Never ending Basso Build

First of all, I'm quite on the cheap side being a medical student, so I try to save as much money as possible.

Second, I've bought the bike 1 year ago for 90 english pounds with following components:

-Shimano SL-1050 6 spd dt shifter levers
-Sh BL-1051 concealed cable routing brake levers
-SH-HB 1050 front hub with FH-1051 rear hub with a HG-UG FH body (theoretically it must have been changed. ) with 6 spd UG cassette
-SH BR-1050 short drop caliper brakes
-SH-FD-1056 "champagne" 105 front dérailleur
-SH-FC-6400 tricolour ultegra crankset
-SH-RD 6401 tricultegra rear dérailleur (8 spd)
-Modolo Q-even HB-s, anatomic blend
-Selle Italia Turbomatic 2 Saddles with cromoly rails
-Kalloy "ATB" seatpost, "concept" mtb stem (ugly as ****).
-Mavic MA2 rims with conti super sport folding tyres.





however, the current build is somewhat different..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97878439@N ... 374775884/

last week I've managed to buy 8 spd Record Titanium brifters from ebay for 49! pounds (plus 13 pounds shipping to my country). The shifters are so nice, their action is so positive that I first thought the internals have been changed recently. I simply love them. Along with my new BBB handlebars (local classified, 10.5 pounds with shipping included) the bike now has a quite interesting setup.

-Campy Record Ti 8 spd brifters
-Campy Athena Monoplaner brakes
-Campy athena 8 speed hubs, 8 spd cassette, 8 spd Athena rear dérailleur
-Kept the shimano front dérailleur and the shimano deore LX headset (that's some serious MTB component from the 90ies)
-mirage UT cranks, not too heavy (910 grs with bottom bracket, UT cups) but quite stiff.
-Campy Mexico 68 rims, as mentioned, laced with Athena hubs. Vittoria Rubino Pro3 slick 150tpi tyres.
-3ttt unknown stem with interesting anodizing-gunmetal xcolour. BBB BHB03 fastbar. Charge Chopsticks sp, just bought because it was 8 pounds at wiggle last summer and it's nice.
-The turbomatic saddle still going though I've bought a Concor Light by San Marco, purely for it's weight and the comfort (I like the shape of san marco concors, so I must keep the future rides in mind)

The best is: if I just calculate the prices of the sold shimano equipments into the equation it turns out that actually the frameset with FD and HS was not only for free, but I've got more cash from selling the old parts than the bike actually cost me. Though buying Campy parts set me back.. Especially my first brifters which were catastrophically shitty in condition with slipping shifting action and torn hoods.

But the current ride-build is astonishing. I must emphasize a pic:



this is all the clearance that I've got at the front fork with 23c tyres. The forks are welded unicrown designs, not the lgged ones you see on other corals. Why? I've never understood, probably this frame is a later design? The tubes are "basso tube concept light cromo", and the weight of the frame is 2221 grs on scale, so it's pretty much columbus cromor.. :O

anyway, thanks for looking, my future upgrades would be something like:
new silver headset with half the weight of these lx-s.
campy centaur or veloce UT cranks with silver colour. Actually I have a 2007 centaur with cold forged chainrings, though it's on my other bike, and it has such a classy look with silver finish..
"pimpy" QR skewers and of course some decent cable-house kit, as opposed to the current "half a pound for each metre" priced noname coloured ones.

Possibly a frame refurbish some time into the future, the desired colour would be pearlescent white with golden-smokish decals.

cheers.

I always like to think original is best for a frame set, basso are quality frames. Nothing wrong with those forks, I have a Daccordi with similar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51987088@N ... 626193985/

I would suggest some co-ordination when dealing with component colours, the frame is dark red and white with some black accents so that dictates the build.
Hopkins cycles do great cable inners and outer at a very good price tho' a Campy group should have Campy original cables ( black ). Dump that seat post! silver post and white or black saddle and bar tape and you have a fine looking bike! ( imho )

hi is there any thing on the build you would like to change ?now
[bike nut what is that superb two colour fade h bar tape called.where can i get ]

It's called 'Pelten fade' also some made by FUBAR ISCA etc...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Handle-Bar-Ta ... 417a3aaff9
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/F-U-B-A-R-PVC ... 58a8f180b5

You can also wrap one colour bar tops to hoods, and another colour to the ends or get cloth tape and do a harlequin finish!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le43Tm6neVo

Thanks everyone for the input.

So, I'd go after some new seatposts. The handlebar tape is particulary something which I'll only change when it's worn-torn. Though last week when I installed the new bars I managed to re-use the old hb tape (those who are familiar with BBB-BHT01 know that these have a particulary strong adhesive tape layer on their back, so re-wrapping them is almost always impossible. But with WD-40 they came of the bar quite easily).

The new seatpost would be some cheapish Chinese thingy, as I want something which is lighter than the current chopsticks. I bought the chopsticks in May when there was a 82% discount for them on wiggle. Needed this bit to get the free shipping.

The proposed seatposts would be something like these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TURNER-Seatpost ... 51b54ab418

or this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BDW-CLASSIC-Sea ... 35ce4b6c8a

I've measured and my seatpost has 21cm exposed from the frame, so the old vintage 18-21 cm long fluted posts are a no-no for me. The former Turner branded looks quite nice in silver, IMHO, and they're quite light weight.

I know that they don't qualify as retro nor vintage, but they're nice and I cannot imagine myself getting some replica-cheapo lookalike carbon post for the matter.

Later, I'll change the cables-housings, as the current ones are the cheapest no-brand models, which are cheap (0.5 pounds for a gear or brake cable, and 0.75 pounds for one metre of cable housing..) and are abysmal quality..

I'll keep this whole thing on a budget, as I really hate to spend money I even thought about selling the calipers for 30 pounds for some nice guy. : ) Anyway, 30 pounds would be more than I paid for them, so in the end, it'd end up very well for..me : )

you can get the posts here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kalloy-350mm- ... 2c7827e862

Thanks, but those are for opening doors Seriously, my current posts are heavy with their 280 grms, why would I want something even more bulkier?

240 grs are the most I willing to put into my seattube if I buy new posts.

hi , i would hold fire on your intended [in line mountain bike seat post] even if it looks funky and is light.
your idea to fit campag 8 sp on your hand built italian steed is to be congratulated.
it would seem common sense to reduce weight as much as possible on a road bike, but the thing is decent steel frames are designed to feel light even if 24lb sounds heavy it probably wont feel it. saddle height,saddle set back, h/bar stem length and height are more important than 150g/s.
sounds like you will soon be embarking on the most important ride performance impact,' the wheels' and there are some good wheel builders on google or perhaps you have a shop in mind.Some modern bars,stems,s/posts do look ok on retro racers but if it comes down to say a campag chorus aero for another £15 i would go for that, and wait and save. i don't know if basso did
pantographed [engraved] h/bar stems but original things like that give massive clout to your build !
I would not respray the frame as well as the extra costs involved, the paint looks great.! if you want tips on diy touch ins check out 'bike nuts' posts,best wishes for your hobby & your career :xmas-winks £49 for them ti shifter,s v v good !

oonaff":3h29j99e said:

hi , i would hold fire on your intended [in line mountain bike seat post] even if it looks funky and is light.
your idea to fit campag 8 sp on your hand built italian steed is to be congratulated.
it would seem common sense to reduce weight as much as possible on a road bike, but the thing is decent steel frames are designed to feel light even if 24lb sounds heavy it probably wont feel it. saddle height,saddle set back, h/bar stem length and height are more important than 150g/s.
sounds like you will soon be embarking on the most important ride performance impact,' the wheels' and there are some good wheel builders on google or perhaps you have a shop in mind.Some modern bars,stems,s/posts do look ok on retro racers but if it comes down to say a campag chorus aero for another £15 i would go for that, and wait and save. i don't know if basso did
pantographed [engraved] h/bar stems but original things like that give massive clout to your build !
I would not respray the frame as well as the extra costs involved, the paint looks great.! if you want tips on diy touch ins check out 'bike nuts' posts,best wishes for your hobby & your career :xmas-winks £49 for them ti shifter,s v v good !

Click to expand...

Thanks

What about the other post?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BDW-CLASSIC-Sea ... 4316170%26

As I said, vintage posts are a no-go for me, as I have 21cm exposed of my current seatpost, and most vintage posts are max. 20-22cm in length.

The idea behind a light seatpost would have been more "comfort". I've upgraded the seatposts of my "modern" bike to carbon fibre, and I have the post 24cm out of the frame. Needless to say, the leap in the springynesss of the saddle, and comfort improved in a huuugee leap.

The wheels are fine. Okay, my rear hub weighs a ton (actually 470 grs without the heavy skwrs,) the rims are heavy (Campagnolo MExico 6 and they have 72 spokes 3crossed laced.. But upgrading the wheels is the most expensive part, and the quality-smoothness of these cca. 1996 year athenas are just astonishing.

and about the shifters.. the seller actually "lied", as it was said that they're well used, but plenty of life left in them. But when they arrived they were actually in better condition than in the pics, especially the rubber. And the internals are strong, have a very positive clicking to them.

DOn't want to beat a dead horse, but at summer I've bought shifters at lfgss for more money, and they had torn apart hoods with several big holes, and the 'crispy" shifter mechanics were so worn that the bike was constantly changing gears spontaneously. Sold those shifters for half the price after 6 months of use.

So, I've sold the chopsticks orange post, and bought some silver finished alloy one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BDW-CLASSIC-Sea ... 4316170%26

not lighter, but nicer. Later I've found that BBB seatposts are readily available locally, but they only come in sandlbasted-anodized black or white finish.

Until this arrives, I'Ll run on a spare kalloy 27.2