During yet another riveting Paris-Roubaix, Peter Sagan ditched his usual strategy of hanging in among the leaders in hopes of beating them in a final sprint. Sagan has learned from recent races that his rivals will lean on his strength and willingness to cover breaks, in hope that he will eventually wear down and allow them to claim victory. Although a three-in-a-row World Champion can hardly be guilty of not winning “big races”, victory in many of the single-day Classics and Monument events has eluded Peter precisely because the competition consistently follows his wheel to a point of frustration.
In this year’s “Hell of the North” Sagan was determined to force the action from farther out. With 54 kilometers of the race’s 260-km remaining, the main group of protagonists had slowed after reeling in repeated attacks by last year’s winner Greg van Avermaet and several members of the dominant Quick Step team. During this lull in the action, Sagan accelerated hard and got a gap. His rivals looked at each other, hoping that someone would cover the move and also probably thinking it was a bit too far out for the Slovak star to be able to hold off the couple dozen strong riders still in the lead pack.
When Sagan caught the remnants of the breakaway that had been out there on its own for about 165 kilometers, only AG2R’s Sylvan Dillier was able to still hang with him. The World Champion powered on in front, probably thinking the Swiss rider wouldn’t have much left, and Sagan even surged a couple times in an attempt to shake free of his companion and finish off the remaining 20 kilometers into Roubaix alone. Again, Sagan made a strategy switch as Dillier showed incredible tenacity and then even a willingness to share the work of holding off the hard-charging pack.
However, they both had to know a sprint among the two was practically a foregone conclusion, and Dillier admitted afterward that Sagan’s presence was like “an angel and a devil in the same person. An angel because he worked with me very well; a devil, because if you go with him in a man-to-man sprint for the finish line, he's hard to beat." In this case, considering the incredible effort Dillier had made the whole day, impossible would have been a better word!
I have been encouraged by some recent sales and other progress with my builds, as I finally found an appropriate bottom bracket for the Gios, although I’m now awaiting delivery of the part. I did start some basic assembly of the headset, stem and bars, and I also mounted the brake calipers. When I decided to slip on the wheels, I unfortunately found that one of the tubular tires had a bulge coming out of its dried-up sidewall. It’s a shame, since these nice Vittoria tires didn’t even have any visible wear on the treads.
I don’t really want to deal with the cost of buying new tubular tires and the mess of cleaning the rims and gluing on the tires, especially when I’m not even sure that someone would want the tubulars if they intend to ride the bike. Instead, I decided to purchase some vintage wheels with Nisi clincher rims and Super Record hubs, and I will sell the tubular set as-is, since they might appeal to someone who just wants wheels for some build that is intended for display only...or they might have more enthusiasm for the handiwork of changing the tires!
My intention to complete the Vitus 979 with a Shimano 600 group was altered by a gentleman name Arol, who was looking for a French bicycle and came up with my Peugeot during an online search. Through a couple phone conversations and email exchanges, we discussed several options for building up the bike with French parts, possibly Simplex, Huret, or some combination of the two, along with a Philippe and/or Pivo cockpit.
After admitting my apprehension about finding the necessary parts from its long-defunct component line (other than WHEELS, that is), we decided to attempt another Mavic build. Strangely enough, a nearly complete group became available on eBay, although it had some time trial bike-specific alterations. With the wonderful 651 “starfish” crankset, 840/810 derailleurs and 451 brakes, the group seemed a great starting point for our build.
I don’t really want to deal with the cost of buying new tubular tires and the mess of cleaning the rims and gluing on the tires, especially when I’m not even sure that someone would want the tubulars if they intend to ride the bike. Instead, I decided to purchase some vintage wheels with Nisi clincher rims and Super Record hubs, and I will sell the tubular set as-is, since they might appeal to someone who just wants wheels for some build that is intended for display only...or they might have more enthusiasm for the handiwork of changing the tires!
My intention to complete the Vitus 979 with a Shimano 600 group was altered by a gentleman name Arol, who was looking for a French bicycle and came up with my Peugeot during an online search. Through a couple phone conversations and email exchanges, we discussed several options for building up the bike with French parts, possibly Simplex, Huret, or some combination of the two, along with a Philippe and/or Pivo cockpit.
After admitting my apprehension about finding the necessary parts from its long-defunct component line (other than WHEELS, that is), we decided to attempt another Mavic build. Strangely enough, a nearly complete group became available on eBay, although it had some time trial bike-specific alterations. With the wonderful 651 “starfish” crankset, 840/810 derailleurs and 451 brakes, the group seemed a great starting point for our build.
The to-be-remedied TT modifications involved a huge 56-tooth outer chainring on the crankset and a set of 650c wheels! The set also had a rare set of Sachs 8-speed “ergo” shifters mounted on a set of black-painted ITM (ITalManubri) handlebars that were totally mismatched with the polished aluminum Mavic 365 stem!
Included were a few other interesting bits we might use, like the 330 seatpost and early Mavic pedals, and some we definitely won’t, like the 305 headset and the cables/housings/cable stops. It’s always a good idea to replace that final group of items, and Arol is going with downtube shifters anyway.
One component with which we intend to make a budget compromise is the brake levers, as the last attempt to find the Mavic parts for a Vitus 992 required four months and quite a large hunk of cash! Mavic’s 451 brakeset was almost an exact copy of the BRS 500 set made by Dia-Compe, so we are going to do a discount substitution with the levers. I proposed, if possible, I could even rub off the Dia-Compe branding on the face of the lever to further conceal its true I.D.
The Peugeot might also see some changes, as another potential customer contacted me about the possibilities of converting the bike to a compact crankset setup. He was interested in more relaxed gearing, and I did a little research into vintage cranksets with 110 mm BCD (bolt circle diameter, if you’ve never heard of the term) on which to fit modern 50- and 34-tooth chainrings - turns out Sugino made a couple different versions.
Luckily the Simplex rear derailleur currently on the PX 10/E accepts up to 30-tooth cogs, but I think it would be a good idea to go with a seven-speed freewheel with a maximum 28t to ensure smooth operation and reduce the slack in the chain that the derailleur will have to take up when in the smaller ring/smaller cog positions. My wife has a 34/34 operation on her vintage Cilo because faces some nasty hills on her commute to and from work. Her bike doesn’t even have a long cage derailleur, so we should be okay with our rather tame 34/28 proposition!
We’ll see where this all leads...
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