cudak888 

When I built this '82 Superior about 10 years ago, there was no chance of finding cotton bar tape that would match the frame color. I gave it this brown tape, a suitable compromise.

I unearthed the Superior a few weeks ago to put a Huret Jubilee RD on it. Since the brown tape was starting to look ratty, I did a search - purely out of curiosity - to see if the cotton bar tape market had evolved. Indeed, Newbaums now carries a similar color, so I decided to give it a try.



Here's a tip when working on these Spidel levers - swap out the 9mm nuts for V-brake allen nuts.

Since the Spidels don't have any slot (on the body or cable stop) to allow for quick cable removal, this modification makes future lever removal doable with the cable still installed. Sticking a 9mm socket in here without the cables removed is not a nice sight.



After all this time, the Superior looks the way I envisioned it in the first place (though with Huret/Suntour instead of Simplex SLJ - which it initially had). It came out really nice, if I do say so myself:















The bar tape comes off a bit more reddish than the frame in natural light, but it suits it, I think.

Enjoy the pics.

-Kurt

markwesti

Beautiful Schwinn Kurt , the new Newbaums's look right to me . I have Newbaum's on two of my bikes now (black and gray) .

TenGrainBread 

I normally like a contrast color for bar tape but matching them here just works. Very very nice Superior. Any plans for decals?

cudak888 

Nice thing about the Newbaums is that the weave looks no different than Tressostar/Veloflex, or any of the classic cotton of the day. it always looks period correct for C&V.

Part of me has been curious if a deep burgundy Brooks Pro would be suitable, but there's a point where the quest for matching doo-dads winds up looking like last decade's fixie.



I'm happy with the nicely toned brown Pro that it has now. Definitely an improvement over the black, large rivet Pro that was on there.

I'm not putting any decals on it. Part of it's clean look is the lack of anything but the excellent circular Paramount headbadge up front. I've considered swapping it to a Superior badge as it should have, but finding the '83 model badges in red isn't easy, isn't cheap, and it'll probably justify some money-grubbing eBay jerk to part out a Superior frameset that shouldn't be touched.

It does have a 531 sticker at the bottom of the seattube, and there's a very unusual PDG multistripe decal at the top - but it appears to be a copy of the original. I've never seen one with such pronounced outlines/strokes.



-Kurt

randyjawa 

Truly an attractive bicycle. The sort of thing that I like to build, myself. Well done!

pastorbobnlnh 

Kurt, as is normal for you, perfection is achieved! Of course your superior (sic) photography skills also add to the mystique and beauty of your builds. Great work on the new bar wrap.

As an owner of several different color Brooks saddles, my experience is that they will darken to the point of nearly looking black. This has definitely been the case with my British Racing Green B17 and my Royal Blue Professional. I have to place them next to a Black Brooks in order to discern a slight difference. My guess is the Maroon Professional would do the same. The Violet Colt is the only one which seems to have maintained its hue, butt (sic) even that has darkened.

If I were to make you leather hoods for the Spidel levers--- what color would you choose? Unfortunately you'd need to remove them and send them my way for a few weeks--- and this would be a winter project since it is time to drop my C&V 1983 StarCraft in the lake for the season! Dock goes in this afternoon!

cudak888 

This is the only frame I can recall building entirely to a personal vision, and I think that's its advantage. Everything else I've built has basically been "make it original" or "throw Campy on a frame that didn't have it." Gets repetitive after a while...

There's a couple more areas for perfection on this one (especially the toe overlap - the VO fender stays present a huge problem in that respect), but visually it's just about there. FYI, the original Superior pictures were taken with the very first DSLR I'd ever experienced, and borrowed to boot. Any other "photography" was just by luck.

I read the thread where you were chiming in on how the color-infused Brooks eventually turn black. I can see that, but I'm surprised that they aren't turning the brown of the leather as the tint wears off. Have a pic?

I'd match the hoods to the saddle, but I'm really happy not to have any on this one. It's one less visual distraction (and less visual weight on the front of the bike) and one less thing to weather over the years. You don't want to see the once-NOS Weinmann grips on the '61 Paramount now - they've turned to "Barn Find" status.

-Kurt

randyjawa 

How I agree. The canvas was/is the bicycle. The artist is you, the builder. The result is an extension of your imagination, coupled with intended final purpose. After my last post, regarding your bike, I began to think of "elegant" and that is exactly what you achieved. Put a matching saddle on the bike, and elegant would become garish, in my opinion.

As for the "gets repetitive" comment I could not agree more. How many Campy groups does one have to build with before Simplex or Stronglight starts to look pretty good...


and/or Mafac,,,


and/or Universal...



I got off of the Campy everything focus some time ago. Nothing wrong with Campagnolo except for its ubiquity - seems like every high end vintage road bike is fitted the same way.

pastorbobnlnh 

I'll have to take some pictures of the colored Brooks (that sounds politically incorrect and culturally insensitive somehow) side by side with a black one. A Maroon one might migrate toward brown as it ages. Mine, however, have gone over to the "Dark Side."

TenGrainBread 

Same here. Right now my only Campy parts are Record hubs on the Sports Tourer and a quick release seatpost binder on the High Sierra.

noobinsf 

What a gorgeous bike. Looks much older than it is (in the best way).

Wildwood 

Brown Newbaum is nice.
On a non-Campy build no less.



AustroDaimler Olympian

cudak888 

Bingo.

I'll have to admit though that I have nothing against NR/SR/Triomphe brake calipers. I gained a massive amount of respect for them recently when I hooked one up to one of those so-so, short-reach Dia-Compe brake levers commonly used on North Roads. The stopping power was tremendous, and the brake feel utterly sublime. The little bits of Campagnolo that I have here and there on the Superior is proof that I'm still can't give it up entirely.

...but I can do without the Nuovo Record crankset. The original 151 Record is beautiful, and the NR is nothing to sneeze at, but you couldn't have brought up a better example than that Stronglight to show how visually stunning the alternatives can be. Thing is, I've found NR cranks in the wild before, but I've only once found a Stronglight 93 - and it was a single arm without rings.

Mind, part of me just wants to take the harshest file to the Mafac Racers to fix their rough finish though - but at that rate, Jan Heine's Compass brakes are probably a better option.


Fill in your preferred "Adam Driver emotes evil like a lumpy leather saddle" joke here.


That's the trick! Also one of the reasons I won't decal it - the typeface will either betray the bike's age, or forcibly ask the observer to believe that its older than it is - also not ideal.

Those black, hammered fenders almost disappeared into the wheelset. Whatare they?

-Kurt

Wildwood 

Black, lightly hammered fenders from Handsome.

https://handsomecycles.com/collectio...s-fender-parts

look for sale prices.

JaccoW

I read through this and the Faux French thread today and I have to say this is a beautiful bike @cudak888!
The maroon fits it very well.

Lovely lugs and parts on this bike.

Wildwood 

Amazing - still a great link. and the Sale recco makes it uncannily timely.