When will the "fun" EVER end?

   Besides being frustrated by a backload of finished projects that I need to sell off, my series of unfortunate events continues, as it was discovered the Pinarello FP2 frame had a couple of hairline cracks on the drive-side chainstay. The problem was hidden on the inside of the tubing by the back wheel, and since I somehow managed not to see it (perhaps distracted by the condition of the rest of the bike and the great deal I thought I was getting - ha!), I would like to think the person who sold it to me through craigslist wasn't aware of the problem either. 

   Just when I had the seatpost issue fixed and thought I was in the clear, I now have to have to take the frame to a carbon expert to have it assessed. I'm praying that it is simply a flaw in the paint and topcoat, but with my recent run of luck (all bad), I really am expecting the worst.

   Understandably, my friend Scott no longer wanted any part of this bicycle deal, so I am on the hook for this Pinarello, one way or another! 

   The other Pinarello is a mix of news. VeloCals returned my email with some helpful advice about removing their decals with a blow dryer. Unlike a heat gun, its temperature is gentle enough to not harm the finish, yet warm enough to soften the adhesive. Using a small butter knife (also a suggestion from the folks at VeloCals) I lifted a corner of the decal. Moistening my fingers with soapy (per instructions, only using Dawn dishwashing liquid) water, I kept the heat over the decal as I pulled it from the frame.

   The Pinarello Treviso font is slightly less bold than that on the Vuelta, but this proved to be any advantage, as the transparent buffer zone around the lettering made each decal almost an exact fit within the voids left behind in the clearcoat by the old flaked-off logo.

   I wet the back of each letter in the soapy solution so that I could line them up correctly, then squeegied out the water with an old credit card I saved just for this process (now that it's become fairly frequent). I applied a bit of hairdryer heat to take the curl out of the decals and to help reactivate the adhesive. The process took quite a bit of time, but the results look better than the initial attempt at applying the decals.

   The bad news is that I am having an impossible time tuning up the shifting. I'm pretty sure there is a spacing issue between cogs, which can be solved, but I can at least I can hit all of the cogs with some "chatter" on the up shift. I'm more concerned with the derailleur skipping when down shifting, which seems to be from too much tension on the cable. I suspect this may be due to an awkward bend from the cable entry point on the derailleur to the cable clamp. I have to do some experimenting with another derailleur that I know functions properly to make sure the lever's ratchet mechanism isn't shot.

   I've met a fellow vintage bicycle enthusiast named Ron, who seems to enjoy collecting and researching more than the "wrenching" aspects of the hobby. Although he recently hooked up with an interesting frame from the well-known Italian builder Basso, I get the impression that he prefers some of the smaller European builders.

   He requested some alterations to a 1970s Vainqueur bicycle from Luxembourg, which had a crazy mix of British and French parts, including old cottered cranks which were well past their time of usefulness. And what did we replace them with? Japanese Shimano parts, of course! I was disappointed that I couldn't save the French Simplex rear derailleur (see stock photo on left below), which had pulleys that were severely worn down. I was hoping to just change the pulleys, but they had a different axle width than those I had in supply.

   Ron had supplied me with a spare Shimano rear derailleur, so I installed that as well. The front derailleur (above right pic) worked perfectly, although in a manner I had never seen before. Instead of a derailleur cage that pivots on a parallelogram shape, this Simplex derailleur had a telescoping arm that extends/retracts to change chainrings!

   A very cool frame from an obscure Italian builder, Monteverde, was another of Ron's finds, and it had interesting cut-outs in the lugs and a really unique art nouveau logo font. Unfortunately the paint has issues and the logos were damaged badly. However, Ron is enthusiastic about stripping and repainting, and I convinced him that I could put my art/graphics background to use and recreate the artwork for some custom decals.

   Finding a matching font online was relatively easy, and luckily the headbadge wasn’t majorly complex. With a Canadiens (a trial separation is in place from the forever-frustrating Flyers) hockey game on in the background I was able to reproduce everything in a couple of hours with a CorelDraw program. Luckily this admittedly outdated software has an exportable format that will work with VeloCals’ Adobe Illustrator program. For some reason the colors don't match in the reproduced image, but they do in "real life".

    The Basso frame is a bit small for Ron to use for his own bike build, but he couldn’t resist it at the asking price. We plan to just touch up its (unfortunate) repaint job, add some decals that are appropriate to the bike, then simply sell the frameset. I found a feature on a restoration of the same model “Gap” bicycle (photo below), matched the decal style and colors to some in the VeloCals online catalog and placed an order.

   Bruce, my airbrush buddy, informed me that the ’70s Pinarello frame should be done this week, so yet another completed bicycle will be hanging in the rafters. I’m going to have to move some into the garage soon!