I'm sure some of you have seen my request for black anodized/painted vintage components over in the C&V Sales section, so this build won't be a complete surprise. But for those who haven't, I'm putting all black components on this lovely 3Rensho instead of opting for a nice Dura-Ace, Super Record, or Superbe Pro groupset that it likely deserves. Inspired by a few photos of some nice pink and black bikes and with a desire to do something different, I figured I'd give it a go.
Here's where I'm starting from. I did weigh the frame and the fork before installing the headset (with only the dropout adjust screws and seatpost binder bolt left on) and came up with a weight of 2016 grams for the frame and 786 grams for the fork.
This frameset came to me with a very nice Suntour Superbe Pro headset, which I unfortunately can't use. Forgot to grab a picture of the frameset with the Superbe headset installed, so you're seeing it here with a Tange Falcon FL250c headset. I was having trouble tracking down any vintage headsets that were anodized, in decent condition, and didn't cost a fortune. So I opted to go with a new part here instead. It's quite a nice headset though and I think fits the frame nicely. All aluminum construction, sealed cartridge bearings, and comes in at a svelte 86 grams.
I opted to use this Gipiemme shifter mount as it will give me the freedom to use a wide range of downtube shifters, and it's mostly black to boot. I may end up painting the whole thing black, but we'll see how far I want to go.
For the bottom bracket, I'll be using an old World Class titanium bottom bracket. Still spins nicely and only weighs 162 grams. Figured while I'm at it, I might as well use some lighter components where I can just to complicate things further.
I was originally planning to compromise with the derailleurs and just find a pair with black accents, but then I came across this braze-on Suntour Superbe Pro front derailleur and couldn't resist. The anodization has faded and is missing in quite a few places, but I think I can make it presentable with some touch up paint. Another nice, lightweight component that comes in at 80 grams.
The only real downside is that it requires me to use a braze-on adapter clamp to secure it to the frame. The only one I could find in 28.6mm diameter and that was black was this unit made by Problem Solvers. It's a little meaty (it weighs 30 whole grams!) and I'd like to find an alternative, but it works for the time being.
For the rear derailleur I found this Suntour Sprint derailleur that I believe came off an old Cannondale "Black Lightning." The Suntour logo is missing a large chunk, but the rest of the derailleur is in great condition overall. Or at least as good as I can expect with my fairly strict requirements. Comes in at 204 grams. From my quick research, this era of Sprint was positioned in between Superbe and Cyclone in the Suntour line-up, so it should shift nicely as well.
As mentioned in my for sale post, I have a black Velo Orange Grand Cru crankset (nice vintage style and with drillium for extra lightness) and a carbon tubular wheelset that I'll be using for this build. The carbon wheelset may not be many's first choice, but the wheels are black, they're light, and they're aero. So I think they end up being a perfect fit. Sporting a 9 speed cassette currently, I'll try that for starters, but may end up needing to drop down to 8 speed depending on how much range I can get the derailleur/shift levers to cover.
Threw everything together for a quick test of the colors to make sure I wasn't making a grave mistake and I think it is turning out quite nicely so far. Debating on whether to hit the white Grand Cru logo with some acetone to really black out the crankset, but otherwise am quite happy with how it looks.
