Leo bought this frame on “the Bay” and believed it was a 650. He is a small guy and wanted a track bike to fit him. It was small. It had a 85mm head tube and the seat post had been swaged at the back to allow the use of shorter chainstays and so the wheel could slide further forward It didnt come with forks and the seller professed ignorance as to where they had ended up. Leo missed a set of 650 forks at a later auction and came to me to build him a set. Given that we were building a set from scratch there were numerous choices I could offer him and Leo decided that he wanted a sloping crown ,alla cinelli and a fully chromed fork with a threaded steerer.

Cinelli style sloping crown with blades,steerer and d/o's

My first step was to measure the angles and lengths of the frame and run some figures to decide on the dimensions of the forks. He was keen to retain the quick handling despite the fact that this bike would end up as a street fixie.When I did the numbers it was evident that something was wrong. I figured it was my calculations and decided to do a full size drawing of the frame and work backward to the fork.

At this point I began to have my suspicions, soon confirmed, that this was actually a 700 frame. I called Leo up and we met to decide what to do. I mocked up the bike with a set of forks and wheels and he stood over it. Luckily it would still be OK and we went ahead with the build.

Dropouts brazed in

Turning the crown to match the bearing race

Slotting the steerer for the headset washer

Everything brazed together

Cleaned up and off to the chromer

Back from plating and fitted in the frame

Moral of the story. Be carefull what you buy on eBay and talk to someone who can sort things through with you