What offseason?

   Usually activity in my shop is slowing after September, at least with the frequency of customers needing tune-ups and repairs, but this year I've been getting an uncommon quantity of builds and upgrades as the cycling "season" has been winding down. My friend Brendan came for a visit last weekend, not only to finally pick up the Bottecchia I had build for him early this summer but also to drop off a new project, a 50th anniversary Daccordi frameset from 1987.

   The Tuscan company may not have the name draw of a Colnago or Pinarello, but their custom-built bicycles are of an extremely high quality. This frame was constructed of Columbus SLX tubing, and features chromed lugs and pantografia (engravings) everywhere, in this case celebrating the company's anniversary. There are even "50" metal badges on the top tube near the seat post lug.

   The seller either didn't know what he had or really appreciated Brendan's enthusiasm, because the purchase price was laughably low. The chrome stays and fork were in perfect condition, as was the dark blue paint, and a fantastic engraved 3T stem was included!

   Brendan certainly knows of my afinity for Campagnolo, and this Italian frame would definitely receive those parts, if it was my choice. However, he was almost apologetic when he explained the bike would be built with Shimano, BUT it would be the interesting Sante groupset. The two-tone component line from 1986 was meant to showcase design, providing an appearance like jewelry, way beyond the bounds of bicycle parts of that time. The pearl white and light gray paint was applied to surfaces made  smooth as possible by concealing the bolts of each component.

   Earlier this month, I had met a woman with a really nice custom-built steel frame by Forest. I had never heard of the brand before, but it was a very lightweight frame, and whole bike weighed just over 20 pounds. In my mind this was pretty fantastic, but Carolyn was dealing with shoulder issues, and a physical therapist friend of mine (who had recommended me to her) suggested she look into a carbon-framed machine that would be even easier to load into her vehicle.

   Carolyn seemed enthusiastic to some of the bikes I found available online, and when I found a local seller had dropped her list price on a wonderful Pinarello FP3 by a couple hundred dollars, we jumped at it.

   The bike came equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace, and although I'd rather go the Campagnolo route, Carolyn prefers a flatbar configuration, and switching to trigger shifters will be much more simple with the Japanese brand! Recouping some of the cost of the replacement parts by selling off the unused Dura-Ace parts is also a plus.

   These projects should both be a fairly quick turnaround, so pics of the finished bikes will be coming next time. I'll say goodbye with a few photos from the Turkey Trek, which was blessed with fantastic autumn weather. Despite a detour around a sinkhole that recently developed in the Schuylkill Trail, directly across the river from 30th Street Station, we were able to check out some of the fantastic new bridge connections in the city. A great time was had by all!

Pre-ride shot of the crew at Norristown's Riverfront Park

Water refills and bathroom stop at Boathouse Row's Lloyd Hall

Pedaling through Conshohockenn on our return leg

Baby Do You Wanna To Take A Ride Into Philadelphia

    Once again my title is making reference to a song, in this case one by my friend John Faye, a supremely talented local musician, who had his "brush with greatness" with some national air play and an opening gig for Bon Jovi, though everyone who has heard his music and/or met John knows he is pretty great, musically and as a person! Check John out when you have a chance, or his early band The Caulfields, the John Faye Power Trip or the group IKE, for whom my sons were patrons back in the late-2000s.

   My friend Mark does an annual 100-mile ride from his home in Douglassville into Philadelphia and back. Last year he "picked me up" on the Schuylkill Trail, just down the hill from my home and across the river in Spring City. During the 70 miles of the ride we shared together, a variety of topics were covered and many laughs were had.

   He kindly asked me along again this year, and I met him on an early, chilly Friday morning a couple of weeks ago. As he greeted me on the trail, we immediately started questioning our apparel, as the sun was quickly warming up the day - it is difficult to dress for rides that have a 30-degree temparature swing, but we agreed it is always better to be a bit too warm than too cold!

   I remembered that Mark told me that he always had to tack a couple of extra miles onto the end of his route in order to reach the 100-mile mark, and I asked him if he might like to change up the return leg a bit, as I had a fun detour in mind. We both have ridden the Schuylkill Trail more times than we can count, and mixing things up a little appealed to him. "I trust you," he replied.

   He already had about 18 miles in his legs by the time he reached me, so it wasn't quite as much of a factor for him, but I don't enjoy not being warmed up when hitting the brutal climb the trail takes from just past the Cromby Trailhead up to the north side of Phoenixville. Anyone who has ridden in the area with me knows how much it bothers me that the powers-that-be did not put the funds into reopening the tunnel that had allowed Pennsylvania Railroad trains to run under the hilly part of the borough. Rails To Trails advocates are always pointing out how features like tunnels and bridges are big draws to tourists using these cycling routes...and that big hill is a major obstacle to the casual pedaler!

   Later on we would employ the strategy that I regularly use to avoid returning up that hill, as it's often on the tail end of my rides, and I would still have the incline up Main Street in Royersford to contend with before reaching home. Instead of following the trail through Phoenixville, where the hill would start down at the level of French Creek and head steeply up over the north side, we rode the gentle climb downtown on Bridge Street then turned right on Gay Street to use the more gradual ascent on the big concrete arch bridge. My friends enjoy the neighborhood we cut through to rejoin the summit of the Schuylkill Trail, as the streets are all named after former Phillies.

   Because Mark regularly joins my Tuesday night crew during the summers, I was aware that he was at a high level of fitness, so I wasn't too surprised that, on the way out to the city, he opted for the hilly route up Umbria Street into Roxborough, instead of the canal towpath into Manayunk. I imagine they were added as a speed control for traffic, but I warned him of some new stop signs along the street, as a couple weeks ago Sue had an unexpected surprise when a driver nosed out towards her from one of these intersections - a delivery truck has completely obscured her vision of the new stop sign there!

   It isn't too often that I'm riding far enough with my friends that I need to refuel, but this was certainly the case, and after we rejoined the trail along Kelly Drive, we cut back the speed a bit to snack on the go. The bicycle and foot traffic increased as we neared the city, so slowing down was usually a good idea anyway.

   We passed the usual landmarks, such as Boathouse Row, the waterworks and art museum, then ducked under the newly-completed renovation of the MLK Bridge, which includes a bike lane over to West River Drive. We'll be taking that route next weekend during the 11th Annual Tech Turkey Trek (see details below).

   Heading out over the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk, we came to the recently-opened cable-stay bridge connection to the Grays Ferry Crescent park. The $48 million project improves access to the southwestern part of the city that was cut off by the river, parallel railroad lines and Schuylkill Expressway.

A view back at the city skline from the bridge

   After ducking under Grays Ferry Avenue, we took a left turn and looped back over the bridge there. Although it has a nice bike lane, a plan is in place to renovate an existing railroad swing bridge that exists just downstream. Trail users will be able to join up with a section of the SRT on the west bank over to Bartram's Garden.

   I've been over to the Kingsessing section of the city a few times since the new Crescent connection was opened, and I've finally figured out the best way to avoid the nasty paving and dangerous trolley tracks that lie along 49th Street. After crossing the bridge, we turned right at the traffic light onto Paschall Avenue, then left on 47th. We pedaled a couple of blocks, including a short climb up over the Septa rail line, then turned left to reach a protected bike lane along 48th Street.

   

   As shown in the above photo from this location, many of the bike lanes in the city have been moved inside of the parked cars, preventing accidents with drivers opening their car doors and providing a safer barrier from traffic. This was really a pretty, shaded neighorbood, and the bike lane stretched across Baltimore Pike into West Philadelphia, under the Market Street L to reach the east-west bike lane at Haverford Avenue.

   However, we continued north on 48th, and although the bike lane was gone, there was significantly less traffic on this street, so we didn't feel very stressed on our way to Girard Avenue. A short ride to the east on bike lanes took us over to Belmont Avenue, where there is a bit of a tricky crossing because of the trolley tracks in the center. A wise move was to simply use the crosswalks with the aid of the traffic light and then rejoin the northbound bike lane up Belmont.

   I often mention the really nice protected bike lane along Parkside, near the Please Touch Museum (in the 1876 Centennial Exposition's Memorial Hall), not only because it is an underused resource, but because the parks department often leaves it covered in lawn clippings and tree cuttings. Neighborhood residents and visitors then feel free to add their litter to the mess - it is just a shame!

   Circling to the northwest on this route, we met the bike lane on Bryn Mawr Avenue, which took us through another nice neighborhood out to Bala Cynwyd. We zigzagged over Union and Bala Avenues to reach the train station at the southern end of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail. I recently discovered a shortcut over to the station via the entrance to the parking garage at the BMW dealer, which nicely avoided the busy intersection at Montgomery Avenue and Conshohocken State Road.

   We enjoyed the mostly downhill coast on the two-mile trail, and Mark stopped to take the photo below from the Manayunk Bridge. I mentioned to him that, if you crop the Expressway out of the right side, and with the Gothic church and blocky, Euro-looking housing, it looks like we had been instead riding along the Rhine or Danube!

   A few days later, I would be returning to Manayunk to drop off my friend Robert's Somec bicycle. He had provided the Campagnolo Nuovo Record group and Cinelli bar/stem combo, while I supplied from my stock a nice wheelset built up with C-Record hubs and Mavic MA40 rims.

   Speaking of Nuovo Record, because I recently found a similar groupset in really nice condition, I shifted around my build queue a bit to complete the Gitane Trophee de France 1848 that I had purchased Christmastime last year. The French classic is just like it appears in the company's 1978 catalog, accept for the nicks and scrapes on the frame from 47 years of use! I found sets of brand new Campagnolo cable clips and guides to give it real sparkle. The bicycle is now available on my For Sale page!

   This year's Cycle Tech Turkey Trek will be taking place on Saturday, November 8th. We're going to visit the two new Schuylkill Trail features mentioned in this blog entry, so we'll be starting a bit further along the way at Riverfront Park, at the end of Haws Avenue in Norristown. Our 40-mile loop will follow our traditional route into Philadelphia but will continue onto the Schuylkill Banks section of the trail, then onto the connection with the Grays Ferry Crescent. We'll turn around at the park there, then veer west at the Art Museum onto the MLK, Jr. Drive bridge and head back towards Manayunk on the other side of the river. All are welcome - hope you and maybe some friends can join us!

Set-up Man (no closer)

   Although I’ve been enjoying the Pinarello FP Quattro out on the roads for the past couple weeks, I wanted to share how the last few steps went to set up the electronic shifting. I didn’t want to just tack the information onto the end of the last blog, as it was already pretty long.
   During our trip to Baltimore, the postman delivered the last of the parts necessary to finish the Pinarello, namely a sleeve that fits around the crankset spindle and protects the wires that run between the battery and components, should they potentially droop down into the bottom bracket shell. I was so happy to find that the outboard bearing cups came in shiny silver, as opposed to the gold or gunmetal finishes that Campagnolo has used on these parts in the past.
   When I went to size the chain, I found that the front derailleur was set in the big chainring position, which is fine when going through the process of wrapping it around the ring and biggest cog to get the correct length, but it was not going to be good when trying to connect the master link. I immediately turned to some of the documents and videos on Campagnolo’s website to see if there was some sort of reset.
   As directed, I attempted to push the mode buttons on each shift lever simultaneously. A blue light was supposed to flash on the interface unit that hangs from the stem, but mine showed purple, and the shifters did not reset. They did move, and I enjoyed getting a sample of their function, even if it wasn’t what I intended. The only information I saw about a purple light was regarding an incorrect connection, but everything appeared to be working.
   I ended up using the video instructions for making adjustments “on the fly” when you are out pedaling and need to fine-tune shifts. Strangely, these settings are best done in the second and tenth cogs of the 11-speed cassette, but I’d been tuning the shifts later. At this moment, I just wanted to move the front derailleur.
   Now that it was out of the way, I could bring the two ends of the chain together easily. Uh-oh, that wasn’t right – WAY too much slack was in the chain! I’ve seen this problem before with older derailleurs that are used with compact cranksets. The drop between the 50-tooth and 34-tooth rings leaves too much chain slack for vintage rear derailleurs to take up – a long cage derailleur, or something modern, with better back tension is required.
   Well, this certainly was a modern derailleur, so the idea of a faulty part quickly flashed into my mind, but I remained positive. Derailleurs usually have a “B screw”, which you can thread inward, pushing against the derailleur hanger on the frame and tilting the derailleur back. Campagnolo versions don’t always have a traditional B-screw, and this was one of those models. What they have is a bolt that connects to a gear that rotates the upper pivot of the derailleur cage. Adjusting this helped a bit but took up nowhere near enough of the slack in the chain.
   I also noted that when in the largest cog in the back, the top pulley would drag on the teeth of the cog, which would make for some noisy riding when climbing a big hill! Again, the B-screw should help with this somewhat, but I was doubting how this was all going to function together without the correct tension on the chain.
   I sent a quick note to the seller, since he had noted “light use” of this equipment on his own bicycle. He was actually a bicycle mechanic, and although trying his best to be helpful, he sent mostly tips with which I was familiar and weren’t working to solve the problem. He did assure me that everything had worked on his bike, and I resisted asking, “Then why did you remove it?” Some people are Shimano and some are Campagnolo.
   One suggestion of his I did take was to remove another link from the chain, since I had left it on the long side, just to be safe. Unfortunately, this still didn't make the chain short enough, but I remember that I had a “Wolf Tooth” derailleur hanger extender in my parts bin. These extenders allow for derailleurs to shift onto larger cogs than they would normally be intended to reach. This would not only solve the pulley rub problem, but if I tightened it enough in the back position, it could take up the necessary chain slack.
   At this point, I noticed a small hole had been drilled in the bottom of the derailleur hanger on the Pinarello. I wondered if a bolt was threaded in, would it act like a “reverse B-screw” and hold the derailleur (or in this case, the Wolf’s Tooth) in the back position. I looked through my special jar of bicycle nuts and bolts, finding exactly what I needed, and it worked perfectly!

 
   I began to wonder if there was something to the design of the frame (it is supposedly asymmetric) that created the problem, maybe a slightly shorter drive-side chain stay? Someone had drilled this hole for a reason! Anyhow, the shifting performed smoothly, and it was time to take the bike out for some pics:

   Later that afternoon, I set off with extra tools and our emergency cell phone in my jersey pockets, just in case. First, I stopped off at Bikesport to visit my buddy Jeff, as he asked me to come by when I finished building the bike. He had tried to convince me to do a Shimano build, for ease of assembly and finding any necessary parts in the future (even modern Campagnolo stuff has been difficult to locate lately), but he knew my preference for Italian, even if some parts of the process were maniacally complicated.
   I then continued out to complete a 48-mile loop through Skippack, out to Blue Bell and back through Conshohocken to the Schuylkill Trail for the return home. It was probably farther than I should have gone on a “maiden voyage” with the electronic equipment, but it was functioning perfectly, and I was enjoying the ride!

(Mostly) Happy Trails

   A couple of weekends ago I was contacted by a gentleman who was interested in the Flandria Freddy Maertens bicycle I had built this spring. Robert lived in Rhode Island, but he mentioned that he preferred not to have the bike shipped and that he would be willing to drive. I suggested, since I enjoy riding in the New York City area so much, that we link up part way. After thinking about it for a little while, I decided to revisit the Putnam & North County Trailways, a ride I did back in 2019, and we planned to meet in the village of Elmsford, about four miles southwest of Sleepy Hollow.
   The drive and sale went smoothly, and I set off on a beautiful morning on a cycling route that would approach the metric century distance. Having visited this corridor on the Croton Aqueduct loop I’ve ridden many times, I am very familiar with the North County Trailway as it parallels NY Routes 9, 100 and the Taconic Parkway. I soon noted that some of the on-road parts of the trail were now on a completely separate paved pathway along Saw Mill River Road.
   I recalled that the trail was definitely not flat, climbing from about 200 feet at the bridge crossing the New Croton Reservoir up to 700 feet at Lake Mahopac, but it was built on a New York Central railroad grade, so none of the inclines were too steep. There was a cool breeze and my legs felt pretty fresh, despite a 40-mile ride I had done with my regular cycling crew the previous day.
   I was remembering many of the landmarks, especially the reservoir bridge:

   …and the station in Yorktown Heights. The structure had undergone a historical renovation, including replacement of a gable over its entrance and the restoration of its original chimney. The station had also been repainted to a brown and white scheme, instead of the two-tone green I had seen during the past trip:

   I had an entertaining conversation with an older fellow where the trail splits near Lake Gleneida. The trail markings weren’t obvious here, and I could not see that the path dead-ended shortly to the left. When I asked if the right-hand trail leads to Brewster, he replied, “I’ve lived all my life here in Carmel, and I have no idea! I walk all these different segments of trail regularly, and I don't know what they are named or anything.” We laughed, and I told him that if I ended up in the right direction, I’d probably be seeing him on the return leg (I did).
   For some reason, the approach to Brewster seemed unfamiliar, though it was probably only because I was going the other direction. I circled around the village to find the connection with the Maybrook Trailway, which is part of the Empire State Trail system, which starts near the Connecticut state line and links to the Dutchess Rail Trail, the Walkway Over the Hudson and eventually the Erie Canalway Trail to form a statewide cycling route with very limited miles on trafficked roads!
   I did a couple of miles on the Maybrook line, until I reached a bridge that was being reconstructed, then had a nice conversation with a gentleman who “used to be a REAL cyclist” and was accompanying his young grandchildren out for a spin. I told him I could tell he used to ride, if only because when I replied to his question about where I was from, he didn’t act stunned to see someone from Philadelphia riding all the way out here! He told me about some of his longer cycling adventures across the state, and I reciprocated with tales about great rides around the Finger Lakes and near Rochester.
   I told him that I was off to town to find a bathroom and a water refill, then said my goodbye. I laughed to myself when I heard him tell the kids to watch as I clicked into my pedals.
   The climb back to Mahopac was a couple hundred feet over a shorter distance, and I was looking forward to the long stretches of slightly downhill on the way back. The knobby terrain and thick forests out here keep some segments of the asphalt from ever seeing direct sunlight. I remembered parts of the path being covered with a thin layer of slippery moss, but it had been dry for over a week, so my caution when traversing these sections proved unnecessary.
   Now, with no need to keep anything in reserve for the trip back, I was really able to open up the speed on the gradual descent. I realize that familiarity with surroundings can make the return miles seem shorter, but I felt like it took only half the time to get back to my car!

   Sue and I are University of Maryland alumni, and during our years there, we made several trips to Baltimore, but during our time at school Memorial Stadium was still standing. We saw a couple football games there and attended an Orioles game against the Yankees. I fondly recall all-time favorite Rickey Henderson hitting a leadoff homer for the Bronx Bombers.
   Being a baseball guy, you’d think sometime since its opening in 1992 that I would have made a trip to Camden Yards. I’ve seen Inter Milan and Liverpool soccer games just a short walk away, at the Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium, but alas, no baseball! Well, with the O’s having a resurgence with division titles the last two years, I made it a mission to go see a game this season.
   So, we planned to stay a few days in the Charm City, catch a game and also check out some of the area trails while we were there. Wouldn’t you know it, the Birds have had a completely disastrous season full of injury and underperformance, and although we were able schedule our visit while the Pirates, my favorite team, were in town, they’ve sucked for years, and all enthusiasm was essentially sucked out of the atmosphere, as far as the crowd was concerned.
   Still, it was a beautiful late-summer evening, and the stadium remains a fantastic venue. When it was built, Camden Yards led the way in the construction of “retro parks” that occurred during the 1990s-early-2000s. The wonderful, nostalgic feel it still there, and at least the game was competitive, going into extra innings before Pittsburgh’s bullpen let them down, again.

   The next afternoon, we drove from our hotel in Jessup, MD, out to the town of Glen Burnie, where there was a trailhead for the B&A Trail, built on the former route of the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad. The 13-mile, smooth tarmac path leads southeast along the Severn River through the neighborhoods of Pasadena, Severna Park, Arnold and Cedarwood Cove to the bridge across the river onto the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy.
   Much of the route is in forested suburbs running along MD Route 2. At the upper end there were a couple of intersections with heavily-trafficked roads, but crossing signals at those locations aided safe passage. The rest of the route was fairly rural. We passed a couple of small farms along the way, and we encountered just a handful of road crossings with maybe a car or two.
   It was a sunny day, but we were mostly in the shade until Annapolis. We rightly expected the route to be pan-flat, that is until the off-streets section ended just after passing below U.S. Route 50 and its intersection with MD-450 (Governor Ritchie Highway). From there it was a rolling descent to the Chesapeake estuary.

High above the Severn with the Naval Academy on right, Chesapeake Bay in distance

   The wind was whipping a bit across the bridge, making for a challenging crossing high over the Severn. Obviously, the Naval grounds were off-limits to cyclists, but we made a left turn on King George Street and worked our way to the marinas downtown. We’ve never been big shoppers, but I can understand the charm of Annapolis, especially if you have money to burn.
   I really did enjoy the narrow, brick-surfaced roads, as they had a European feel, and I think Sue even got a kick out of the short climb up Francis Street to the Maryland State House and the loop road around it:

   We went around about one and a half times, then turned onto the appropriately-named Maryland Avenue and met up again with King George Street. The climbs back to the trail proper were not welcomed by my riding partner, but I appreciated the chance to get in a brief workout after all this “leisure riding”.
   Always Ice Cream in Severna Park was a “must stop” on the way back, and we enjoyed their lemon-poppy, chocolate (was like a ball of Fudgesicle) and black cherry flavors. We sat outside to eat, right across from yet another railroad station that I could add to the “collection” (number 717 on my list).

   We had originally planned to do the Gwynns Falls Trail on our last full day in Baltimore and have a lazy check-out the following morning, but the weather wasn’t totally cooperating. Sue wasn’t as enthusiastic about the last ride day, either, so we checked out early, and she accompanied me over to the trailhead and did her own thing while I rode.
   Honestly, she didn’t miss a whole lot, when I consider some of the really nice trails we’ve ridden during our travels. The trail started in a rather strange location, where Interstate 70 abruptly dead ends, west of its intersection with I-695, the Baltimore Beltway. The story is that construction was brought to a halt by protests about the destruction of natural areas, homes and businesses in the path of the proposed I-70 route through Baltimore to its planned link with I-95. Now there is a strange paved U-turn at a park near the upper reaches of (appropriately named?) Dead Run, right at the city’s western border.
   The trail’s condition overall seemed influenced by an under-budgeted parks department, as it mostly lacked any maintenance. I could also tell there was no regular patrol of the trail, because I passed at least half a dozen abandoned "Lime" electric scooters from the city's rideshare program. There were a few nicer sections through small parks that the trail intersected as it ran eastward toward Inner Harbor, but that was probably thanks to local community volunteer work.
   Strangely the path had nice little distance markers every half mile, but there were few direction signs at splits in the path or at road intersections where the trail was changing directions. I have a familiarity with Baltimore and have an innate sense of direction. I also studied the trail map available on the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s TrailLink site, so I had minimal problems negotiating my way into the city, but I can imagine the frustration a visitor might encounter trying to follow the route with the current lack of signage!

   The paved route had a couple of fun, short switchback areas where elevation changed quickly then did a brief stretch to the north before turning to a more rugged, gravel path after crossing the bridge at Windsor Mill Road. Just under two miles later, I was back on the asphalt along Franklintown Road and heading into Leon Day Park.
   There was soon a series of bridges over the Gwynns Falls stream and over the railroad local freight lines. One amusing railroad overpass immediately sent the trail steeply ducking under the historic Carrollton Viaduct, the first stone masonry bridge for railroad use. Built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1829, it is the oldest such bridge still in service in the U.S. Now occasionally seeing trains for CSX Transportation, the viaduct is one of the world's oldest railroad bridges continuing to handle rail traffic!

   I was soon into Carroll Park and then the “grittier” section of the ride, the industrial area southwest of the stadium complex. The Gwynns Falls Trail actually extends over 19 miles, past the stadiums and looping into the Inner Harbor. I’ve been through those parts of the city before and didn’t want to keep Sue waiting too long, so I eliminated the areas by cutting straight across Bush Street to meet the trail as it heads south to Westport, shortening my outbound route to about 12.5 miles.
   This neighborhood really seems to be a real case of “the other side of the tracks”, as the light rail system splits one of the poorer, rowhouse sections of Baltimore from another with a waterfront that has seen some revitalization. The trail here really needs a facelift with many old, warped boardwalks adjacent to the route detracting from the pleasant views across the Patapso River basin and the distant city skyline.
   After turning around just past the waterfront trail section near Medstar Harbor Hospital, I retraced my outbound path. Again, in an effort to cut down on ride time, I reduced the return leg to 10.5 miles by staying on Franklintown Road after passing through Leon Day Park. I returned to the marked trail via the abandoned bridge to Wetheredsville Road.
   I was very appreciative of Sue’s patience while I was exploring with my bike, but there was a good amount of climbing overall, and I’m sure she enjoyed her books and “vegging out” more than she would have riding one of Baltimore’s less-polished trails.

Plus ça change...

...plus c'est la même chose.

   Fans of the band Rush will recognise the lyric from the song "Cirmcumstances" and its meaning, "The more that things change, the more they stay the same." This statement is particularly accurate when it comes to the setup on my Vitus 992.

   I purchased the bike in December 2016, at which time it was equipped with a Campagnolo Veloce triple groupset. I varied the setup a couple of times, before settling on one with some rare Mavic derailleurs and some early 8-speed Shimano Dura-Ace shifters. This Vitus was primarily the bike I used at the shore, and I realized that I shouldn't really expose these one-of-a-kind  (really, I can't find another 845 derailleur listed ANYWHERE) components to the salt air. I noticed the parts that weren't painted or made of aluminum were starting to rust.

My Mavic 845 rear derailleur

   I also wanted to get rid of the shift cables that criss-crossed in front of the headtube within my field of vision. Cleaning up the Mavic derailleurs and reselling them seemed to be the smart thing to do. I'm thinking they'll fetch enough money to pay for all the upgrades I want to do. I decided to do a bit of a retro-mod build (much like I did on my Colnago RDV) and purchased a set of new wheels, Mavic Cosmic, to go with the brakes and stem by the same company. I returned to Campagnolo Veloce derailleurs and shifters but now part of a 9-speed compact double drivetrain.

   A subtle part of this transformation are the shop decals on the frame from (now closed) Cycles Reboul in Montelimar, France. Because of where they were located on the top tube, the decals were slowly rubbing away. I created a composite image of the artwork by taking photos of the logos on each side of the bike and had the folks at Vinyl Disorder create some replacement decals.

   Obviously my preference for Campagnolo parts has not changed, nor have the occasional complications that come with installing them. I purchased the second version of Campagnolo Chorus EPS, their electronic groupset, for the Pinarello FP Quattro I had bought last month. I liked that this set had the internal battery, instead of the unattractive exterior-mounted battery pack that came with the first version of their EPS group.

   The battery in this case fit inside the seat tube and ingeniously used the bottle cage mounts to secure the power source in place. This was not the latest wireless type of system, so I had to undertake the somewhat frustrating task of threading the connection within the frame.

   At the time of this group's release, Campagnolo sold an installation rod that screwed into the end of the battery, creating an extension that would aid in locating the battery behind the bottle cage mounts. This rod tool was no longer available, and I bet if it was, it would have been very expensive.

The threaded hole in the upward-facing battery end

The Campagnolo installation rod being attached

   I took a long wooden dowel and drilled a hole in one end. I then found a long bolt that fit the battery hole threads and sawed off the bolt head. I tightened two nuts against each other onto the bolt, so that I would have something with which to wrench the bolt into the dowel. My homemade tool worked perfectly, and Sue helped to screw in the bottle cage bolts while I held the dowel in the right spot. I had applied some masking tape on the dowel before inserting the battery and tool into the seatpost in oder to give me a reference to the distance to the upper cage bolt.

   

   There were three cords coming from the bottom end of the battery, two for the derailleurs, one for the interface box at the shift levers and one for the charger port. Three out of four were fairly simple, but I couldn't locate the front derailleur cord. I straightened a paper clip, bent a small hook in the end of it and spent about an hour trying to find/fish the stray cord out of the seatpost.

   I kept fishing out the other three cables by mistake, not realizing the missing one waa lying straight down alongside the seat tube, right next to the access hole that was provided in the frame. I had been digging around too far into the tube and had been sliding my hook right past it repeatedly. I just happened to be rotating the hook in the other direction while pulling it out and snagged the lost cord by accident!

   Everything is now hooked up, but I am awaiting delivery of a protective sleeve that fits over the crankset spindle when it is installed. The sleeve would prevent the wires from making contact with the spindle and being damaged. The bike looks great, and I'm really looking forward to getting it out on the road. Photos of the finished build are in store next time!

   One last project worth mentioning is from a return customer who had purchased the Tommasini Sintesi from me earlier this year. Robert has been collecting Campagnolo Nuovo Record parts for the Somec frame he had in his collection. SOMEC (the SOcieta MECchanica) is an underappreciated Italian brand that I became familiar with when I built a beautiful Pieroni model back in 2022.

   Robert's frame has obviously had new decals applied and has been repainted (a high-quality job). Because of the lustrous aquamarine paint, he is willing to overlook that the frame has been personalized with "Dick Blanchard' script on the top tube (unfortunately under layers of clear coat).

More to come...