Parts list

I keep meaning to list the components here but haven't got round to it yet due to my real job.

Probably have time at the weekend.

Flag decal in place

I previously had a Cannondale "C" logo there before sourcing the flag.

Of course this is much more "factory" looking.

The final touch

Most of the reproduction decal kits I've seen either don't come with the Handmade in the USA flag for the top tube, or those that do tend to have a solid colour as a background.

But I managed to find a source some from a guy in Canada that had a clear background that look pretty good.

Progress

Very little left to do. I rebuilt the front wheel again using 2mm DT spokes to match the rear wheel.





Finally the rear brake is spot on, having re-bled the system to remove a stubborn air bubble.

Kore Platform Pedals

The new pedals also arrived today. I definately prefer these pedals over the Shimanos.

Oh and a close up of the reproduction Lefty decal.

Changing the rear hose

Well the few last bits arrive today so I got to work installing and routing the rear brake hose.

I already had the Avid Juicy Bleed kit so it was a case of draining the brake and removing the old cable. The kit had everything required including almost all tools.

First thing I attached the new hose to the rear caliper and fed cable through the modified frame cable guides.

Then it was a simple case of cutting the hose to the correct length at the lever and installing the connectors.

Then the bleeding could begin. First the hose, then the caliper and finally the lever.

I've only ever bled brakes once before so I'm no expert, but I took the bike out for a short 1 mile ride to see how it felt.

Let's just say, I'll be bleeding it again in the morning...

But the bike itself felt really nice, I just have to adjust the seat back a little.

Rear Disc Brake Adjustment

The rear brake although working well, still has a bit of rub. The Avid Juicy calipers do have alot of adjustment, but unfortunately not enough. I guess this is all down to the my somewhat weird rear brake setup.

Anyway, since the Brake Therapy solution is post mounted I just can't shim out the caliper to align centre to the rotor.

But all is not lost having just found these (Pack of 8x0.2mm)

I'll shim out the rotor with normal caliper shims until those arrive.

Progress

Temporary cable ties

Since I'm waiting on the new rear hydraulic cable, I've mounted the existing (all be it a bit short) rear brake using an old outer V-brake cable and some cable ties.

Seemed to do the job at least until the new cable arrives.

More parts

Well I ordered a few more bits for the bike. Mainly tyres and some other minor stuff:

• 2m Brake Hose
• Shimano Octalink Bottom braket
• Black Kore Platform Pedal
• Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.25
• 2mm Spokes for the front wheel

I'll rebuild the front wheel again using new spokes that are of the same type as the rear. If nothing else it will be good practice again.

Cable guide

Well I started to modify the rear brake cable guides on the frame to accept the hydraulic cable. Its not a hard thing to do but the angle needed to access them made it a bit harder. A simple solution would have been to get one of those flexi shaft for my Dremel, but since aluminium is relatively easy to drill I just slowly widened the cable guide out with a engraver cutter tip.

There are 3 cable guides on the frame, but only two of them needed widening, here's a close up of one of the two problem guides.

It was a fiddley job and in retrospect probably better to get the flex shaft and just drill the hole to widen it. But now it's done, I'll just buff up the area a little to tidy it up before I install the new longer brake line.

Visual progress

What's left to do:

• Widen the V-brake cable guides on the frame to take the hydraulic cable.
• Lengthen the rear brake, bleed and route the cable.
• Use it!
  

Installing the Brake Therapy disc adapter

To be honest the tricky bit with all this is really installing the hub kit. Once you've done that it's simply just a case of slotting on the adapter, attaching the quick release pin, bolting it to the V-brake mount and tightening the wheel.

The V-brake mounting bolt was quite long and included alot of spacer, so I trimmed the bolt down to make it a little neater looking.

The colour of the adapter is a little bit weird, but not bad I guess. However the brake caliper must be a post mount. Thankfully my Avid's are IS and post mount so it was no big deal. The adapter is set up to take a 160mm disk.

Now with the caliper in place.

I changed to the quick release lever on the rear hub, even though I'm no fan of them, but I needed to hook the Brake Therapy quick release around it. I'll probably switch back again since it looks a bit poor like this compared to the previous picture.

Pretty simple to do (excluding the slice and dice of my finger on the brake disc) and more importantly it works!

Installing the Brake Therapy hub kit

The kit consists of:

• The adapter
• V-brake mount bolt
• Bearing cone and spacers
• Spacer
• Lock nut

The first thing need is to modify the hub with the included Brake therapy hub kit.

My rear hub is a Shimano XT, and my Brake Therapy kit was order specifically for that hub.

With the wheel off, remove the rubber dust seal.

The remove the stock lock nut , spacer and bearing cone from the wheel.

This should have been a relatively simple task, but a word of warning.

REMOVE THE BRAKE DISK

My disk is a "saw" type, and without thinking when I loosened the lock nut I slipped and sliced up my finger pretty good.

Anyway after cleaning up the blood the lock nut came off without any further injuries.

Next remove the spacer and bearing cone.

Now the bearings are exposed. That's as far as the hub needs to be striped, not it's a rebuild with the Brake Therapy hub parts.

First install the new bearing cone.

This only needs to be finger tight, but it sits quite far into the hub so I had to use a flat headed screwdriver to install it fully.

Next the large spacer needs to be installed, again to finger tightness. And finally the lock nut is installed to keep everything in place.

That's it... The hub is ready to use again.