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: