It's hard to believe that frame is from 1949 because some elements look so modern - it is a beauty. Thank you for another great insight into the traditions of Italian frame building.
Thanks mark, my thoughts exactly, the rear brake bridge is my favourite bit.
I've not seen it done that way before, I'd do it on modern bikes, but today's brakes are chunkier, and it doesn't look proportioned.
He was an ingenious man, most of the fixtures and machines that aren't bikemachinery were built by him.
Bears close scrutiny this (orange?) machine: )
A proper piece of history for sure.
I'll be looking closer, with maybe a Q or two, later.....
Meanwhile here's my Corsa getting its first fitting for the parts I have.
Found some Carve carbon forks & the rest is mostly off my old Simoncini Super Record. Mostly low end Campag. Centaur triple, Mirage shifters, Xenon brakes. My first threadless machine so no spares, & I had to find a basic stem, (+ Italian threaded BB, & OS seat-post clamp.) Looks to be right dimensions for me & when the head-set arrives it will soon be operational. This wheel-set is a basic DRC with 27 Panaracers here; )
At least 4mm clearance..... But clearance is clearance! It'll get black 25s shortly, maybe. The pot-holed roads around my area are not good on 23s..... 25s are trying it! (MTB territory here!)
Anyway it is intended as a dry weather town bike/runaround currently.... The angles are very relaxed so I'm interested to try it for real: )
If it rides OK the paintwork will get some attention.
I got a black 27.2 seat-post, but laziness/lack of time/hunger intervened: )
Probably get a Brooks before finish.... But I do have a Turbo cream/white as a possible alternative.
I wasn't sure how the cream tyres would look with the silver paint.
But it's a go-er right now: ) Clearance is all I need: ) At least 3mm.
You/I/we need to look & try the possibilities/alternatives.
Part of the fun, ain't it?
Comments always interesting; )
I'm thinking this might look good with white paint around the decals, or, simple, polished, complete Aluminium??
Innit?
HS good when it arrives... You can see it is ready & waiting.
It's not that I don't have anything else to do...... Like eat & sleep....
Always playing 'catch-up' here.
I think it looks great, there's some durano (ex stelvio) schwalbe tyres in cream in 25mm at a pretty good price over at bike24.
The colours are pretty smart and the cream gives it a bit of light.
the silver seatpost actually looks better than black, but could do with a bit of a polish to match the handlebar.
Polished aluminium looks great, but it's a lot of work, and the paint on that is in good shape.
so I'd take the lazy option and leave as is...
Too many bikes are never too many as long as you enjoy them!
interested to know what you think of it, coming from smaller section steel bikes.
I do like the look of it with the Panaracers, but intended to rebuild my Dave Marsh with them....
So it goes: ) Maybe a pair of 25s would solve that problem. As above the tyres are not up to pressure & so may get quite close to the frame with correct PSI. I might try a pair of black tyres just to see what the effect is. The tyre colour can radically change the look of a bike quite dramatically, & I'm always open to experimentation: )
The paint does need some attention in places, but it could be fixed at small expense, without doing the whole frame. I want to ride it before deciding that one though: ) To be honest I'm not enamoured with decals visible from 25 meters.... And I don't see that it needs a 'Carbon' reminder either. That's small stuff though. I'm very pleased with the general experience of it up to now. Made 'in house' at Simoncini is a reassuring feature also.
I think this one looks really good with the oversize tubing. It'll look neat to me when built & trimmed I'm sure. It's weighing 8.8kg as above so it's pretty light, all things considered. Coming from traditional frames the bigger sectioned tubes always look heavy to me, but what do I know? I had a nice Dawes Horizon (2007ish) Tourer for a while and I liked the look of it, but was heavy & ponderous for what it was. (IE A cheapo Galaxy)
Ignore the front rack, it was an idea too far!
Considering a repaint it crossed my mind that Stoving or Powder Coating requires heat. So how is the carbon & alloy bonded? Is the bonding heat sensitive? I just don't know these things yet: ) But, very interesting checking out the Columbus Altec specs. If my first alloy bike is made from Columbus tubing by Simoncini I'm quite confident it is up to the job! Not some dodgy BSO from China, etc. My first Italian bike was my previous Max Super Champion, so I was probably spoiled from the start: )
All good experience I say.
I will only argue with you on the 'Too many bikes are never too many as long as you enjoy them!' idea.
I only got a small bedroom & no other storage space here.
I know I got too many when I can't get into my bed! Needs to be strictly 'one in, one out' here......
Agree completely regarding fonts and graphic design.
grey lugs painted on a cream white bike would look good, you could mask the lugshapes using the grey and spray white, it would cover the decals,and look pretty good, Independent Fabrication does something similar, then apply some clearcoat, I can send you some smaller, more tasteful decals if you want, I'll check what colours I have.
That dawes has a very strange front rack, never seen anything like it, is it diy?
you can only wet paint carbon, so that limits you a bit, the alloy carbon or carbon steel bikes use a two part adhesive.
It is heat sensitive, don't leave it in a car boot in greece in summer!
As that australian website says, life's too short to ride bad bikes!
I put all my bikes in the tiny spare room, here
Test run & shake down here today: )
Small adjustments needed, stem is a little long, but height is right for me as here. Feels good & right otherwise.
I'm quite impressed with it actually.
I'll cut the steerer tonight, & I need to replace the front right outers... (Cut them a little too short on pre-assembly!! It can self change gears on a tight left hander as it is: ) And, the cables will be clipped correctly....
Been thinking about a refinish & come to the conclusion it only needs attention on the BB, head & the stub where the rear fork is inserted. I can live with the decals, but a head one would be good. I've also discovered an excellent dirt trap where the FD cable passes up through the BB. Got near an eggcup of now dry sandy road dirt out of it.... Don't like the idea of salty road dirt inside it!!!
With the tyres fully inflated the clearances are very tight under the rear brake caliper, so 25s will be better for this one.
Your spare room looks very useful & roomy to me. I'm not posting pics of my bedroom/bike shed on here!!! Four complete bikes, at least nine frames, & I'm not even going to count the wheel-sets.... I'm looking at an ebay Easter Sale right now.
it's looking good,very smart.
I'd leave a few cm of steerer above the stem, it's supposed to be stronger.
Black seatpost!
those park rubber coated hooks are great for wheels.
I'll sort out a ht decal. let me have a look at what I've got.
