I’m still not feeling well following yesterday’s ride in the bright sun, but Hornsby is nearing completion. I picked up the brake rotors on my way home from the office Thursday, and then the threaded rings arrived from the US on Friday, so I knew I at least wanted to get those on the bike.

Before getting started on the brake rotors, I snipped a couple of centimeters off the handlebar tape to use as protection for the top tube where the handlebar strikes it. The tape didn’t really want to hold so I finally hunted down some black electrician’s tape and snugged it off with that.

There was no trouble installing the disc rotors and threaded rings (same tool as the bottom bracket) once I realized I’d have to remove the quick release skewers. And then I forgot to replace the skewers before mounting the wheels back on the bicycle. The calipers had been mounted before the rotors were on, so I had to loosen those as well and then give them a rough adjustment afterwards so the rotors aren’t rubbing. The front was giving me a trial, and then I realized I could reverse the order of the spacers on the caliper bolts and get more clearance that way. Soon resolved, and I only dropped one cone washer in the process.

I don’t usually show bicycles from the non-drive side but in this case I wanted to show off the calipers and rotors.

All that remains to be done is cabling the brakes and shifter, adjusting those, adding accessories and taping the handlebars. I have all I need and could have easily finished today, but I just am not up to the work.

For now, I know that the saddle will have to come down. I want to test the position of the brake levers and shifter before I commit to taping the bars. I straddled the bike as is in the Workshop in the Sky, and the shifter position is better than I’d thought when the bike was up in the stand.

Finally, the quick release skewers aren’t a very good fit for the dropouts, particularly in the fork, and the QR lever can be seen above at an angle I’d not willingly choose for riding — too much potential to snag things. But there are lots of alternatives available, and this may be a chance to add more purple.