# New SingleSpeed project - BrokenAnarchoDreams



## Andrew_Culture (10 Jan 2014)

This weekend I'll be helping @dktd (Sam) build his first SingleSpeed. He lives in London and had his first Triban 3 nicked so decided he wanted something a lot less shiny and nice and simple for the every day commute. Crucial to this whole project is that this SingleSpeed needs to be a bit of a 'beater bike' due to the high ratio of nicked to non-nicked bikes where he lives in the big smoke.

The frame came from our local bike doctor and is a very old Reynolds 531 frame. The bars also came from the bike doctor's spares cavern, I'm not keen on the 80s hair-metal bar-tape but Sam appears to actually like it!










The build starts in earnest tomorrow around lunchtime and will be live on FettleCam!


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## JoeyB (10 Jan 2014)

I dont have a clue where to start when it comes to searching for a frame for a similar project!


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## Andrew_Culture (10 Jan 2014)

JoeyB said:


> I dont have a clue where to start when it comes to searching for a frame for a similar project!



I have a saved search running all the time on ebay using the following search string:


```
bike -mountain -jump -dirt -ladies -girls -bmx -folding -touring -wooden -daisy -hybrid -boys -electric -kids -trials -childs -womens -mtb -childrens -shopper -ladys -batmans -trails -trail -trial -toy -girl -hardtail -suspension -puky -cruiser -T120 -comuter -lady's -commuter -kit -exercise -town
```

Although this frame was £35 from our local self-contained LBS man, and the frame for my own SingleSpeed was found for me by @Scilly Suffolk on the http://www.lfgss.com/ forum for £25. The total build cost for this bike is going to be about £70 as we have an old Triban bike as a doner.


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## JoeyB (10 Jan 2014)

Andrew_Culture said:


> I have a saved search running all the time on ebay using the following search string:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...



Maybe I should get you to find me a frame lol


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## Andrew_Culture (10 Jan 2014)

JoeyB said:


> Maybe I should get you to find me a frame lol



Gladly! I see them all the time. What size does sir take?


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## JoeyB (10 Jan 2014)

Andrew_Culture said:


> Gladly! I see them all the time. What size does sir take?



Legend. Well my Scott road bike is a 56cm so I guess the same?

Do you run that search string in Cycling or a more specific sub category? Basically my criteria is the right size and a Reynolds steel frame, ideally 531 but only because that seems to be the one people prefer?


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## Andrew_Culture (10 Jan 2014)

JoeyB said:


> Legend. Well my Scott road bike is a 56cm so I guess the same?
> 
> Do you run that search string in Cycling or a more specific sub category? Basically my criteria is the right size and a Reynolds steel frame, ideally 531 but only because that seems to be the one people prefer?



Is this for a thing of beauty or a rough and tumble kinda bike? I wouldn't get too hung up on 531, but then I don't really know what I'm talking about.


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## JoeyB (10 Jan 2014)

Andrew_Culture said:


> Is this for a thing of beauty or a rough and tumble kinda bike? I wouldn't get too hung up on 531, but then I don't really know what I'm talking about.



Its a first project so rough and tumble. I might even get the spray gun out!!


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## Andrew_Culture (10 Jan 2014)

JoeyB said:


> Its a first project so rough and tumble. I might even get the spray gun out!!



Shall we continue this conversation in a DM?


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## JoeyB (10 Jan 2014)

Andrew_Culture said:


> Shall we continue this conversation in a DM?


Danger Mouse?


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## Andrew_Culture (10 Jan 2014)

JoeyB said:


> Danger Mouse?



Yup, we'll continue our conversation in a postbox.


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## colly (10 Jan 2014)

JoeyB said:


> I dont have a clue where to start when it comes to searching for a frame for a similar project!


@biggs682 might have a frame. I'm sure he will be along shortly. 

I bought a nice frame off him a couple of years ago and it's my only ride at the moment.


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## Smurfy (10 Jan 2014)

Andrew_Culture said:


> I have a saved search running all the time on ebay using the following search string:
> 
> bike -mountain -jump -dirt -ladies -girls -bmx -folding -touring *-wooden -daisy* -hybrid -boys -electric -kids -trials -childs -womens -mtb -childrens -shopper -ladys *-batmans* -trails -trail -trial -toy -girl -hardtail -suspension *-puky* -cruiser -T120 -comuter -lady's -commuter -kit -exercise -town


Easy there! You could be discarding some diamonds in the rough!

Seriously, did you keep adding negative search terms each time ebay came up with a duff find?


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## biggs682 (10 Jan 2014)

JoeyB said:


> I dont have a clue where to start when it comes to searching for a frame for a similar project!



@JoeyB at the moment i have this steel Claud Butler frame as in this thread http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/my-next-project.146828/ it is currently next in line to be worked on , or i do have a Trex Alpha 1.1 frame set that had only done a couple hundred miles before it was stripped to a bare frame set , or i have 3 complete retro racers for sale see my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Racing-Bikes-Biggs682/655913424461297?ref=hl .

@colly thanks


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## Andrew_Culture (13 Jan 2014)

So we made a start at the weekend:





The donor bike for this build was a Triban that used to belong to @deptfordmarmoset and was the first proper road bike @dktd owned (since replaced by a Triban 3)





The old style BB came out easily enough, with a bit of help from a cold chisel and a lump hammer. Those old clamp-on cable guides also came off sweetly and have been donated to our local bike-doctor's spares box. The replacement BB (from @Scilly Suffolk ) went in reasonably well, but I couldn't get the plastic side to sit tight in the hole, which was a concern.





The 700c wheels needed a little convincing to fit in the frame, thank god steel has some flex to it! The handlebars also came from a spares box and were a total bargain, even if they do have 80s hair-metal tape on them.





So the last photo from this instalment shows tyres on the wheels (thanks to @4F for the Marathon Plus on the rear) and that's about as far as we got.

The BB wasn't perfect, the brakes on the donor bike didn't have enough reach for the metric wheels we fitted and between @dktd and I decided between us that we ought to get a professional to look at possibly bending the drops and forks out a bit so that punctures can be fixed on the road without tears. So now we wait for the verdict from the bike doctor.

We couldn't use the Sora crankset from the donor bike because it's build for a splined BB rather than a square taper so we had to In the meantime we've adapted a crankset of mysterious provenience using singlespeed space bolts:


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## SimonJKH (13 Jan 2014)

Andrew_Culture said:


> In the meantime we've adapted a crankset of mysterious provenience using single speed space bolts:



Crafty


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## Andrew_Culture (13 Jan 2014)

SimonJKH said:


> Crafty



Cheap too! It would appear that if you buy a specific singlespeed crankset brand new it can get expensive!


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## Andrew_Culture (25 Jan 2014)

Quick update; the Bicycle Doctor bent the frame about so we can fit metric wheels in, he also fitted brakes and machined some fixings to make them work. He also fitted a BB that was the correct size!


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## JoeyB (13 Feb 2014)

Does the back wheel have freewheel or free hub? If it's a freewheel how did you sort chain line?


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## Andrew_Culture (14 Feb 2014)

JoeyB said:


> Does the back wheel have freewheel or free hub? If it's a freewheel how did you sort chain line?



It has a freehub, my first singlespeed had a freewheel and I had to get the bike doctor to redish the wheel.


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## JoeyB (14 Feb 2014)

Andrew_Culture said:


> It has a freehub, my first singlespeed had a freewheel and I had to get the bike doctor to redish the wheel.



Ah OK
*Goes off to have a proper readup on what redishing is*


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## Andrew_Culture (3 Mar 2014)

So here's the final build stage, the chap in the photos is @dktd who is the proud owner of this bike:






Gawd lummy we had to fight to get the pedal off the donor bike, as those watching on FettleCam witnessed.





Sam fitting a whole stack of freehub spacers which originally came from @fossyant (I'm paying it forward!)





Hmm, the chainline looks a lot straighter in real life!





The essential initial chain @mickle 




What a handsome beast. Bike looks good too.





And he's off for adventures. Well actually he went off and pringled the rear wheel the next day...


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## dktd (3 Mar 2014)

And, the fact that I did, means I'm looking at installing crosstop break levers - http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/crosstop-interrupter-or-bmx-brake-levers.151048/


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