I just had to...

... build up the Colnago Super.

I have all these neat frames and I wonder how each one rides. Linda wanted to do an easy ride today before her race tomorrow so I decided to build it up this morning. If I wait until each is restored, I might never ride them.
The Campagnolo Nuovo Record derailleurs did great - zero to minimal trim and super quite and fast shifts(that surprised me). Overall the bike was quieter than Linda's Cervelo. I weighed it before we left and with pedals it was 21lb,11oz. Swap to a lighter seat and post, pedals, and tires(tubulars) and I might get it to 21 lb even.
As for the ride - it was about 100 degrees heat index and 21mph winds sustained(with 30mph gusts). We averaged only 15.5mph for 43 mi. With the vintage gearing, and trying to stay with Linda, my cadence was too low and the knees were aching a bit. I could have used a faster pace.

21mph out of the south. The harder you rode the more it seamed to push back. It was demoralizing at anything more than cruising speed.







Coasting by at said cruising speed.

Colnago Super

This was advertised as a 1972 Colnago Super by one of the Classic Rendezvous members. He should have known the true vintage but I should have as well. "buyer beware." I paid way too much for it as it was also listed on Ebay starting at about half the price. Ironically, a note from another Ebayer stated it was later than advertized and the seller agreed to that possibility. Wonder why he didn't correct that on CR? Anyway, it was just my size and who knows what it would have closed for(I know less than I gave) but, hey, I'm buying long with my vintage bikes.
I'm dating this as a '76 or '77. The club cutout on only the downtube lug clearly indicates it is post - '72. The "COLNAGO" was apparently added to the club on the fork crown in '76. Since my fork tube and rear dropout are both marked "14", I can safely assume they were factory matched. The top tube cable guide braze-ons were an option starting in '75 but these were easy and common add-ons earlier in cycling. I didn't really notice signs of a repaint so I think they are original. By '78, the brake bridge and crown were set up for recessed bolts - these are not. Without numbers to look up, this type of cross referencing is how you best date a frame............ and, despite finding it's not as old as advertised, the process is kinda fun.
























That's what a thinned lug looks like. I have seen much more crudely assembled frames with serial numbers.

I am tempted to build a Molteni replica as Colnago offered them in '74 and with a few mods, except for the fork crown, it would look right. Not too many early 70's frames out there that would look "as" correct. Nonetheless, I already bought waterslide decals for it and like the color combo as is. We'll see!

Some Cool Jerseys

There are some impressive jersey collections out there. I don't collect jerseys but I like the few that I have. Maybe I'll get more in the future but they'd have to be originals and not repros.


This is a basic Merckx jersey from the mid-80's or so. It's nice and bright and I have worn it on colder days.


On the back bottom is a cityscape of what is assumed to be Brussels, the capital of Eddie's home country, Belgium.



Next is the infamous La Vie Claire jersey. La Vie Claire was a French health food chain. Most cycling enthusiast know of the battle between teammates Bernard Hinault("The Badger") and Greg Lemond in the 1985 and 1986 Tours de France. Read about it!
I bought this described as a "souvenir of the Tour de France". I don't care if it came from K-Mart but that story works for me. Not so easy to find now, I had to have one to match the Hinault Look KG76 I will be restoring.




This next one I bought after the inaugural Tour of Missouri in 2007. A guy won it as a part of a drawing. It's an autographed team issue Castelli jersey from Saunier Duval-Prodir.
Saunier Duval is a heating company and Prodir makes pens. Saunier Duval pulled their sponsorship after Riccardo Riccò was booted from the 2007 TdF for testing positive for EPO. Scott bicycles went on to sponsor the team.

The autographs are:
David Canada
Luciano Pagliarini
Rubens Bertogliati
Danilo Wyss
Raul Alarcon
Guido Trentin(I think).



If you have a cool old jersey, let me see it!

Look KG 76

Another project. Described as "Good for it's age" and "The paint on the frame is very good all over." Actually just another turd dug up by some hillbilly looking to make a buck. These early carbon frames are best left alone unless you see lots of pics or, like me, can fix it and love pain. I've mentioned before with other bikes, I feel I saved this frame from the idiot that sold it and certainly from the likelyhood of it ending up too beat up to ride and therefore cast to the fixed gear crowd.
All the irritation aside, I'm glad to have it. Very similar to the later KG96, upon which Lemond and Hinault battled in the 1986 Tour de France, it features the same construction of carbon tubes glued into aluminum lugs. I will replicate the team colors. Not sure what groupo to add. Campy or go difficult and add Mavic.

More pics of it in it's sad state.




Update: After it's maiden voyage of 20mi it was determined that the head tube is no longer bonded at the top lug(see middle pic above). I suspected this from the mushroomed tube - Look would never have let this go out. I suspect the prior hack thought if tight is good tighter is better and really smashed down on the headset. Fortunately, this is encapsulated by the steer tube so, while I won't ride it until repaired, disaster was unlikely. The ride, at 19+ avg with a slipping rear shifter, was "noodly" at best.
I purchased 1/2 gallon of HP epoxy to relaminate the frame and now to repair the head tube. Guess I need to sent a note to Greg Softly at Cyclomondo about some stickers!

Coppi

....... not much more to say.

I Would Kill or Die.......

........ mostly for the up but down would be fun too. Did some pretty fast descents in Italy last year (too fast to take pics) and oncoming cars around those corners make things dicey! This is somewhere in the Alps.

Does it hurt to ride?

I got this from Dave Moulton's blog. I call it "More from the 'What a whimp I am' series":

In the 1956 Giro d’Italia, Fiorenzo Magni crashed during stage 12 and broke his left clavicle.

The Giro was only at the half-way point with a total of 23 stages. Magni refused hospital treatment and continued the race with his shoulder bound with an elastic bandage.


The picture above, shows the Italian rider during stage 13 holding a piece of rubber inner tube (Attached to his handlebar stem.) between his teeth for extra leverage.

On stage 16, Magni fell again on a descent due to problems with handling the bike while injured. He was unable to use his left arm, and he could only effectively brake and steer with his right hand.

Not only was this performance one of extreme endurance; it also showed a tremendous tolerance of physical pain. Even more unbelievable is the fact that Magni finished the 1956 Giro in 2nd place only 3 minutes and 27 seconds behind Luxemburg’s Charly Gaul.

Mike Melton

Well, this bike has come a full 3/4 circle. I saw it on CL last year and missed it by a few minutes to someone willing to buy it sight unseen(it was a bargain for any lugged bike and a steal for a Melton of any size/condition IMO).
Remember my philosophy? I think I've shared it here. I think that the American builders of the 70s and 80s have been overlooked and are starting to see some well deserved attention from collectors. I think these will be the hot items in a few years. Brian Baylis, Bruce Gordon, Dave Moulton(Masi,Howard,Fuso), Dave Tesch, and Peter Weigle are a few that come to mind and that are now getting some much deserved recognition. They took the ideas of the classic builders of England, Italy, and Japan to a new level here in the states and the quality of their work would rival the best in the world IMO.
Anyway, I was really disappointed to miss the buy as e-mails from the original owner/seller revealed a really cool story. Oh well, I thought, maybe it will get a good home. Well I'm glad it was Todd that beat me to it. Small world. Todd is becoming a supplier of mine. First he turns up the '77 PX-10 in black(shown in a previous thread) and now this Melton. Todd bought the Melton and soon realized it was a duplicate project and, as it was a bit small for him, wasn't worth the space it would take. He listed it on CL this weekend. As a like-minded cycling fan, he has more bikes than any one person needs but knows what is worth preserving. Todd reinforced the provenance of the bike and said he hadn't really done anything to it. Easy sale. I hope he starts calling me with these rather than listing them publicly! ;)
I'll save the story as I found my old e-mails and sent one to the original owner requesting the story in detail. She was was quite nice last year and, though now relocated, I anticipate her response.
The bike was well used and saw multiple roles. It's rough to say the least but worth preserving. At some point the decals were "scraped" off and a brown paint applied. Even the cables clamps were painted over. The dropouts are Suntour - showing his Japanese influence. It was built up with the Shimano 600 "Arabesque" groupo at some point. 600 eventually became the Ultegra line and this version preceded that by a good decade. One crank arm is dated 6/78 and the other 7/78. The clamp on cable guide is dated 6/78. I questioned the date of the frame as being "80's" with the used of Nervex "fancy" pro lugs. I have seen pics of his bikes built in the 80's with the either DuBois or other simpler lugs more common in that era. The verdict is still out. Parts can come together under the most unique circumstances. I was under the impression that Melton built road frames as early as 1970 and moved from NC around 1980 and pursued Tandem builds with road frames built to order showing up here and there. Later of course he worked in the development of Huffy's Olypmic bikes for '84 and '88.
Here are a few more "before" pics.

Brown topcoat over everything.




Nervex lugs


Suntour dropouts.



I think that's a 600 under there.

It's not on the "front burner" right now but it is safe and sound and I wanted to get it posted for you all to see. Someday it will look and feel like it's old self again! With all the projects piled up, I will probably go on a painting frenzy this summer.

More Winter Inspiration

Paris-Tours 1921

Winner, Francis Pélissier, leading the chase. Of 85 starters there were only 8 to finish. Story is that after several mechanical issues and continued racing, Pelissier's hands became too frozen to change a ruptured tire late in the race. He tore the glued tire from the rim with his teeth and, continuing, caught and passed at least one other rider on a climb and continued to victory - on the bare rim!
And we whine about KC winter conditions!
Quiz for non cyclists:
How do we know the cameraman had his back to the wind?

Music makes the world go round

Inspired by Curb
(http://curbdestroyer.blogspot.com/)
and Crusy POV
(http://crustyspov.blogspot.com/),
I've added a playlist to my blog - to this one anyway. Music tells a lot about a person. Do they conform? Do they live in the past? Are the "alternative"? I have many moods that are reflective of and sometimes dictated by my mood. I think it must be that way with a lot of people.
Yesterday's entry motivated me to go out for a short ride today and boy have I slipped. The legs were fine; it was the lungs! I would like to be in shape before spring instead of eating into the cycling season with a buildup. Hear it may snow again - rollers it is!

It's about that time!

Well, January '09 is in full swing and with a few single digit days letting up, the feeling of the need to get out there is arising.
After Italy last fall, I rode maybe four times then called it a year at just under my goal of 3000mi. The few rain days in Italy were enough to barely miss the goal(original plan of 1k in Italy alone would have put me far over). One day trip from Sienna to Volterra was about 10,000 of vertical climbing! Granted, I wasted a few really nice late fall days but I had little else to prove to myself after Italy.
Been in the garage working on motorcycle projects this winter so the idea of rebuilding a few cool bicycles appears much less daunting. Maybe it's just the motivation to ride. Thoughts of building a breakdown bike for later travels is on the mind too.

Was just married in Dec so in clearing the house out for Linda's stuff, we've decided to make an area in the basement for our trainers, bike building bench, etc.
Get on those trainers and rollers with us so when spring hits we'll be up and running! Let's set some goals for this year too!