jetboy 

did some work on the frame I got from Brian: still in progress but I put together a little durace crank/bb with old ultegra STI package. sort of crappy but functional wheelset.

the wheelset is black on black with some black, so I went for the black seat and post, and I have some black handlebar wrap. I do not have a black quill at the moment- but i may just let that go. there are some silver highlights and the quill is pretty short anyway. cable runs will probably be black as well. I am just using some old grey stuff to measure lengths in the pic.

i also still need to do some touchups to the paint. need to get myself to Sephora.

RobbieTunes

Nice. The dark accents on the headset look good, the polished stem looks just fine. It's going to have a nice balance to the colors when you wrap it. I never envisioned it with black, but now, of course, I surely can. Nothing wrong with Forte Titan wheels; some guys here use them on the local cx and gravel rides; they hold up fine, and from what I hear, repl bearings are cheap and easy if needed. 9-sp Ultegra is pretty bulletproof in both generations, just hard to find caps for the levers (if they get messed up, I simply paint them silver or black).

If I had the dough, I'd have an Ironman ride in Kansas, and charter buses from all points of the compass. Sort of like a gathering of the cult.... I'm trying to get an Ironman ride arranged here, but it seems a lot of the bikes I've built and sold locally have moved away. Well, that's progress, I guess.

RobbieTunes

UPDATE: Some folks that know me understand that the flat black calipers, combined with the gloss black stem and post, well, give me the hives. So, I've located a gloss black rear in the "aero" caliper, called a TRP R725, and a NOS gloss black 105 front caliper. I've mounted them, and I feel much better.

I'll update pics.

The "aero" calipers are really nice, work very smoothly with almost any brake lever, and are very adjustable. They just take about 30-45 minutes each to set up. Once evened out, balanced, adjusted to the rim, and with Goldilocks clearance, they're the bomb. The wheels definitely have to be true, though, and tire clearance is even less than the frame, as far as trying to run 25's or larger. I had a pair of Conti GranSport Race 700x25's, and the variance in tire depth (or lack of quality control) had one part of one tire rubbing on the rear. While the tires are pretty smooth, they had to come off, in favor of a Conti Triathlon on the front and a folding Ultra Sport on the rear. They should wear about even.

jetboy 

yeah, the caps are nasty and ugly. lucky you cant see that from the side. I think painting them black is a good suggestion. headset just happened to be black and is the original 105- the only thing left that is!

it might have been more elegant to go white - but let me tell you.. i work in a shop.. and well, white bar tape is only white for like 3 minutes. then its just dirty.

how many have you built??

fleslider 

My newest addition, a 1989 Expert in the classy black attire..

Not much is original on the bike except for the front wheel, Cranks, Derailuers and GPX brake calipers. not sure if im going to convert it to 600 Tricolor or find the missing pieces and keep it Suntour GPX.

Either way i tore it down today and started detailing the frame. Here are some before pics.

jetboy 

sharp bike. i'd like to find one in black- never seen one in person actually.

zs3889

I'm looking for a short stem like the one on your bike. If you're gonna swap the stem out, I'd buy it from you for a reasonable price.

Great bike, great price, wrong place!

https://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/bik/5060289798.html

jetboy 

the rare 21 speed model I see - but yeah, good price on that (fleslider got his even cheaper as posted in the craiglist finds thread). seems like the black ones are stealth and fly under the radar

fleslider 

Sounds like a plan, I wasn't gonna use the stem as its to short for me. Its a Nitto Technomic Stem i can snap a pic later on, Its dirty but in good shape.

fleslider 

When i originally contacted him about getting some more pics the bike was on CL for $150 and a couple days later he knocked it down to $135. so i sent him another one to say yeah im interested in it.

I originally got back an email from him that said the bike needed nothing. which was kind of true it did work. was it up to my standards..nope. So a full teardown and rebuild is underway!

RobbieTunes

Dig those red hoods.

zs3889

Cool. I'd like to see it with measurements for the reach is possible. The shortest I have seen are 60 mm so hopefully this is 60 mm or shorter is even better. Send me a pm!

Thanks.

fleslider 

I dont have enough Posts for PM zs3889, But you can email me at 1960kdf@gmail.com about the stem.

It looks like its a 60mm stem. Nitto Tecnomic

heres a pic

rccardr 

Seems to me someone on the thread/Forum was looking for a 56cm Ironman frame recently, but I can't find the posting.

Thanks to the fortuitous intersection of my continuing search for one of these in my size and the inevitable inability of sellers to use a simple tape measure, I have a very decent frame for sale: 56cm (CTC) '85 in the rare silver with blue head tube. Sloping crown fork, Shimano 600 headset, Sugino seat post binder bolt, original Sugino seat post.

PM me for details.

Ayers

Mine is a hodge podge of late model 10 speed Tiagra stuff.



Soon to get Dura Ace 10 speed downtube shifting, tricolor levers and Dura Ace brakes.

RobbieTunes

They almost had to make that a "Tecno" stem.

RobbieTunes

Even the hodge podge is killer.

RobbieTunes

My ears have perked up.

rccardr 

You know how to reach me, Mr. Perky Ears.

icepick_trotsky 

I believe @Ayers was the one looking, but (s)he seems to have found one. See above.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-frameset.html

rccardr 

Aha. Thanks.
Guess I'll post this on the frames thread or build it up over the winter & sell it. Too small for me.Looks like it was framesavered at some point in the past. Needs some touchup around the BB and the drive side top tube but nothing bad. 56 CTC seat tube and 57CTC top tube.Comes with Shimano 600 headset that I’ve cleaned and repacked with Phil grease, original Sugino seatpost (the good one with the cast top pieces), Sugino seatpost binder bolt and dropout screws.I haven’t done anything but the headset; an hour or two with rubbing compound, touchup paint and wax would make this baby shine.Note that it has the Shimano Type A shifter braze ons. These can be easily modified to accept later square base shift levers or cable stops, I posted a thread about it a year or two ago. BTW, I have a commercial UPS account so shipping is less expensive than full retail. Couple pics for anyone interested:

markwesti

It's a 55cm plans down the road D A groupo and custom paint , dark candy apple red and pearl white . I'll keep you posted .

revchuck 

Hope those plans include new tires...

RobbieTunes

Very nice. Note the differences, folks, in the sloped fork crown on the '85 of rccardr's, and the '86 of markwesti.
hey filed it with a corner in '85, rounded it in '86. It's a shame the previous owner didn't realize 70% of braking power is on the front.

Welcome to the forum, markwesti. Nice bike. Custom paint on an Ironman is cool, makes the mystique more mystiquier.
VeloCals has the decals, and you can actually change the colors of the fonts, logos, etc. If you go whole hog, don't forget the Tange decals.

We'll be glad to see pics when posted, are just as glad now, of course. The cult is alive and well, and growing. As it should be.

jetboy 

that frame is ridiculously beautiful @rccardr if it was ~3cm larger id be all over it.