GoatSurfer Retro MTB and other ramblings...

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Wednesday, July 29

The wheels of progress turn slowly....Accu Trax style

by Billy Goat on Wed 29 Jul 2009 09:41 BST

Been waiting on these pups coming back from my friendly neighbourhood Frame Builder Dave Yates who was turning them from threaded to threadless steerer for me. I used his Priority Book Ahead system to ensure I had a slot and they wouldn't sit around his place waiting to get done and it was perfect, in fact they contacted me over a week before my slot was due to tell me they had completed my work

I'm gonna be getting them powder coated in a new colour so I'm on the lookout for someone local who can colour match powder.....and quickly!!

The planets are slowly coming into alignment on this little project finally

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Monday, July 20

Give it to me hard and rigid baby....

by Billy Goat on Mon 20 Jul 2009 10:13 BST

In 1997 Pace designed the F6, it was another iteration in a long line that went back to the RC100 in 1988/89. That year they also brought out the RC36 Pro Class suspension fork, probably the best suspension fork ever designed by Pace. Supposedly it matched the frame (in that the frame was suspension corrected for this fork) but I have always thought that is was slightly on the long side (axle to crown - 450mm), making the front end light/twitchy.

So.....boredom and experimentation reared it's head and I ripped off the RC36's on my F6 and replaced them with a second generation RC30 (axle to crown - 400mm) and the bike rides so much better. Obviously the ride is harsher, Pace's are a hard ride anyway, let alone fixing them up with a fully rigid front end

The RC30's look very nice on the frame too, due to their chrome plating and go nice with my King Ti headset

Yes I know my hoses need trimming....

Comments (2) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Wednesday, July 15

Old Metal, Cool bikes

by Billy Goat on Wed 15 Jul 2009 10:49 BST

Here is my RetroBike buddy Bas from Amsterdam's Blog site, it is all about the Retrobike addiction we suffer from. He is currently building a very nice white Serotta Ti-Max.

http://old-metal.blogspot.com/

Also check the rest of his blog, there are some lovely bikes and cool articles there...particularly an EWR article written by my 'virtual EWR buddy' from Florida, James

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Monday, July 13

Honey I wrecked your seat collar

by Billy Goat on Mon 13 Jul 2009 14:20 BST

sac-ri-lege
Pronunciation [sak-ruh-lij]

–noun
1. the violation or profanation of anything sacred or held sacred.
2. an instance of this.
3. the stealing of anything consecrated to the service of God.

Hunting down and stealing parts from under the noses of a brace of Fat Chance collectors on eBay is always good fun. Throwing said part in an acid bath as soon as it arrives from the USA could probably be called sacrilege or blasphemy of the highest order

Trouble is I need a black one and NOT a turquoise one, so it got it's ass dipped then sent along to the anodisers for its new coat. It came back looking cool.

Before:

After:

Sacrilege or just getting a job done?

Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Friday, July 10

Pennsylvania Steel - Eastern Woods Research

by Billy Goat on Fri 10 Jul 2009 15:08 BST

I have a big bunch of bike projects and I'm slow at building them, something I get ridiculed about at RetroBike .

To make things worse I recently picked up my 'Dream Bike' a 1994 Eastern Woods Research - Original Woods Bike.

The EWR has now pushed itself to the front of the queue and is consuming most of my spare time hunting down parts.

This is the bare frame.....watch this space for updates.

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Problem Solver...literally

by Billy Goat on Fri 10 Jul 2009 11:44 BST

So you have an old bike that was built before Top Pull front mechs were invented or you have a bike that has weird cable routing and you need to run a BP mech but your bike has no cable stop on the down tube......TURMOIL !!

Well, not anymore because this cool little thing will get you out of a hole while you track down that esoteric Period Correct part to to the job properly.

Enter the Problem Solvers Backstop