They Are Meant To Be Ridden!

   I have learned many hard lessons during an extended period of time that has involved the moving (and/or disposal of possessions) of several different family members. The most important thing I've learned is not to collect more than you need or, at least, use regularly.

   My sister-in-law's husband Todd helped to reinforce this idea when, in the process of their downsizing into a more maintenance-free property, he brought his old Ciocc frameset to me for restoration. The frame had been set aside after decades of neglect, not because he stopped riding - he had just moved onto some more modern, lightweight bicycles.

   He also helped to hammer home the fact that a steel bicycle needs to be well-wiped-down of sweat and grime before set aside in storage. The chrome on the Ciocc's stays and fork is a disaster, and we will now have to have it sandblasted before painting the entire frame. Re-chroming is very costly, and while Todd would love to see his "World '77" frameset restored to its former glory, he decided an "as close as possible" strategy is more realistic.

   I have always told people that I am not a collector of bicycles, and because I ride 4000-5000 miles a year and rotate through the handful of bikes I own, most of them see a good amount of use, and above all, routine maintenance. Right now I have three vintage bikes in my possession, and because they are outfitted in era-appropriate components, they might not have the gearing and efficiency of my modern bikes which get the bulk of attention, and miles in the saddle.

   The Vitus 992 is a special bike to me and would usually be down at the shore. It is stored indoors, but generally, because it is aluminum, would stand up to the salt air better than the other two throwback machines. The Merckx "Criquielion" is my prized show-off bike, and if someone wants to call me a collector because of that one, I'll gladly take the loss on that argument.

   So that left me with the decision to sell the Pinarello Asolo. I took it on a longish "goodbye ride" a few days ago - it performed perfectly and is absolutely beautiful, which further confirmed my decision that it really needs to see regular use.

   Two gentleman contacted me last week about finding larger-sized bicycles, and I was surprised to find a couple options rather quickly. I had turned to my Netherlands connection to see what he had in stock and found an Eddy Merckx Corsa in the paint of the Domex-Weinmann pro team from 1989.

   The mix of Campagnolo components currently installed need to be cleaned up a bit, and to be honest, we'll probably end up swapping many of them anyway. The frame is in really nice shape, though, and lately it has been hard to find bikes of this quality.

   I came up with an incredible find on eBay, in the form of a new-old-stock Ugo Scanini bicycle, painted to honor Eric Vanderaerden. The Belgian great won the Tour de France green jersey in 1986, and also won several Classics, including the '85 Tour of Flanders and '87 Paris-Roubaix.

   The frame doesn't have a fork included, but I had a carbon fork come my way for the Merckx Alu Team frame I'm having repainted, and the original fork from that frame would go nicely with the Scanini. I ended up purchasing a Mavic group a few weeks ago in order to fill some of the missing pieces in the Vitus 979 KAS bike I'm building, and I'm thinking of doing a bit of a modern twist with the Mavic parts left over. If a customer shows some interest, I'd be looking for some input on the project.

   I finally got around to building up the Fondriest X Status frame that I purchased locally this summer. This project certainly wasn't a priority, and there always seemed to be some customer work or a couple of my own random builds pushing it onto the back burner. I've had nearly all the parts, in the form of a Campagnolo Athena 8-speed group, just sitting on a shelf, ready to be assembled.

   Delivery of the seatpost for Terry's Specialized Tricross had been delayed, but I had the bike all ready to go when that part finally arrived.

      I met a gentleman who used to be a frame builder for Reynolds, and he sold me an Olmo Scatto bicycle that is flawless - I can't find a scratch on the frame! The lugged steel frame is made of Dedacciai Zero Uno tubing and features cool signature and logo "pantografia" (engravings) all over! I currently have it listed at a very reasonable price, mainly because it came equipped with lower level Campagnolo Mirage, but if someone wants to upgrade, I'm open for suggestions.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!