[CR]Litton Randonneur finally on the road

(Example: Framebuilders:Mario Confente)

Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 16:39:09 -0700
From: Rob Hawks <rob.hawks@gmail.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <2a51cce0710131637l119fd3e9pdff74bc5e07b95c6@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2a51cce0710131637l119fd3e9pdff74bc5e07b95c6@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: [CR]Litton Randonneur finally on the road

I have a gallery of shots of my Litton Randonneur finally assembled and finally ridden. You can find the photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.hawks/LittonRandonneur

The build: Ed Litton built a custom frame for me with a mix of his advice and my wishes. The seat and head angle are 73 degrees, the fork has 55 mm of rake. The seat tube and the top tube are 57 cm c-c. The head set is a Shimano 600 EX, the Bottom Bracket is a Phil Wood. The cranks are 170mm TA Zephyrs with 50-40-28 chainrings, and the pedals are Shimano pd1056. I got Hirose at Jitensha to special order some Nitto model 185 handle bars in 42 cm width (said to be the same shape as Cinelli 64s) and I am using a Nitto Pearl stem in the 11cm length.

The seat post is an old Campy two bolt, the saddle a Honey colored Brooks B17 Champion Special. The shifters are Shimano Ultegra bar ends in 8sp, the Deraileurs are Shimano 105s. I built the wheels with MA2 rims, and on the rear I found a new Ultegra 36 hole 8speed hub. The front wheel currently is built using a 32 hole Suntour Cyclone hub, but I'll use the wheel built with a 32 hole Schmidt SON and MA2 rim that is currently on the Dave Yates. The brake levers are Shimanos and the front brake is currently a Dia Compe Gran Compe center pull and the rear is a MAFAC Competition with a bridge.

It took me about 2 blocks to get used to the ride. It felt different for that long, and then it felt like I've been riding that bike for years. Acquiring this bike took a long time and a lot of extra effort. I sold off a number of things at some point, including bikes I had bought as pieces and then assembled them and sold them as complete bikes. I also built wheels, did repairs, and assembled bikes and then set aside the money to pay for the frame and parts.

The frame was meant to be finished in time to assemble and test ride before PBP but that didn't happen quite as planned. In the rush to get it ready enough to take on PBP we skipped the chroming that was intended for the dropouts. There are some revisions to make to allow for the mounting of the rear Dia Compe Gran Compe center pull so the bike isn't completely finished.

rob hawks
richmond, ca