No Drafting Allowed!

    I am in no way trying to say that I am enjoying the situation our world is in currently, but it has been quite pleasant cycling on the relatively empty roads the past couple of weeks. Not wanting to be really obvious in our attempts to skirt the current social distancing orders, I met just a couple of friends out in Oley last week for a ride, appropriately separated from each other as we pedaled through the lovely countryside in that area.

   I had a sinking feeling when, just after a couple miles, a State Police trooper came flying up behind us with lights flashing and siren blaring. Thankfully, he swung right around us and continued on for whatever radio call to which he was actually responding! We shared relieved grins and realized the same thought had obviously crossed each of our minds, even if we had been cautious about our proximity to each other.

   I was particularly excited to be out with my friends, as this was to be the first lengthy ride on my new Colnago E.P. “Saronni”. The bike was super quiet, which I can attribute somewhat to my ability to set up a bicycle, but the Colnago is just a smooth machine. I obviously have a love for vintage racing bicycles, but the “jump” I get when riding a lightweight carbon bicycle really can’t be beat.

   The VeloCals replacement downtube decal arrived early last week, and now that it was the correct length, I had to cut a hole near the bottom to allow for the upper bottle cage boss. I had found a correctly-sized washer to use as a template to mark the spot for the bolt hole and carefully traced a circle in the correct location on the decal's backing paper. I put to use my X-Acto knife skills, learned in the old-school paste-up/layout departments of a couple local publishing companies during the late-1990s.
   I had also marked a centering line on backing paper, and aligned the decal properly on the downtube. Being careful to smooth the decal from the middle outwards, in order to eliminate the presence of air holes, I had the frame looking great once again!

   As explained in an earlier post, I was going for somewhat of a throwback build, using the polished aluminum Campagnolo parts from my Master X-Light and a sweet set of “Campy” Vento wheels.

CAMPAGNOLO Centaur 10-speed group, including: CRANKSET (170mm, 50/34t), BRAKE/SHIFT LEVERS, DERAILLEUR (rear) and BOTTOM BRACKET; DERAILLEUR (front)- Campy Chorus; BRAKES- Campy Athena Monoplaner; HEADSET- COLNAGO C-HS1; HANDLEBAR- 3T Ernova (42cm) with Fabrik bar tape, STEM- 3T ARX Pro (110mm); SEATPOST- 3T Zero 25 Team carbon; SADDLE- Selle Italia Q-bik “Colnago”; WHEELSET- Campagnolo Vento with 10-speed cassette (12-29t) and Schwalbe Lugano tires

   I want to quickly mention of a down-the-line build, involving my first experience with a Cinelli frame. I found a nicely-priced Unica frameset on eBay, and look forward to making some sales (when we are able to leave our homes safely), so that I can clear out some stock and get to new projects!

   I'm going to sign off with photos of the Colnago Master X-Light that I had reconfigured before listing the bike. You can find the current specs on the For Sale page.