1991 Masi Gran Corsa

Advertised as an entry level racing bike, the Gran Corsa is about the only older Masi I can afford to own. The prices on the 70's bikes have actually gotten laughable.
I think I gave $250 or so for this frameset. It is a far cry from the Mouton, Tesch, and Confente days of Masi but it is lugged steel. As guru Bob Hovey told me, "It likely never saw a file." Even so, it does get looks and comments, chipped up as it is. At least I won't feel bad if I decide to repaint it. Been considering making a breakdown travel bike out of it.
I built it up with the Campy Veloce group that came on my first decent rode bike - a '93 carbon Trek(14 yrs old when I got it). Okay it flexed when climbing, spontaneously shifting and...... well enough about that one.
I ride this Masi every once in a while but the shifters need to be rebuilt. We'll see what it becomes someday.


Grace is always present but seldom impressed. To her this is "Not Food"


There's something about a chrome fork with maker's panto.








I practiced my drillium techniques on the chanrings and polished the crank arms.

1983 Trek 510

This was an impulse buy - one of those that makes you wanna kick yourself asking, "What was I thinking?" I had been looking for a vintage Trek (they are really nicely built). This was on Ebay for "buy it now" or "make an offer". It was also local. The guy wanted $500!!! These are bikes that are often given away! I saw there were several offers so I offered somewhere between too much and half of his asking price in an impulsively competitive way. I sis this while out of town and thought/hoped it was over when a few days later I got a winning e-mail. Crap!
It is not my size, the advertized date was off by 5 years, it won't even roll or shift, and I paid WAY too much. The seller didn't divulge the overall crappy nature of this thing. I hadn't really looked the bike over too well and even thought for several months that the rims were tubulars as the tires felt glued on. They may come right off once the spokes are tight enough! My only hope is that the Campy Victory group, hardly prized by collectors, will polish up well(such groups cry for drillium!) and that the frame cleans up. I like the seat post and the one good Campy NR hood(like I'll find a matching one!) These parts and the brake levers were pirated already as it hangs in the basement. Overall, I could likely break even by selling it in parts but I don't do that - that's for hacks IMO.
Well, there is some hope. The GF wants a steel bike and I think it will fit her. I would hate to repaint it so I'll just tear it down, clean it up, and replace the necessary parts. I hope I can convince the GF that down tube shifters are acceptable in the modern world. We'll see. I do think it will ride nicely.


Here she is laughing at me when I got it home - or so it appears. It really is a turd. At the time she didn't know it would one day be hers. Then again, had I been dancing around, she would have thought it was a steal.
Since it doesn't look so bad, here are a few closeups.

1980's Borgognoni

This is a bike I bought off Ebay earlier this year just because of the novelty. I was told it was one of four such bikes imported to the US from Italy. Reportedly it's a "climbing" bike hand made for a small team outside Rome but there just isn't much out there about the maker. That's sorta what drew me to it. It's something that in years will likely become more novel. The Super Record RD is dated '82 but that doesn't mean much. Wheels are tubulars and components are Campy Super Record. The chromed stays and fork and the lug cutouts are indicative of a higher end frame.



The pantographed stem, chainring, and matching engraved pump make it nice too. The front caliper was "milled", not with grooves but with just one through cut.
I find the embedded rear brake cable and the "aero" seat tube to be interesting.




This bike will need to be disassembled and cleaned but certainly there is not much to improve on the paint - maybe a touch up here or there. Doing a deep clean like this allows you to date parts and find little nuances about the construction that you'd miss by just cleaning it and hanging it on the wall. I will be able to document all the parts codes and come up with a better date idea. The parts should polish up nicely. It's basically been sitting here for months but I did swap wheels and pedals out and took it for a 40-mile trip just after it arrived .......... averaged the same speed as on my modern bike even with the DT shifters. Rides nicely.

Cones!

Cones are the outer races of loose ball bearing wheels. They are a tapered nut(thus "cones") that trap the loose bearings against the inner races. Most of my old wheels are built with Campagnolo hubs and, as such, need little in the way of repair. Normandy hubs adorned many if not most French bikes of the vintage era and these don't enjoy the robustness of Campy.
If you dismount the wheel, remove the skewers, and spin the entire wheel between your outstretched hands, you can assess the condition of the hubs. They should feel smooth and frictionless. Some seem to spin endlessly, some feel dry and/or gritty. If you feel catches and notchiness, the cones or inner races are likely at fault. The inner races, integral with the hub, are less likely to pit but pitting of the adjustable cones is fairly common. Greasing and adjustment of the bearings might help but if catchiness continues there's something wrong. The repair is straightforward.
This is what pitted cones look like:

Cones for Normandy hubs are not easy to find. Knowing the model (Competition, etc.) would help but it seems some "plain" Normandy hubs had variations without obvious model nomenclature. Even if an NOS set show up, they may not fit your hubs. For example I removed the cones from a '75 Peugeot UO-8, a very common bike of the era, and though the hubs looked similar the cones were not.
The best way to tackle this is to measure your existing cones and go to http://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi or a similar site and search for dimensions of some available cones. Typical French axles are 9mm X 1(diameter by thread pitch) in the front and 10mm X 1 in the rear. I used calipers to come up with measurements from the existing cones. Some come with seals and some don't. I found some Sansin cones for the front and some Shimano(with seals) for the rear. Diameter appears to be the most important followed by the depth. Within reason, the hub could be shimmed if the cones are too short. Thread and pitch must of course match your axle. It is a good idea to replace the loose bearings at the same time. They are not expensive. VBX even stocks ceramic loose balls in common sizes but I'm just not that pimp.
Here are the replacement rear cones:

These were not easy to install as the flats(for the cone wrench) were deep on the cone - even inside the rubber seal(how is that supposed to work?!). They were far too recessed into the Normandy hub to reach with any cone wrench. I've never rebuilt that specific Shimano hub so I'm not sure how the balls are so close to the flats and where the seal seats. Anyway, cleaning the threads of the axle helps and judicious use of needle nose pliers(when finger friction failed) helped in final placement. These are the problems you run into when trying to make non specific parts work - get used to it!
Unless you are shimming the hubs (from new cones that are too short) the wheel will remain centered in the frame when you are done. If shimming, you would certainly rather adjust the hub left or right evenly with shims than re-dish the whole wheel needlessly! Don't sweat it if you find perfect replacements. Mine were within a mm either way so it was fine.
A word on adjusting the cones. It's an art - not a science. If all slack is removed, they will be too tight once the outer nuts are secured. Even with slack the skewers will exert enough force to tighten them more. You have to play with it to get them just right but better a bit of play than too tight which will wear the hub out quickly. As of the first try, the rear has no play at the rim once installed (of course it could be a bit tight rather than perfect - how can you know?) and the front has too much play at the rim. I used blue automotive axle grease but there is cycling specific stuff out there that is supposed to be great.
Of course, there have been times when I've just swapped in a set of vintage Campy-hubbed wheels and called it good!
Good luck and feel free to comment if I have miscommunicated something.