Andy_K 

I've had a thread about this bike before, but now it's finally finished, or as close to finished as my bikes ever get. So, I thought I'd share it again.

I feel like this bike is a bit of a group project. So many of the parts have come to me through the generosity of others. The Racing T crankset was a gift from @nlerner as thanks for letting him borrow a bike for The Last Winter Tour of the Willamette Valley. The Stronglight Delta headset was a gift from a non-BF member friend as thanks for schlepping his bike down to L'Eroica and back. The Daytona brakes were given to me by @Spaghetti Legs, who says they were in a box of Campy stuff a benevolent neighbor had given to him. The Campy front hub was given to me as a pure act of kindness by @Mad Honk, who says it was on a junkyard find wheel. He cleaned and polished the hub and sent it my way. The black rims and tan sidewalls were an intellectual gift from @RiddleOfSteel who did some Photoshop mock-ups and advised me on the aesthetics of this build. Most of the spokes were part of a bulk buy that @Mr. Spadoni was kind enough to let me in on. In short, if you're looking for someone feeling the need to pay forward some good karma, now is the time to hit me up.

Anyway, I know you're here for the pics, not the back story. So, without further ado....















The shifters and derailleurs, incidentally, were an eBay find. I had been trying to talk someone else into buying them, because the Buy It Now price was pretty good ($80). The other guy decided against it, so I bought them without having a need at the time. I put them on the shelf and literally forgot about them. After I bought this frame I was looking through my parts shelf for something else and found these and was like "Oh...." It's nice to have surplus.

mechanicmatt

Flipping perfect build. Gorgeous.

RiddleOfSteel

Beautiful bike! Love all the colors--the black tape and saddle really let the blue-green of the frame and the tan wall tires to really animate things (in the best way). Are those tires 28mm? They have to at least be 25mm, I would think!

merziac

Very nice, well done.

I can, as a never got nuthin for any serious hills sot, attest that that drivetrain can and will take you anywhere.

Great stuff, that 9 speed triple.

T-Mar

Decals are incorrect for a 1989 model. That is a pre-1988 decal set and the only pre-1988 models with SLX, at least in the USA, were the Centennario and X-4, both of which are readily identifiable. Consequently, unless this a foreign market model or a re-decal, things aren't adding up. Still, it's a nice build.

Bianchigirll 

FABULOUS!! I like that faux chromovelto color. Great job. How does it ride?

Spaghetti Legs 

Andy posted a thread a while back in which we discussed the likelihood of a repaint on this. I think you can see remnants of underlying Celeste in one of the pics. It does have features of an ‘89 Giro I used to own, namely Gipiemme dropouts, plain seat stay caps, the little holes above the rear dropouts of unknown use (to me) but which were originally covered by little round Bianchi stickers.

That’s very nicely done Andy! Do you remember the spindle length on the BB? I’m going to put a Willow Tripleized Campy crank on my Heron but it didn’t come with a bottom bracket.

thinktubes 

Real nice!

I like the attention to detail with the eggbeaters.

And I'm alwys down for using a Stronglight Delta.

ryansu

why am I suddenly craving calzone and with a nice Chianti ...? nicely done sir

Wildwood 

Nicely done Andy.
As always.

i relate to this build for 2 reasons:
love my vintage bike w/ Campy9 triple;
i have a ‘karma’ bike that BF members physically handled and contributed to.

Many of my frames have come from members or leads generated on this Forum.

Andy_K 

Yes, 28s. I was a bit surprised. I would have thought this was into the era of unnecessarily restricted tire clearance, but 28s fit with no problem.

Andy_K 

The ride is fantastic. I've only put about 200 miles on it so far, so there might still be some placebo effect, but this has been comfortable and fun to ride. "Laterally stiff and vertically compliant" I forgot to adjust the headset before the first test ride (as in, it wasn't even finger tight) so that was a little sketchy, but since then it has felt very solid.

Andy_K 

Sounds like a thread idea..."show me your bikes that other BF members have contributed to." Is yours the Zeus?

Andy_K 

This one is 107, which seems to be a good length for Racing T cranksets. I've gotten kind of lazy about chainline recently, and so far am not regretting it. If the crank clears the chainstays and the FD reaches the big ring, I'm happy. I'm never sure how much to trust the available opinions about the ISO/JIS adjustment factor. There seem to be differing opinions as to how closely Campy cranks match either standard and during which years they did. Of course, using a tripleizer gives you the additional factor of having to add 5 mm to whatever was originally specified for the crank. I ended up with a 122.5 with the triplized NR crank on my De Rosa. That's more than anyone's math says it should be, but I had problems with a shorter spindle. Then there's the asymmetry issue. I feel like I'm not helping here.

RiddleOfSteel

That was a weird era for sure. My question was more toward "I can't believe Vittoria made 28mm versions of their Corsa tires, in tan wall!"

I'll file that fact away for a friend--the ever burgeoning trend of "fattest tires on a [1980's+] race frame" continues.

Spaghetti Legs 

Yeah it’s helpful. This one is built off of an 8 speed Record crank which uses a 111 BB. I got a good deal on an asymmetric 124 mm Olympus BB, so I’ll try that one out.

Wildwood 

Zeus is surely a karma bike.
When I pass it on, it will be for almost free.

BF has been a 'junkie' for frames and bikes - to which I am now addicted.
and lots of components and stuff, as well.


But most importantly = Keep 'em coming Andy, nice work.

gugie 

I feel we need to test it on the Bald Peak downhill.

tricky 

Love it. Can't wait to see it out on a ride. Speaking of which, it's been a while.

Andy_K 

You may be right. As soon as it’s dry. Maybe June?