Romani retromod. Columbus TSX.

[M_Chavez]

Romani... A name that needs no introduction.

I'm sure you all remember the TV ad:
"If you have a little mani,
Buy yourself a fast Romani."

You all know the brand and you've all longed for it, but only a few of us are lucky enough to perch our bottoms on this pinnacle of Italian framebuilding design and craftsmanship.

Picked up this sorry looking frame a few years ago. It was being used as a commuter bike and the rear wheel got whacked by a car while parked.
What originally caught my eye was the "Columbus TSX" sticker. You don't see many of them around.
The original paintjob (pastel splatter of blue, green, orange and pink on pearlescent white background) was too far gone, as was the chrome that covered the entire frame and fork.



The attention to detail was quite impressive:

 

[M_Chavez]

Since I only dig retromods, this one was getting a bunch of "modern" parts and a 9x1 drivetrain.

The car strike damage was very handy - it moved the ds side dropout a few mm out, so it was perfectly placed to take a 130mm hub.
The left side had to be adjusted with a floorboard, and oh boy, this TSX stuff is serious business. It would take almost my entire body weight before bending permanently.

The whole tubeset is rifled. Here's the "James Bond" shot of the steerer tube.


The damaged hanger had to be bent with the good old monkey wrench handle.



Dropouts were quite chewed by the hub & the strike damage, and required a bit of filing to get the QR hub to bite.

 

[M_Chavez]

The plan was simple: get the frame powdercoated, then take all the gear from my current road bike and put it on the Romani.

I really like my PX Spitfire, in fact, until now, it's been the best road bike I've had. But it has one big problem: the frame is Ti and the fork is CF.

When I'm riding a sportive, I really want to look down on all those lycra-sausage-skin clad schmucks on their plastic-fantastic bikes as I overtake them on climbs with my humble 9x1 shimergo drivetrain, and to quote @Imlach aluminium belongs in beer cans and plastic belongs in the oceans. I'll add that titanium belongs in old folks' knee replacements.
I had to get real and get some steel.

I took the frameset to the painters and you can imagine my joy when I first got told that they've stocked up on green metallic powdercoat, and then got told that they can try and save the rear chromed triangle.
It's 2025, so I hope I won't need to tolerate any chromophobic abuse.
It's mine,
It shines,
Get over it.


Got the frame painted, transplanted the components, added some anodized green bling and finally took this newly built beauty for a test ride.

 

[grantoury]

Nice colour.

 

[Scott-S]

Wow thats turned out beautiful