Category: Builds

HB-03 (aka “Senator Buff”) more or less took over this blog back in 2019. To the extent that the last build post of HB-02 (which I have, just now, dubbed “Magnus”) had its fork contents strewn out across a work table.

Rest assured, Magnus has long since been completed. In 2020, with my sister stuck here during lockdown, we’d occasionally ride out to Tariffville Gorge together.

Mags has lain mostly dormant since then. This past month, it received a wash and polish, and hub overhauls to both wheels. This one’s fully tuned and ready to ride… we’ll see where it’s going next.

More RED things to cap off the build of Senator Buff.

New brake cables and bar tape are joined by the original bar plugs (the ones with dasblinkenlights ate themselves). Our RED saddlebag is supplemented by a RED “feed bag”. Like its sibling, this is a piece overflowing with imperfection handmade warmth.

It can be mounted a few different ways, but I found this to be the best. The brake cable is tucked behind, and the lower portion is stabilized by strapping it to the front reflector mount.

HBs 02 and 03 are hitting the block soon. But first, one last trip…

There’s a hilarious video on Youtube demonstrating Dia-Compe’s official method for bar wrapping with wing shifters. Basically, “just keep going”.

These shifter mounts are far too bulky for that, so it’s a hard stop and restart.

Vintage Suntour downtube cable stops, just because.

CTB is a real good thing because this bike is heavy. Although a lot of said weight is in the wheels:

Double-walled 27-inch rims mounted with 27×1 3/8 tires. Heavy, but comfy.

Modern front derailleurs aren’t really designed for the “half-step” gearing this bike came with. The 46T middle ring has been swapped out for HB-03’s original 42T small ring.

These wide-stanced canti brakes are the first cantilevers I’ve used that can stop as viciously as V-brakes (but with better modulation). I now understand people calling canti brakes the best rim brakes.

I’m not sure what Ben Lawee spec’d that makes the Gran Turismo different from its cousin Miyata 610, but Univega didn’t put out garbage. Certainly nothing so unworthy it should be left outside and have paint drizzled on it.

This one’s back on the road.

The Great Component Scrubbing:

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HB-04-the-painted:

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HB-04-the-built:

No play-by-play like with HB-03, I’m afraid. The headset and bottom bracket bearings were replaced, but unlike Buff’s curiously pristine bottom bracket, 04’s was seriously crudded and still has a bit of play with the new bearings. I’ve come to like these adjustable cone-and-cup bottom brackets, but if I have to replace both the cups and spindle, a cartridge one would probably make more sense.

A portrait of the bicycle as a young build: (painted) fork, unpainted frame, uncleaned “original” components:

The new members of the family:

Classic-styled Nitto bars and an NOS SR stem are closer to what would have been (factory) original equipment on this bike. The Tektros, interrupt levers, and (flat bar) Suntour Power Control shifters are most definitely not.

“Bending aluminum” and “destructively editing vintage Suntour parts” are activities I usually put in a similar category to kicking dogs and stealing candy from small children. But I convinced myself that these shifters would never find a better home than on what should be this blog’s trademark build, so bent and ground they were to fit the fatter drop handlebars.