Plus ça change...

...plus c'est la même chose.

   Fans of the band Rush will recognise the lyric from the song "Cirmcumstances" and its meaning, "The more that things change, the more they stay the same." This statement is particularly accurate when it comes to the setup on my Vitus 992.

   I purchased the bike in December 2016, at which time it was equipped with a Campagnolo Veloce triple groupset. I varied the setup a couple of times, before settling on one with some rare Mavic derailleurs and some early 8-speed Shimano Dura-Ace shifters. This Vitus was primarily the bike I used at the shore, and I realized that I shouldn't really expose these one-of-a-kind  (really, I can't find another 845 derailleur listed ANYWHERE) components to the salt air. I noticed the parts that weren't painted or made of aluminum were starting to rust.

My Mavic 845 rear derailleur

   I also wanted to get rid of the shift cables that criss-crossed in front of the headtube within my field of vision. Cleaning up the Mavic derailleurs and reselling them seemed to be the smart thing to do. I'm thinking they'll fetch enough money to pay for all the upgrades I want to do. I decided to do a bit of a retro-mod build (much like I did on my Colnago RDV) and purchased a set of new wheels, Mavic Cosmic, to go with the brakes and stem by the same company. I returned to Campagnolo Veloce derailleurs and shifters but now part of a 9-speed compact double drivetrain.

   A subtle part of this transformation are the shop decals on the frame from (now closed) Cycles Reboul in Montelimar, France. Because of where they were located on the top tube, the decals were slowly rubbing away. I created a composite image of the artwork by taking photos of the logos on each side of the bike and had the folks at Vinyl Disorder create some replacement decals.

   Obviously my preference for Campagnolo parts has not changed, nor have the occasional complications that come with installing them. I purchased the second version of Campagnolo Chorus EPS, their electronic groupset, for the Pinarello FP Quattro I had bought last month. I liked that this set had the internal battery, instead of the unattractive exterior-mounted battery pack that came with the first version of their EPS group.

   The battery in this case fit inside the seat tube and ingeniously used the bottle cage mounts to secure the power source in place. This was not the latest wireless type of system, so I had to undertake the somewhat frustrating task of threading the connection within the frame.

   At the time of this group's release, Campagnolo sold an installation rod that screwed into the end of the battery, creating an extension that would aid in locating the battery behind the bottle cage mounts. This rod tool was no longer available, and I bet if it was, it would have been very expensive.

The threaded hole in the upward-facing battery end

The Campagnolo installation rod being attached

   I took a long wooden dowel and drilled a hole in one end. I then found a long bolt that fit the battery hole threads and sawed off the bolt head. I tightened two nuts against each other onto the bolt, so that I would have something with which to wrench the bolt into the dowel. My homemade tool worked perfectly, and Sue helped to screw in the bottle cage bolts while I held the dowel in the right spot. I had applied some masking tape on the dowel before inserting the battery and tool into the seatpost in oder to give me a reference to the distance to the upper cage bolt.

   

   There were three cords coming from the bottom end of the battery, two for the derailleurs, one for the interface box at the shift levers and one for the charger port. Three out of four were fairly simple, but I couldn't locate the front derailleur cord. I straightened a paper clip, bent a small hook in the end of it and spent about an hour trying to find/fish the stray cord out of the seatpost.

   I kept fishing out the other three cables by mistake, not realizing the missing one waa lying straight down alongside the seat tube, right next to the access hole that was provided in the frame. I had been digging around too far into the tube and had been sliding my hook right past it repeatedly. I just happened to be rotating the hook in the other direction while pulling it out and snagged the lost cord by accident!

   Everything is now hooked up, but I am awaiting delivery of a protective sleeve that fits over the crankset spindle when it is installed. The sleeve would prevent the wires from making contact with the spindle and being damaged. The bike looks great, and I'm really looking forward to getting it out on the road. Photos of the finished build are in store next time!

   One last project worth mentioning is from a return customer who had purchased the Tommasini Sintesi from me earlier this year. Robert has been collecting Campagnolo Nuovo Record parts for the Somec frame he had in his collection. SOMEC (the SOcieta MECchanica) is an underappreciated Italian brand that I became familiar with when I built a beautiful Pieroni model back in 2022.

   Robert's frame has obviously had new decals applied and has been repainted (a high-quality job). Because of the lustrous aquamarine paint, he is willing to overlook that the frame has been personalized with "Dick Blanchard' script on the top tube (unfortunately under layers of clear coat).

More to come...

Frig Newton

   Not that I have anything against the town of Newton, New Jersey, but three out of the four times I've ridden through the area, something bad has happened. About a dozen years ago, during my first visit to the Sussex Branch Trail, the rear derailleur on my mountain bike blew apart. During the Cycle Tech Sojourn in 2022, my friend Ed was removing one of his clothing layers and accidentally left some subscription glasses behind (amazingly retrieved them the next day).
   On Sunday Sue and I were doing a shortened version of the Paulinskill/Sussex Trails route, starting from Footbridge Park in Blairstown, and just before reaching the junction of the two trails, I felt a strange click and wobble at the top of my right pedal stroke. There is a removeable rectangular metal strikeplate on the bottom of my shoe that fits between the cleat and sole, which protects the surface from gouging by the pedal, and when I looked at the bottom of the shoe and saw that plate had twisted slightly, I thought maybe it was causing an uneven connection between the cleat and pedal.

   Sue passed me her mini multi-tool, and I straightened/tightened the respective parts, but that did not solve the problem at all. About a mile later the hitch in the pedal stroke became worse and then an awful creaking sound came out of the bottom bracket area. I looked down, and the large chainring was no longer parallel to the frame. As I came to a stop, I realized the driveside crank was separating from the spindle. 

   Being very familiar with how FSA cranks go together, and knowing that it is the non-driveside crank which is bolted into the spindle, I was positive this was going to be an issue not easily fixed out on the road. Since I was much more familiar with the remainder of the route, as well as the roads returning to pick up the disabled bike and stranded rider, I was the chosen one for the ride back to our car in Blairstown.

   It was a real shame that Sue didn't get to complete the ride with me, as we had been having a brutally warm and humid past couple of weeks, and we were treated to some dry days with temps in the low 80s that weekend. Much of the route is also in thick forest, which kept us out of the sun the majority of the ride.

A large portion of the Paulinskill Valley Trail looks exactly like this.

   When I picked up Sue, about an hour later, she mentioned being a little concerned, but I asked her exactly how fast she thought I could ride ten miles and then keep the car respectfully near the speed limit on the way back! She amused me when she told me that the very nice people who lived in the house near the spot where I had left her came out to check if she was okay. When they asked if she needed any tools, she replied with thanks but added that unless they had some welding skills, nothing was really going to help.

   I took some photos of the problem (shown below), not only to share here, but also in case I needed them to submit to FSA for (hopeful) replacement. This was original equipment on my Bianchi Impulso Allroad, and the bike is not even two years old! With a bit of online research, I found out there was a recall on that model of crankset for exactly the same spindle/crank separation problem, so I am hoping to be sent an alternative part.

   ...and no, I didn't fall and get a head injury when the crank fell off. I had actually made the decision to once again change up my bicycle collection, after a visit from an enthusiastic female customer. Really, I had been considering switching things up for a few months but just needed a "push".

   The mentioned customer came to me with her husband, who had broken a rear spoke on his mountain bike. He had managed to limp his bike back to their car after a ride, and they stopped by on the way home, hoping I would have the right length spoke in my collection of spares. I had been at Bikesport at the end of 2024, when they were clearing out some old stock, and I walked away with a great deal of a few dozen spokes of mixed lengths - traditional J-bends, straight pull, bladed, black and silver - for just a few bucks. I just hadn't had the time to sort them all out.

   I asked if they might like to step inside to my shop, where it was a bit cooler, and look around at my mini-museum while I sifted through the pile of spokes. She was immediately drawn to my "dead" Pinarello Prince. "Look at the fantastic curves on that frame - wow!" Her words didn't leave me for days, and I kept thinking about what first drew me to the fantastic Pinarello frames of that era.

   I certainly did not want to sink more money into repairing the Prince - it already had three flaws, and who knows if more might develop. This could have just been a fluke of a poor carbon setup for that frame. Pinarello started phasing out the double-S-curved Onda stays and fork about ten years ago, in favor of a more simplified curve, so I thought maybe I could hook up with a really late model of their earlier carbon design, hoping to take advantage of more time-tested technology in the material.

   LONG-time readers may recall that I once had an FP Due (FP2) in my collection, purchased back in 2012. What I came up with this time was the FP Quattro, and because I have a few red bikes, I was so happy to find one in Movistar team colors (by the way, very similar to those of my Cannondale SuperSix). Alejandro Valverde, an all-time favorite of mine, influenced my love of these Pinarello bikes, and he finished his career riding for the Spanish team, so that was a nice connection, too!

   Unfortunately the seller, despite my questions specific to this particular detail, misinformed me about whether the frame was compatible with mechanical shifting, so the status of this build is up in the air. I am mildly interested in the idea of Campagnolo EPS (electronic shifting), but I'm definitely not interested in the cost of the parts, plus such a project is going to require a whole bunch of reading/education. If I can convince the seller in Japan that refunding me the shipping cost is a better idea than having to pay the return shipping, maybe I'll take a shot at it.

   So, to obey my personal rule, one bike moving in means one had to be moved out. With the Saeco-Cannondale returning to my collection, I figured the SuperSix should find a new home. My friend Dan has been toiling around on a very average Scattante aluminum bike for years. For a while I had been on the lookout for something of great quality for him at a very affordable price, as he has two kids now in college (yike$!). I thought the SuperSix would be perfect for him, and I like the idea that I would still get to see it regularly on our group rides!

   Lastly, my friend has conceded that his physical ailments are going to keep him from enjoying his large collection of bicycle, so the link to Walt's Wonderful Wheels is back. Check out what he currently has for sale!

   

   

My Current Stable

Below are photos of my personal collection - I have made significant upgrades to all of the bicycles. As always, you can click on any of the images to enlarge.

   Much of the time I refer to myself as a "Cannondale guy", so it's no surprise I have a companion to my SuperSix, a 2002 R2000 Si in Saeco team colors. Probably because of the dominant Italian Saeco team, the bike came stock with a Campagnolo Record headset and a pair of the company's Proton wheels. Otherwise the bike came with Shimano Ultegra, though I installed the cool, spiraling Sakae/Ringyo CR compact cranks. See more photos here. 

   My 1995 Vitus 992 Lotto Team bicycle features ovoid aluminum tubes bonded to aluminum lugs. I initially built the bike with a complete group of rare Mavic components but have made many changes over the years to improve its fit and performance. Blog entries about the original build start (way back) here and an article on the finished bike can be found here.

   The 2023 Bianchi Impulso Allroad has hydraulic disk brakes, and the shop from which I purchased the bike upgraded the stock parts with an FSA /Shimano GRX drivetrain. I then swapped in a Cinelli stem/bar combo, Ritchey carbon seatpost and Mavic wheels. You can read an introduction to this project here and shots of the final build here.

   Claude Criquielion was a favorite of mine when I first became a pro cycling fan. The Belgian star won La Flèche Wallonne in 1989, while aboard his Hitachi team Eddy Merckx Century similar to this. I've used Cinelli Criterium bars, a Selle San Marco Rolls saddle and first generation Look pedals, like Claude used, but I built up my version with Campagnolo C-Record components. More photos can be seen here.

   Only 200 of these Roger de Vlaeminck tribute frames were built by Colnago. Essentially an early-1980s Master, the frame was originally blue with white banded logos, but it now has some cable guide mods and a sort of yellow/red flame custom paint job, probably for a small pro team. Just for fun, I put a #27 card in the braze-on hanger, which is the race number worn by the Belgian legend during the last of his four Paris-Roubaix wins. The retro-modern build was done with Campagnolo and Cinelli parts. See more photos here.

   My 2008 Cervélo Soloist Carbon is in the CSC Team colors, as all-time favorite Fabian Cancellara rode this model bicycle to victory in that year's Milano-San Remo. The bike has SRAM Force drivetrain, 3T stem and fork and Zipp 30 wheels. You can view more photos of the bike here.

   This 2008 Pinarello Prince was a bit of a dream bike for me - a replica of the Caisse d'Epargne team machine from that year. The "Prince of Spain" bike I so love, ridden by Alejandro Valverde, would be INSANELY rare and pricey, so I settled (slightly). Unfortunately, the frame developed some issues and is now just a wall hanging in the Cycle Tech "Museum". View more photos here.

Mad Skills

   I mentioned to a recent customer how I really enjoy the building and selling of vintage bicycles, but the repair/tune-up side of my business is far more consistent. It is not always the case when I want a repair to be interesting, because that often means I am running into some kind of complication, but occasionally I learn something new and useful for future projects.

   In this case someone brought me an inexpensive BMX bike that had gyro brakes, that is, a mechanism that keeps the cables from being tangled when the handlebars are rotated 360 degrees. The bike had been stored somewhere damp and the cables rusted in the housings and were completely seized. I found an inexpensive new cable kit on eBay and was enthusiastic that I could pull off reassembling the brakes, even though it wasn't something I had performed previously.

   The configuration (shown below) is made up of a top plate that is connected to the bars/steerer tube, just below the stem. This plate is where the housing for the right-hand brake lever is anchored and connected with cables to a middle plate. This plate is actually two pieces, joined by a flange, which rotate independently. The middle plate is also connected by cables to the lower plate, where housings are anchored to the head tube of the bicycle.

   The two cables on each plate are necessary to keep even pressure on the round plate as the bars are rotated. These split cables come together at a covered mechanism cyclinder on each end - one going to the brake lever and one to the rear brake. In the photo below of the Y-cable section for the handlebar end, you'll note that one side of the split is a bit longer. This compensates for the shorter length of travel needed on the right side, over to the brake lever.

   After studying all of the parts before disassembling the non-functioning brakes, putting it all back together wasn't too difficult. The real challenge was setting up the brakes, since there isn't a lot of travel in the plates up and down, which meant there wasn't much room for making corrections to the brake pressure. The rim had to be perfectly straight and the pads aligned properly on the rim's braking surface!

   As promised in my last blog entry, here is a more in-depth collection of photos of Brendan's Malvor-Bottechia bicycle. Right now I have the bike parked below the huge poster of Giuseppe Saronni that my buddy Ralph game me, as it looks incredibly similar, except with more white paint and chrome seat/chainstays. By the way, in keeping with the blog theme, this was my first experience with cloth bar tape, which is far less forgiving than cork tape! I was patient, and it turned out alright.

   I'm sure you will agree that this is one of the most beautiful machines I have built:

   Over the last few years, I have built some interesting bikes for another customer named Tom, who has learned (the hard way) about the myriad compatibility issues with custom builds. He had an old TREK 520 touring frame custom painted in a hue eerily similar to the "Congac" color of my first 10-speed, a Ross Grand Tour II from the early 1980s.

   Tom's intent was to have fatter tires, and in order to clear the frame, he went with some 650mm wheels. The front wheel had a hub had a dynamo to power lights or charge small devices, so the wheels became the priority when we realized that no adapters could possibly lower the V-brakes to a position to provide enough braking power. The only solution was to have someone re-braze the brake mounts lower on the seat stays.

   It was a shame to somewhat ruin the custom paint, but Tom had the affected area covered in black paint, and it blends in pretty well with the brown. Yet another new process for me came about when I hooked up a set of Problem Solvers "Travel Agents" to improve the cable travel from linear pull drop bar levers to V-brakes. Simply put, the contraption loops the cable around a pulley to provide the correct length of cable travel:

   Tom collects some really nice parts for his bikes, as we outfitted the TREK with Velo Orange cranks, old-school pedals and stem, a Microshift Sword drivetrain and Shimano Deore brakes. The vintage Sakae Road Champion handlebars with the randonneur bend are a nice throwback touch.

   My friend Johnathan stopped by a few weeks ago for a little "Bicycle University", as he performed a good portion of the work putting together his 1998 TREK 5500 OCLV carbon bicycle, with some minor instruction. He has watched me assemble a few bikes that make up his eclectic collection and has often lended a hand or two, so he has acquired some real wrenching skills! No, we are DEFINITELY not Lance Armstrong fans, but Johnathan works for the Postal Service, so this bike was the highlight of our work together.

   He snapped a couple of photos for me to share before proudly loading it into his car:

   Back in April, a potential customer inquired about the Colnago Export frameset I had featured in the queue of my For Sale and Projects In Progress page. I explained that I had a few builds planned ahead of it, and that my repair/tune-up work would be a priority, but he mentioned it was a future birthday present for himself and that there was no rush.

   I had all of the parts ready to go, so during a spell of bad weather days, I set to the assembly. After a few exchanges with Rich about his preferences, etc., the Colnago was completed, and we scheduled a pick up of the bike within the next couple of days.

   The specs are Campagnolo Chorus 8-speed group, Cinelli bars and stem, Selle Italia X-1 saddle and a wheelset built with Regida CSB DP-18 rims, Campagnolo hubs and Vittoria Zaffiro Pro V tires (my new vintage-look tire of choice).

Bicycles Currently For Sale & Projects in Progress

The prices listed with the bikes are a solid starting point - feel free to contact me and make an offer. Returns are accepted on defective parts only. As always, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

1980s  VICINI  57 cm       $850

This classic frame is from a smaller Italian builder. The company shop was in the city of Cesena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of the country, just northwest of San Marino. The frame and components are in exceptional condition! See more photos here.

Campagnolo Mirage 8-speed group, including: CRANKSET (170mm, 53/39t), SHIFT LEVERS, DERAILLEURS (front and rear) and BRAKES; HEADSET- Tange; HANDLEBAR- Dimension (40mm); STEM- ITM Eclipse (100mm); SEATPOST- Uno; SADDLE- Selle Italia Mundialita; WHEELSET- Mavic MA3 rims, Campagnolo hubs and Continental Duraskin-K tires

Early-1980s  LAZZARETTI  54 cm      $1150

Cicli Lazzaretti holds a special place in my heart, as I visited the shop during a 2011 trip to Rome with my late mother. I enjoyed seeing the selection of modern carbon bicycles there, but the shop at one time built fantastic steel frames, assembled with Columbus tubing, and this is a great example. I've built the bike up with Campagnolo Chorus 8-speed gruppo, as well as a set of the company's Delta wheels, and 3T stem/bars. View more images here.

Campagnolo Chorus 8-speed group, including: CRANKSET (175mm, 53/39t), BRAKE/SHIFT LEVERS, DERAILLEURS, BRAKES and HEADSET; HANDLEBAR- 3T Forma SL Ergopower 2 (39cm); STEM- 3T (1A style, 110mm); WHEELSET- Campagnolo Delta with 14-25t cassette and NEW Michelin Dynamic Classic tires

Early-1990s  PEUGEOT  1100 Team Line  56 cm      $950

This very rare frame was constructed in partnership with Vitus, using carbon tubes bonded to aluminum lugs. I built up this bicycle with appropriate French parts, primarily the Sachs-Huret "New Success" 8-speed group and Mavic wheels. View more photos of the bicycle here.

Sachs New Success 8-speed group, including: CRANKSET (53/39t, 170mm), DERAILLEURS, BRAKE/SHIFT LEVERS and BRAKES; BOTTOM BRACKET- MAVIC; HEADSET- Tange; HANDLEBAR- Philippe Franco Italia D352 (40cm) with NEW cork bar tape; STEM- Atax (90mm); SEATPOST- Kalloy); SADDLE- Leader Cosmic; WHEELSET- Mavic Cosmos with 8-speed cassette (12-21t) and NEW Michelin Dynamic Classic tires

I'm also helping a friend sell off his large bicycle collection. Please check out 

Walt's Wonderful Wheels!

IN THE WORKS...

2022  BATTAGLIN  Speed CE  54 cm      (est. $800-850)

This special project is planned to be the "Cobbles Edition", featuring custom paint and graphics. The rather boring present scheme will be stripped, but the hot red will return as the overall color. Images of legendary riders who have won the Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix multiple times will adorn the frame. Components are TBA, but some teaser shots of the artwork can be seen here.

Mid-1980s  CIÖCC  Designer '84  54cm      (est. 800-850)

While the high-quality Italian brand might not have the reputation of Colnago and Pinarello, that might only be because they've never had a presence in the pro peloton. Made with Columbus SL steel tubing, this classic comes equipped with Campagnolo and Cinelli components. It just needs some cleaning and polishing, and it will be ready to go!

Mid-1980s  BASSO  Gap  54 cm      (est. $850-900)

This is the top-of-the-line model for this respected Italian builder, constructed with Columbus SL tubing. I will be assembling the bicycle with Campagnolo 8-speed gruppo, and an appropriate Cinelli or 3T cockpit.

1978  GITANE  Trophee de France 1848  58 cm      (est. $900-950)

I had been looking for a long time for a quality frameset by the legendary French brand, and this one commemorates the date of the country's revolution. Translated as "gypsy woman", Gitane bicycles were ridden by greats like Anquetil, Hinault, Lemond and Fignon. I'm torn between building this Reynolds 531 frame up as a retro-modern machine or doing an as-original project with Campagnolo Nuovo Record parts. Interested buyer suggestions, please?

1985  COLNAGO  Nuovo Mexico  55 cm      (est. $1200-1250)

This is a rare, high-quality frame - the model was used by the Del Tongo racing team that included the legendary Guiseppe Saronni. I'd love to build this up with Campagnolo Super Record, but the parts are getting ridiculously expensive. Instead, I'll probaby build it up with slightly more modern Chorus, and I'll add in the appropriate Italian-made accessories.

1987  BIANCHI  Mondiale  55 cm      (est. $950-1000)

Every so often I feel the need for a bit of celeste, the famous color of the world's oldest bicycle manufacturer. This frameset, which is in really nice condition for its age, came stripped of its decals, and I've already applied some new ones. I plan on installing a Campagnolo 8-speed group and an Italian 3T cockpit.