Raw Steel Project
Evil Laugh
Posts: 1,412
Finally finished this and was it's been well worth the wait.
I basically stripped an old steel frame then chose and sourced every part myself, which took a long time and involved lots of changing of the mind. But here it is, I have to attach the headbadge at some point.
I can't say I could be more pleased with how it's turned out, I'm chuffed to bits.
It looks like a lump of liquid metal. Somewhat futuristic, somewhat retro.
I stripped the frame myself and Armoutex clearcoated it. More on that in the orig post/thread.
Despite the deep section wheels and straight fork the ride is buttery smooth, not quite as nice as my Synapse but much better handling. There's a greater sense of connection to the front end of the bike so chucking it into corners is very pleasurable.
The DA groupset is awesome, much prefer it to the SRAM Red/Force on my other bike, slick as you like.
I chose the wheels as I wanted something resembling the old Campag Shamals and they are definitely interesting. They take a bit more to get going than my DA clinchers but once moving acceleration is great and they roll really nice. Getting out of the saddle is rewarding, I'm looking forward to trying the DA wheels on this bike, it feels very fast and stable.
Here's the pics, starting with the original frame.
Originals here http://s690.photobucket.com/albums/vv26 ... 20project/
Some parts.
Here's some where I tried to capture the tarnishing and rainbow/oily type effects of the bare steel.
They occur wherever something has been welded onto the frame. There are some areas where rust has come through, like by the seatpost. Apparently these areas will evolve over time and more tarnishing will come through but I like it like that, it looks cool and will just blend in with the brown bits on the bike.
Spec.
Frame: Geoff Wiles badged Columbus Nemo, built by Mark Reilly / Omega
Forks: As frame
Bars: Nitto Noodle
Stem: Nitto Dynamic 11
Headset: Dura Ace 7410
Bar Tape: Fizik Microtex Antique
Front Brake Lever: Dura Ace 7800
Front Caliper: Dura Ace 7400
Rear Brake Lever: Dura Ace 7800
Rear Caliper: Dura Ace 7400
Shifters: Dura Ace 7800
Cables: Dura Ace 7800
Front Mech: Dura Ace 7800
Rear Mech: Dura Ace 7800
Seat: Brooks Swift Titanium, Honey, Trimmed.
Seat Post: Dura Ace 7400
Seat Post Clamp: Campagnolo
Cranks: Dura Ace 7800
Chainring(s): Dura Ace 7800 53/39
Chain: Dura Ace 7800
Cassette: Shimano 105 12-25
Pedals: Wellgo Track
Bottom Bracket: Shimano 105
Wheels:
Rim: H Plus Son sl42 Polished Alloy
Spokes: Sapim Laser
Hub: Ambrosio Zenith
Tube: Michelin Aircomp
Tire: Vittoria Rubino Pro 3, Honey
Accessories: FA
Weight: 8.4 kg
Original Post
This is a bit of a bike in progress. Didn't know whether to put it here or Workshop but plumped for this section.
Bought a NOS Columbus Nemo frame as a project to feed my bare steel frame lust or fascination. Supposedly really nice tubing.
It's a very light frame but the paintwork was particularly horrible.
Have stripped it down myself this weekend with nitromors and very fine steel wool and various other implements. Luckily the finish underneath was just the level of shine I wanted, a nice brushed look. I had planned on polishing the frame so that saved me some work.
I'm going to try and get it clearcoated tomorrow before it starts to tarnish. There's a few bits on it now but I like the character they add. There some nice dark rainbow/oily looking bits on the rear stays and on the top tube. Hope the clearcoat goes ok as I'm so pleased with it at the moment, it looks awesome, just what I wanted.
As far as build goes, I just ordered some Planet X model Bs to keep it as unbranded/logoless as possible.
I have black 105 mechs and brakes from my Synapse and a spare cassette. Hopefully my 105 shifters are being replaced with Ultegra sl under warranty so I'm gonna look for an sl chainset second hand to blend in with the frame colour. When I can be arsed I'll change the brakes and rear mech to sl too with a bit of ebay wheeling and dealing.
I'm struggling with the bar tape / saddle combo. Ideally I want the antique brown fizik microtex but I can't find a matching saddle anywhere. I understand fizik have made some aliantes and paves in that colour. If I can't find one I'll just go for white or black fizik bits or celeste even, I dunno.
If anyone has any Ultegra sl bits going, let me know!
Anyway ...here's some pics so far...
[/img]
I basically stripped an old steel frame then chose and sourced every part myself, which took a long time and involved lots of changing of the mind. But here it is, I have to attach the headbadge at some point.
I can't say I could be more pleased with how it's turned out, I'm chuffed to bits.
It looks like a lump of liquid metal. Somewhat futuristic, somewhat retro.
I stripped the frame myself and Armoutex clearcoated it. More on that in the orig post/thread.
Despite the deep section wheels and straight fork the ride is buttery smooth, not quite as nice as my Synapse but much better handling. There's a greater sense of connection to the front end of the bike so chucking it into corners is very pleasurable.
The DA groupset is awesome, much prefer it to the SRAM Red/Force on my other bike, slick as you like.
I chose the wheels as I wanted something resembling the old Campag Shamals and they are definitely interesting. They take a bit more to get going than my DA clinchers but once moving acceleration is great and they roll really nice. Getting out of the saddle is rewarding, I'm looking forward to trying the DA wheels on this bike, it feels very fast and stable.
Here's the pics, starting with the original frame.
Originals here http://s690.photobucket.com/albums/vv26 ... 20project/
Some parts.
Here's some where I tried to capture the tarnishing and rainbow/oily type effects of the bare steel.
They occur wherever something has been welded onto the frame. There are some areas where rust has come through, like by the seatpost. Apparently these areas will evolve over time and more tarnishing will come through but I like it like that, it looks cool and will just blend in with the brown bits on the bike.
Spec.
Frame: Geoff Wiles badged Columbus Nemo, built by Mark Reilly / Omega
Forks: As frame
Bars: Nitto Noodle
Stem: Nitto Dynamic 11
Headset: Dura Ace 7410
Bar Tape: Fizik Microtex Antique
Front Brake Lever: Dura Ace 7800
Front Caliper: Dura Ace 7400
Rear Brake Lever: Dura Ace 7800
Rear Caliper: Dura Ace 7400
Shifters: Dura Ace 7800
Cables: Dura Ace 7800
Front Mech: Dura Ace 7800
Rear Mech: Dura Ace 7800
Seat: Brooks Swift Titanium, Honey, Trimmed.
Seat Post: Dura Ace 7400
Seat Post Clamp: Campagnolo
Cranks: Dura Ace 7800
Chainring(s): Dura Ace 7800 53/39
Chain: Dura Ace 7800
Cassette: Shimano 105 12-25
Pedals: Wellgo Track
Bottom Bracket: Shimano 105
Wheels:
Rim: H Plus Son sl42 Polished Alloy
Spokes: Sapim Laser
Hub: Ambrosio Zenith
Tube: Michelin Aircomp
Tire: Vittoria Rubino Pro 3, Honey
Accessories: FA
Weight: 8.4 kg
Original Post
This is a bit of a bike in progress. Didn't know whether to put it here or Workshop but plumped for this section.
Bought a NOS Columbus Nemo frame as a project to feed my bare steel frame lust or fascination. Supposedly really nice tubing.
It's a very light frame but the paintwork was particularly horrible.
Have stripped it down myself this weekend with nitromors and very fine steel wool and various other implements. Luckily the finish underneath was just the level of shine I wanted, a nice brushed look. I had planned on polishing the frame so that saved me some work.
I'm going to try and get it clearcoated tomorrow before it starts to tarnish. There's a few bits on it now but I like the character they add. There some nice dark rainbow/oily looking bits on the rear stays and on the top tube. Hope the clearcoat goes ok as I'm so pleased with it at the moment, it looks awesome, just what I wanted.
As far as build goes, I just ordered some Planet X model Bs to keep it as unbranded/logoless as possible.
I have black 105 mechs and brakes from my Synapse and a spare cassette. Hopefully my 105 shifters are being replaced with Ultegra sl under warranty so I'm gonna look for an sl chainset second hand to blend in with the frame colour. When I can be arsed I'll change the brakes and rear mech to sl too with a bit of ebay wheeling and dealing.
I'm struggling with the bar tape / saddle combo. Ideally I want the antique brown fizik microtex but I can't find a matching saddle anywhere. I understand fizik have made some aliantes and paves in that colour. If I can't find one I'll just go for white or black fizik bits or celeste even, I dunno.
If anyone has any Ultegra sl bits going, let me know!
Anyway ...here's some pics so far...
[/img] 0
Comments
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That is going to look tops!0
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I hope so!
Bit concerned about the potential height of the bars. Wheelbase, top tube length and seat tube height are the same as my Cannondale but the top of the headset on that bike would come up to the height of my kitchen worktop in the photos of the steel one (if that makes sense?).
At present I don't know what kind of headset/stem I'll have, a quill type stem could raise the bars enough I suppose. Anyone got any ideas?0 -
I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished thing, good find there.0
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Nitto stem
http://www.hubjub.co.uk/nitto/nitto.htm#qs
I use one for a similar reason. And they are things of great beauty.0 -
Nice find on the stem Jajacp, cheers. Seems like my best/only option and looks-wise just what I want too. Roughly how much stem pokes out the top of headset?
Picking it up from clearcoating on Weds. Not totally convinced with how they reckon it will turn out so am crossing fingers.
Had to choose whether I wanted a gloss finish clearcoat or not. Sprayers reckoned matt looks crap and dulls the metallic sheen to an almost flat gray. Couldn't be shown any samples so went for gloss on the basis I can fine wool the sheen off if I don't like it. Not sure this would work the same as it does on gloss-varnished floorboards etc. Not sure I made the right choice. :?0 -
My bike is my office and my ruler is at the ready.
I appear to have a 11.7cm head tube and the lowest the technomic deulux stem will go gives a 11cm projection above the top of the head tube. The headset fills in a few cm of that so it doesnt look quite as weird as it sounds. I measured from the top of the head tube, because head set dimensions will vary depending on brand.0 -
Hehe.
Sounds great, thanks for that!0 -
Have you looked at charge for saddles? They do the spoon in a brownish colour. May not be light enough depending on what you're after...
nice concept by the way, reminds me of the on-one mtbs in raw steel finish...they look great and I'm sure this will too0 -
Yeah have looked at charge. Put brown charge tape and saddle on the wife's new bike and it's a bit tan coloured. Gonna just buy the dark brown fizik tape and see what it looks like next to the charge saddle as I don't like the feel of charge tape.
Other saddle option is a fake/gyes brooks swallow like the one on the right....
http://www.gyes.com.tw/Saddles/saddle/T1-17-06.htm
l
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A couple of years ago I had to lacquer some raw steel structures (the cuboid frames for the "Later" studio set). We experimented with finishes, and found that matt lacquer looked awful: it looked flat grey, as your sprayer suggested. The gloss 2-pack lacquer we ended up using looked great, close to the original scotchbrite finish, but darker and shinier. Also, the coating was very durable. I'm sure your frame will look great.Evil Laugh wrote:Had to choose whether I wanted a gloss finish clearcoat or not. Sprayers reckoned matt looks crap and dulls the metallic sheen to an almost flat gray. Couldn't be shown any samples so went for gloss on the basis I can fine wool the sheen off if I don't like it. Not sure this would work the same as it does on gloss-varnished floorboards etc. Not sure I made the right choice. :?0 -
balthazar wrote:
A couple of years ago I had to lacquer some raw steel structures (the cuboid frames for the "Later" studio set). We experimented with finishes, and found that matt lacquer looked awful: it looked flat grey, as your sprayer suggested. The gloss 2-pack lacquer we ended up using looked great, close to the original scotchbrite finish, but darker and shinier. Also, the coating was very durable. I'm sure your frame will look great.Evil Laugh wrote:Had to choose whether I wanted a gloss finish clearcoat or not. Sprayers reckoned matt looks crap and dulls the metallic sheen to an almost flat gray. Couldn't be shown any samples so went for gloss on the basis I can fine wool the sheen off if I don't like it. Not sure this would work the same as it does on gloss-varnished floorboards etc. Not sure I made the right choice. :? 0 -
You may still get corrosion, it did on this eventually but it won't be anything really bad
http://www.thepaintbox.co.uk/whatwedo/c ... r-volksrod
I know it's a different type of steel but still worth bearing in mind0 -
Just got it back from the sprayers. Balthazar, it's as you described. Different to the bare metal but sweet baby Jesus it looks amazing.
All the brushed effect comes through even more, light really picks up on this and also gleams off of the gloss finish. There's loads of oily patches and little veins of oxidisation that look really good. apparently these will increase over time too so the frame will evolve if you like under the clear coat.
Awesome!0 -
Pics please!Obsessed is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated!0
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+1 for pics...
is the link to the saddles correct? It wouldn't open when I tried linking.0 -
Will get pics up when I can. The px wheels came on tues and hopefully picking up the grey sl cranks I wanted on here so things slowly moving.
Will try and capture the look of the frame on camera but i'm not the best photographer!
Oh I got the frame done at armourtex in hackney and the finish is excellent but cost me £50. They were very helpful and had it done in a day so recommended.
Re the saddle link, if you take out everything after .tw inthe link above you'll get the hompage. The link is not going to the English site, you can specify what language from the homepage.0 -
Evil Laugh How long it take to remove the old paint and was it a lot of effort? Im thinking of stripping my frame down to the bare metal too.0
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It took a good afternoon. My original thread about stripping the frame is in the workshop forum.
I used nitrmors and a plastic scraper so to not damage the finish on the frame. The plastic took the bulk off then I used very fine steel wool for the rest which also left the brushed finish untouched. I resoaked in nitromors if I had to apply excessive pressure. Someone recommended applying nitromors and wrapping in clingfilm but I'd finished at that point.
It was really worth doing myself though. Armourtex bead blasted the top of my forkswhere I couldn't get the paint off and it looks dull and crap compared to the rest of the frame. If you want a shiny brushed finish do it yourself but you have to get eveything off or the clearcoat will lift or bubble.
It wasn't tiring effort but just soaking, leaving for 30 mins gently scrape off then repeat. I used a whole £7 bottle of nitromors. Patience more than effort, I did it with one hand out of action too.0 -
Can't wait to see the next lot of pics. Really regretting selling my steel frame now
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Don't put a Charge Spoon on it though. After all that effort you can't put a twenty quid saddle on it, even if it is comfortable
. Specialized Venge S Works
Cannondale Synapse
Enigma Etape
Genesis Flyer Single Speed
Turn the corner, rub my eyes and hope the world will last...0 -
Yeah I don't really want to, like the price, not the colour, but otherwise it's gonna cost close to a ton for a saddle. This was supposed to be my everyday bike but it's getting out of control. Just gonna end up with another bike I won't lock up anywhere at this rate!
At least my eBay junk sell off is paying for it so far. There's some idiots on there paying silly money to fund this bike. Was watching for cranks and somone paid £20 more second hand than you could get the same thing for brand new, on eBay!
WTF? :?
Pics soon, nearly got the bits to build.0 -
@Evil Laugh: I'm glad you're pleased with the finish. I look forward to the pictures of the finished bike. Armourtex do powder coating, don't they? Was this some fancy powder coat finish, or just a convention lacquer clearcoat?
For whoever asked, I agree that wrapping Nitromors is clingfilm helps dramatically. Because it doesn't dry out, you can use a lot less, and leave it for longer, saving you work. Don't forget the gauntlet gloves though– very nasty stuff.0 -
I think it's a clear powder but it looks and feels like a 2 part plastic based lacquer to me. I cracked the frame on a radiator yesterday and it's not even scratched it!0
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I just got a 1950 fillet brazed Claud Butler frame that is getting the same treatment
And yes it was me who recommended wrapping nitromors in clingfilm.0 -
Cool. I can't beleive I never knew the clingfilm trick. Worked restoring old houses etc for years now. Oh the time I might have saved!
Well I look forward to seeing yours. If you're in London you're more than welcome to have a gander at mine in the flesh if you're thinking of using armourtex for the coating. It does look so good.
This last week I have been mainly selling all my junk on eBay and got most parts for this now thanks to some nice peeps on here and watching a million eBay auctions.
Got some really cool old da 7400 parts, brake calipers and aero seatpost amongst other bits and bobs. It'll be like Xmas day when I get back home from hols this week.
Pics soon...0 -
Some more crappy photos added...A non-existent prize for spotting the dog!
Still waiting for loads of bits but think I've decided on everything. DA 7800 mechs, shifters, chainset, da 7400 brakes, post and headset. Antique Microtex tape and either this Brooks sprinter or a team pro I'm also waiting for if the sprinter renders me infertile. The wheels are P X model Bs, Zipp skewers and I went for honey Rubino 3s.
I got a really cool little headbadge on ebay. I love the seatpost and saddle.
Stem (velosolo shut until next week ), headset and chainset are currently eluding me.
Anyway, here's the interim pics.Will get my mate to take some proper ones with his posh camera when finished. I can't wait!
Getting there, slowly.0 -
Crying out for some veloflex natural sidewall tyres!0
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Yeah I did fancy those but were twice the price. The rubinos have grown on me massively. If you saw the bike in the flesh I think you'd see why, they pick out little similar coloured details like the brazing and the rivets and trim on the saddle, the tint of the headbadge etc.
I'm only waiting for the chainset now, should be built and ridden by next weekend.
Have added these lovely satinised goodies that all match my favourite seatpost.
I never wanna look at a bike part size or an ebay auction again after this.0 -
Simply stunning. Look forward to the final build.0
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Got my chainset at long last. 8)
Am I gonna ruin everything if I put this on it?
Could look cool with the gold lettering and the gold brazing on the frame.
It's either gonna be awesome or complete guff isn't it?0 -
Woah!
I have just bought a gold KMC chain and gold-lettered decals for my also raw-steel fillet-brazed 1950 Claud Butler. And I also have a honey Brooks saddle.
My bike lives in Yorkshire though so we're unlikely to run into each other!0
