oneclick 

Just arrived - a frame, fork, wheels, and brakes. This was one of those deals where shipping was more then the bike.

I know it's a 1974:



It's nothing special as far as a frame; weights are 2835gr and 770gr, and the seat tube measures 51cm from crank centre to the middle of the seat lug.
It came with Normandy hubs laced to unbranded steel 27" rims, they are dimpled a la Rigida, but they are not exactly the same profile, the spoke bed looks a little more curved.
The front is hollow, the rear solid.
There's a dirt-shadow that matches the outline of a Simplex front mech.
There are a lot of little braze-on guides for the cable housings, no stops - the housings run all the way.
For a 48-year-old bike it looks pretty good.
The patch on the fork is the worst bit, the chainstays underneath show slight flattening and paint-wear from a kickstand.
How many different colours of silver are there...







This will get built, likely french period (or at least acceptably old) stuff, probably with 700c rims.
It will need a nice alloy front mech, a Simplex or Huret, and that needs to have a cable stop.
And a set of condorino bars would really look the business.

juvela

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will be fun to follow along with the build project!

dropouts are Agrati Nr. 000.8002

fork ends Agrati Nr. 000.8010

fork crown Agrati Nr, 000.8058 (used in conjunction with the "AM" pattern lug group)

bottom bracket shell Agrati Nr.000.8507

seat lug Agrati Nr. 000.8059

Viva La Torresini!

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Kabuki12

Oh how fun! Another build , perhaps a city bike? Racks and bags.

oneclick 

Took a rag and some washing-up liquid over the whole frame, then had a go with that and the wire brush on the plating.

Left side is before, right after (should be obvious):




From this angle you can see the pinholes (grey blot on the upper right is paint):

oneclick 

This frame was built for 27" wheels, but it's going to have 700s. That meant a brake with a long reach, fortunately the bins-of-stuff contained a pair of nearly new CLB RACERs.

These brakes come with a boss cast on the frame side of the bridge, one that has a pair of curved surfaces that are supposed to mate with either a seatstay bridge or a fork crown:




Unfortunately Torpado liked to put a little tube in the bridge:




So the brake bridge needed modification:

alcjphil

back in the 1970's pretty much all the entry level Torpados I saw in Montreal were equipped with Campagnolo Valentino derailleurs.

oneclick 

Nasty things - the rear, anyway. But they were ITALIAN, so they got spec'ed on the better-entry-level bikes. The real bottom (like this mixte) got Simplex.

alcjphil

Valentino was the Italian version of Simplex Prestige and didn't work as well. Bottom of the line Torpados were specced with Valentino derailleurs. The lines you see on the seat tube could easily have been from a Valentino front derailleur. I would not install Simplex derailleurs on a Torpado

oneclick 

I checked (I have some of each). It matched a Simplex push-rod exactly.

The Valentino and similar rear mechs all had the same design issue - the pivots are so short that the variation in paralellism resulting from any wear/play is much greater than mechs with wider pivots. I wouldn't put them on anything.

Current plans are for a Sach-Huret New Success, if I can re-wind the top spring so it stops binding.

randyjawa 

This is my entry level Torpado and I love the bike. It is not wonderful to ride or use but it is fun, fun to say the least. Mine came fitted with the Valentino transmission but I chose to upgrade it to Velox, mostly for the bling factor...





I do intend to try and install a Campy Tourismo rear derailleur with hopes of using a wider range freewheel...


I also have a Valentino Extra transmission tucked away that I, presently, have no need for, in case anyone is looking for such a system...

bulgie 

I had a negative reaction to the first pics, the "before". Luckily I kep scrolling... what a transformation! You turned ugliness into beauty, good on ya!

Mark B

oneclick 

Those cable guides needed stepped ferrules, and I didn't have any.

What's worse, net searching showed there are ones with short small sections and those with long small sections - longer is better as it helps alignment more.

Longer ones cost more, and they all would take time, unless they cost a LOT more.

So I took some bar stock and made these:




The flat is necessary:



The other three go here:

bulgie 

Cool! But aren't those loops intended for housing all the way from shifter to derailer?
I still like your way better though.

oneclick 

I think they were and I tried that, but the housing I've got for it won't fit.

Plus they'd obscure the logo.

oneclick 

I didn't have enough threads at the top of the headset for a normal centre-pull hanger, and they are always so short that the cable outer has a sharp turn.

This one loops over the bolt that clamps the bars in the stem - it's just a bent spoke silver-soldered into a brass wingnut, tapped to M5x.08:




I needed a downtube double cable stop, so I took one of these Simplex guides:



When you drill out this rivet there is a nice square hole in the band:



I turned a pair of brass cylinders, cross-drilled the appropriate holes, filed a matching square in the ends and silver-soldered them into the band.
The plating where the new bit was to attach was removed with one of those diamond-grit "files" - they are harder than the chromium.





And here's what the front end will look like.
The grips are from a Kettler Alu-Rad, they have little red reflectors in the ends.
They were moulded for a larger diameter handlebar; I built up the existing one with layers of aluminium foil tape.

oneclick 

First off, here's how that front brake hanger fits. If you look carefully you can see the circle of silver around the ends of the spoke (they go through holes in the nut's wings), and places where the zinc has boiled off the surface of the brass leaving copper behind, I'm curious how this will tarnish with time.



It's part of a rather busy front end:



Drivetrain - those are MKS AR8 pedals with AFA clips, Sachs-Huret mechs, Huret ratchet thumbshifters:



Wheels are Weinman concave on Atom hubs, brakes CLB RACER with Altenbeger levers:

prairiepedaler

Ah, there she is. Lookin' good OC!