robbyville

Some here may remember that about a year ago I received back into my possession my favorite bike of all time a Derosa SLX that I purchased in 1992. The bike was a frankenbike put together using the only pets I could afford at the time. It was well used until about 1999. It sat idle on a variety of balconies fading in the sun and I eventually sent it to some friends back in BC so that they could use it both on the road and on their wind trainer.

i got the bike back, stripped it, cleaned it, and had the fork re chromed. It’s sat waiting for a group to be found. Today, I pulled the trigger on a mid ‘90’s campy chorus group with monoplane brakes but 8spd brifters. Pics of the group seem like it’s in great shape but I plan to have the anodizing removed and the group polished along with an old c record seat post. I’m using my spare set of Industry nine I25’s set up tubeless for a nod towards modern.

So question, I have a blue old USPS saddle that pretty much matches the blue in the derosa logo. Think I should use that with blue bar tape or something different?

rubiksoval

Absolutely helllll noooo. Toss that saddle. It shouldn't go on any bike, but it should most definitely not besmirch a classic De Rosa.

primov8

Definitely a no go for that USPS saddle and not sold on the wheelset. I know the wheelset is that hint of modern but I'm picturing that beautiful De Rosa rolling on a set of Ambrosio Nemesis tubulars (or similar box section wheels), tan sidewall tires. For the saddle, I'd go with a Selle Anatomica H1-oxblood copper and matching bar tape.

bruce19

A blue saddle and bar tape would be unique and get lots of attention. Although you asked, I would suggest that you ignore our opinions and try it. If you like it...good. If not, change it. It's your sense of aesthetics not mine.

robbyville

thanks for the thoughts and reply! I hear you and might agree I just don’t know about a standard black?

Hey Primov, thanks for playing! That could be an interesting color choice, I’ll see if I can find someone to photoshop an old pic of the bike and see what that would look like. I hear you about the wheels and would love to if possible but given the world these days I’m not sure that I’m up for the spend when I have a perfectly good and never mounted spare set of wheels in my garage (plus the good folks at Industry Nine have sent me a campy freehub and are allowing me to return the Shimano one for the cost of shipping lol)! The old wheels were hand laced by me back in the day and include a Mavic rear rim with old Shimano 600 freehub and a campy front rim with a Mavic hub. Like I said a true Frankenbike

true enough, all I’d have to do is get the handlebar tape and see if I like it. The pic below is how it once was.

seypat

There's a difference between "pretty much matches" and "matches perfectly." You have the saddle, put it on the frame and post a pic. You'll probably get some "ooohs and aaahs," as well as some "yucks and uughs." Either way it'll be entertaining.

Edit: I see my post was late. The saddle is ok, but the bartape is a big no. The thing though, is the mismatched seatpost and stem. Those have to be the same color in my opinion. They could be either, if the fork was the color of the frame. But, it's chrome. They need to be the same as well.

robbyville

understood, the pic is quite old and when I got the bike back the stem and bar tape and one shifter had been replaced. Perhaps I could find a better match. Although I don’t see myself spending the money right now I had Busyman Cycles out of Australia do the leather handlebar tape for my Speedvagen, 2.5 years and going strong. Perhaps I could do something cool with him...

primov8

How about this. The I9 wheelset, black saddle and chrome bar tape.

robbyville

Now that I could get behind! I'll have to look up chrome tape, I don't think I've seen that before. What about the whole gotta have saddle match the tape velominati rule . You're bikes have always been so perfect I knew you would have most excellent input!

primov8

Thanks. Funny you mention those “rules” because a couple of my earlier builds were about the matching bar tape/saddle combo.
I’ve gotten to the point where my choice of bar tape plays off a bit from the frameset but also stands out on its own.

robbyville

Have a cassette and spacers on the way so that I can use my I9 wheels. Ran out of brake cable housing will get more tomorrow.

progress being made, decided to try out some Specialized blue tape. I think I like it!

thoughts?

Gyro

Are the trainer and P-47 from byrons scale aircraft?

seypat

Now that'll be hot! That's definitely matchy matchy.

jim dandy

Robbyville ...
A blue saddle works just fine ... just not the USPS one ...
JD

robbyville

dont I wish! Just some hobby zone planes for fun flying

thanks! Can’t wait ride this bike again. As far as I can remember it’s been since 1999
probably right but it’s the only steel railed saddle I have at the moment, and I’m not sure how a carbon rail would fare in an old C Record seatpost!

primov8

Its looks better than I thought. I’m not 100% sold on the saddle but it does work. This is a nice N+1 to compliment the Speedvagen.

robbyville

agreed. I am going to see if I can fit one of my other saddles to the seat post for fun but they are all carbon rails. I’m not inclined to buy a new saddle so we’ll see. Really trying to keep the finances in check and use parts in house (using spare tires, tubeless of course), my spare wheels, etc. bought the chorus group but got a reasonable price I think of mid $3’s and it is in great shape. But then I needed to buy a new cassette and the spacers of course.

I'm not sure that any of the old parts have any value. I’ll keep the chorus cassette that came with the group just in case I ever happen into era correct wheels. Perhaps I can sell the Race Face cranks, but doubt that any of the other parts (old 600 calipers, and derailleur) have much to them

masi61

I have a Selle Italia Turbomatic lV that came in blue that would look nice. Unfortunately I have lost this saddle! It is somewhere in my missing parts stash in the basement. But really, the USPS one looks cool as is.

Also, can you talk about the spec of the I9 wheels? How much do they weigh? What tires are you using? Do you require a spacer on that Campy freehub body in order to run the Campy 8 speed cassette?

Also, you mentioned removing anodizing and then polishing the 8 speed Campy components. Are you doing this work yourself? I'm just curious about this process. I have a damaged clear anodized Ultegra 6503 triple crank that could benefit from this treatment. I guess I would spray oven cleaner on it and then start sanding with wet to dry autobody paper starting coarse and working to superfine grit then eventually pulling out the mother's mag wheel polish.

robbyville

if you ever find it let me know!

The wheelset weighs about 1450gms set up with tubeless tape and valves. I have a couple of Specialized S Works turbo tubeless tires on right now. They are a set I took off the Speedvagen last year when I wanted to try some Conti 5000tlr’s when they came out (acquaintance who owns a small shop bought them specially for me so I took them off his hands right away). The specialized tires probably only have a few hundred miles left in them but they went right on and seated with my cannister pump.

I9 sent me a campy freehub and exchanged the shimano one free of charge (very cool of them). But, of course the modern splines won’t work with the mid ‘90’s cassette. Some folks on the vintage thread to the rescue. They helped me find a guy who has spacers that will allow me to take a modern 9 speed veloce cassette, drop the largest cog and give me a properly spaced workable 8spd on my current wheels. Parts are in the mail and I’ll update once installed.

for the polishing, lots of ways to do it quite a few listed on the vintage threads. In my case the fellow who rechromed my forks was going to do it for me, he has a car body and paint shop and was able to do everything and I would just give him $50. In the end though I found the campy logo stamped vs etched or so it seems and the group really is in near perfect shape so I decided to forego the polishing for now since it would also remove the stamped logos

primov8

Nothing wrong with using what you have laying around. It fits your build and looks great already. That’s what I did too with my newest and first ever Ti build, a Lynskey Helix disc. When I sold the Storck, I kept the Record 11 pieces and 3T cockpit to save where I could.

robbyville

Spacers for the cassette were in my mailbox this morning. Bike feels great after a quick ride around the block!

Kimmo 

Hey, the cassette spacers being in blue is a great touch.

robbyville

that’s what I thought too! Might do a couple shots for the new hot or not and take my lickings there lol. Will be taking it out tomorrow for a 39 mile ride and see how it feels, do any last minute adjustments, and such