be 531. I wanted clearances for moderately wide tyres, say 32mm, and a comfortable fork rake. I won a fleaBay auction for a Roberts semi-touring frame and got it shipped out here to Spain.
The two innovations on
n+1 were to be a single 38 tooth chainring so no front mech, coupled with an 11-34 cassette, and steering by a moustache handlebar. These two may be faddy concessions but I have a yen to try something new having ridden on drops for decades, mostly on the hoods. I've never had sti's and I don't get on with flat bars but numbness in the fourth and little fingers on my left hand has been becoming a problem. I need to try alternatives and the moustache offers possibilities. A bar end shifter takes care of gear duties. The spec is the usual mixed bag of new buys and parts bin raids. Sputnik rims on 36 spoke Sora hubs are probably overkill but were chosen for abusable strength and versatility as they'll do some double duty on the tandem. I like Sora stuff, so as well as hubs, it's got a Sora rear mech. The GS medium cage is rated as up to a 32 tooth max cog, but Shimano are said to be conservative in their ratings so with a tweak of the B screw it copes just fine with the two extra teeth on the 9-speed cassette. Teamed with a 38 at the front gives a range from 93” down to 30” which should handle most situations. Old school MKS cage pedals with toe-clips and straps complete the drive chain.
Braking is entrusted to Miche Performance dual pivot sidepulls, but the 57mm drop turned out to be about 2mm not long enough on a frame built for 27” wheels. Sheldon Brown style drop-bolts were needed to get a clear rim/brake block interface, but at the price of sacrificing mudguard clearance. This may call for some subsequent modding to remedy. Levers are DiaCompe non-aeros to simplify the cable routing and maximise efficiency.
Initial set-up was with a Brooks-alike Alpha-One saddle that's already seen service on the blue'un. It looks cool and suitably retro but in spite of lashings of neatsfoot oil and hundreds of kms, so far shows no sign of blending itself to my anatomy. It'd look good in the photo though, but has already been substituted for another from the parts bin.
My LBS, chock-full of carbon framed 29ers, supplied all the ancillaries and built the wheels. So taken was he by this oddity that he's documented it for his Facebook pages. He'd also never seen a 'third hand' brake ajusting tool for sidepulls, so took a picture of that too and asked his FB followers to guess what it is. Parked outside said LBS the other day, it was most gratifying to hear a local on a full-susser comment 'Que guapa' i.e 'What a beaut!'. What sayeth the forum taste and style committee?
