Van Nicholas B17 Flying Fortress

ianho

Well, after building and naming my other 2 bikes after some stealth planes, it's time to go old skool and build a B17 Flying Fortress. Why the B17 name? I remember admiring the beautiful silver B17 Flying Fortress from the aeroplane books I used to collect as a kid. I decided I would build something with a metal frame. It will serve as my bullet proof rainy weather bike.

Sorry about the poor quality pictures though. I took these off my Facebook album and some were taken with the mobile phone too. I will get some better pictures up when the bike is completed.

I went to the LBS after checking out from the hospital for my annual bone marrow extraction(part of my cancer treatment). Saw this and immediately fell in love. My wife decided to let me have it so it would cheer me up and I'd have something to do at home while recuperating from the surgery. No riding for a couple of weeks so I might as well build a bike. Hehe







Dug out the spare parts I had lying abut the storeroom to start building the bike.









The Specialized Toupe saddle was a bit heavy so I decided to strip off everything and turn it into a super lightweight saddle. Managed to trim off 43gm.









Preliminary build completed. Couldn't decide which wheels and tires to use. Zipp 404 clinchers or Reynolds carbon clinchers?










First ride after recuperating at home for 2 weeks. Decided on the Reynolds wheels and Continental GP4000S tires. Not happy with the Specialized carbon seatpost, generic aluminum seatpost clamp, Toupe saddle, carbon bottle cage and black handlebar tape.

inseine

Love it! Nice set up, especially the slammed stem.

ianho

Decided to order the Van Nicholas titanium seatpost and clamp from Holland as the LBS didn't have them in stock. The postage was gonna be 75 Euros per box so I added in the Titanium skewers a jersey and t-shirt as well.







Got the Van Nicholas bottle cage a bit later.








Some latex tubes for even more comfort and also to lighten the rotating mass









A bit of bling bling for the cassette









Some new pedals in silver to match the bike








Then I decided on some honey brown Brooks bartape and saddle












Bought a new SRAM Red Yellow edition compact cranks so I would have the option for mountain rides.

ianho

Didn't like the Brooks saddle. So the Specialized Toupe saddle went back on.







Then I needed some lighter wheels for my daily hill climbs.

pnev

You have too much money

And put he brooks back on, that stripped down saddle is hideous

Apart from that, beautiful

jimmybloom

You, sir, are living my bicycle dream.

ianho

First ride out on the new wheels. The ride is fantastic. I can ride all day long and still go on and on and on. But I'm not happy with the yellow bits on the crank. Just doesn't look right.








On with the new Rotor cranks to get rid of the yellow bits. Looks a lot better now n I also prefer the Rotor 3D cranks to SRAM Red. Feels more solid when really cranking uphill and is a lot quieter than the grinding noise of Red.








Still not very happy with the looks so I got a Charge saddle in brown. Very heavy at 321gm but it should match the Brooks bartape very nicely and if it's comfortable, I don't mind the extra weight for the sake of my butt.







That's it for now. Will install the Charge saddle tomorrow and whip out my nice camera for some much better high res pictures of the completed project B17 Flying Fortress.

ianho

inseine wrote:

Love it! Nice set up, especially the slammed stem.

Thanks. It's a Specialized S-Works stem that can be adjusted from between 8-16 degrees and I like my cockpit long and low so I set it all the way down to -16 degrees and chopped off the steerer with just a single 5mm spacer. Planning to cut off that last 5mm to slam it even lower.

Pnev wrote:

You have too much money
And put he brooks back on, that stripped down saddle is hideous
Apart from that, beautiful

Haha. I do agree it looks hideous. If you look carefully in the picture with the Lightweight wheels on, I already swapped out that saddle with Specialized Romin Pro which looks a lot better. I'm still not satisfied with the colour combo though. So the brown Charge saddle will be going on tomorrow.

JimmyBloom wrote:

You, sir, are living my bicycle dream.

Thank you sir. I am living my bicycle dream. As a cancer survivor I really don't know how long I will be around so I better live my dream now. Haha

johnnymcg259

Very nice...........ditch the brown tape and saddle though imo.
You've changed the saddle fore/aft position on a couple of the pictures so far.....another saddle to mix up the equation again?!
I had a titanium frame back in the late 1990's early 2000's made ny Raleigh Special Products Division and regret selling the thing; ho hum :roll:

ianho

Well.......the Brooks bar tape cost me a pretty penny and I really like them compared to the synthetic tapes. I'll try the Charge saddle and see how it all looks like. I might just change back to the black Romin Pro saddle and get some new Brooks bar tape in black. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

The saddle positions look really far out but they were all set up to fit the same as I maintained the same saddle to bar distance. They just look really different due to the different saddle lengths and also different rails.

declan1

When will you make an Avro Vulcan?

I hope your garage is secure....

ianho

declan1 wrote:

When will you make an Avro Vulcan?

I hope your garage is secure....

Don't worry. I sleep with my bikes.

declan1

ianho wrote:

declan1 wrote:

When will you make an Avro Vulcan?

I hope your garage is secure....

Don't worry. I sleep with my bikes.

That's good

By the way, I like your bikes. I want them

ianho

Sorry mate, u can't have them. I'm married to them.

declan1

ianho wrote:

Sorry mate, u can't have them. I'm married to them.

Can't you divorce?

jimmybloom

JimmyBloom wrote:

You, sir, are living my bicycle dream.

Thank you sir. I am living my bicycle dream. As a cancer survivor I really don't know how long I will be around so I better live my dream now. Haha[/quote]

Then you continue to live it to the fullest my friend. I'll have to enjoy your bikes from the sidelines.

TMR

Beautiful bike, but the brown doesn't work for me.

More importantly, I wish you every success in your fight. My wife's best friend has had an horrendous time with the same issue. Good luck to you.

tremayne

Amazing bikes. And yes, we are all waiting/hoping for your next project!!!
You do have too much money - but that's cool.

andytheotter

Who gives a monkey's what the saddle looks like so long as its comfy. Nobody can see it when you're riding!
Nice bike!

inseine

Who gives a monkey's what the saddle looks like so long as its comfy. Nobody can see it when you're riding!
Nice bike!

Yeah, sort of, though the whole 'Your Road Bikes' section is so you can see beautiful bikes, make comments and drool, no? You could create a section called 'bikes that work well but are nowt special to look at''?

lawrences

You have more money than sense. Destroyed a saddle to save 43 grams then put a 300 gram saddle on... You're not even racing on this bike why are you shredding components to save 43 grams? If anything the extra weight will mean you're training better.

Yossie

lawrences wrote:

You have more money than sense. Destroyed a saddle to save 43 grams then put a 300 gram saddle on... You're not even racing on this bike why are you shredding components to save 43 grams? If anything the extra weight will mean you're training better.

Stop spouting tripe:

1. Its his money and bike: let him do what he wants - if hes having post cancer recuperation treatment then funk it, he deserves it more than most.

2. He wants to shed weight because its his bike. See (1) above.

3. Why train "better" if you aren't racing? A lighter bike, inmho, rides nicer, handles nicer, etc etc. See(1) above.

Freakin' nice bike Sir. Lovely

housemunkey

Yossie wrote:

lawrences wrote:

You have more money than sense. Destroyed a saddle to save 43 grams then put a 300 gram saddle on... You're not even racing on this bike why are you shredding components to save 43 grams? If anything the extra weight will mean you're training better.

Stop spouting tripe:

1. Its his money and bike: let him do what he wants - if hes having post cancer recuperation treatment then funk it, he deserves it more than most.

2. He wants to shed weight because its his bike. See (1) above.

3. Why train "better" if you aren't racing? A lighter bike, inmho, rides nicer, handles nicer, etc etc. See(1) above.

Freakin' nice bike Sir. Lovely

This.

Stop complaining and enjoy the bike. If you don't enjoy it, leave........jeez, We'd all be blowing money like this if we could, but if you have an issue with that, go talk to your boss about a raise.

ianho

Things that make us happy, doesn't always have to make sense.

Yellow Peril

I like the brown accessories, a classy touch which goes well with titanium's brushed nickel appearance.

Out of curiosity and not wishing to get hung up on the weight issue, with your lightest wheels on what does it weigh in at?

tremayne

One thing that quite intrigues me is this LBS you often mention. Really? What on earth sort of an emporium is it that stocks all this amazingness! Not many shops I've ever been in that just have all this top of the top end stuff, like titanium speedplays etc.

Or are you singlehandedly keeping the place afloat?!

Anyway - keep up the good work.

Have you ever thought about a custom steel frame project? Only sayin.....

JohnnyV111

All lovely. Personally I was more into the Reynolds and black look, but it's really interesting to see other colours on it.

ianho

Yellow Peril, I don't know the weight as I haven't weighed it yet. Not really bothered about weight with this bike as I already have a 5.9kg S-Works. The idea behind this project was to build a bullet proof n comfy bike that I can thrash during the rainy season n not care about it.


tremayne, there are 6 really good bike shops near my house but I also go overseas to Singapore when I can't find the stuff I want. No custom steel project for me as they are not available here in Malaysia.


JohnnyV111, you should have seen how ghastly the Reynolds wheels look like with the original decals. I stripped them all off the very next day. I do like the titanium n all black look but I thought I would try n give it a retro touch with the brown tape n saddle. I already have 2 blacked out bikes n wanted some color with this one. Nothing's set in stone though. I might just go back to a black saddle n bar tape. A nice lightweight carbon saddle n synthetic tape would drop a lot of weight too.

blackstick

looks like you are in Malaysia?? just a guess =>

MattC59

F*ck me sideways, lovely bike in all it's iterations !
Don't like that stripped down saddle though.

carl_p

I'm thrilled with my VN Euros and certainly echo what you say about the ride.

Yours looks so much better with the decals stripped from the top tube and that's something I plan to do to mine. How did you remove them, any tips?

Lovely bike - enjoy.