PIAS Prototype, Pancalen Cycles Style

Wow. Our wheelbuilder must have done something to the good guys at Sumvelo and Cyclonesia that last week he shown up carrying one of the four PIAS prototype frame! Nothing terrible, we hope...

Once arrived (and be assured that nothing terrible happened), the first thing we do is stripping parts off #SubduralHematoma, our residence singlespeed rig/work mule. The wheels, drivetrain, the whole nine yards, except for the threadless headset and stem since PIAS frame is using threaded assembly and quill stem. Oh, and a different sized seatpost.

One of the advantage of working in a bike shop (or scorching around as a shop rat) is you can easily source worn out or unused parts in basement bargain price, and sometimes, for free. Take the whole drivetrain setup on this bike for example. The Shimano Dura Ace 7410 crankset might look expensive, but actually our wheelbuilder bought it from a good friend for around $25. The KMC Z410 chain was cobbled together from leftover links that came after a couple of singlespeed builds (thankfully they are all gold colored), and the 17T freewheel is taken from a customer who decided to run fixed on his newly bought Masi.

We can guarantee that his friend didn't sold this crankset under a gunpoint.

Familiar looking Eggbeater on 175mm crank arm.

Since he run singlespeed drivetrain on this bike, a rear brake is a must. But the problem is, PIAS is not designed to built with rear brake, with the absence of rear brake and cable mounts. No big deal, we just have to drill the seatstay bridge and fabricate the brake adaptor ourselves so a bit of squeeze at Tektro RL340 levers will put the Promax calipers to work.

People who craved for clean looks on their fixed gear fullbikes left us with a bunch of, to say the least, brake cables and... cable clamps. Three Dia Compe clamps (also taken from a Masi) and the Jagwire L3 brake cable is not going anywhere.

We never put our names on our bikes, but with this one it's hard not to do so.

Another part scraped from bike shop floor is the bottom bracket. You see, Dura Ace 7410 crankset is known as the only double chainring crankset ever to need 103mm bottom bracket spindle, apparently to reduce the Q-factor. Instead of buying a new one, our wheelbuilder simply snatched a jammed IRD bottom bracket from the garbage bin, ditch the alloy body, salvaged the CrMo spindle and steel cups, and fitted a pair of SKF bearings on them. It survived another two years and still cranking strong.

Other features are Miche Primato threaded headset with needle bearings (already installed on the frameset when he brought them), different labeled stem, seatpost and dropbar that we're pretty sure were made by Kalloy, and Charge Spoon inspired custom upholstered Velo saddle as found on this bike.

 

Got to love this fork crown.

 

Oh, we almost forgot to mention the wheels. It's every wheelbuilder's pride! Since this bicycle is intended to be an urban assault weapon, not a track racer, we saw the needs of building bombproof wheels at reasonable price. 19mm wide Rigida touring rims laced in 4-cross pattern to Chosen singlespeed hubs via 32 Richman double-butted spokes, then we're set to go.

 

Many thanks to Andira from Sumvelo and Irfan "Ippe" from Cyclonesia for hooking us up with this beauty!