gomango

Very classy sir!

Wondering though.

Maybe you mentioned it, but have you made decisions for tires and bar tape for this beauty?

Drillium Dude 

Thanks, Patrick!

The green looks more green in sunlight, but I tell you, to all intents and purposes it's black indoors. Kinda cool. And, yes, that seatpost is the real eyecatcher when it comes to the components (the bar, too - it's gotta be NOS; still has the pricing sticker).

The braze-ons for the rear brake cable housing were apparently Confente's design, and they are smaller than your normal guides. As has been pointed out, they require something other than the standard Campy housing; luckily enough, Otis hooked me up with a set with which to finish the build. The stuff is snug, but it passes through. And yes, the guides are really thin - don't want to be accidently squashing them!

Riding impressions are bound to be good - I'm liking the stays and as you pointed out the heavy-duty brake bridge support. I think this bike is going to put the power down and track like it's on rails. And though I felt the frame was a bit heavy, it's not when compared to the Mondia. The only remaining items to add are the brake calipers and chain; right now it seems pretty darned light. We'll see by the weekend if my bar tape arrives before then.

If not, I'll post a pic of a bike-shaped object tomorrow or the next day.

DD

Drillium Dude 

Thank you Grady

My typical Wolber SL19s will serve for tires; I'm doing something different with the bar tape, but that's a surprise

Should be able to spring it this weekend if the mail is good to me. Bike is almost complete; just have to find two recessed nuts for the brakes, install the brake and gear cables, then just wait on the the tape. I'll take care of the brake and gear cables tomorrow after work.

I'm really looking forward to the test ride!

DD

Alex Moll

My typical Wolber SL19s will serve for tires; I'm doing something different with the bar tape, but that's a surprise

DD[/QUOTE]

OK - I won't tell the forum that I sent you the "Off the Front" splash tape that came on my Merckx. I don't understand why you like that stuff so much - but I still respect you.

bibliobob

That's a beauty, DD. Can't wait to see it fully built.

Drillium Dude 

Alex: oh, man - I wanted it to be a surprise

Bob: Thank you; tonight I might have a 95% complete pic to share...

DD

rootboy 

Dang, Dude, told ya I had some of those. Will never use them. lemme know if you want them. Chrome version, I think.

Drillium Dude 

Scott: my memory isn't what it used to be these days; if that conversation took place before I went to sleep last night, all bets are off

Besides, there were tons of spare ones over at the bike repair shop here on the island; never seen so many different lengths in my life! I found a perfect pair and installed the calipers this evening, but I'm still waiting on the bar tape...

DD

Drillium Dude 

Done

I caught some sort of bug today that really had me urked-out from mid-day. I went to bed right after work, intending to sleep the clock 'round, only to be woken up at 1930 to be informed of a pretty serious issue with one of my Sailors. After picking him up from Security after he was read his rights and gave his statement, I was wide awake. In order to just forget about it for awhile, I figured no time like the present, so I wrapped the bars and cabled up the brakes. I couldn't wait for the special bar tape, so I used my last two rolls of Tressostar black cloth for now. It'll provide a nice base-layer for the final taping.

Looks nice and built up into a fairly light bike. Test ride and photos tomorrow. Good night

DD

Drillium Dude 

Sorry to those of you awaiting pics of the finished product - she is complete and has enjoyed her first test ride - but my pics were just too under-exposed when I reviewed them. The dark green really needs some bright sunlight in the middle of the day, and that's the environment in which I will shoot pics tomorrow afternoon.

Great impressions on the road, though! Bike loves to track in straight line - almost too much so! I have to sort of really tell it to turn, if that computes; it's not like most of my bikes in that a slight lean is all it takes to communicate and execute a quick and sure change of direction. Stiff and winds up nicely; I am missing out on any opportunity to guage its climbing abilities, of course, but the stiffness should show a benefit in that department.

It has a feel all its own when compared with every other bike I own. Neither a good or bad thing - just different. I like it

So, pics tomorrow...

DD

repechage

If Medici had a failing early on it was that they were copying geometry from Masi, but without all the actual numbers. Masi built jig frames, essentially a master frame to adjust the jig to meet. Some of these were off, the lower head lug was too low. Mario Confente made adjustments for a number of the sizes of bikes, so there was really no database to reference as he was setting up the jigs at Masi Carlsbad when there. This made some California Masi bikes interesting after Mario departed as the data went with him. The end result was that Medici copied the basic Masi geometry as they remembered it. Sometimes this resulted in quite a bit of trail. A condition your bike might have. This feature is of good utility after 100 miles when one is tired, but not as entertaining when one is fresh on the bike.

In comparison, your Colnagos if like most have quite a bit less trail than the Medici does, top tube length can also play a roll in how the bike feels. Having one of each, I would place the Colnago as the cut and thrust bike of the group, and the Masi as the bike I would wish to be riding after 6 hours in the saddle. The Medici is closer to the Masis, mine has a bit less fork rake than most of my Masi bikes have.

Drillium Dude 

Okay, as promised, I got some better pictures today. I had beach watch this morning from 0800-1200 (we've re-opened the beaches after the shark attack) and rode the bike down to the Marina for my watch. I took a number of pics after my watch was over, then headed over to the Chief Selectee's car/bike wash (every year the Selectees raise money in various ways to defer the cost of the Khaki Ball, their first official event as a Chief Petty Officer) where I got a few pics, too.

Flickr is uploading my pics somewhat slowly, so I'm just posting five photos for now. The detail shots will be coming along shortly.

Driveside:



Non-driveside:



The Chief Selectees wash my new baby:



Earning their twenty bucks:



Posing with my brand-spanking-clean new ride:



Yet another fun build, and it wouldn't have been possible without the contributions of the following C&V members:

CV-6: NOS set of Cinelli Giro d'Italia bars, free for the price of some drillium work. These replaced the original set that was damaged in an early-August low-speed accident

Otis: Yellow brake cable housing to fit the Confente-designed top tube guides

Cobrabyte: Early-version Campy NR brake levers/hoods in super shape

whatwolf: Campy Super Record front and rear derailleurs in fantastic shape

miamijim: NOS OMAS TI/alloy brake center bolts for recessed application

wrk101: Near-mint Campy Super Record one-bolt seatpost

I also hit up a couple BINs on Ebay; had to find a longer stainless coil RD housing, bar tape and a couple other little goodies, too. Still waiting on the tape, but the black works for now and will serve as a base. I need a little more cushion here, though.

Again, a really fun build which ended up more special as a result of the contributions of parts and info from the usual suspects here at C&V. I hope everyone's enjoyed the ride as much as I've enjoyed driving

DD

SJX426 

As with all your bikes, very tasteful and very classic! Really great looking bike! Congrats and good riding!

BTW: Yellow t-shirts!

gomango

Nice build!

Classy, per normal.

Ride the wheels off it DD.

northbend 

Elegant and simple. I like it alot. Nice job, DD!

spacemanz

That's almost exactly what I was going to write. Nothin' fancy or flashy from a short distance, but just beautiful, the closer you get to it.

Drillium Dude 

Thanks, everyone - and yeah, I like the way the Selectees' T-shirts match the yellow highlights, too

Let's get a little closer, shall we? But first, a couple more full-monty pics.

Driveside:



Non-driveside:



NR headset, early-version NR brakes with OMAS TI/alloy pivot bolts:



Head lug, NR headset, Record gear levers and fork crown details:



Detail of lower head lug and Vagner fork crown:



Campy gear levers and good view of lower head lug window:



Upper head tube lug detail:



Lower head tube lug detail:



Lower head tube lug detail:



More to come...

DD

Drillium Dude 

More details...

Seat lug window:



Seat cluster detail:



Late-70s Columbus decal showing some patina:



The other side:



My oldest Flite TI saddle (bought new in 1994 while in London) atop beautiful Campy Super Record post; note the Swiss bike registration number with a splash of drillium:



Rear dropout detail:



Campy early-version Nuovo Record rear brake caliper:



Undated late-model Super Record rear derailleur:



Super Record band-on front derailleur:



Record crankset with drilled 53t ring, Superleggeri pedals, ALE alloy toeclips and Christophe straps:



Couple more to finish this off...

DD

Wildwood 

Oh man - how nice is that for a regular rider.

...ha ha... begs the question, How many E6s does it take to get the Chief's bike clean? Answer = As many as the Chief wants!

With those tires the roads on DG must be pretty good. always hated sandy roads. but then you have been hawaiian trained.

Drillium Dude 

A couple more...

BB shell and chainstay bridge detail:



Early-version Campy NR brake lever mounted to late-version Cinelli Giro d'Italia bar:



Head tube decal (I personally think that, for a frame color this dark, the "shield" outline should have been yellow or some other lighter color):



That's it for today - I hope these made up for the three-day delay, friends and neighbors

DD

jeffpepperdine

I find it amazing that you were able to pull this together so quickly given that you are in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Bravo. Hope she rides well.

LexKing

Congrats on getting your new bike put together. I hope that it rides as good as it looks.

Chombi

Wow! Congratulations on the beautiful Medici build results DD!
You pretty much set a benchmark for all other future Medici builds here! Your build is definitely giving me a lot of encouragement to push on with mine.
I wish I could finally get going further on my own Medici, but low funds are keeping me from making any good progress on it and I still have to figure out how I get it refinished properly by the right person (I'm thinking Ed Litton), which will be the big hump I need to go over to be on the downhill side of finishing the build.....
Hmmmm. Maybe I'll just forget about refinishing it and just put Medici decals on top of the primer. Sort of like a classic "grunge" style American muscle car....

CV-6 

Any impressions riding a wider handle bar?

Drillium Dude 

Quickly in this case is relative in that I have been chomping at the bit to get the frame and the associated parts I didn't have ever since the first week of August! But that was just me being impatient for my new toy

In all actuality, it did come together very quickly thanks to the generosity of those noted C&V members; I couldn't have done it at all, much less in less than a month, without their help and support.

DD