Daccordi mtb build

My name is Apple Tree and I am a road bike rider.

Right having got that out of the way, why am I here on the MTB pages ? Well while I am certainly more comfortable with Campagnolo road than Shimano mtb kit, I am not a complete novice at all things dirt as I have two GTs, a Tequesta and a Karakoram Elite, both from the early 90s. In fact I can thank the Tequesta for getting me back into cycling, after a gap of several years, when I purchased it new in 1992. Having done thousands of miles on it, mainly riding to work, I decided a couple of years ago to find another one and found the relatively unmolested and original 1991 Karakoram Elite. Last winter I decided to strip both of them down and rebuild them which led to me learning more about LX and DX than I really wanted to know.
Anyway, back to my road bike interests where I have formed an affinity with the somewhat niche Italian brand Daccordi. Interest turns into obsession and I now have one or two or ……. well you get the idea. Which explains why when the following turned up on E-bay, Germany – I just had to have it.

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So while I wait for a large box to arrive from Deutschland it gives me time to consider what I am going to do with it when it arrives.
What theme is the build going to take and where am I going to get the components ? This is where you guys come in to hold the hand of a roadie as he does his first mtb frame build. I need your suggestions and to check my ideas make sense.
Now if this was a road bike I would not be writing this. I have done a dozen or more builds and I have drawer loads of components to build a dozen more. But when I come to mtb parts the cupboard is virtually bare and so is my knowledge.
Now the theme of the build. I hate seeing modern parts on old frames so the components must be of the period or sympathetic to the frame’s year which is given as 1992. I think this is probably accurate as the splatter paint job is almost identical to my two GTs which are 1991 & 92; I guess it was a style point at the time and it certainly stops the dirt showing. The GTs are both Shimano 7 speed, LX on the Tequesta and DX on the Karakoram Elite, so it makes sense, at least to me, to build the Daccordi the same way as this will allow some interchangeability of parts. For example, I can immediately use (borrow) the wheels off the Karakorum which are Shimano DX 32H hubs on Ritchey Expert Vantage rims shod with Charge Splashbacks. I intend to get specific wheels for the Daccordi later but it get things going for the moment.
Next, what group set should I go for ? I did dabble with idea of Campagnolo, after all what could be more appropriate for an Italian mtb. But availability of parts and doubts over their effectiveness means that I shall probably go for Shimano. At the time the top groups were, I believe, LX, DX and XT. I know the first two from my GTs but XT is a foreign country. Any recommendations bearing in mind availability and cost ?

Firstly, although I don't particularly like e-stays, that frame ..... wow! I'm a sucker for Italian things and I like the splatter paint job.

Campagnolo OR would be a great match, but I can see the hesitation given availability and prices. If you decided to go down the Shimano route, given you have one built up with LX and one with DX you could build this up with XT or even XTR which was introduced as the top range in 1992. XT is 7 speed, so you could start off using the Karokoram Elite wheels if you wanted, whereas the XTR is 8 speed, so that wouldn't be as well suited for mixing and matching, though some people are happy with the shifting they get from mixing (spacing is slightly different, 5.0mm for 7 speed and 4.8mm for 8 speed, but the float in the top jockey wheel on Shimano derailleurs gives some leeway).

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Holy sh*t that frame is a corker! Will pull up a chair and big mug of tea for developments.

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What a gorgeous frame!
If you ever decide that it's not for you....dibs

As has been said above, a full campag build would suit this a treat.
I have just finished building up a similar looking frame with XT here.... viewtopic.php?f=6&t=309068&hilit=Overbury%27s

Looking forward to seeing this develop

Kingoffootball, I am sure you are right in that XT is the way to go. For simplicity I shall stick with 7 speed. Looking at stuff for sale on here and the Bay, I notice that you can either have separate brake levers and thumbies or integrated together. My two GTs both have integrated shifters and brakes so that seems to fit the period ie c.1992 ? When did the integrated systems come in ? Is there any advantage one over the other ?

Makster, Thanks for reference to the two threads on your Overbury’s.
“E” frame – is that because the tubes look a bit like an E or some other reason ? What was seen as the advantage of this design ? In the photos of your bike built up I can see the chain wheels are higher than on a normal bike so was it to give greater ground clearance ?
Looking at the photos of the Dacccordi (not arrived yet) the relationship between the bottom bracket and the rear wheel drop out seems reasonably conventional. I shall be quite happy if it proves so as I do not want inside leg reaching the ground issues !
You were so fortunate to get the XT components along with the frame. I shall have to find at least front & rear derailleurs and shifters/brake levers. A nice wheel set of the period would be great too. I may consider going off piste for some components as I may already have some bits I can use. Of that more later !

E-stay stands for elevated-stay. I'm sure other people can better inform you about the pros and cons of that design, but primarily it prevents the chain having to go around the chain stays, preventing chain suck and generally making life easier. It also aids a shorter wheel base, but does lead to a bit more flexing at the bottom bracket.

The Shimano catalogue archive is your friend with regards to period components:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... atalogues/
Integrated levers and shifters came in in 1990, but thumbies were still around, so I'd go with whichever you prefer using. I wouldn't have said one system was superior to the other. Rapid fire shifters require a bit less movement of the hands on the bars and so could be more convenient, and thumbies are probably more mechanically stable and less likely to require maintenance, but both systems work well, so I'd go with whichever you are most comfortable with.

I'll happily use either, but probably edge towards thumbies more often.

Great excitement ! The box from Germany arrived today courtesy of Deutsche Post and Parcel Force, according to the labels on the box. I don’t know when it was actually sent but I ordered it last Tuesday afternoon and it arrived at Noon today so 7 days. I think that is quite good for £30.
I could hear the frame rattling about in the box but it was well bubble wrapped and pipe lagged and seems in good health. Paint work in really nice condition; I give it 9 out of 10 with a few chips that a bit of black paint will put right. That is the beauty of black bikes I find, really easy to touch up and they shine beautifully when buffed up.
My initial thoughts were that the frame seemed a bit heavy but some work on the bathroom scales came up with a figure of about 8 ½ lbs which includes the Stronglight headset, Shimano BB, seat pin clamp and 2 pairs of bottle cage bolts, so not too bad bearing in mind there are quite a few extra tubes compared to a conventional diamond frame. Both frame and forks are Columbus Steel Off Road, Reinforced and Triple Butted. Because of its design the frame is a strange mixture of lugs and welding. The fork crown is lugged as is the head tube and seat cluster but below these all is welded, quite beautifully finished with none of the caterpillars of weld you find on aluminium tubes.
Right, that is all for the moment as I am mid-way through two other builds, an Andre Bertin and another Daccordi, both road bikes this time.
Many thanks to Kingoffootball for his explanations on E frames and brake/shifter systems.
More later.

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That's cool .....I found this Daccordi on the bay last year literally a couple of miles away from home. Couldn't find much about their MTBs at the time.

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