It's Always Something

   Watchers of Saturday Night Live during its early years will get the Roseanne Roseannadanna reference, but those too young may have to check out a YouTube clip to understand what I am talking about. Gilda Radner’s recurring character on “Weekend Update” frequently uttered my title phrase, and I was reminded several times of her, as little complications kept arising while trying to complete bicycle projects last week.

   I had been thwarted in my attempts to find the proper derailleur hanger for the U. Scanini “Vanderaerden” frame, even though I had sent dimensions to two separate suppliers. Whether they really didn’t have anything that matched up, or they just didn’t want to bother going through their stock, I can’t be sure, but both companies advised me to “try contacting the frame manufacturer directly”. I don’t think I’m going to get anywhere that direction, as the Belgian builder has no website, and the Facebook page I found featuring their bikes hasn’t had any activity for over two years!
   I decided to go the single-speed route with the bike, using Campagnolo components as the base, since this unique machine still deserves some special treatment. Unfortunately, I found the fork I had in stock had too short of a steerer to fit through the headtube when the headset was installed (this factor is called stack height), so I am ordering another fork with a longer steerer. I also need to get a set of shorter chainring bolts for the single-ring arrangement on the Chorus crankset I had purchased for this project.

   Not that I didn’t know there might be complications setting up an older Liberia frameset with slightly more modern components, it had just been so long between when I ordered those parts and when they finally arrived, I kind of let my guard down in the planning department. The Sachs-Huret brakeset that had been lost in COVID-mail-time limbo showed up at my door, and I thought I would soon be taking photos of that completed assembly.
   All was going smoothly, even installation of some new-old-stock cups for the (now obsolete) French-threaded bottom bracket, until I went to mount the brakes. I immediately realized the calipers, with their recessed-nut mounts, were not going to work on this frame, which had holes drilled for old-school nutted calipers.

   In the comparison above, you can see the modern calipers on the right which have a cylindrical nut that will tighten down into the recessed hole in the fork and brake bridge. The older brake style on the right shows a rear brake that has concave washers that clamp to each side of the brake bridge and are tightened with a traditional nut. The mounting to the fork wouldn’t necessarily involve one of those washers – depending on the shape of the fork crown, the nut would just tighten up against the back plate of the crown.
   I was able to drill out the hole on the back of the fork with a 5/16” (close enough to 8 mm) bit and mount that brake, but there isn’t enough room to fit the drill and bit between the brake bridge and seat post.

   My brother-in-law has a good collection of tools and is going to hook me up with a right-angle drill. We may still need to cut down a drill bit to make it fit, but we’ll see how that goes. He is also going to bring an adjustable tapping wrench, because it turns out some older French frames have a derailleur hanger that is not threaded. Derailleurs made by Simplex and other companies of the time had a mounting post that slid through the hole and were secured on the inside of the hanger with a nut.
   I initially looked into having a shop do it, but it cost less to buy myself the required 10mm x 1 tap and try it myself. If I screw it up, I can always drill it out and put in one of those “dropout saver”-type threaded inserts made by Wheels Manufacturing or Problem Solvers. 

   At least the shift levers for the Cannondale CAA9 arrived in the mail, and I was able to put that bike together. I was surprised to find on my shelves that I still had some blue cable housing and bar tape that matched up perfectly with the frame’s paint. I’ll say “good-bye” this week with a few photos of the bike:

New Year's Notes...project updates

    I had a strange surge in bicycle repairs and overhauls lately, somewhat due to a "Google Ads" listing I had posted. Unfortunately not everyone bothers to read beyond a title anymore, and, despite the fact I had mentioned that I specialize in building/repairing bikes and wasn't a bicycle store, I've received an annoying number of calls about kids' bikes and parts that I don't keep in stock for resale.
   I've also had a few people stop by without calling ahead of time, even though I had asked folks to do so in the ad. I'll also mention that there are a whole lot of "interesting" people in this world, and leave it at that.

   My friend Bruce had asked me back in December to put off bringing my projects over until next week, as not only did he have the holidays to deal with, but he was also travelling to a couple shows at which he would be displaying his artistic talents. I have Todd's Ciocc sandblasted and ready-to-go, and my bare aluminum Merckx frameset has been hanging in the rafters for a few weeks. I decided to also have Bruce touch up the pearl white areas on the Domex-Weinmann Merckx Corsa - he did such a wonderful job on a past Ciocc project, and matching that color is going to be difficult with any brush-on products currently available.

   Most of the other projects I have going on involved waiting for parts to arrive, as I have nearly everything ordered for the Liberia and Sean Kelly Vitus projects. I am a bit concerned that some of them have been lost, as the European shipments are weeks overdue, and eBay has even refunded me the money on a couple because the tracking information was insufficient.
   This has happened before, and miraculously some parts - and even a complete bike, in one case - have eventually shown up at the door. Those sellers had been quite happy to hear from me - not losing out on the money from the sale AND the item they were selling! I'll hold out for a couple more weeks, and hope I don't have to go in search of those hard-to-find items.
   The Liberia needs a little bit of touch-up before I begin assembly, but I have everything but the brakes in my possession. Because it lacks the braze-on mounts present on more modern framesets, I had to purchase some of the classic clamp-on parts for cable routing and was fortunate to find some really attractive Huret products that will match up perfectly with the other parts that will go on the bike.

   I have a pair of the Sachs 8-speed shifters on hand, and I found a set of new-old-stock Sachs-Huret derailleurs which came in their original boxes!

   I'll have the Vitus about 95% done, as the only parts missing are the downtube shift levers. I put on the decals last week and started assembly. It's not going to be completely "pure Mavic", as I'm repeating a cost/time-saving strategy I have used in the past. Since Mavic often applied their logos to Modolo, Dia-Compe and Simplex products, I've purchased some of those original parts as stand-ins, especially for the more rare and pricey Mavic-branded versions. I took the bike off my work stand for a quick "teaser shot" (NOTE: those tires came on the wheels when purchased - I will be installing tan walls tires for the right look).

   In the Cannondale world, I finally found some shift levers for the Dura-Ace-equipped CAAD9 that seems to have been hanging downstairs forever. Maybe it just seems that way because it was so frustratingly close to completion. That bike had been a donor of its SRAM components for a Klein 1x10 conversion last autumn. Again, I'm just waiting for postal delivery!

   Meanwhile, I was able to find the final few parts for the Saeco-Cannondale "fantasy" build. This year is the 25th anniversary of the forming of that legendary team, and my idea was to equip the bike as though sponsorship continued into the modern day. Using the decals on the frame as a guide, I've installed current versions of the respective parts. I've included recent Shimano components, a set of D.T. Swiss wheels with Vittoria tires, plus a Selle San Marco saddle and bar tape.

Logos, logos everywhere

   Cannondale no longer makes its CODA in-house line of components, but I was able to find a new-old-stock stem to match up with a set of pristine Cinelli handlebars. Maybe the full effect is more of a retro-to-modern, but I think it looks pretty great, and it should perform wonderfully. I suppose in reality a contemporary version of this team would be riding carbon fiber, but it's not like I was going to pay for a custom paint job and decals for this project! I'll sign off with some photos of the completed machine: