British Eagle Pro-Carbon project

[pazaudi]

Cheers bud, I haven’t been a member for long enough to have the pm feature ....so here goes
brazzamx5@gmail.com
And thank you, really appreciate.

No worries, they're sent.

 

[Alu Baba]

beautifull

 

[Moto]

I have to admit setting up the brakes on the front was an absolute pain, the pads kept rubbing on the tyre and after remounting the tyre a couple of times I just accepted that it's old and slightly bulging at one place. Guess over the decades they just wear out, such as life but this bike will never be ridden hard as it'll most likely be a death trap.

So since I bought your spare frame in the summer, I've been collecting all the parts required to start the build. Build started yesterday so will post up some photos over the coming days. Fyi I had the same issue setting the brakes up so they don't interfere with the tyre wall. What I learnt was that the problem arises when you use narrow rims. My old Rigida rims were 32mm and no problem at all until I bought some NOS Mavic 231's which are only 22mm. They are impossible to set up correctly, so this build will have Mavic D521's at 28mm, hopefully be OK.

 

[Moto]

First day and made good progress. Fitted so far :

NOS XT headset
NOS UN55 BB
Used M730 crankset
Used XT pedals
Used XT Biospace alloy chainwheels
NOS Syncros stem
Used Orange Hotrod bar
Used XT Thumbies
Used Ritchey Seatpost
Used Flyte Titanium Saddle
NOS XT saddle clamp
NOS Rear Mavic D521 rim built (by LBS) with NOS XT M730 hub and DT Swiss ss spokes
NOS XT QR
Used Front Mavic D521 rim built (by LBS) with refurbished XT M730 hub and DT Swiss ss spokes
NOS HG90 cassette
NOS XT M735 front derailleur
Used XT M735 rear derailleur
NOS 2mm Front XT brake cable with SLR outer
Used Dia Compe SS5 brakes levers with NOS front & rear cable hangers
Used Conti Crossking Racesport 2.2 (front)
Used XT M734 Cantis with NOS XT M739 brake blocks



Still to do :

NOS HG90 chain
NOS Rear 2mm XT brake cable
New Conti Crossking 2.0 (rear)
Setup & Ride

Setting up the front cantis was easy (no tyre rub) so the 28mm rims seem to be a good solution. Stilll need some nice black retro grips - haven't seen anything I like yet. The only odd thing so far is that my other Pro-Carbon runs happily with a 122.5 BB. When I fitted the same in this frame there was insufficient clearance between the chain wheels and chain stay so the chain would certainly jam. I've therefore fitted a 127.5 BB which looks about right. I'm not sure whether this difference is in the BB or the frame.

Will post more photos when the build is completed hopefully in the next few days.

Moto

 

[was8v]

I have the original ITM bar and stem from one of these if you want them

 

[racefaceec90]

i remember someone i used to work with back in the early 90's having one of those bikes. i definitely liked it for sure.

i think that the shop we worked at sold them (roses ironmongers in devizes) hence him having one.

at the time i had a 92 marin eldridge grade so couldn't complain.

 

[Moto]

I have the original ITM bar and stem from one of these if you want them

Thanks, it would be really nice to have the original items. How much would you want for them?

I do have the original saddle with a rather loverly embroidered 'British Eagle' badge. Not the nicest saddle but would probably be impossible to ever find another, so it will stay with the bike - not that I could ever imagine selling.

Moto

 

[was8v]

Hi it's a little curious as it's a rare ITM king size, 31.8 bar long before the rest of the world started with 31.8 bars. This means you can fit modern carbon bars if you wish....

I have other original parts e.g. st-m095 with the SLR windows

 

[Moto]

Hi it's a little curious as it's a rare ITM king size, 31.8 bar long before the rest of the world started with 31.8 bars. This means you can fit modern carbon bars if you wish....

I have other original parts e.g. st-m095 with the SLR windows

I don't know much about these things but they're not nice looking bars/stem - very similar to those fitted to my mid range (Exage) BE from 1990's. I did read somewhere that British Eagle were trying to compete with top end bikes for a period but although they did some nice frames with quality XT kit, they let themselves down with cheaper saddles, grips etc.

Regards the shifters, the Pro-Carbon catalogue shows the bike wearing and spec'd with XT thumbies.

Moto

 

[was8v]

The catalogue and real life are different! The catalogue would be prepared the year before, before parts were available to photograph a d specs tied down.

Mine came with that bar and stem and st-m095

Mine was the revised top of top tube cable routing "green dash" model.

Early frames had cable under top tube

British eagle stuck some weird choices on, you should see how hard the grips are it came with