Van Nicholas B17 Flying Fortress

ianho

I used brush on paint remover. Just brush it on n leave it for a while. You will see the decals start to wrinkle, just wipe it all off with a tissue after that. After wiping everything nice n clean, flush with water to get all the chemicals off the tubes completely.

Make sure the frame is lying flat on the floor. You don't want the paint remover to be dripping down onto the down tube decals. Also, once the decals have been removed, it leaves behind a slight shadow on the titanium. There's nothing you can do about it. Don't keep rubbing at it or the titanium will start to lose the brushed finishing n start to shine.just ignore the shadow n go ride. After a couple of weeks of riding, the shadow completely disappears. Must be due to the sweat n washing that takes off the decal residue that's embedded in the titanium.

mr_sj

As with your other bikes, its a beauty. If you have any more of those 'spare parts lying around the store room' that you dont want i will gladly take them off your hands, just doing my part for recycling

ianho

Been thinking of Dura Ace Di2 for the bike but it can only handle a 12-30 cassette. I need the 11-32 which my SRAM WiFli does nicely right now.

mr_sj wrote:

As with your other bikes, its a beauty. If you have any more of those 'spare parts lying around the store room' that you dont want i will gladly take them off your hands, just doing my part for recycling

It's ok mate. I'm doing just fine with my own recycling program. Hehehe

carl_p

ianho wrote:

Make sure the frame is lying flat on the floor. You don't want the paint remover to be dripping down onto the down tube decals.....

Top tip, thank you, I would never have thought of that

rrsodl

mr_sj wrote:

As with your other bikes, its a beauty. If you have any more of those 'spare parts lying around the store room' that you dont want i will gladly take them off your hands, just doing my part for recycling

I knew that sooner or later somebody would try to take advantage of the circumstances.

I guess I'm programmed to dislike people like that. :twisted:

ianho

Brown saddle n tape combo.

maxlite

Lovely looking bike, love the brown saddle and tape.

You now need an Airborne Lancaster frame, Airborne really had a thing about aircraft!

ianho

Some new goodies arrived today. Will try the black saddle n black tape look with the new roll of Brooks black tape.

inseine

Stop man, you're making it worse! It's a beautiful bike, but personally (I'm taliking aesthetics, not how it rides) the silver rings are a big step backwards and I loved the black saddle and tape. Even liked the black seat post to be honest.

ianho

The chainrings are actually a very dark grey that looks like titanium. It looks silver here coz of the flash. It was getting really dark so I had to turn up the flash power n got all those reflections.

Garry H

maxlite wrote:

Lovely looking bike, love the brown saddle and tape.

You now need an Airborne Lancaster frame, Airborne really had a thing about aircraft!

Unfortunately, they weren't so good at running a business. They're now called Van Nicholas

Good effort on the bike, although don't really like the brown.

sancho_uk

Beautiful bike.. Usually the retro looking bikes dont float my boat so to speak but this is a gem!

Much prefer the brown tape and saddle to how it began life, but either way it looks the part. Great build

ianho

Work begins on the new ENVE fork.









Should be a whole lot better than the old Columbus fork I had previously. The Columbus was a really heavy bugger at 541gm.









The new ENVE 2.0 is only 375gm with uncut steerer.










Only 324gm after cutting the steerer. An awesome weight saving of 217gm plus better handling. Can't wait to go out n ride today.

Yellow Peril

What happened to "not really bothered about the weight on this bike...?"

Admit it, you're a bike anorexic aren't you?

ianho

Yellow Peril wrote:

What happened to "not really bothered about the weight on this bike...?"

Admit it, you're a bike anorexic aren't you?

Not really, I needed a new fork to fit the Lightweight wheels better. The old Columbus fork had a teeny weeny 1mm clearance to the hub flange. Looks a bit frightening with that kinda clearance. The weight loss of 217gm is just a bonus.

declan1

ianho wrote:

Brown saddle n tape combo.

That looks amazing. I love it even more now!!!

TheSmithers

I've got to say mate, I've been reading this thread, and your other one, with dribble coming out of my mouth. You are an inspiration sir and I commend you! You are literally living all our cycling dreams and it's a joy to watch. You thoroughly deserve it. Keep the pics and developments coming!

That titanium bike is just pure spunk! Love it!

skyblue337

Lovely bike. Out of interest which Columbus fork was it? Over 500g with what looks like a carbon steerer seems really heavy

ianho

Yes it's a carbon Columbus fork from one of my old bikes in the storeroom. Can't remember the model name but most Columbus forks are about 500gm IIRC.

ianho

Thanks Smithers and Declan

awsm

Stop it! You're making me jealous and giving me ideas for my Ti that until I saw this thread was perfectly happy with lol.

Love the brown bar tape and saddle. I'm definitely going to have to do that on my Ti. Also keep looking at ENVE forks... but.. must.. resist. Don't get me started on wheelsets either.

skelkelly

You Sir {doffs hat} are a bonafide, mother flipping legend.

May I suggest the forum members suggest our dream bike collaborative build and you go buy the bits and put it together????

Cool looking bike. Good luck with the fight my friend.

Yossie

Gettinf lovelier and lovelier by the minute - chapeau again.

Paul 8v

That looks lovely, only thing I'm not a fan of (And it's really picky) is the font on the lightweight wheels, looks like someone used one of the standard typefaces on microsoft word or something. That would look the nuts with plain black wheels

richsieb

This bike is so aesthetically pleasing I must say. How much do you think it all came to in total?

Gerrard2009

Gorgeous bike. Leaning more towards titanuim, as opposed to carbon, when I get around to another build. This bike has inspired me!!

tlw1

Great read and good looking bike, brown is winning for me!

Lee_Sensa87

Absolutely love that! looks slick! great work, such a great job love the lightweight wheels! and I totally get the silver B17 finish! classic plane classic bike

Mista Preston

Another amazing bike, not sure if its been said on your other posts but your photographs of the bikes always look great. What set up do you have to take pictures and do you do much post production on the images?

ianho

Thanks for reading and all the compliments guys. Glad to know I didn't build an ugly bike. Haha.


Mista Preston, I use a camera phone for the simple shots n also while out riding. The nicer pics are taken with a Canon 5D MkII, 580EXII flash and a selection of Canon L lenses. I mostly use the Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS. I don't do any post production except adjusting the exposure. I enjoy photography but really hate Photoshop. Can't be bothered to sit in front of the computer tweaking pics for hours. I'd rather be out cycling.