Nemosengineer 

Hi Crank_addict
I am a big fan of the Modolo Professional's. My biggest problem with any build is the amount of components left over from changing plans. The amount of available titanium is really a wonderful thing and like you said, the price is reasonable, the only pain I have is waiting for the stuff to show up in the mail box. I really enjoyed seeing your titan, it's a very nice build.

: Mike

RobbieTunes

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Teledyne-Titan-vintage-bicycle-frameset/173791434517?hash=item2876c6d715:gp0AAOSwgPVcY1aA:rk:1f:0

58cm

unterhausen

Robbie, did you ever do anything with the frame I sold you?

RobbieTunes

No, sir, the cracked one is still sitting here, like the day it arrived. I've not found a welder yet who wanted to take a stab at it.
I do have a carbon fork for it, though....

TenGrainBread 

Robbie, can you post a picture of the crack? I might be able to help you out.

RobbieTunes

If the censors allow it.

TenGrainBread 

Not THAT crack

Nemosengineer 

Well the hunt for 4238 TZ CLB spec brakes has been interesting (it doesn't help that CLB's P/N for the lesser caliper is 3842) as most of the sets I have encountered are compact 38-47 mm calipers and what I'm looking for are the 46-57 mm calipers. I'm not sure if I'm hunting a unicorn or if the longer TZ calipers are really out there. So things I have discovered is the Titan needs calipers about 52 mm long minimum, so maybe I should be investigating other calipers.

One of the nicer references I have found very valuable is the Palo Alto Bicycles 1976 catalog that lists components by weight and the lists are comprehensive, see the link below:

Palo Alto Bicycles 1976

Switching topics I would like your thoughts on hub selection as I have two hubsets to build from, fairly close in weight and condition,,,

The Weyless Hubs, period correct, mechanically perfect, and somewhat painful to disassemble. I perceive these to be a bit fragile (but so is the frame), I do have a spare hubset for parts. I'm thinking these are the "correct choice".



Or the steel axle O.M.A.S. more easily serviceable than the Weyless, the weight is somewhat in the ballpark, not exactly period correct as I believe these are later than 1980. My perceived downside is these are too Italian looking for a French build but I like them a lot, but there is a 45 gram weight penalty..



Your Thoughts Are Welcome, Thanks: Mike

RobbieTunes

Weyless all the way. Less.

Chombi1 

CLB did make a brakeset witha longer reach. It was called the Omega.
I think it came later than the Compact Professionel. But I think it did retain the lightweight properties their brakesets were known for and the cam toggle type quick release the top models had. Good news is, the Omega is priced much cheaper than the Professionel by most sellers if you can find them. Maybe because they are long reach and not too many are looking for such these days. Haven't seen a full Omega brakeset being sold for a while, but they do pop up once in a while at eBay....

steelbikeguy

hey, nice to see a reference to the Palo Alto catalog! I scanned that and sent it off to Mark B. a very long time ago. Glad to hear that it's been useful/interesting to someone! I know that I had spent a lot of time looking at the component weights too.

regarding hubs... I always thought the Weyless hubs just looked like a highly engineered and sophisticated product. No idea how they actually worked, but they sure looked sexy in the advertisements!




Steve in Peoria

big chainring 

How many fixies were made?

At the ripe old age of 16 I rode on this guys, Ron Skarin, wheel in warm ups at the Northbrook track. Just so happened to drop into a paceline and Skarin was right in front of me. I kept staring at his bike and creeping ever so close to his wheel. Eventually we had a line of 40-50 riders in tow, touching wheels would have caused one serious pile up.The following week Skarin would go on to set a record time in the 4000 meter pursuit at Nationals on his Teledyne Titan. (1976?)

Salamandrine 

The OMAS might be a couple years earlier than you think, but I don't know. The Italians were often a few years ahead of the trends.

Regardless, I vote for the Weyless, cuz of course you want those.

Keep in mind they are a little dangerous. Probably appropriate for a 70s weight weenie bike. I still remember someone in my bike club eating it because his Weyless QR quick released when it shouldn't have. I think it actually broke. Just something to be aware of. Proceed with caution.

RobbieTunes

The reach issue is what caused me to use Superbe 4700 stoppers, I tried DA7402 and Suntour GPX calipers and neither had sufficient reach. My first gen. DA worked, but were butt ugly compared to the Superbe.

It was kind of a shame, as I had a GPX, DA7400, and a Sachs Rival group on hand. None of the calipers would work, and in the end, I stuck with a 120mm rear setup out of fear re: the BB welds.

Half the fun, anyway, right?

Salamandrine 

I seem to recall it was fairly common for people to run campy brakes with lightening bolt kits on weight weenie bikes. That's another way to go if you can't find CLB.

RE reach: In the 70s, normal reach (47-57) was still normal. Short reach was still short. Make it difficult in most cases to put 80s brakes on 70s bikes.

crank_addict

Yes indeed and lighter weight than the already svelte CLB caliper was from Galli with factory titanium bolts. In the case of the Titan build, I probably wouldn't be eager using a longer reach Galli Ti for consistent use. Easy rides or show and tell, perhaps.

Another was a Swiss private label catalog offering of modified Campagnolo. All of this stuff was super expensive.

Regarding brake reach, I have an early 1970s Witcomb tt racer / 700c / that the brake mounts are right on the deck. Opposite issue- I can't find a 'short' enough sidepull of that era to fit. The bike is original and built with full Campy N Record but brakes are very ugly modified Weinmann centerpulls.

To stay the course with centerpulls, I acquired two pairs of GB Coureurs shortest reach avail, of which neither work. Decided to toss away the original hacked Weinmann but replace with a clean pair and grind the slot upwards.

Nemosengineer 

Hi Steve,
Thanks for doing that scan, it's the perfect snap shot of that era and there's so much usable information in there, and thanks Mark B. for keeping it on line and available.
: Mike

repechage

I think could have been 74, 75, or 76. Northbrook had a lock on the Nationals....good track for pursuiting. That was it in my view.
That bike would get stolen in late 75 or 76, Just cannot recall. Never to be seen again.
At the time is was the only one. The early Teledyne catalogs had a track frame listed, but the order never was fulfilled.
I have to correct myself, probably '75 or '76, in 1974 Skarin used an analog display bike computer, dial indicators for speed and cadence. Kind of cool, not cheap, like $300 in 1974.

repechage

I had a Weyless jersey I liked very much, they knitted the body as a tube, no side seams. Wool, and comfortable, durable.
I grew out of it unfortunately.

Chombi1 

Who knows, that uber rare Skarin track Titan could be in a secret bike collection in countries like Japan, where it is also rumored that a lot of stolen famous artwork are now secretly hidden away in collections (Yakuza?).....

Nemosengineer 

Salamandrine, RobbieTunes, crank_addict, Chombi1, and big chainring.
I hope all you guys are having a great weekend. Thanks to everyone and the Weyless will be used for the wheel build. The concerns that were brought up about axle and QR breakage breakage, there is only one grip surface on these hubs and its on the drive side rear hub, so in horizontal dropouts the Weyless hub had a reputation for slipping. My thoughts are to prevent the slipping people would run a lot of tension on the QR to prevent the hub from shifting in the dropouts, If the QR goes ping... I think that is the root of the problem and thankfully the Titan has vertical dropouts so I think I'm OK.
On the subject of brakes which at the moment are the bain of my existence, I have come up with a stopgap measure (see what I did there). First edition Weinmann Carrera's with a reach of 45 to 58 mm for $29.00, thanks eBay, the Carrera's should be in my hands Friday, the attached photo is courtesy of the eBay vendor. All I can say is this is something that fits, that gives me time to find a more permanent solution. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and there all under consideration as he search goes on.



Very minor progress was made with other parts, the 3ttt Record stem lost 25 grams of weight with a new set of titanium hardware, and now weighs 245 grams down from 270.

Before


After


Best Wishes: Mike

crank_addict

Chombi1 

Fantastic! Really nice to see another serious weight weenie project in BF C&V forum again!!

Chombi1 

Cool advertising from TT,..... but wondering about that last pic.....
Supposed to be stress analysis on the frame..... but where is the stress coming from??

crank_addict

Follis Titan 1975