More money, fewer gears part 3: the build continues.

This bike building malarkey isn't half drawn out, I can tell you. It's finally all bolted together, but while I'd like to excitedly jump up and down and write gushing prose about its many and varied unique features, it's not really finished.

I eventually got all of the minor niggles ironed out (the correct crown race on the forks, the slightly-too-short rear brake cable properly set up, and rim tape in place on the wheels) and came to the last part: the chain.

Since the frame only has vertical drop-outs and the rear wheel can't be adjusted forward or back, I was always going to have to be pretty lucky for the chain to fit perfectly. In the event, after another trip up to Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op to buy a half-link it was still just over a quarter link too long, so I bought and fitted a DMR Simple Tension Seeker and tightened everything up.

In the interests of a anyone who might try a similar sort of build, here are a few of bits of information that became apparent rather too late for me:

• The Truvativ Isoflow Single Speed Chainset likes 3/32" chains.
  
• The DMR Simple Tension Seeker likes 3/32" chains.
  
• The SRAM PC-1 is a 1/8" chain.
  

...all resulting in an unpleasant grinding noise on a brief test ride up and down the street*

The final hurdle, then, is to find out whether a Dicta freewheel can be persuaded to swing both ways, and if not, it's back to eBay to find a 3/32" compatible sprocket and then to the pub to cry into my pint.

* This thread at the On-One forums describes almost exactly the same problem I have, down to the rattling of the chain of the chainguard. Admittedly, they approach the whole thing with a cheerful can-do attitude that eludes me completely.