Meddling With Mavic and More

   One detail about the Vitus that I didn’t mention during my last post was that the seller neglected (once again!) to properly pack the bicycle, leaving the rear derailleur hanger unprotected, and it was crushed closed, similar to what happen with the Olmo bicycle. However, the Olmo had steel dropouts, which could easily be bent back into place. The Vitus unfortunately has an aluminum hanger that screws into the frame at the junction of the rear dropouts.

   Aluminum does not do well with bending, as it is more susceptible to fatigue failure, and although I had a good idea that it was going to happen, I attempted to straighten out the hanger, and it cracked. I was able to ride with the damage, but the derailleur didn’t shift perfectly.

   When I contacted the seller about the issue, he immediately issued a refund to cover the replacement of the part, which I found from a company named Pilo that manufactures many different hanger models/designs and lists some of these items on eBay.

   The parts are frustratingly expensive, as any replacements (such as the Mavic parts discussed later) tend to be on vintage bikes. You can understand my disappointment when the part arrived and I found that it did not fit correctly into the cutout in the Vitus frame. Really left with no alternative, I had to turn to filing and reshaping the outer curve of the hanger until it fit properly.

   In the photo on the above, you can see the notch I filed in order to clear the back edge of the cut out (red arrow), as well as the gap caused on the front edge (green arrow) after I properly rotated the part and screwed it into place.

   I took a photo of my cracked part on top of some small-grid graph paper, hoping they can use it as a comparison with their product, and sent it along with a note expressing my displeasure to the folks at Pilo.

   I installed a lightweight FSA compact crankset on the Vitus, and I have already had some luck in my search for reasonably-priced Mavic components to replace the Campagnolo triple group that were originally installed on the bike. I found a really nice Mavic front derailleur without too much trouble and I have a Campagnolo short cage rear derailleur temporarily in place until I get that part sorted out.

   The least expensive recent listing I had seen for a Mavic rear derailleur was an insane $175! I came up with a plan that takes advantage of the fact that the French brand can be completely disassembled piece by piece for any necessary service/replacement. I found a “for parts only” listing for just the main derailleur body, mounting plate and one half of the derailleur cage. Amazingly, a couple of weeks later I saw a listing for used Mavic hardware that included the other half of the cage, the mounting bolt, pulley wheels and axles, plus many other parts to the derailleur.

   When the first package arrived, I was disappointed to find that the seller of the derailleur body forgot to include the mounting plate (regular readers might recall an issue I had previously with that part and my Vitus 979), so I will have to be patient until that part is sent. I was able to assemble the rest of the derailleur when the hardware set arrived over the weekend. I’m considering hanging onto them “just in case”, but if I sell off the rest of the leftover parts, my final cost will be less than half of that other Mavic rear derailleur I saw listed!

   I’ve also made some significant progress with the Colnago Mexico I had purchased way back in November. I had cleaned it up a bit, just in case someone who stopped in to look at some of my completed projects (or folks in for repairs/tune-ups) might be interested in purchasing that machine as-is. The tomato red paint had gotten a bit flat so I also rubbed Meguiar’s Scratch X all over the frame and buffed it to restore the glossy luster.

   I decided to narrow down the crazy array of components on that bike, which was a mix of Campagnolo Super Record, Nuovo Record, C-Record, Croce d’Aune and Chorus, along with Modolo and Shimano Dura-Ace parts – YIKES! Besides the wheelset (Chorus hubs) and the seatpost (Croce d’Aune aero), I am going to outfit the bike in C-Record (short for Corsa Record).

   The C-Record group includes the Campagnolo delta brake, which is legendary for being beautiful, but also heavy and a maintenance nightmare. The brake is also a bit over-engineered and has been knocked for its average stopping power. Despite all this, the brakes are incredibly expensive, in a way that is far out of proportion to the rest of the group, so I decided to go with an attractive set of the Chorus Monoplaner brakes instead.

Campagnolo delta brakes (left) and Chorus monoplaner

   Because pedals are such a personal choice, and because the vintage Nuovo Record set that came on the bike were in such amazing condition, I decided to sell them. Pedals of this type/vintage usually have plenty of scrapes on the face plates and/or the dust caps, but this pair has none of that! The pedals need to go to someone giving a bicycle a top-quality restoration job - I knew that the pedals had a far greater value being sold alone, instead of being just another part of this bike sale.

   So far I am significantly on the plus side of the parts sale/acquisition process for the Colnago, having a cushion of $90, with only the crankset left on my “want list”. Stay tuned...