Red (and black) Christmas Bike: the Sequel

   During Christmastime 2016, I received my Vitus 992, a bike that originally came from a shop in Montélimar, France, about an hour drive north through the Rhône valley from Avignon. The Cervélo bike was not coming from quite so far away (Salt Lake City), but its similar color scheme and the timing of its arrival were strangely familiar.
   This was one of the worst packing jobs I’d ever seen done by a bike shop – and you can imagine I’ve seen a bunch! There was very little cushioning provided to the frame, the wheels weren’t secured to prevent shifting in the box and there were no endcaps put in the hub axles to protect them and keep them from poking through the cardboard box. There was also no cushioning of the fork or one of those spacers attached to protect the dropouts and prevent the fork from being crushed laterally.
   Despite all this, the frame came through it very well. There were a couple nicks that I’m pretty sure were caused by the shifting wheels, but nothing tragic – it is a 15-year-old frame, so I wasn’t expecting perfection anyway.
   The CSC logos on the frame were a bit tattered on one side and, except for one “C”, were almost completely missing from the other. I noted that the design featured similar, kind of macaroni-shaped segments, to make up the letters.

    I did a pencil rubbing over one of the remaining letters on the frame, then transferred the image to a piece of card stock in order to create a stencil. I then traced a bunch of segments onto a piece of white vinyl decal sheet that I had purchased on eBay. I used what remained of the decals as a guide before removing/replacing those pieces, and I laid out a piece of masking tape as a straight edge to make sure the logos were lined up properly.
   The compulsive side of me thinks they don’t quite look perfect, but the realistic side of me knows I’m the only one who will think that! I have completed the tweaks to the setup that I mentioned in my last entry, and included a cassette with more "climbability":

   Like I did with the other bikes in my collection, I created a descriptive photo plaque to hang with the Cervélo, featuring the image below and the following text:

   Swiss great Fabian Cancellara excelled in the classics, winning Paris-Roubaix, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Strade Bianche, EACH three times! He also won four world titles and two Olympic gold medals in the time trial and holds the record for the most days in the Tour’s yellow jersey (29) without ever winning the overall title. The 2008 Cervélo Soloist, is the bicycle Cancellara rode to victory in that season’s Milano-San Remo.

   I’ll be taking a few weeks off from writing during the holidays. Stay safe and enjoy the festivities, hopefully with plenty of family and friends. I’ll leave you with a photo from the Cycle Tech “Ride with Santa” event held back on December 9th. Sue and I are in the back, dressed in white and red, right in front of our home. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!