1990 Raleigh Dyna Tech Cronos Titanium (56)

[27motorhead]

Glad you found the right bike at the right size at last.

This made me chuckle:

I planned to go one night after work (with the excuse I was working late), so as not to arouse suspicion that ‘another’ bike was coming. Four hours there, and four hours back! I was exhausted, but elated, carefully hiding the bike in the small hours of the morning.

I think we've all been there/done something similar at one point!!!

 

[Benandemu]

My other Cronos did have a comprehensive build thread, but it was from a time when we used Photobucket accounts, and I found that my pictures were all deleted at some point. I do have some photos here and there on various devices that I’ll try and upload, and failing that I’ll piece the story together with new photos to show the details.

I can’t believe how rough it was when I first took it on.

1990 Raleigh Dyna Tech Cronos Titanium (54)

If I wind the clocks back to 1990 for the beginning of this project, I was 18, studying my A levels, and riding more than I should have been. My enthusiasm for the sport had really taken hold, and I was feverishly absorbing as much information about what would make me faster and allow me to last...

www.retrobike.co.uk

 

[Benandemu]

I could have kept the Stronglight headset as it was a perfect fit, and actually it’s the later variant which uses the replaceable cartridge bearings. It’s light, and would polish up well enough, but the C Record headset has such a distinctive design, that I think it would be too noticeable that it was missing from the group. Typically for Campagnolo’s headsets of this era it’s a tall stack height which doesn’t quite suit the length of the fork. I measured everything twice, and decided to just give it a go. That C Record headset locking is literally on by two threads - but it’s on, and that’s what matters!



The seat post was really rough to start with, and took a good deal of polishing to bring it around to anything acceptable. It’s ok, but there’s a small amount of damage to the engraved logos, which isn’t that visible unless you’re up close. I might actually give the post another session of hand polishing as I think it’ll come up a bit better at the top just below the clamp. Evidence of the previous owner using mole-grips to remove it can be seen before polishing.





The bottom bracket was never going to be a C Record one, and there’s a few reasons why. Firstly, they’re really difficult to obtain in a condition where they’ll run smooth. Secondly, if you can find one smooth enough, then you’ll almost certainly pay for the privilege. Thirdly, they wear out! Simply by their design of using ball bearings against the axle, they will eventually wear out.
The answer was always a Royce Titanium one, and I think it’s really fitting for this bike. The hardship is finding one in decent condition that’s the correct size. Half of the people selling Titanium BB’s don’t know whether they’re ISO or JIS taper, and some don’t even list the axle width. 111mm is the standard Campagnolo axle width, and I found a very rough 110mm ISO set up. Everything other than the axle was knackered, which is actually the most important bit. You can use various manufacturers cups on Ti axles as they almost always use the same cartridge bearing with a central bore of 17mm. Luckily though I had spare set of Royce cups to use on this one. They’re rougher than I’d like, and I will replace them if I can be bothered to stump up the money for some, but for the most part they’re concealed once the crank arms are attached.
I tried to thread the cups in as a test fit, but I could barely get them started, so a trip to my cousin’s bike shop to re-tap the threads (in exchange for beer) was on the cards. The taps were struggling for a quite a while, especially in the non drive side, so 10 mins of back and forth, and adding a little cutting fluid until I thought they were good enough to give the cups another try. The difference is night and day as the cups go all the way in by using just fingers alone. I never force BB cups as it can be catastrophic, especially when using ‘two pin’ Campagnolo tools to install them, as one slip of that spanner…!!!



The reason why the taps might have found it difficult to cut a thread is because the alloy BB shell uses a steel insert. I cleaned it all out with a wire brush and once it was clean enough, I coated it with a liberal amount of grease.



Brand new Enduro bearings went in, and the whole lot was tightened in place. The beauty of this set up is that it’s infinitely serviceable with a new set of bearings every few years.



And how the bike looks currently…

 

[Markybeau]

I'm not a 'roadie' in any way shape or form, but I genuinely like these. I think they're such an understated and classy looking frameset. This is a great thread.

 

[Benandemu]

Not much of an update, but worthy of sharing some recent good fortune.

I bought a box of assorted bar end caps from eBay this week, which were actually quite local to me. I contacted the seller for more detail on the assortment, but no reply. Anyway, the listing ended and I was quite happy to be the winner. The bar end caps didn’t really interest me as I was keen on something else that I’d spotted in amongst the caps, and that was all the little plastic bar clamps which hold the end of the tape neatly in place. I used some on my Look KG96 earlier this year, and was keen to hunt out some black ones.

Once the box arrived, I set about playing a game of matching up pairs with my youngest son (he’s only 8 years old), who was surprisingly engaged in the task.



Again, I was only really interested in the various types and colours of bar tape clamps I’d just bought. Interestingly, there are a couple of versions, of which one type has two slots to allow for an ergopower set up.



Then my son picked this up out of the bottom of the box…



I couldn’t believe my luck! My new Cronos has lost its original Raleigh cable guide at some point in its life, and finding another at a reasonable cost seemed unlikely.

A small part of this story, but a good story nonetheless!

 

[Benandemu]

A few things worthy of updating today.

The front mech has been cleaned and gingerly clamped in place! I just love the clamps on these C Record mechs.






I also found a nice early Elite bottle cage in an almost matching shade of Blue. It’s actually a faded finish that was originally a much darker Blue, but as long as it doesn’t fade much more, I think it’s perfect. Little taper head Titanium bolts hold the cage in place.






I also swapped out the replacement Shimano cable guide for the correct Raleigh one.



I had planned on using a set of 28 hole C Record hubs, but the 126mm rear wheel that I have doesn’t seem comfortable in the rear wishbone, where a 130mm feels spot on. I think it’s been stretched out at some point in its past, and then stuck that way, so I’m really not keen on pushing it back. That wishbone is cast alloy, and there’s a chance it might break with too much movement back the other way, so I’ll let sleeping dogs lie.
This meant that I was on the search for a C Record cassette hub in 28h as they were 130mm. It’s much harder to find than you think, so I had to make a minor compromise in order to keep the build going. If a 28h rear hub comes along, then I’m back on plan A, but for now I’ll settle with plan B and a 32h (begrudgingly).
Finding the 32h hubs is much easier, but finding the matching Omega V rims is somewhat of a challenge as most of them seem to be tubular, and I want clincher. Anyway, after extensive searching, and I managed to find a set on the other side of Europe, sadly missing their decals, but generally in good condition.
The rear hub was bought as a built wheel (weirdly, it came with a 32h Omega V clincher), but really needs a strip down and rebuild in the future as it’s gritty in the bearings.
The front hub and the front skewer have also been purchased from separate sources. When I build the wheels up, I’ll use DT alloy nipples and Sapim or DT DB spokes. Even though they’re the compromise wheelset, they still need to be ‘right’.





Now that I’m going to be using a cassette at the rear rather than a freewheel, it kind of opened up another option for me - a Titanium rear cassette! As good as the steel ones that Campagnolo manufactured are, they’re pretty heavy, and possibly the least attractive part of the C Record groupset. I know the Titanium cassette is missing a lock ring, but the weight difference between the two is amazing.





It’s a genuinely beautiful piece of engineering too, although the ratios are perhaps a little tall for serious hills.

 

[zerogravitas]

Not much of an update, but worthy of sharing some recent good fortune.

I bought a box of assorted bar ends from eBay this week, which were actually quite local to me. I contacted the seller for more detail on the assortment, but no reply. Anyway, the listing ended and I was quite happily the winner. The bar ends didn’t really interest me as I was really keen on something that I’d spotted in amongst the bar ends, and that was the little plastic bar clamps which hold the end of the tape neatly in place. I used some on my Look KG96 earlier this year, and was keen to hunt out some black ones.

Once the box arrived, I set about playing a game of matching up pairs with my youngest son (he’s only 8 years old), who was surprisingly engaged in the task.

View attachment 846940

At this point, I was really interested in the various types and colours of bar tape clamps I’d just bought. Interestingly, there are a couple of versions, of which one type has two slots to allow for an ergopower set up.

View attachment 846941

Then my son picked this up out of the bottom of the box…

View attachment 846942

I couldn’t believe my luck! My frame has lost its original Raleigh cable guide at some point, and finding another at a reasonable cost seemed unlikely.

A small part of its story, but a good story nonetheless!

That lot should cater for one or two builds! Result on the cable guide too.

 

[N-plus-one]

I am in admiration and much respect of your determination and attention to detail. Chapeau.