First there was the Eclipse:
This was a gift from my dad, original thread here. I kept it pretty much as it was when I got it, the only things changed initially were the bar tape and levers, then the front wheel and tyres after a run-in with Princes Street. Destickered almost immediately too. Now stripped down to the frame + forks awaiting a rebuild into a fixed gear.
Then was the first Royal:
I received it as a bare frame, which kicked about behind the sofa for a few months waiting for singlespeed parts. After a while I had another, newer Royal given to me which more or less replaced the Eclipse for day to day riding, so I used the parts from it to build this monstrosity:
It really was as shonky as it looks, the chain had a habit of jumping onto a bigger cog and putting the chain under huge tension, and the left hand crank fell off almost daily. The handlebars and brake were taken from a Raleigh Arena I got for £25.
Looking slightly more respectable with some bar tape and oh-so-retro fuzzy dice:
And finally, proper handlebars and brakes, along with a "real" singlespeed drivetrain:
The 46x16 ratio is slightly more forgiving going up the Royal Mile, and doesn't threaten to explode anymore. Also note the 197? Mavic that's replaced the black Rigida at the back, bought from my old flatmate for the extravagant sum of £15.
And the final Royal:
Complete with horrible looking and feeling tape. I've yet to ride this any real distance without something going wrong.
Well, except the time I took it up a trail on Arthur's Seat:
Well, that's my current collection of bikes, except for two more that really don't deserve to be called bikes so don't belong here.
Edit: Bonus photo of the mess of bikes my room was at one point
This was a gift from my dad, original thread here. I kept it pretty much as it was when I got it, the only things changed initially were the bar tape and levers, then the front wheel and tyres after a run-in with Princes Street. Destickered almost immediately too. Now stripped down to the frame + forks awaiting a rebuild into a fixed gear.
Then was the first Royal:
I received it as a bare frame, which kicked about behind the sofa for a few months waiting for singlespeed parts. After a while I had another, newer Royal given to me which more or less replaced the Eclipse for day to day riding, so I used the parts from it to build this monstrosity:
It really was as shonky as it looks, the chain had a habit of jumping onto a bigger cog and putting the chain under huge tension, and the left hand crank fell off almost daily. The handlebars and brake were taken from a Raleigh Arena I got for £25.
Looking slightly more respectable with some bar tape and oh-so-retro fuzzy dice:
And finally, proper handlebars and brakes, along with a "real" singlespeed drivetrain:
The 46x16 ratio is slightly more forgiving going up the Royal Mile, and doesn't threaten to explode anymore. Also note the 197? Mavic that's replaced the black Rigida at the back, bought from my old flatmate for the extravagant sum of £15.
And the final Royal:
Complete with horrible looking and feeling tape. I've yet to ride this any real distance without something going wrong.
Well, except the time I took it up a trail on Arthur's Seat:
Well, that's my current collection of bikes, except for two more that really don't deserve to be called bikes so don't belong here.
Edit: Bonus photo of the mess of bikes my room was at one point
