Winter!!

Here's the first time I had this bike on the rollers. It's the Colnago from an earlier post. About 80 rpm makes balance a little iffy, IMO. The rollers are vintage Kreitler with the optional fan resistance unit. Can you say noisy?



Rollers are more interesting to me than a trainer and helps with handling skills. Linda uses a trainer next to me(brave of her). Just a few 10 sprints on here(with the resistance fan on) has kept me in much better shape for the on the road chances we get. Kansas City has had record cold temps and snowfall this year but we have had a few chances to get out this winter. Still, I can't wait 'till warmer weather!! If it's mid 30s and up(I'm working my way down), I'm good but cagers, as usual, act like you're nuts.

Eisentraut

Called the godfather of American frame building, Albert Eisentraut began building frames in 1959 and trained under Oscar Wastyn, builder of the famous Paramount frame.
Albert's frames were often noted to have an artistic quality. I see that in this early 90's model.
My eyes gleamed when this popped up on the local CL. No pics were provided so it took me about 15 minutes to set up and leave for a viewing. I expected to find a lugged frame but this ended up to be a tig welded steel frame from the early 90's when Albert was building fewer frames. This would be my newest "vintage" bike. To me 90's just isn't retro at all! We'll just call it a KOF bike. What first attracted me to it was the overall condition. It looks like more of a restored bike in condition and must have very few miles on it. Second was the "monostay" (seat stays) and front track fork.




The early 90's Sachs New Success groupo looks a bit beefy but was in a similar condition to the frame. Rumor has it that Campy made the cranks and brifters while Modolo produced the brakes. Hubs were, of course, by Sachs. The only missing piece to a full groupo is the front hub. Anyone have a late model Sachs NS front hub?
Here's the beefy front derailleur but notice the chain ring is in great shape. Also, you can note the black scallops on the lower half of the frame.



This is certainly not my lightest bike but it puts you so low that you are aero the whole time(I have the sore back to prove it!).
Two of my theories are supported by this purchase. First, riding aero or "in the drops" is one of the big keys to reaching your avg mph goals. Second, once your butt is broken in, just about any quality seat will be rideable. New riders just keep looking for "that" seat but will only find it when their butt gets in shape!

I washed it(the bike - not the butt) and replaced the bar tape - that's it. I then rode it for a few hundred miles and even took it on the Garmin Team ride after the Tour of Missouri '09. It worked great and I was the only one keeping up on a 15 year old steel frame! I had to mention this to as many of the pros and groupies as I could. Naturally, few riders had even noticed this odd bike. Hey they just ride bikes....... I collect them!

All it will need is that pesky front hub and a new chain. I think it also begs for an aero seatpost.

No resto needed - obviously.

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!

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.