Settin' them up and knockin' them out

   I've pretty much cleared out my shop, other than that Pinarello Treviso project that has been lingering. I did manage to strip the paint off the fork, but it needs a bit of cleaning up before I take the whole frameset over to my painting "connection".
   The highlight of cinquebicicambio has to be the purchase of a $400 (including shipping) Treviso as a "donor bike", in order to get a fork and metal head tube badge. I sold the frame with headset and bottom bracket, and then the individual components for a total of $530! Even if I take out $130 as the price of the included wheels that I ended up using on the Bianchi, the fork and badge were essentially free.
   Of course to me those wheels are worth far more than $130, since I didn't have to pay the incredible price for the rare 9 speed Shamal set that were on the Pantani team bike! I did have a bit of a glitch when I set up the Bianchi's derailleurs and attached the chain. The close proximity of the small cog to the frame's rear stays caused the chain to jam in that tight space.
   It didn't take me long to figure out a solution - 10 speed spacers. Now the cassette is narrow enough that I don't even need that washer that I had inserted previously behind the lock nut, but I left it in just to provide some extra room. Everything works perfectly, and I'll be sure to include all the original cassette parts should the buyer want to switch to a set of wheels with a conventional 9 speed setup.
   Here are some pictures of the finished product:

By the way, this bike and others I've built are available on craigslist and eBay, but feel free to contact me directly!

   There seemed to be an imbalance between the time spent planning this multi-bike scheme (not to mention waiting for parts to arrive) and the time involved in actually working on the machines. The Pinarello Prince went together very quickly, and other than the shiny Shimano chrome parts that took the place of the black Campagnolo carbon components, the bike looks and performs pretty much the same, except at a little bit heavier weight.

   My Pinarello FP2 was last off the work stand, only because it took a while for the new cassette to arrive from England (only place I could find one that didn't break the bank). Of course I needed that part to size the chain and align the derailleurs. I wanted to make sure all was working properly before I finalized the job with bar tape and a last bit of bike bling, some chrome Pinarello bar plugs. Because of reflections, I unfortunately couldn't get a good detail shot of them when installed, but believe me, they are there!

   Setting the shifts to perform smoothly took some effort, mostly because the person who sold the cassette included a spacer that was not original and was too wide. I removed the culprit, and because it was resin, I was able to slide it over some sandpaper and knock down some of the raised surfaces that provided the extra thickness. Further adjustments were minimal after re-installation, and the shifts are nearly perfect now.
   I took the bike out for a good test ride today, and I have to say that my Pinarello is running a bit noisily. I've messed with it enough now that I know it has nothing to do with the derailleur adjustments. It may be because there is a mix of new rings and cogs with the slightly older derailleurs and chain, and if that is the case, the noise should ease a bit over time. I also suspect this cassette might require a narrower chain, but we'll see.