Build log, ramblings, cutting down a collection

@Guinessisgoodforyou Thanks for all the photos! Lots of interesting bits in there. I love the Raleigh script for the randonneur and related models, and the colours too... How come you ended up with so many of those, and Raleigh in general?
First proper memory of road bikes and 531 up close and personal for me would be a Record Ace frameset owned by my father coming down from the loft, complete with campag DT shifters and veloce everything else. Looks a bit dated now but Raleigh still has that nostalgic link in my head. Bought in the mid 80s for £20 I believe.

@SteelNipple Appreciate the insightful comment, I think that sums everything up really quite nicely. Losing motivation to ride may make that seem like the natural course of interest while remaining idle looking at forums and such... Happy to report its reversing slightly now, but at the same time I feel like at least with vintage bikes, the tinkering will never end, and a project is never complete :oops::rolleyes:

@Nob Loving the organisation there, a lot of real nice frames I likely won't be seeing again at least for a long time! Is there a story to the Evert frame? Did a quick google search but could only find info about Evert Dolman Belgian cyclist from the 60s. It has a super modern vibe to it similar to lugless and bonded frames from the 80s which is making it hard to guess a date...
 
Long overdue update from me.. Just got back from short holiday and have had the bike completed with a couple short rides under its belt now. Life sort of got in the way, but also left just enough to be wrenching a little here and there...

Anyway, some good news and some bad:

The good news, its rideable as glossed over just above! Fits quite well for all my anxieties, and rides great. The frame is most definitely super charming to my eyes and rides really nicely - Can't quite believe it was free but there we go.
There was only 1 real issue with the assembly, being the headset crown race having a different diameter to the fork diameter itself. Not something I ever would have considered to be the case with several sizings for 1 inch headsets but that shall be chalked up to experience (lack thereof) and a learning point for next time. Luckily my father is quite nifty with a metal lathe and the excess metal was turned off in no time. In the commotion however, one of the bearing washer thingymybobs got lost so I'll probably just pop in and out of my LBS every so often to check if they have one in a spares bin before trying to find OEM or assorted sizes online... Opted to forgo the one in the top for the time being so hopefully no illl comes from my mistake.
As ever the stem will take a little fiddling around with to get the best position. These bars came off a Dawes rust bucket something or other that was a solid 3 or so sizes too big for me many years ago now. Had two flat tyres and no working brakes so the 40 minute journey home was a mix between running with it and doing that postman move standing on the pedal hoping I wouldnt crash... Think everything else ended up in the tip apart from these but they have served well over 2 previous bike builds - It sure is nice to have something else to ride other than drops every once in a while.

For the bad news, although the fixed gear is quiet, the gear ratio works well for my surroundings, and I am enjoying it for sure, I'm not sure how well my knee will keep up with it in the long term... Its being ran with front AND rear brakes which is helping a little but time will surely tell whether it feels too much to risk for the future.
Running it as a flip flop with a single speed on the other side doesnt seem too much like an option at least with this wheel. Cant remember what the guy I bought it off said but from my rather limited observations it seems to just have space for two track cogs + lockrings, and is no way near deep enough for a lock-ring when using the (seized) single speed object it came with.

Will keep it as is for now but maybe start considering other options for the future. If I wanted to make this a 1x would my only real option be to buy a 3/32th chainring with the same BCD, keep the cranks and then whack on any old chain, wheel, shifter, and derailleur from the parts bin? The cranks seem nice and the 165mm length is the only one on any of my bikes so it would be nice to not have to get rid of it after so soon... 😬
I think my one other question is, how TF do you manage to make fork mounted (not at the headset) cantilever cable hangers work with the front brakes? Not sure whether its because my single yoke is at the back but the fitment seemed rather odd with the Shimano straddle cable - as in the top circle of it would have to be ran very close to hitting the hangar to get a nice 90deg from it. Would this problem persist even with a yoke? Or maybe its the profile of the cantis? There havent really been any actual issues with brake power etc so just left it as is. Unless there is an issue with shudder it will also probably stay that way. I must say though, the CR720s are growing on me for sure...

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Nice S-works nob! Downtube reminding me of a gnarly bar of soap with the textured 3D font like that... Maybe Specialized should take notes for merch and events...

Pictures incoming shortly
 
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A few other points just reminded by the photos.

Headset press tool - probably not necessary but certainly nice to have if youll be doing it more than once in a while. This one went in with a mix of makeshift press tool and ball peen hammer once the former led it to be a little wonky. With a bit of ingenuity and quality control I'm sure there would be no issue with purely non-aggressive means. A headset spacer for 1 1/8th threadless headset worked nicely to fit flush with the metal portion of it structure within the plastic cup though
A little disappointed in the structure of the 105 headset though, didn't expect it to be simply a plastic shell? First time having worked with one though so might suggest springing for the all metal models (e.g 600 +) if Shimano is in your books. Might be a me issue with the hammer but hey ho...

Last things on the to do list now I think are just to drill out the bolt in the RHS fork for a mudguard to fit and then it should be good to go for commuting over summer. It had a rack put on yesterday to haul my crap about and looks rather smart overall. Really happy with how its turned out and will no doubt be keeping it as a general townie even if the fixed gear doesnt work out in future!
 
The two common crown race size for a 1" headset are 26.4mm sometimes called the Campagnolo standard, or 27mm found on older frames usually.
You can buy a Tange Levin in both sizes, they are a copy of the Campagnolo record headset, so pretty and very classic looking. Not huge money either. I'm a big fan.
 
Nice looking bike, you've done well and learned some good things in the process by the sound of it.

Tange is the way to go with headset for 80s road bikes IMHO

EDIT: Great minds... :D
 
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