New frame day!!! Speedco M2 bought and built!
I woke up early this morning and I have been paid so today is now officially new frame day 😀
I have decided to get a new aluminium frame with a slightly shorter top tube (21″ instead of 21.5″) to see if i am more comfortable on the shorter frame. I have been mulling over the options and I have decided to give a Speedco M2 frame a try. I have always liked the look of Speedco’s and my friend and his son’s alway loved their frames so I figured that it was worth a try at least. The other advantage of the Speedco is that the aluminium frame has the same geometry as their carbon frame does so if I want to try a carbon frame for the Worlds I have that option and it will not be any different to the aluminium frame other than the added stiffness of the carbon frame. Crucial have a black and Yellow and a Black and red frame in my size so I will look at them both but at the moment I am leaning towards the back and yellow frame as I prefer yellow to red!
I really like the black and concrete but unfortunately they are sold out in both cruiser sizes so I have to decide between the yellow and red!
I am just having breakfast and then I will get ready and go to Bristol and shop till I drop in Crucial. The only disadvantage of this frame other than the Yess Type X is that the bottom bracket and headset are different sizes to all my other bikes (bb86 bottom bracket not euro bb and Tapered Headset not 1 1/8″) so I have to spend another £140 with the price of a new chain for new bb and headset as well. To be honest I would have probably spent this anyway as I like to install new headset, bb and cain when I get a new frame anyway but a £360 frame ends up being a £500 frame in the end! I did sell my Dialled MX20R Pro frame and the parts from my Pro XXL Dialled MX20R and an old miraco cruiser to the club do the money from selling them will pay for the frame so I am basically £140 out of pocket for the bb, headset and chain.
I have also decided to build up my Dialled MX24R as my ride to work and manual training bike and use my left over parts and the cranks off of the jump bike which I have given up on and will clean up and get on the internet to sell this week. I have also sold my Halo 26″ wheels to a friend so the money from the wheels will offset the cost of a new bb to fit the jump bike cranks on the Dialled.
I got to Crucial for about 10:30 this morning and was home again by 12:00 with the new frame and all the bits needed to build it up as well as the Halo Clickster freewheel and a Untied euro bb to get the Dialled up an running too.
I got the Dialled stripped down and the Speedco built up by about 14:oo so I took the bike to the track for a test and it feels really good. I didn’t want to push it too much today as my knee is still really sore and I want to do sprints tomorrow to see if I am faster on the Speedco or the Dialled which we will see when I start doing sprints tomorrow. I need to sort out the brake still as it is currently really bad and is also rubbing a bit which is annoying!
Here are the photo’s of the build:
In order to get the dialled working I need to order a large adjustable spanner to get the old freewheel off and also tighten up the new bottom bracket, I have just bought one now so it should be here tomorrow sometime before 10pm so I should be able to get it working by friday when I have to ride to the office as it is our office day! Apart from the freewheel and bottom bracket I think that everything else will be OK to setup today so I will get the bike 90% built ready for the rest to be done tomorrow when the tools arrive.