During his pick-up visit, Brendan returned
his KAS Vitus 979, with the intent for me to convert it to an all-Mavic
set-up. For a little while I have been setting aside parts in anticipation of
this project, and he also confessed he also had a recently-purchased purple 992
tucked away somewhere in his apartment, but those are stories for another time.
A couple weeks ago I received a call from
someone interested in the bikes I had for sale. Taylor mentioned how he liked my
vintage builds but didn’t quite have the budget for the selection I currently had
available. I asked what he was looking to spend and then suggested we might be
able to do a custom build to one of the frames I had in stock.
He had seen the Bottecchia single-speed
conversion I had done recently for Brendan, as well as my Bianchi cyclocross
bike with the 1x10 setup, and wondered if we might be able to do some type of “vintage
1x10”. So far It has turned into a bit of an experiment with mixed results.
One of my concerns was trying to stay within
a budget with Campagnolo parts, but one of Taylor’s early concessions was using
a downtube shift lever, instead of the more costly modern combination
brake/shift levers. I was able to find a set of Vento wheels, just like those
currently on my Colnago, and because the Saronni paint/decal scheme was
so close to that on my Master X-Light, Taylor encouraged me to go with a very
similar look, including the Schwalbe tires with a thin red stripe.
I found a nice set of Campagnolo brake
levers with aero cable routing and a pair of Campy Triomphe shift levers, which
have a high-polished finish, giving what I think is a nice blend of modern and
vintage style. We decided to use a decorative cap on the left-hand shifter
boss, instead of using a dummy lever in the 1x10 setup. Taylor also liked the
look of the drilled-out single chainring I had included on Brendan’s
Bottecchia, so I ordered one of those.
It was soon obvious that, at the rate at
which costs were starting to add up, it would be necessary to fall back on one
of my money-saving strategies, finding a donor bike with a majority of the
components needed to complete the project. In an amazingly short time, the
perfect candidate was found on craigslist, in the form of a Torelli Brianza
equipped with mid-range Campagnolo Centaur gruppo.
The seller and I met up in the East Falls
section of Philadelphia, and we had an enjoyable conversation about vintage
bikes. I ribbed Steve about the splash bar tape on the bike, and he argued that
it was era-appropriate. I, of course, argued that the handlebar abomination was
NEVER appropriate, except for perhaps blind cyclists!
It turned out that the reason he was selling
the bike was to fund the recent purchase of a Colnago that was the expensive,
carbon-fiber version of the aluminum bike I sold about a year ago (photo below).
The best part of the deal was that Steve supplied me with a couple of extras that,
when combined with the other parts that weren’t going to be used and could be
sold off, will provide a wonderful budget cushion with which to finish the Saronni
project!
Sue and I will be heading off on a trip to
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, including lots of pedaling and paddling.
Details to come...
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