Ben: That is beautiful. I have one of the last orange white 54 cm that we sold. (I purchased it in 2003). I have been looking for a painter. Where did you have your bike painted? How did you get the new decals?
Jay Demarest, NJ On Friday, February 12, 2021 at 5:31:58 PM UTC-5 Ben Miller wrote: > Hello Fellow RBW Owners, > > Wanted to do a little update on my Rambouillet build in progress, now that > it is actually taking form. > > First, a little bit of background. I've been lucky enough to have built up > four (4!) Riv bikes already, but this is really shaping up to be a truly > unique one for me. This Ram’s story started (for me) way back in late 2017 > with me purchasing it off fellow list member Keith as a F/F/HS. > Unfortunately a number of not so great life events happened shortly after > that, including fracturing my leg, taking me off the bike for nearly 6 > months. The frame moved with me down a new path in life, but mostly > collected dust in my garage. Not forgotten or abandoned, but definitely a > bit lonely while I worked on 2 more bikes that were more recently acquired. > During this time I quietly acquired used parts and ideas that eventually > coalesced into a build for the Rambouillet. > > The Ram frame itself is 64 cm painted with a beautiful sage green with a > bit of pearl iridescent to it. It has a couple of small paint chips on the > non-drive side seatstay, but otherwise in pristine condition. It was > included with a Tange headset. > > Previous Rivendell builds had mostly involved me purchasing brand new > components (not having a large parts bin to work off of), I think these > builds were still fun and interesting, but really been driven by new or > recent bike component technology. My vision for the Ram build is really to > focus on used/vintage/NOS stock parts as much as possible, but also fun and > practical to me. I know, not a revolutionary design principle, but this is > my first time executing it. > > The heart of this began around the idea of setting it up as a DT friction > shifting using a vintage Huret Duopar Eco I got off eBay. The Duopar was > originally introduced in 1975 with the Eco being released in 1981. These 40 > year old derailleurs were originally intended for 6 speed freewheel, but > through the magic of friction shifting and a little finessing, seem to work > just fine with a 9 speed cassette. The big thing about the Duopar is it was > one of first (perhaps the first?) derailluer to handle up to a 36t cog and > 40 teeth of chainwrap. My understanding is that these RD’s are slightly > controversial in terms of either loving or hating them (lots is said about > their maintenance issues), but part of this was trying to find out for > myself. As I am just starting to learn about these derailleurs, it’d be > nice to hear from others about their experience! > > Over the last couple of days I’ve been able to get the Duopar dialed in > and shift through a Shimano HG 11-36 cassette using Silver DT shifters and > paired with a Sugino triple that I converted to 44/30. Today I finished > mounting a pair of Paul Racer centerpulls that I got off a list member and > got strung together to the NOS Mafac levers I got off eBay. These are > mounted on the Crust Shaka bars (my new favorite bars), which is so far the > only brand new part on this build besides the Velo Orange seatpost (I did > have a vintage seatpost I had been planning on using, but the mounting > plates have a lot of corrosion that is preventing them from providing a > tight hold). With brakes on and functional, I was able to take it out and > test the shifting in real conditions. And I have to say, it feels really > nice, couldn’t be happier at this point. > > The eventual plan is to swap the 700c wheels for 650b (but the 650b wheels > that I had planned to go on here ended up on my girlfriends Rambouillet!) > and put on 42mm BSP’s. > > I know this is a long write-up, but it’s been a long road to this build. > But it is finally nearing culmination. I have to say, what a time to be > alive and into bikes, with so many different options and ways to approach a > bike build. I feel pretty lucky and excited for how this is gonna turn > out! > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/e40750a1-a878-496a-b2df-1ba410a44a7an%40googlegroups.com.
