Can’t say how fast I am anymore but this 72 Italvega Super Speciale served me well in 3 Eroica California’s so far. It has a modified ‘74 Campagnolo NR double crank drilled for 74bcd inner, currently a 28T Sakae Platinum chainring drilled for 10mm bolts, have been advised not to use 26T or 24T inner due to potential chain suck between the inner ring and Campagnolo crank arms. This doesn’t seem to apply to the Avocet / Ofmega Triple cranks pictured in some
bikes in this thread and which I’m going to use on a couple of future builds.
Overall front rings are 52-42-28, 52-42 are drillium rings from an Italvega Superlight. I’m using a 72 Campagnolo NR rear derailleur with SOMA long cage (I don’t consider it ugly at all, either anodized or polished) with NOS Bulleye pulleys, Suntour 14-18-22-26-30 freewheel but seriously contemplating moving to a 14-18-22-28-34 for Eroica’s Cypress Mountain climb for the >10% sections which I just couldn’t hack in 2019. Doing a lot more hill training and feeling relatively stronger but at my age and 210# weight, I need all the gearing help I can use. Have used KMC Z51 or newer equivalent 6-7 speed chains although some have mentioned SRAM / Sedis chains are also quite good in these applications. Had to install a Campagnolo 70-SS-X3 125mm wide spindle to get sufficient inner ring / chainring bolt clearance.
My use of larger / taller Compass / Renè Herse Bon Jon Pass Extralight 700c x 35 tires effectively increases total wheel & Tire diameter larger which makes my gearing a bit higher than if on normal 25’s so getting a bit more gear ratio would help. But with these tires, less vibration and floats a lot better over rutted dirt and gravel at 50-55R / 45-50F psi tire pressures depending on road and temps.
AFAIK, Bob Freeman in Seattle still drills and spot faces the crank arms and can help with fitting inner rings.
As ridden August 2021 Velo-Retro ride
