Project 'Pinarello'

Hi all,

So I thought I'd share a little project I've been doing as some of you may like to see it, though it's only half as good as it should be as lost all the 'before' pictures!

Basic story behind this is I went on Holiday to Italy last year, which coincided with the UCI world championships in Tuscany, I was blown away by how many awesome retro Italian bikes I saw, which inspired me to look for some Italian steel of my own when I got home. My budget wasn't amazing as I already had two bikes but thought I'd see what I could find.

Anyway I came across what I thought was an 80's Pinarello, there was a lot of non original parts on it, including bullhorn bars, a white charge saddle, mini brake levers and red walled bontrager tyres, and even from the pics I could tell it wasn't it great condition, but I could see the Campagnolo drivetrain and what looked like a Campag seatpost, so I thought it would be worth a punt.

When I picked it up it was indeed in a sorry state and actually unrideable, problems including a loose headset, stuck seatpost, brakes which barely worked, both wheels out of true and a knackered chain. The reality was the bike was a lot worse than initially thought, however I could still see some potential and after a few hours of wrestling with it I even managed to get the seatpost free! I then continued stripping it down to work out what parts were good and what needed to be done, it was at this stage I decided to try to work out what model of 'Pinarello' it was, after posting on this forum to find out then general verdict was that the bike was not actually a Pinarello at all, despite having the Super Record parts and Campagnolo dropouts, however the view was that whatever make it may be, that the frame was good quality.

This left me with two choices, either to cut my losses and break it for parts, or to continue with my plans anyway. I decided to see how the frame came up and go from there, que many hours of cleaning and polishing using all my experience from my other hobby, cars! Once done I satisfied myself that I could get the bike up to a standard I'd be happy with so decided to continue with the project.

At this point I also decided that real Pinarello or not, it had been a Pinarello by name for a long time, and that this wouldn't change, therefore I'd continue to focus on the Italian theme.

Ultimately the only parts that remain from when I bought it are the frame and fork, crankset, derailleur's, and DT shifters, everything else has been changed, the idea being to make it a bit of a retro modern, keeping all the good things about retro bikes, but upgrading in the areas where large performance gains are to be had, this bike was always going to be built to ride so it had to be capable of working well in the real world. And I'm please to say the result is a stunning bike to ride.

Anyway, this is what I've ended up with!

Full Spec:

Frame

Steel frame/fork of unknown manufacture, Campagnolo dropouts, internal rear brake cable routing, Shimano 600 headset (Shimano branding removed)

Wheels

Mavic Open 4 CD with Campagnolo Veloce hubs and matching wheel skewers, Continental GP4000s tyres

Drivetrain

Campanolo Record cranks with original chainwheels, Campagolo Super Record front and rear derailleur's (rear with original jockey wheels), Malliard rear cassette, Simplex retrofriction shifters, Shimano 520 pedals (Shimano branding removed), KMC chain

Brakes

105 dual pivot calipers (Shimano branding removed), Swisstop Green pads, Campagnolo single speed carbon fibre Record brake levers, Ashima Reaction Plus brake cables

Bars/stem

Cinelli Giro d'Italia 40cm bars and Cinelli 120mm stem, Planet X cotton bar tape

Seatpost/Saddle

Thomson Elite seatpost, Pinarello Catini saddle.

And here it is as it stands now

That is tremendous! Great looking ride. Nicely put together, liking the geometry on that frame.

No before pics? Always tells a story better.

Thanks, it's always nice to hear positive comments when you've spent so long on something! Before pics are really annoying, I won the bike on Ebay, and made sure I saved the pics the seller had on Ebay as I'd already got too far in before I realised I should of been taking pics. However! On checking the pics to upload, they're all absolutely tiny! And go massively pix-elated as soon as I try to increase the size :-(

Smart result Holes in the rear dropouts for a portacatena as well

Blimey how tall are you ?

Shaun
PS like the medals in the background

Haha cheers, whats a portacatena? I understood these holes were for a tool of some sort that allowed faster wheel changes, is that right? and I'm 6'3!

Lol the medals are mostly running, odd cycling one, one side is the missus and the other side mine, usually have a little competition to see who can pick up the most medals over the course of the year!

Wounder on the before pics - still, very much liking the now pics - lovely bike. Set of tan-wall tyres for the summer would be my only 'change' comment.

The SR components look to be in tremendous condition, always good to see.

Never mind running, ploy is to compete with the missus for her to build a better bike, thus getting an additional bike into the stable - got to be cunning at such times!

Ta! Yea I agree tan tyres would look pretty cool, however this bike very much needs to perform, it has to stick with much more modern machinery and as such things like good tyres are a must, and I love GP4000s'! I've had a few very close falls on other bikes from carrying too much speed into corners (my own fault), where I swear with the vast majority of other tyres I'd have been on the floor, but instead on the conti's I've gotten away with it. It's probably just a mental thing but they give me the confidence to push the bike as hard as I can so would be reluctant to change them.

The SR stuff is in great condition (though again these components have been relentlessly cleaned!), in fact despite the slightly neglected state the bike came to me in, I'd say it's probably had minimal use overall.

Believe it or not this is actually my only bike at the moment! I was getting tired of the constant upkeep needed to keep three bikes in the condition I like, and decided that if I was going to go back to one bike for a while, then that bike was going to be this one! (I've sold a good steel bike before, and i'm not making that mistake again) It also allowed me to make sure I didn't cut corners in terms of components on this build.

hi i like your cable outer's. what are they ?

Confidence in tyres is everything, totally agree. If completely dry weather I've found a little gem in Specialized Turbo S tyres, great tyres at a staggeringly low price on ebay at the moment! Worthy of far greater cash outlay, and with the bonus of having that late 80's look about them.

Iconic stuff the SR, still stands the test of time against as you say more modern machinery. Relentlessly cleaned - know that affliction far too well.

Ouch, your only bike - poor fella. Not even a pub bike? Spend too much time on here and you'll soon revert too the n+1 rule. Still, if it is one bike only it's certainly a good'un!

Nice work there ... although if it were me I'd keep looking for a genuine frame, it would always bug me to be on a 'replica'.