Clicks, Clocks and Cycles

Why trash a beautiful old bike frame if you can create something truly unique? How to reuse it with new components.

Okay, modern bikes have up to 30 gears, grip shift, and use materials like carbon. Ever tried to fix it yourself? Quite some time ago I started a project which is a bit different and has nothing to do with music and synths. Few years back I bought a used Koga-Miyata Flyer racing bike on eBay. I guess it is from 1990. I knew that these bikes are great, because I already own one since 1992. The quality of the frame is outstanding. It is made of a triple butted CroMo (chrome molybdenum steel) tubeset and is hand crafted by Miyata in Japan. I love this kind of old-fashioned frames. But the old coating was a matter of taste. Hipsters might like it as it is, but am I hipster? No!

The idea was to rebuild the bike as a single speed retro-like bike. So I started to remove all the old components which was mainly a Shimano 600 Ultegra set. The frame should get a new coating in a BRG (british racing green) like color. I decided to use RAL 6005. But where to get it powder coated? After a bit of research and a reference from a friend I decided to get it done by professionals. Color Your Bike was the company of choice. The guys are very helpful. They removed the headset before the coating and fit it in after, as I was not able to do it. Special tools etc. They do every kind of repairs on bikes. They offered me to change the dropouts to fit for a single-speed, and they could remove the brackets for the old gear shifts as well. But I wanted to keep the frame as it was. The powder-coating they did is a very good work. The frame was completely sanded, then it got an undercoating, RAL 6005 and clear coating on top. Frame and fork look like new.

Components

I am not an expert in all the mechanical details on bikes, so the research for the components took a while. Especially as some measures are not common anymore these days. I also thought I could use the old stem, when noticed that 26 mm is not an inch (of course not). Seriously, how can you have handle bars and stems in 26 mm and inches, it is just 0.6 mm difference?
Anyhow, I ordered the parts mainly online. I did this with mixed feelings as I usually support my local dealer, but the prices of the online shops are not beatable. Precisely for this reason the wheels were assembled at Zentralrad, my preferred local bike shop. They were of great help in any question.
The wheels are made in 3-crossing (3 cross) style. I was thinking of 0 corss for the front wheel because it is more fancy, but for stability reasons I did not. More on wheel-building.
I ordered all components at the following online shops. I can recommend them all. Fast delivery, good prices, friendly service.

• http://www.bike24.de
• http://www.only-highend.biz
• http://www.singlespeedshop.com
• http://www.bike-components.de

I really liked the fact that I was able to get Koga-Miyata decals on eBay. I know they are not original but they are of good quality and people should see what kind of bike it is/was.

List

• Bottom bracket – Campagnolo, Veloce, ISO, silver, 34,6 mm x 68mm BSA 1,370 x 24 TPI
• Brake lever – Tektro, FL 750, silver
• Brakes – Campagnolo, Veloce 2011, silver
• Cables – Jagwire, Slick
• Chain – INOX
• Coating – Color Your Bike, frame and fork, incl. sanding, undercoating and clear coat, RAL 6005
• Crank set – FSA, Felice Gimondi, silver, 48 teeth
• Decals (eBay)
• Front and rear hub – Marshal, FIXIE Inc., silver, 32H
• Grease – Atlantic Teflon Brillant Grease
• Handlebar – Fixie inc., Seagull, 25,4 x 520mm, silver
• Headset – Shimano 600 (old)
• Pedals – MKS
• Rim – Mavic, Open Sport – 700c, silver, 32H
• Rim tape – Velox, 13mm
• Saddle – Brooks, Swift Chrome, brown
• Seat post – (old)
• Slender Leather Grips – Brooks, brown
• Spokes – Biel, 2,0/1,8 silver
• Sprocket – White Industries, 16 teeth
• Stem – Nitto, Technomic, silver
• Tubes – Schwalbe, 15/28-622 SV15
• Tyres – Continental, GrandPrix 24mm

Assembling

This also took a few weeks. I had to wait quite a while for the crank set, as it was not deliverable. But that’s not the first to do anyhow. So I started with the brakes, saddle, handle bar and stem. Then I had to notice the different measures for stems and handle bars. Okay, ordered a new stem.
When I picked up the wheels from Zentralrad the whole thing started to look like a bike. The brakes could be adjusted and the wires were cut. Finally the crank set was delivered and I could cut the chain. It was done. Of course I had to be very careful, you don’t want to scratch your new baby when it is not finished yet.

Gallery

Here is what I made of all the components.