The Road Chief lives

[europa]

Finished her. Took her for a ride. The lad is jealous ... especially after he took her for a ride



(I need a better camera don't I ).

But there she is, ready to race.

Road Chief, elcheapo steel frame.
Ambrosio wheels by Mr Martin
Maxxis Columbiere tyres (23mm)
Cartridge bottom bracket by Shimano
Purple cranks (which don't look too bad but you'd never choose to use them based on colour).
Alloy quill
Alloy handle bars 'Hand Made in England' by Dawes - these have some lovely engraving next to the quill.
Bontrager bar tape (luvit - my standard tape now)
Alloy seat post by Kalloy
Horrible old el cheapo saddle off the Road Chief
Shimano 540 pedals


Current gearing is 44x16 which I suspect I'm going to find very low on the track but it'll get me started (it's highter than I run on the road).

All up weight, ready to race - 9.5kg

For a bike that started as a $10 bike, she's come up fairly well methinks

Richard

[Birdman]

Isnt that the one you bought to fix for your young fella???

I recall some pretty good calls in regards to your awful purple cranks.

Mitch.

[MichaelB]

Looks good Richard.

Just how many sets of wheels do you have ????????????

I only need one set, and you have scooped up two sets recently, plus the set on the Europa. Bugger !!!!

[tallywhacker]

at 44x16 you may find that you'll spin out. A good training gear on the road is around 76 inches, on the track is somewhere around 84/86 inches and around 92/94+ inches for racing

[europa]

at 44x16 you may find that you'll spin out. A good training gear on the road is around 76 inches, on the track is somewhere around 84/86 inches and around 92/94+ inches for racing

Yeah, I though that. I ride 40x16 on the road and find that quite nice - gives a mix of being able to gasp up hills and spin furiously on anything water runs down. When I bought this new crank, it had a 44 tooth chainring and I just 'thought' that being larger, it'd be alright. It wasn't until I started to work out what I need for my son's bike that I realised that the difference won't be all that great.

However, the Velocitiy wheel set I bought for him has a 14 tooth cog on it, so I'm going to swipe that and she'll be a 44x14. I haven't worked the numbers yet, but it'll be better. I've a sneaking suspicion that gearing won't be my biggest problem

Richard

[GaryF]

Well done! That's one cheap bike but very rideable. Great foresight.

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the longer wheelbase on the track. Could suit a timetrial.

[europa]

Well done! That's one cheap bike but very rideable. Great foresight.

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the longer wheelbase on the track. Could suit a timetrial.

More interestingly Gary will be how she works as a road fixie. Raise the bars a bit and she could be quite comfortable, I've even worked out how to put a front brake on her that can be taken off easily for racing.

Richard[/i]

[GaryF]

Yes - a road fixie. You can't have more fun than riding a fixie on the road - can you? Perhaps flying around a banked velodrome might be more fun.

Fixie's there just fun.

[europa]

Hmm, the Chief as a road fixie.
The Europa to Brian Hayes to be modernised complete with a nice new groupset.
The Black Beast consigned to the tender mercies of some other bod.
The bent hopefully arriving before Christmas.

It might just work at that

Richard

[MichaelB]

Well done! That's one cheap bike but very rideable. Great foresight.

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the longer wheelbase on the track. Could suit a timetrial.

More interestingly Gary will be how she works as a road fixie. Raise the bars a bit and she could be quite comfortable, I've even worked out how to put a front brake on her that can be taken off easily for racing.

Richard[/i]

Are track bikes not allowed brakes ?

Evil thoughts beimng harboured re der Adler !!!!

[europa]

Are track bikes not allowed brakes ?

You can't race with brakes. You can train with them at Edwardstown but not in close formations - brakes allow you to slow more quickly than people expect.

With your aero brake levers, changing over gets difficult (spent many hours harbouring the same thoughts with the Europa), however, with a spare set of handle bars and quill set up for track, it's probably only a quarter of an hour to swap from fully braked to track mode.

Guess who's got spare handlebars at the moment - they're steel so you can have a set to play with. I've got spare quills too but they are very short.

They won't let you race with quick release levers on the wheels either, and some of the lugs on the frame will be frowned upon as well, but the club is very open to giving new people a go. All Dean's riding last year was on his Gitanes coverted to a track bike. Because road bikes have a lowered bottom bracket (and thus less pedal clearance), you can't use converted road bikes on the short track at the SuperDrome because of the steeper banking but that's not a problem at Edwardstown or Hanson Reserve with their long, flatter tracks.

Richard

[europa]

Here's a link to her first night on the track

... and explaining why I'm off to the lbs again today

Richard