Eastway FB3.0 home rebuild (Minor Project content)
Discussion
Hi all
Long time pedal powered reader, infrequent poster. Thought I'd share this little project as everyone loves a project thread right!?
Time for the history...back in 2014 I was running a Specialized Allez in 56cm format for my winter commuting duties (24 mile round trip). Picture full length mudguards and winter spec (retina burning) lights. When I got it...
I got it 2nd hand from a guy at work who never used it after getting it on the cycle to work scheme. It was a good bike but I was never really happy as I usually ride 58cm Cannondale's. I always felt it was a bit small for me. I did a few thousand miles on it and didn't really gel with it. At the time I ran a multitude of other bikes populating the n+1 rule...
Other bikes included;
Cannondale SuperSix for the summer stuff
Cannondale Slice for the TT's
Ragley Piglet2 home build for the offroad stuff
and of course the Allez mentioned above.
One day a colleague and good friend happened to be browsing the local Leisure lakes store and saw the Eastway FB3.0 hybrid flat bar having just been released. Essentially a road bike with flat bar and hydraulic brakes. I could picture that replacing the Allez. I pulled the pin and sold the Allez through work and got the Eastway on the cycle to work scheme.
What a great bike! Comfortable, great to ride, responsive and a bit different. I ended up taking it round my various travels, mostly to the US (Denver);
The day I collected it and a couple from travels;
This bike gave me so many pleasurable rides in the summer months of a typical Denver summer;
but also bought me my coldest and most character building ride in -12DegC during the US winter, I forgot my winter gloves too...ouch!
Around 5000miles of good use during purely winter months took it's toll. It was eating consumables and was starting to get a bit tatty. I loved riding my Cannondale's so I bit the bullet and bought a 58cm Synapse for winter use and retired the Eastway to the shed to be used as a backup bike. It got the occasional ride when I couldn't be arsed to fix a puncture straight away. The Synapse has been epic as expected.
Now I've had a hard year, getting divorced, changing job rolls, being financially screwed by the ex, seeing my daughter less than I'd like and selling the home I'd built meant I was miserable and the Eastway just got forgotten. Cut to moving house last month and I thought about the bikes I have. I use them all apart from the Eastway. I have so many great memories on that bike that it seems a shame to sell it for the peanuts it's worth. I'm fortunate, I've rebuilt my life and have a partner who supports me and my desire to have bike porn delivered.
History lesson and Xfactor sob story complete, that brings me to about two weeks ago. I'd been toying with the idea of doing a rebuild on the Eastway. Chuck a few custom things at it and make it a bit special. So I got started;
Ready to be stripped;
Made short work of that!;
Paint stripper time!;
I had to attack it with a light wire brush in the drill to get to this;
Etch Primer time;
At this point I decided I wanted to run a single chain ring on the front, for no other reason that I very rarely use the small ring and wouldnt miss it. I could therefore do without the front derailleur, cable and shifter. This meant Id no longer need the boss to house the cable;
Obviously between primer, paint and lacquer I'm rubbing it down and patching any weak or thin areas but i wont bore you with wet and dry pictures!
Now onto colour. I've long been a fan or a particular red that I once had in a car I owned years ago. I have an Ebay email notification for cars listed in that colour to this day! So I thought why not to do the bike in that colour...bonus point for guessing which colour and what it comes from...???
On the car it was obviously a gloss finish but I've seen a few bikes around that look great in Matt, so that's the route I went down. In the mean time I also wanted to replace the graphics. I couldn't find any high resolution Eastway images to have any printed as exact replica's. Rather than spend mega money I just found a website that had the font closest to the original and made my own up. Some cutting of letters (E) and joining bits (W&A) together I ended up with this (Matt lacquer applied here too);
The original Eastway range had a family of 3 flat bar hybrids. FB1.0 being the most spendy and the FB2.0 followed by the FB3.0 which I what I bought. Remember it was a cheap winter tool not a balls to the wind carbon steed for club rides. I wanted to keep the FB3.0 decals too but with my own touch;
additionally, since the bike was now going to be built by me and to my own spec, I couldn't resist putting my name on it...this font was called 'hand of Sean'...kinda had no choice really!;
And a last bit of attention grabbing;
As it stands the frame will stand for a week for the lacquer to harden before more of the build continues. As for the direction the bike go in...Ive debated making it an Ebike but as a 'cyclist' and not just a 'bike user', I believe there is a difference, I can't bring myself to do that! So I've going to experiment with a few carbon bits and see how it progresses.
Updates to follow in the coming days...next update will be rear light brackets! Fun times!
Long time pedal powered reader, infrequent poster. Thought I'd share this little project as everyone loves a project thread right!?
Time for the history...back in 2014 I was running a Specialized Allez in 56cm format for my winter commuting duties (24 mile round trip). Picture full length mudguards and winter spec (retina burning) lights. When I got it...
I got it 2nd hand from a guy at work who never used it after getting it on the cycle to work scheme. It was a good bike but I was never really happy as I usually ride 58cm Cannondale's. I always felt it was a bit small for me. I did a few thousand miles on it and didn't really gel with it. At the time I ran a multitude of other bikes populating the n+1 rule...
Other bikes included;
Cannondale SuperSix for the summer stuff
Cannondale Slice for the TT's
Ragley Piglet2 home build for the offroad stuff
and of course the Allez mentioned above.
One day a colleague and good friend happened to be browsing the local Leisure lakes store and saw the Eastway FB3.0 hybrid flat bar having just been released. Essentially a road bike with flat bar and hydraulic brakes. I could picture that replacing the Allez. I pulled the pin and sold the Allez through work and got the Eastway on the cycle to work scheme.
What a great bike! Comfortable, great to ride, responsive and a bit different. I ended up taking it round my various travels, mostly to the US (Denver);
The day I collected it and a couple from travels;
This bike gave me so many pleasurable rides in the summer months of a typical Denver summer;
but also bought me my coldest and most character building ride in -12DegC during the US winter, I forgot my winter gloves too...ouch!
Around 5000miles of good use during purely winter months took it's toll. It was eating consumables and was starting to get a bit tatty. I loved riding my Cannondale's so I bit the bullet and bought a 58cm Synapse for winter use and retired the Eastway to the shed to be used as a backup bike. It got the occasional ride when I couldn't be arsed to fix a puncture straight away. The Synapse has been epic as expected.
Now I've had a hard year, getting divorced, changing job rolls, being financially screwed by the ex, seeing my daughter less than I'd like and selling the home I'd built meant I was miserable and the Eastway just got forgotten. Cut to moving house last month and I thought about the bikes I have. I use them all apart from the Eastway. I have so many great memories on that bike that it seems a shame to sell it for the peanuts it's worth. I'm fortunate, I've rebuilt my life and have a partner who supports me and my desire to have bike porn delivered.
History lesson and Xfactor sob story complete, that brings me to about two weeks ago. I'd been toying with the idea of doing a rebuild on the Eastway. Chuck a few custom things at it and make it a bit special. So I got started;
Ready to be stripped;
Made short work of that!;
Paint stripper time!;
I had to attack it with a light wire brush in the drill to get to this;
Etch Primer time;
At this point I decided I wanted to run a single chain ring on the front, for no other reason that I very rarely use the small ring and wouldnt miss it. I could therefore do without the front derailleur, cable and shifter. This meant Id no longer need the boss to house the cable;
Obviously between primer, paint and lacquer I'm rubbing it down and patching any weak or thin areas but i wont bore you with wet and dry pictures!
Now onto colour. I've long been a fan or a particular red that I once had in a car I owned years ago. I have an Ebay email notification for cars listed in that colour to this day! So I thought why not to do the bike in that colour...bonus point for guessing which colour and what it comes from...???
On the car it was obviously a gloss finish but I've seen a few bikes around that look great in Matt, so that's the route I went down. In the mean time I also wanted to replace the graphics. I couldn't find any high resolution Eastway images to have any printed as exact replica's. Rather than spend mega money I just found a website that had the font closest to the original and made my own up. Some cutting of letters (E) and joining bits (W&A) together I ended up with this (Matt lacquer applied here too);
The original Eastway range had a family of 3 flat bar hybrids. FB1.0 being the most spendy and the FB2.0 followed by the FB3.0 which I what I bought. Remember it was a cheap winter tool not a balls to the wind carbon steed for club rides. I wanted to keep the FB3.0 decals too but with my own touch;
additionally, since the bike was now going to be built by me and to my own spec, I couldn't resist putting my name on it...this font was called 'hand of Sean'...kinda had no choice really!;
And a last bit of attention grabbing;
As it stands the frame will stand for a week for the lacquer to harden before more of the build continues. As for the direction the bike go in...Ive debated making it an Ebike but as a 'cyclist' and not just a 'bike user', I believe there is a difference, I can't bring myself to do that! So I've going to experiment with a few carbon bits and see how it progresses.
Updates to follow in the coming days...next update will be rear light brackets! Fun times!
Hi Everyone, small update for those that are interested.
As I said in the first post, i debated making this an E-Bike but I just couldn't do it. So what route to take, keep it as a budget build or chuck some fancy parts at it? I thought about it for a while and decide to experiment a bit. Off to Ebay I went and spent the handsome total of £100 for some carbon goodies.
Additionally, I thought about where I would use this bike, I've got my SuperSix for summer/dry days. My Synapse for the rainy days/full winter. Then I had a brain wave, you know those days when it's not raining but it's wet, ie too nice for the dry bike but you don't want the full winter bike. This is the bike of choice! Also used for post office and corner shops runs!
Now I know what your thinking...Ebay Carbon from China, its going to be awful. I too had these thoughts, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it turns out to be crap then i'll buy some legit UK branded stuff but for £100 then it's worth a look. So this is what turned up;
Carbon forks with disc brake mounts, the red accent on the inner fork isnt far off my red. In Matt paint finish too.
Seat Post, again Matt finish with some generic EC90 branding.
Handle Bar and stem. Same branding as above. Simple choices in terms of sizes as I loved the ergonomic position of the old kit so I copied those as closely as possible.
I've weighed all these items vs the Eastway Ally ones and there are significant weight savings here.
Lastly, I knocked up some quick and dirty brackets for my lights. I hate the wrap around the seat tube style things. While I can appreciate their adaptable nature they are ugly and cumbersome. These small ally brackets allow me to bolt on the quick release adapters and have fixed light positions. I've got a matching pair of these. It's highly likely I'll re-do them as they were a bit rushed. Being tiny ally brackets they weigh mere grams.
And the bike on my old set of spare wheels;
Next up is to grab a seat post clamp and order some wheels. Wheels is a dilemma, Ideally Id like full carbon (just because). Clincher, 700c, to take a 25mm tyre with ~30-40mm depth and disc mount. Options are limited, however, I've noticed CRC and Wiggle have a partnership on Prime Wheels. So i'll look at a set of them.
More updates soon
Thanks
As I said in the first post, i debated making this an E-Bike but I just couldn't do it. So what route to take, keep it as a budget build or chuck some fancy parts at it? I thought about it for a while and decide to experiment a bit. Off to Ebay I went and spent the handsome total of £100 for some carbon goodies.
Additionally, I thought about where I would use this bike, I've got my SuperSix for summer/dry days. My Synapse for the rainy days/full winter. Then I had a brain wave, you know those days when it's not raining but it's wet, ie too nice for the dry bike but you don't want the full winter bike. This is the bike of choice! Also used for post office and corner shops runs!
Now I know what your thinking...Ebay Carbon from China, its going to be awful. I too had these thoughts, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it turns out to be crap then i'll buy some legit UK branded stuff but for £100 then it's worth a look. So this is what turned up;
Carbon forks with disc brake mounts, the red accent on the inner fork isnt far off my red. In Matt paint finish too.
Seat Post, again Matt finish with some generic EC90 branding.
Handle Bar and stem. Same branding as above. Simple choices in terms of sizes as I loved the ergonomic position of the old kit so I copied those as closely as possible.
I've weighed all these items vs the Eastway Ally ones and there are significant weight savings here.
Lastly, I knocked up some quick and dirty brackets for my lights. I hate the wrap around the seat tube style things. While I can appreciate their adaptable nature they are ugly and cumbersome. These small ally brackets allow me to bolt on the quick release adapters and have fixed light positions. I've got a matching pair of these. It's highly likely I'll re-do them as they were a bit rushed. Being tiny ally brackets they weigh mere grams.
And the bike on my old set of spare wheels;
Next up is to grab a seat post clamp and order some wheels. Wheels is a dilemma, Ideally Id like full carbon (just because). Clincher, 700c, to take a 25mm tyre with ~30-40mm depth and disc mount. Options are limited, however, I've noticed CRC and Wiggle have a partnership on Prime Wheels. So i'll look at a set of them.
More updates soon
Thanks
Yet another small update for you all to digest.
Around 6 weeks ago I decided to take the plunge on some wheels. Most likely to be the most expensive part of the project. Not wanting to break the bank on anything based in the UK I decided to try out the Ebay China Carbon options. Thus far the stuff I've had has been excellent in terms of build quality (test ride verdict to come obviously).
The spec I wanted was simple, they must have;
Full carbon rims
~38mm profile for style points, no bigger than 60mm.
Clincher tyre option
6 bolt disc brakes hubs
9mm QR
10/11spd
Straight pull sokes (tend to be lighter but more expensive) - Optional
You'd think that this is popular spec but sadly not, even in the UK its limited to a small handful of wheels. UK options tend to be upward of £500 for a budget set and ~£800 with all the options ticked and a good brand. Therefore China Ebay at £325 seemed like a bargain.
They arrived today and have been duly fitted with the AVID 160mm discs i'll be using. These were from another bike that have been cleaned up and re-applied. Enough words...pictures;
Starting to feel a little more complete;
Initial impression of the wheels are great. They are straight and true. Front bearing is good. Rear seems like it has a little rattle which i'll dig into. They have the exact spec I wanted, the only compromise was on the J spoke setup which was optional. Very light too.
Some of you may have noticed I have yet trimmed the fork tube, I'm waiting for the test ride before I do that. Next up will be a seat post clamp and most likely get the calipers and levers sorted. Also Ive now ordered the graphics for the wheels. Nothing crazy, just something subtle to make the look less 'Ebay'!
Thanks for looking
Around 6 weeks ago I decided to take the plunge on some wheels. Most likely to be the most expensive part of the project. Not wanting to break the bank on anything based in the UK I decided to try out the Ebay China Carbon options. Thus far the stuff I've had has been excellent in terms of build quality (test ride verdict to come obviously).
The spec I wanted was simple, they must have;
Full carbon rims
~38mm profile for style points, no bigger than 60mm.
Clincher tyre option
6 bolt disc brakes hubs
9mm QR
10/11spd
Straight pull sokes (tend to be lighter but more expensive) - Optional
You'd think that this is popular spec but sadly not, even in the UK its limited to a small handful of wheels. UK options tend to be upward of £500 for a budget set and ~£800 with all the options ticked and a good brand. Therefore China Ebay at £325 seemed like a bargain.
They arrived today and have been duly fitted with the AVID 160mm discs i'll be using. These were from another bike that have been cleaned up and re-applied. Enough words...pictures;
Starting to feel a little more complete;
Initial impression of the wheels are great. They are straight and true. Front bearing is good. Rear seems like it has a little rattle which i'll dig into. They have the exact spec I wanted, the only compromise was on the J spoke setup which was optional. Very light too.
Some of you may have noticed I have yet trimmed the fork tube, I'm waiting for the test ride before I do that. Next up will be a seat post clamp and most likely get the calipers and levers sorted. Also Ive now ordered the graphics for the wheels. Nothing crazy, just something subtle to make the look less 'Ebay'!
Thanks for looking
Edited by Evo Sean on Tuesday 1st October 15:12
Well done! I don't understand the prejudice in some quarters against Chinese carbon. I'm on my second set now (first bike with them was sadly stolen). Similar price point, but 24 x 24 spoke disc clinchers and bog standard Novatec hubs so not super light. Initially I found 38 mm section a handful in crosswinds but I've adapted now and could go a little deeper at the rear. Anyway, they've now run 18,000 all-weather miles with no snags. They've never even needed spokes truing. One should respect manufacturers' weight restrictions though (doesn't trouble me!). Being light I can manage with 140 mm rotors front and rear.
millen said:
Well done! I don't understand the prejudice in some quarters against Chinese carbon.
I've got a pair of 24R/20F 50mm carbon wheels with 'cross tubs on, I've raced on them for four years now. I did change the alloy nipples for brass ones, but other than that I haven't had to touch them.Barchettaman said:
What are the group set plans?
Obviously 1x, but 11-speed at the back? Hydro discs or cable?
For a commuter/hackabout I would be looking at 700c/28 as a minimum width but then I am a bit of a fattie.
1x11 if I can. Wheels are capable of that. Although never used an 11speed before, always had 10speed. It very much depends on cost too. I haven't yet looked into what my options are. Happy to listen to opinions on something light weight that will fit a GXP bottom bracket. I want to keep the road bike bias so cassette will need to be 28-11 ish. Shifter options I'm struggling on at the moment. Any thoughts? Obviously 1x, but 11-speed at the back? Hydro discs or cable?
For a commuter/hackabout I would be looking at 700c/28 as a minimum width but then I am a bit of a fattie.
Brakes will 100% be hydraulic. I'm thinking something fairly heavy hitting at the front like Shimano Saint M820 and something a little less brutal on the front or just go for a matching pair.
Tyres; i'd like to do something different and go for a set of stubby mudguards. Mudguards aren't pretty in any circumstances but I have a set that were on the bike before will slot over 25mm tyres. I plan to hack them about a bit and see how it looks. If it's rubbish I'll go down another route and aim at 28mm
Edited by Evo Sean on Thursday 3rd October 10:51
I too hate the wrap around light mounts so I've got these on my bikes:
https://www.cateye.com/intl/products/parts/5446510...
They're very discrete indeed when installed and place the light at a good height for visibility.
I reckon you need matching brakes, Shimano Deore I-spec helps to keep the bars clutter free.
https://www.cateye.com/intl/products/parts/5446510...
They're very discrete indeed when installed and place the light at a good height for visibility.
I reckon you need matching brakes, Shimano Deore I-spec helps to keep the bars clutter free.
Morning all
Considerable time has passed since this topic was last touched so I thought i'd better update it. Last post was when I had the wheels delivered. However, since then I've moved house, got a dog and bought a project car. The bike took a back seat. However, i have finished it (almost!)
Firstly the carbon wheels, as the project sat around for so long I decided to make use of the nice carbon wheels on the Cannondale daily. They were just too nice to gather dust;
Leaving the carbon wheels off the bike also pushed me down a path of cheap thrills but with a twist. Something missing from my bike collection is a gravel bike. Traditionally a dropped bar bike but I thought I could make it work with the flat bar too. So I changed tack a little;
Firstly, lets get the drive-train sorted;
Sram Apex single 42T with SRAM BB
Gold Chain because bling
Sram X5 10 Speed shifter and rear derailleur
New bearing headset fitted, nothing special here
Picked up some Ebay Carbon cyclocross forks. 9mm drop out, disc option, 1/18th steerer Wide enough for big tyres
You'll notice the addition of new wheels. These were new stock on Ebay. Cheap set of Maddux 2.0 wheels (from a cannondale cross bike I believe?). Came with discs and tyres. Tyres wouldn't be used though.
Saddle also arrived, chose a ProLogo one as they came on the Cannondale and they seem to just never ware out and be comfy whilst being cost effective.
Snapped up some Clarks brakes too, had to shorten the hose lengths but easily done.
Built up the bars with the clarks brake levers and SRAM X5 shifter onto a Ebay Carbon bar
This later proved to be a mistake, the bar was far too narrow so I bougth another one
Added some Nukeproof grips
Swapped the tyres out for some WTB 42mm options with tan walls
Swapped from my temp cassette to a new 36T 10 speed
Popped it onto a Cannondale stem I had laying around but have swapped this for a Ebay Carbon one again.
Setup it up to shift a brake properly and jobs a goodun.
Took it for it's first ride out onto what I thought would be a nice dry field onto some back roads. FAIL. I got about 2km and the mud and gravel was so thick I couldn't turn the wheels so limped back home to clean up. This is after using a stick to clean it off
Had another go though and found a better route
My First attempt at a subtle mudguard looked great but in reality it did naff all so I made a bigger one
And now I'm just toying with some for the front, waiting for some brackets to turn up and it'll be good to go for another few thousand miles
That's about it. From knackered old road hybrid that didn't get used to hybrid trail Gravel bike in 2 years! The ride is great. It feels like a really quick mountain bike off road and a slightly slow road bike on the tarmac. It really bridges the gap between the trails where road sections are a must.
I'm dead happy with it and can't wait to start cycling to work off road.
Thanks
Considerable time has passed since this topic was last touched so I thought i'd better update it. Last post was when I had the wheels delivered. However, since then I've moved house, got a dog and bought a project car. The bike took a back seat. However, i have finished it (almost!)
Firstly the carbon wheels, as the project sat around for so long I decided to make use of the nice carbon wheels on the Cannondale daily. They were just too nice to gather dust;
Leaving the carbon wheels off the bike also pushed me down a path of cheap thrills but with a twist. Something missing from my bike collection is a gravel bike. Traditionally a dropped bar bike but I thought I could make it work with the flat bar too. So I changed tack a little;
Firstly, lets get the drive-train sorted;
Sram Apex single 42T with SRAM BB
Gold Chain because bling
Sram X5 10 Speed shifter and rear derailleur
New bearing headset fitted, nothing special here
Picked up some Ebay Carbon cyclocross forks. 9mm drop out, disc option, 1/18th steerer Wide enough for big tyres
You'll notice the addition of new wheels. These were new stock on Ebay. Cheap set of Maddux 2.0 wheels (from a cannondale cross bike I believe?). Came with discs and tyres. Tyres wouldn't be used though.
Saddle also arrived, chose a ProLogo one as they came on the Cannondale and they seem to just never ware out and be comfy whilst being cost effective.
Snapped up some Clarks brakes too, had to shorten the hose lengths but easily done.
Built up the bars with the clarks brake levers and SRAM X5 shifter onto a Ebay Carbon bar
This later proved to be a mistake, the bar was far too narrow so I bougth another one
Added some Nukeproof grips
Swapped the tyres out for some WTB 42mm options with tan walls
Swapped from my temp cassette to a new 36T 10 speed
Popped it onto a Cannondale stem I had laying around but have swapped this for a Ebay Carbon one again.
Setup it up to shift a brake properly and jobs a goodun.
Took it for it's first ride out onto what I thought would be a nice dry field onto some back roads. FAIL. I got about 2km and the mud and gravel was so thick I couldn't turn the wheels so limped back home to clean up. This is after using a stick to clean it off
Had another go though and found a better route
My First attempt at a subtle mudguard looked great but in reality it did naff all so I made a bigger one
And now I'm just toying with some for the front, waiting for some brackets to turn up and it'll be good to go for another few thousand miles
That's about it. From knackered old road hybrid that didn't get used to hybrid trail Gravel bike in 2 years! The ride is great. It feels like a really quick mountain bike off road and a slightly slow road bike on the tarmac. It really bridges the gap between the trails where road sections are a must.
I'm dead happy with it and can't wait to start cycling to work off road.
Thanks
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