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'57 Lenton Grand Prix project

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so another afternoon of tinkering as I'm waiting on the majors to pan out - yes, I know, you're supposed to build a bike from the bottom up, but I'm keeping all this stuff out of the way.
Routed my brake cables and even adjusted them near enough with a couple of wood blocks I use to adjust to the Synergy rims on my other bike when the wheels are out
aP3180011.jpg


again, this is just a mock up of the bottom - my tap is supposed to be here in a week.
The FD, along with the chain guard, is intentionally high right now to make room for working on the bottom end.
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But I did cable the FD and left side Huret shifter, because none of this will be in the way, and the operating derailleur lets me better see how the chain guard will finally fit up.
But again, the chain guard can't be finally fit until the wheels are on and the derailleurs are fully adjusted.
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you Schwinn guys should like this, though Huret reads upside on the shifter band.

Found two good places to use some 4mm brass ferrules from a handful I have around
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When I removed all the parts from my wrecked '77 Grand Prix and moved most to my '74 International, I couldn't use the Esge double kickstand, because they intentionally did not leave enough room between the chainstay bridge and bottom bracket - they didn't want a kickstand on the butted Reynolds tubing. The cut stand was too short to use on my high-BB Viner, so tried some fit-ups on the Lenton.

The problem with the Lenton is the rear derailleur cable - it's right where the clamp block for the kickstand needs to be.
aP3190001.jpg


The kickstand has plastic blocks to distribute the load and protect the tubing. I had already gouged the drive-side block when it was on the 77GP to clear the ring stack bolt heads on the cyclotouriste triple crank. So I drilled and dremmeled the block to make a route for the RD cable and to fit the step on the BB lug.
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Here the blocks are in place on the chainstays
aP3190002.jpg


and it works great - derailleur cable routed through kickstand.
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Nice work!
Do I assume correctly that you tried local bike shops to see if one could chase the bottom bracket threads for you?
It's a shame to have to buy a tool that you will likely only use once, though a man can never have too many tools. ;)
 
Thanks - I have a lot of time to think about it.
At this point, it's do it or not - a 1.370" 26 tpi LH tap is not too common.
I don't know of any local bike shops with the tool. Everyone has the 24 tpi, but I already have the BB parts.
Buying the single tap didn't cost much more than finding someone with the tap, renting/ mailing it around, etc.
For me it's worth it.

Got the word my hubs are being made, my rims arrived today (discounted price), so I'm just a few weeks away from riding this bike.
 
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A timely discussion came up on CR.
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It was an example the original derailleur mounted chainguard.
That led to photos and catalog examples of the suicide-FD-mounted chainguards made by Cyclo and Huret - the Huret catalog page is '58
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I hunt these down on ebay, and use them everywhere they're needed on all my bikes
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(where these spread wide on big tubes, cut a slice of road butyl inner tube - makes a great rubber band to keep them firm)

The plastic cable clips from the 70s/80s.
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They protect the cable ferrules, the bolted or brazed ferrule bosses, the cables themselves, and make any cable operated control more positive by eliminating flop of the cable. Needed where any cable coming from your bars hits the frame triangle.

This is especially useful on side pull brakes, where a third of your brake lever travel can go into flopping the cable housing around.
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They may not be elegant, but it's a case of form follows function.

This RD boss was a very useful place for one - the housing wanted to bend the cable at 30-degrees coming out of the boss.
The torsion was too great for the clip alone to hold the cable, so I used a zip-tie behind the cable clip.
But this should eliminate a usual source of ghost shifting problems, and keeps the cable moving straight and smoothly through the boss.
aP3240003.jpg


btw, paid for and ordered my custom hubset today. I will say the modifications cost $150 more than the normal hubset price.
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one more bit to show - was delighted to find Nitto T-cages at a used parts re-seller in CA for half-price. They're in perfect condition, look the part, hard to come by, best on-line retail price is $58/, and up to $80/ from gougers.
They were on the third page of a google search
They're better-made facsimiles of the Simplex and TA bottle cages of the 40s and 50s, and while many hung from the handlebars back then, they did make tube-mount bottle cages like these as well.
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If I hadn't found these for such a good price, I would have ended up with the real-world Velo-Orange version, but heck, this is Nitto (after 4 years' use, I sold my Nitto big rear rack for what I had paid for it 4 year earlier)

I used King Cage stud-welded hose clamps for the 2nd time, and really like these - have strips of clear vinyl between the frame and the hose clamp.

More tedium waiting on Phil to deliver my hubs. Even the BB found a glitch - the drive side cup they sent me was RH thread, even painted with the drive drive side indicator. (The thread chase was not a waste - it was needed, too.) The (hopefully) correct cup is in today's mail, so I'll get to finally install the BB and crankset on this rainy afternoon.

Also took advantage of the rainy morning and waiting to clean up a couple of things.
Dug into the Weinmann NOS brake box and swapped the plastic cable clips for the steel Weinmann (padded with clear vinyl) - they're a lot stiffer than the plastic and look better (not as smooth to the touch).
aP4010001.jpg

I'm going to end up with a lot of metal band clamps on this bike.

Took a dremel sanding cylinder to my kickstand plastic block to dress the channels for the ring stack bolt heads and granny ring clearance, to make sure I'll be able to dial in the tightest possible chainline.
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ps - BB and crank now installed - got the clearance as tight as possible (2-3 mm) and chainline will be perfect.
Probably should have photographed the cartridge, but the Phil cups are internal, don't require facing of the shell, and instead of grease use loctite.
aP4010002.jpg

Needed crank bolts and dust covers anyway, so bought the flanged titanium bolts and covers from Canada - not expensive for what you get, and they grow a beautiful patina. http://www.torontocycles.com/Selling/Chainrings_and_Cranks.html

Not a pleasing photo, but a good projection of the ring stack clearance.
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I have this bike built except for the wheels now - come on hubs.
 
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yeah, still waiting on Michael at Phil to get me some hubs. Once I have built wheels, this bike will be rolling, but still tinkering.
Ever seen a speargun shaft thread converter used on a bike? Now you have.
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The fork has a boss for a lamp mount. Maybe I can't stand ersatz bosses on bikes, but I decided to attack it, to move my Cygo light mount from the handlebars to there. On the left is the boss and big bolt head.
The thread is not as big as it looks, measured 5/16" and exactly matched the pitch on a 24 tpi bottom bracket cup, so it's 5/16-24 (fine thread). I needed something small enough to let me use a VO lamp bracket. So I googled 5/16-24 and M5 thread converter, searched McMaster and Fastenall.
What finally came up was an ebay match to an M6 speargun shaft/tip thread converter (to let you mix shafts and tips from different maker). On the right is the speargun tip converter in place of the Raleigh boss bolt.
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Turned out the M6 worked out better than an M5. I alread had an M6 cold-forming tap, which uses a 7/32 tap bit, slightly larger than an M5 guide hole. So I opened up the guide hole on the VO bracket, threaded it to M6, and it's rock solid on the speargun thread.
I already had a handlebar mount made up from a long M5 and champagne cork, so here it is assembled with a brake pad acorn nut over the spear tip, and the fixed Cygo light mount
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Let there be light - and no hulking ersatz boss on the fork.
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It's also a really nice position for a light. It stays out of your friends' faces, lets you see just as far as a lamp at handlebar level, but shows so much more road texture.
Years ago worked out how to attach an M6-tapped Gino mount to Nitto rack stays using an extra Nitto rod bolt and a bellville washer (it's what I bought the M6 tap for), and have two bikes set up this way (I've also tapped a bunch of folk's Ginos for them to duplicate this).
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here's my slideshow showing how to do it:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...album/5836650790499214897/5836650793550867186
It only works on a Nitto M-18 or Nitto Mark's rack (won't work on M-12) - has to have the rod lugs and fittings.

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On my Moser, with only a Nitto F-15 handlebar rack, I attached a Cygo helmet mount with M4s through the plastic U-box on the rando bag
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obviously I'm sold on Cygo lights
 
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