TEST RIDE TIME - FINALLY!
I don't know why this project at only a few weeks seems like it's taken longer. Maybe it's all the wishing or willing of (used) components "that should be available" and aren't, and searching high and low for them. Such is the "norm" of living in a metro area such as Seattle as opposed to well outside the city. Heck, even just 25 miles from the downtown core. Anyway, there's a good bit of mental energy expended in
crafting the components list and overall composition, which includes critical cockpit elements, and solving the question of "How do I find a quill stem that doesn't angle down?" And all of this for a bike that I may or may not get along with! I'm tellin' ya, the stakes are monumental! [...in your head, Riddle, in your head...]
So, below, you will see what really looks like a jalopy of a bike. Paint-stripped frameset with tape all over it, borrowed wheels (but not tires!), a modern saddle on a fluted seat post, non-aero brake levers and cable routing mounted to modern handlebars and a quill stem conversion, Paramount bottle cages on a non-Paramount sporting plenty of chrome, and to top it off, uncut cables taped to the frameset.
But hey, it's a runner!
A runner with sticky brakes. Or rather, brake lever blade to brake lever body contact/friction. Coupled with the 7402 calipers' modest return spring, and I have a braking situation where I need to "un-brake" the rear after squeezing the lever to stop. Fantastic. Oh well! Sling on the spare 10-speed chain (but cut it down in length), fiddle with the rear derailleur tuning a bit (RD hanger seems slightly tweaked?) and get it shifting, install the 6600 Ultegra front derailleur (after a busted 7700 FD was used to "align" the FD braze-on tab...), tune the whole thing and get this Medici ready for a beat-the-incoming-rain midnight test ride.
Behold, my only operable bike, in all her 22.5 lb glory (pretty darn light, I'll say!). Yes, my Trek is awaiting replacement tires after the front became structurally-compromised, the rear is near worn out, and I couldn't solve it with the replacement used tires I bought off Craigslist (long story). Thanks to...weather(?)...those tires are still in Tennessee right now, having been slated for delivery yesterday. There is now no estimated delivery date...
You can still see the (horizontal) length of the bike along its top line. The black bar tape that I plucked from a bin helps break things up visually, but still, it's there.
Lights mounted for the midnight ride. So....
how the heck does it ride, man???
In my download to @
ctak last night, "M" is for Medici, but it is also for "mature." It is a bike that felt "right there," meaning it wasn't to one weird or spirited characteristic or another. ctak summarized it as "a gentleman's racer," which is a fantastic description.
The Medici was immediately comfortable. Does having a nicely broken-in Prologo saddle help? Yes. 25mm Vittoria Corsa tires on nice Mavic wheels? Yes. 3" saddle to brake hood drop? Uhhh, not really, but that's easily fixable. This is a road/race bike you can put some miles on and it doesn't beat you up. Strong, stable, serene, yet alert. It's a "corner railer" in that it beautifully goes into one, neither diving into or fluttering/floating wide. Ease and intuition. Definitely not a boring bike. Out of saddle efforts are met with a willing frame that goes about its business without quirk or untoward movement on climbs, with plenty of stabilizing power under bigger/big sprint efforts. That's the long top tube doing the work there (and elsewhere), I believe. I can tell my strength and form are off from what they should be to really take advantage of this frame's potential, but not too far off. I haven't ridden in a week, though it feels like more.
I will say I forgot to reach down for the downtube shifters, going for the bar-ends a few times. I laughed at that.
And for whatever reason, these single pivot 7402 Dura-Ace calipers, with Koolstop pads, on these Open 4 CD rims, stopped incredibly well.
From the hoods. I do not know from whence this magical single pivot braking power has come, but it has alighted upon my Dura-Ace calipers and I now have dual pivot caliper stopping power. I'll take it!
So where does this 3,250g Pro-Strada frameset fit among my 3,000g racing luminaries of the past (Impulse, Prologue, 2,875g Land Shark, Peloton, etc) and 3,500g touring luminaries of both past and present (Paramount, Expedition, 620)? Well, the Impulse is still the best at accelerating and climbing, and doing so in the most one-with-man-and-machine manner, but you pay for it over bumps and roots and crappy roads. It feels stronger and sturdier than the Prestige-tubed Prologue and Land Shark. Those two you could feel the lithe and flex--not bikes to be overly aggressive with as it wasn't their character. Compared to touring bikes, it feels most similar to my former '74 Paramount. That, too, had a strong-feeling frame and a long (59.7cm vs. the Medici's 60.0cm) top tube. The out-of-saddle response is better than the Paramount, and I like the steering better as well. I'm liking the heavier nature of the frameset--thicker tubing as an agent of increased strength, but also of calming the bumps and the road chatter. It is pretty darn smooth, and I look forward to figuring it out more. So yeah, it and I were "fast friends" and that counts for a lot. It feels really good to be back on a road/race frame, and as far as I am concerned, it is clear to be painted.
