E3 it now rides and I'm happy.

You'll like the 3X9 gears even less then but hey ho each to there own, Yes it's not original but it will get ridden which is the whole point of a bike IMO and personally making it stop reliably in all conditions and easier to go up hills is more important to me than it being pretty and period correct so that I can enjoy riding it .
I am of the age that when I was younger and 1st riding, mountain bikes hadn't been invented and we used to modify and old racer with cowhorn bars and lose the gears to make our own "mountain bikes" and if the purist attitude hadn't been ignored then all these "stick on a pedestal retro bikes" wouldn't have been invented.
I'm not having a go BTW because I think a lot of peoples creations on here are things of great beauty and hard work but very few are original as they were manufactured so most bikes have been changed , some more than others.
Old bike , new bike doesn't matter as long as it's used .
Matthew

Well love or hate the modernish bits it's now rideable, been up and down the yard at work and it feels good, trying to squeeze a quick spin in down towpath and woods shortly (if it's not too dark) to see how it goes.
Matthew

E3

I just find disc brakes so heavy and too tempting to use them a lot, instead of learning to ride a line. Most modern race frames still come with v brake bosses for this reason, as around a third of club racers still use Vees, as they are way lighter and much easier to set up and service. On the steep uphill sections, V braked wheels really do make it hard work.

It works

Well took it for a few mile spin on Sat aft and I'm really pleased with how it feels, was getting worried it'd feel horrible as I'm used to riding a modern HT but it felt "sweet" as soon as I got on it , bit of fine tuning required, some new decals and slightly more aggresive tyres but I'm happy with the overall ride.
Matthew

nice bike bud!

what was the process you went through for polishing, i am currently polishing my aluminium elite and have been going through a sanding process all the way up to 600 grit and then autosol metal polish... comes up lovely... however my wanking muscle is not cut out for it. :twisted:


cheers

As mine was lacquered all i did was remove the old lacquer with cellulose thinners and then hit it with some old (very old) simoniz chrome polish, that was ok but somebody recommended McGuires NXT and it was awesome, if you've been using 600 then your going to have to go up to 1000 then probably 1500 before using the polish to get rid of all the 600 scratches, your arm muscles will keep you happy for hours by the time you've finished
Matthew

Took it out in anger yesterday on our local retro ride and apart from putting a hole in the sidewall of the rear tyre it performed faultlessly in some extremely wet, slippy and shitty conditions, climbs well, descends well and overall is a dream to ride, mozo's aren't as flush as the Fox's on my spesh but certainly make the front end a bit more supply than ridgid.
A happy bunny here
Matthew

Staniland":3sepu246 said:

nice bike bud!

what was the process you went through for polishing, i am currently polishing my aluminium elite and have been going through a sanding process all the way up to 600 grit and then autosol metal polish... comes up lovely... however my wanking muscle is not cut out for it. :twisted:


cheers

Click to expand...

Think I'm gonna sling mine together as it is for winter riding
Then strip and polish up next summer sitting out in the sunshine
as I do it. So my wanking muscles will be preserved over the winter

I really liked this E3 when I saw it yesterday. It looks a lot shinier in real life ..... well, it did before the ride!

When I strip the paint off my Zaskar frame if the ball-burnished finish is ruined I'll try to polish it up like this. McGuires NXT sounds like the thing to try.

Well after 6 months of use (not sole use as I have a modern for general usage) it needs another quick polish, I'm more into riding than polishing so I'm thinking "can I put up with this or do I get rid of the frame/forks(also got original forks) and all the canti bits/shifters and original wheels to someone who will enjoy it and get a nice steel Kona frame that I can give a quick hose down and lube after a ride "
Decisions, decisions.
Matthew