It struck me whilst I was putting the finishing touches to this (iteration of this) bike build is that we live in a golden age for availability of niche bike parts that allow us to achieve builds that I/ we could only have dreamed about many/ afew years ago.

Whilst i know it won't be to everybody’s taste, and might be a bit too 'theradavist' for some , this is in many ways a dream build for me.

Wide range 1 x11 gearing (I like 1x!), with a friction or index (Microshift) thumbie, 'alt' bars (in this case VO crazy bars), a quill stem giwith a decent length quill to get the bar height i want, and a 31.8 quill stem (although ironically I ended up with a 25.4 bar and shim), modern good quality rim brake hubs and 26" rims (Hope and Halo), decent tyres (Sim-works), a wide narrow 94dcd chainring (Stridsland), functional (but not trad. full size) Nitto and Carradice racks/ supports, a Wald basket, the Ergon core saddle, encent sized and quality flat pedals, and add in some NOS parts such as Shimano parallel push v brakes, and I’m a happy bike fettler.

in case anyone's interested, it's an Overbury's Pioneer frame and fork that I 'rescued' for its original owner a few years ago after the stem and seatpost had seized in the frame. I dissolved the stuck parts with caustic soda, had the frame refinished by Argos as original. The original owner, who had bought it because he wanted a quality bike made locally to him in Bristol, enjoyed it for a few more years, before deciding he needed an e-bike for the Bristol hills on his daily commute, and offered it to me.




and yes i know the guard spacing needs a bit of final fettling and the front value is wonky

looks perfect to me mate. a proper usable bike.
and i love the fact that a odd bunch of bike parts can make such a nice thing, rather than buying a groupset complete.

I tend to think the internet has opened a portal to a golden age for many hobbies / pastimes and interests and the more niche or obscure, then the greater that effect seems to be. It is the greatest library ever amassed, not all of it good but if you sought the wheat from the chaff, it makes many things possible that simply weren't 20 years ago.

Nice bike Nick

oof, Overburys. I remember seeing an odd one at a couple of the early days MTB races, quite the things. I subsequently used to see one round Edinburgh, usually locked to a lamppost and looking rather battered
Remember this ad?

The stepped top tube / seat stays was a key feature of those late '80's custom frames

Looks great! Looks like old lx v brakes, they were the best parallel push ones!

Looks like a great, practical bike, nice