Drillium Dude 

A little progress is made with each passing day.

Today I received this bike's "special part" from @shnibop: curved Campy Record gear levers. I traded a just-as-rare pair of curved gear levers for these. Received this afternoon and painted/installed about 30 minutes ago:



Friday I get the rear triangle straightened away, then finish cabling up the brakes and derailleurs that evening with the hopes that the following day I have a fun and uneventful Gorge test ride.

DD

natterberry 

Those levers are super cool, DD.

Drillium Dude 

I noticed this while getting the bike ready for Friday's drive down to Portland:



Here's the replacement:



@Andy Antipas sold the Michelin Select pair to me at last year's vintage ride/show at Bob Freeman's. They say 700 x 25, so I figured a little fatter rubber would be nice for the test ride, but they look more like 23s which, honestly, I like

Beautiful tires which I hope perform better than the Dynamic Classics; those things were heavy and cut waaaay too easily.

DD

Drillium Dude 

Thank you - I like them, too

DD

SurferRosa

This craigs seller has a Bianchi branded Avocet Racing saddle.

I contacted another bike seller ... about his Brooks. haha.

Andy Antipas 

Jeff,

I have been following your new bike thread. Definitely an iconic bike and it is getting the proper care and feeding it deserves.

I hope you enjoy the ride. Have fun in Portlandia with Gugie, Andy K, and the rest of BF PDX gang.

Hopefully, I can visit with you folks in the not to distant future.

Ciao,

AA

cudak888 

DD, I've been lurking in this thread since you started it, but just had to chime in with my appreciation here. It's really coming out beautiful (and just the right level of "over the top-yet-functional" too). Those curved shifter levers are the icing on the cake.

Rear triangle should be easy enough to sort out, if nail-biting to watch. My only concern is why it wound up so far off from center in the first place.

While it wasn't uncommon in this era for frames to be shipped without proper alignment, shops selling bikes of this caliber usually had the knowledge and understanding to call out the frame table with a rear triangle as off as this.

I highly recommend also checking that the seattube is square with the BB, vertically. You might find yourselves cold setting more than you anticipated.

-Kurt

Drillium Dude 

I think I'll keep what I have

One thing I decided from the start was to not go down either the pantographed or Celeste accessory route. Personal choice; not making a comment on those that like to match the saddle, tape, cables and water bottle to the frame paint. Although I would like to go one more step in matching up stuff by finding an appropriate dark-blue water bottle.

DD

Drillium Dude 

Thanks, Andy - we'll be thinking of you on the ride! We do miss you at the PNW rides and shows, but you must be happy as heck to be back with family on an everyday basis after so long away. We'll catch up in the future one day

DD

Drillium Dude 

Thanks Kurt! I see the gear levers in the same way, which is why they get the "special component" distinction on this build. As far as alignment goes, it's a mystery to me, too. There's no obvious sign of damage or crash, so it's hard to understand why the rear end is skewed to the left, but I have no doubts @gugie will be able to put it right. I hope we don't have to tweak the seat tube!

As far as watching goes, I'll be pacing outside the door, chain-smoking; I ain't wanting to be seeing that!

DD

SurferRosa

Maybe not in blue, but there are several really cool looking Bianchi bottles on ebay under $17. One is grey ... might look great with your grey housing.

Drillium Dude 

You know me - I'm picky about the look, so in this case it's more about a particular color than Bianchi branding. Basic white will work for the time being.

I found this lovely bottle, semi-vintage (90s), on Ebay but can't tell if the blue is the correct shade - and when you're going matchy-matchy, it must match. Don't really want to spend 30 bux and find out it doesn't



DD

BFisher

For what it's worth, I'm running these:


...on one of my bikes. Different sidewalls, and mine are spec'd 700x20 - measuring 22 on my rims. Same tread pattern as yours.
They were NOS in the sealed box with the bike. I have 225 miles on them and they are holding up well. They roll nicely, too. Good luck with yours.

Drillium Dude 

The skinwall version looks good! I don't have calipers with which to measure mine accurately, but they sure don't look like 25s - and they barely look like 23s (or at least Vittoria Corsa 23s). If the tread patterns are the same, I'm assuming the rubber is also the same, so perhaps the only difference is the carcass/thread count. It's getting tougher to find good options for some sort of skin/tan wall tires. I'm excited to try these.

DD

Drillium Dude 

I'm finally back from Portland and a visit to @gugie's Atelier along with a ride along the Gorge with @Andy_K. I have a couple bike pics and lots of scenery pics to download/edit tonight, and tomorrow I'll get definitive detail pics of the completed bike.

Just wanted to pop in here and thank both Mark and Andy for taking care of me this weekend; we got the rear triangle/rear wheel issues sorted Friday evening and Andy took me on an awesomely-scenic shakedown ride on Saturday. Thanks a million, guys!

For now, let's just say my newest acquisition handled everything thrown at it today with aplomb - and then some. Really a revelation how this bike felt over various road surfaces (some really crappy) - and its climbing manners. Ooh, I'm going to spend the rest of the summer on this baby

Teaser pics:





DD

SurferRosa

Good one!

And congrats on everything working out.

merziac

Glad you got it all sorted, looks great and what a pair. Glad you got out to the Gorge as well.

BFisher

Congrats on getting the grail in tip-top shape!

It's a stunner for sure. Interested to read more details.

Drillium Dude 

Thanks, Bill - and I'll tell ya, I was pretty happy it worked out, too. Now I can enjoy this bike to its fullest

DD

Drillium Dude 

Van, that Gorge ride is really awesome! We've got some nice rides up here in WA, but I am seriously jealous of you guys living so close to the Gorge Trail.

The bike is going to get a lot of use for the remainder of the year; it's everything and more than I expected.

DD

Drillium Dude 

Thank you! Only had to make one small adjustment as the saddle began to slip a bit backwards. I'd brought a few tools along so that was sorted quickly.

Hoping the weather dries a bit here so I can take the Bianchi out for some detail photos. I'll post 'em and give some ride impressions this evening.

DD

SurferRosa

Let's ride down to Seward Park one sunday before summer ends:

https://parkways.seattle.gov/2019/01...cycle-sundays/

Might still do it today if the chance of rain drops.

Drillium Dude 

Heh - I was just down that way last Sunday:









Sure, I'd be up for another run - maybe plan on the 18th?

DD

Drillium Dude 

From today's short 25 mile local ride:



I took a bunch of pics of the bike in Redmond. I'll upload them here a little later tonight, and include riding impressions with the final write-up.

DD

cudak888 

The pics say everything...but some of us are waiting with baited breath to hear about what was up with the rear triangle.

-Kurt