Retro Road Bike - Emmelle Clipper GT12
gt-arrowhead
Posts: 2,507
My dad got this in May last year for £8 quid, and a few weeks later my dad bought a retro rear wheel for cheap at a car boot sale. Its been sitting in my garden ever since doing nothing. Did have a ride up and down the road on it and it was a shambles, chain kept skipping, falling off etc, brakes were useless, cranks were the wrong type, rear derailleur was bent. So it never got touched since then.
This Friday i was incredibly bored and the weather was nice, so i thought id just get it up and running for the sake of it.
The first thing i did was get rid of the horrible cranks. The chainline was way too high in anything except the granny ring. Luckily i had cranks that i bought ages ago intended for my mountain bike, but it didnt fit as it was rubbing the chainstays. I thought they would be perfect for this, so on they went, and the chainline was fine, no dropping chain.
The mech got changed for an old MTB SiS one. Also works fine. I love the indexless shifter on the downtube, i think its actually quite cool!
I tried changing tyres, but the tyre that was the same as the front one wouldnt fit on this rear wheel, so im left with one skinwall tyre...
The pedals are MTB platforms, so not very retro there, but they are also a new addition.
Got rid of the crap saddle for a half decent but not retro Selle Italia X1. I hate the seatpost too.
New pads (never fitted from new, had them for ages) in the front, but the front brake is still useless. New pads (new to the bike, but previously used) also fitted for the back, and the back is strong and working well.
The paintwork is a bit patchy in some places, seems as if its been crashed before with the previous parts all damaged and stuff. I had to whack one of the seat stays back into place with a rubber mallet as it was bent.
I find it very hard to brake on this bike. Its a nice ride and what not, but im just not used to it. Ive been on it for about 20 minutes and its pretty nice.
Future upgrades? Im building it on behalf of my dad really, as its his, but im tinkering with it as i like building bikes. So any upgrades are going to come out of his pocket but i will be fitting them.
The before pic, back in May:
The after pic:
This Friday i was incredibly bored and the weather was nice, so i thought id just get it up and running for the sake of it.
The first thing i did was get rid of the horrible cranks. The chainline was way too high in anything except the granny ring. Luckily i had cranks that i bought ages ago intended for my mountain bike, but it didnt fit as it was rubbing the chainstays. I thought they would be perfect for this, so on they went, and the chainline was fine, no dropping chain.
The mech got changed for an old MTB SiS one. Also works fine. I love the indexless shifter on the downtube, i think its actually quite cool!
I tried changing tyres, but the tyre that was the same as the front one wouldnt fit on this rear wheel, so im left with one skinwall tyre...
The pedals are MTB platforms, so not very retro there, but they are also a new addition.
Got rid of the crap saddle for a half decent but not retro Selle Italia X1. I hate the seatpost too.
New pads (never fitted from new, had them for ages) in the front, but the front brake is still useless. New pads (new to the bike, but previously used) also fitted for the back, and the back is strong and working well.
The paintwork is a bit patchy in some places, seems as if its been crashed before with the previous parts all damaged and stuff. I had to whack one of the seat stays back into place with a rubber mallet as it was bent.
I find it very hard to brake on this bike. Its a nice ride and what not, but im just not used to it. Ive been on it for about 20 minutes and its pretty nice.
Future upgrades? Im building it on behalf of my dad really, as its his, but im tinkering with it as i like building bikes. So any upgrades are going to come out of his pocket but i will be fitting them.
The before pic, back in May:
The after pic:
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Comments
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Nice job! But check that the stem is inserted enough into the steer tube.
The stem should have a 'minimum insertion' line, if the line is visible then the stem should be inserted more.
Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA0 -
nice bikes...0
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and maybe drop those bars a bit so the brake levers are a bit lower... I'm pretty sure this will help you with your braking problem
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Thanks guys.
nweststeyn, i was thinking to do that. I dont know if you can tell from the photos but i brought the bars up after the first photo was taken, but i think i may have over done it a bit. Just some experimenting needed. I told my dad to get one of those levers where you can brake holding the flat part of the handlebars too. Hopefully he gets them, so i can nick this and ride it properly
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