As noted, when I bought a replacement frame for Dionysus, there were a number of things that would need replacing or upgrading. The most important parts were the rims and brakes. While Dionysus is a rim-brake bike (V-brakes), Hornsby is strictly disc. And while Dionysus’s 26-inch rims would fit, Hornsby is intended to be a 650B or 700C bike. As 650B is my preferred rim size, and I’d need to replace the tires anyway (the very popular Billy Bonkers tires are just a bit too wide), I decided to go with 650B rims and tires.

After making a list (and checking it more than twice, I assure you), I visited Blue Lug Hatagaya once again. Koro, who helped me with the frame purchase, wasn’t in, but Digital (who narrates many of the shop’s YouTube videos) quickly jumped to my assistance and helped me with all the difficult purchase choices.

I’ve been waiting with baited breath all week for the delivery, and Nana at last messaged me this morning that the package had arrived!

I’d spotted the tires soon after arriving in the shop, before I found Digital to help me. With the grey treads and the good fit for the frame, they were perfect. I thought I’d try tubeless for this build, but these tires are a no-go. So I got tubes and valve caps to match.

The next bits are sheer accent: cable ends and crankset bolts. I often see these brightly colored bolts with sliver cranksets; let’s see how they look with Hornsby’s black SRAM Apex crankset.

I’m going to reuse Dionysus’s Shimano Deore M6000 hubs. Before setting out for the shop, I’d run these through a spoke length calculator with a generic 650B rim and come up with 265-266mm. Before cutting the spokes to length on the spot, Digital insisted on doing his own calculations (as he should) and came up with pretty much the same results: half the spokes are 265mm and half are 266mm. Then he absolutely flabbergasted me by insisting he’d cut the spokes to these two different lengths. I haven’t yet unwrapped the spokes (and nipples) to verify the 1mm different length (and count), but I have no doubt it will all match up.

I appreciate the hand-written guide for which spoke lengths go where (although I already had that figured out based on the configuration of hubs and rims).

Surprisingly for a frame designed for disc brakes, there are bosses on the downtube for shifters. So I needed fittings there, one for the shifter cable (the shifter will be on the handlebar), and one just to cover the bare boss. Along with those bits are a couple of bar-end plugs from Nitto (just so I can say I’m using Nitto components).

Finally come the disk calipers and rotors. I’d wanted these gorgeous units from Equal in purple, but they don’t make that. And then the grey units don’t fit the Hornsby frame, so I ended up with the SRAM brakes shown. On the good foot, they include the rotors. On the other appendage, the rotors are six-bolt and my hubs are centerlock. Hence the adapters shown together with the spokes, above.

(When the rotors wear out I’ll replace them with proper centerlock models. Meanwhile, these should be fine.)

I’d started with the rims in the shop before proceeding to any of the above bits. I had four different models in mind, starting with a rather staid number in grey. Digital noted that was for a minimum tire width of 45mm, whereas I was looking for 42mm. After a bit of back-and-forth we landed on the Velocity aileron, which was also on my list. The first step of this build will no doubt be unlacing Dionysus’s current rims, cleaning and greasing the hubs, and then building up these new rims. I can’t wait!

Today’s shipment included an anthropomorphic wrench and spoke nipple decal. But I think I prefer the Blue Lug mascot sticker I got with a previous shipment.

I’ve hinted at one more change for this build, and that bit is included as well. But the reveal will wait for the build itself (plus I’m still considering a couple of options for this part).