No Vacancy

   The past few weeks I've had successful searches for some missing parts, and I've been able to wrap up some projects that had been in limbo for a while. Of course, I still have two frames waiting in Bruce's paint booth, and the long-term Merckx Alu Team project on deck for him. Brendan's Peugeot would be next in line, as well as that Pogliaghi he dropped off.
   Another friend has me building up a Guerciotti (pronounced gwehr-chee-OH-tee) carbon bicycle, for which I have been collecting parts since last autumn - yes, the required Ultegra parts have been that hard to find! I have the last couple items coming in the mail, then that assembly will be finished up as well. There isn't any room left to hang up finished bikes, despite the fact I have sold a couple of bicycles this winter.

   The replacement fork arrived for the Scanini Vanderaerden, and I was able to finish assembly of the bicycle's Cinelli cockpit. I also installed a set of shorter chainring bolts for the single-ring setup, which included a Vuelta 42t chainring and a 16t cog in back. I decided to go with a freewheel cog, instead of a fixed gear, and installed a set of Athena monoplaner brakes - my favorites!

   The last of the needed parts for the Vitus 979 came courtesy of Brendan, who gave me a call shortly after his visit. He knew I was missing appropriate shift levers and happened to have a set among his collection of Mavic parts. Well, they are actually Simplex levers, but that company manufactured these parts for Mavic, so they match up perfectly. I've also used other stand-in parts, such as a Modolo brakeset (another outsource company for Mavic) to keep down the cost of the project, since the Mavic counterparts are rare and costly.

   Not a whole lot more to write about this week, though with a (hopeful) end to the snow and getting out for some needed rides, plus the start of pro racing's cobbled classics, my spirits have definitely received a boost. A spurt of bike sales would make things even better!

   ...and I almost forgot to tack on a few before/after photos of my Pinarello Prince. The Spinergy wheels just didn't fit it with the look I wanted, so I went with my favorite Campagnolo Vento set instead. I swapped in a set of handlebars, a stem and saddle by the company's in-house brand, MOst. I ditched the white cable housing for black, and finally, a bit of a subtle change, I installed a more streamlined set of Blackburn "Slick" bottle cages.

Prince before