Enjoy my build process or ignore it, it's winter time and I have the time indoors to put this into a truly self indulgent thread with pictorial content.....
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Back in March 2013 I was ready to up my road bike fleet to N + 1 status. I was keen to build up a retro / steel frame bike after watching an online acquaintance with uber good taste and excellent technical skills build up a truly lovely steel framed bike from scratch. After looking at steel framed bikes all over the internet as well as the precious few avail. to see in the flesh locally, I decided a Colnago Master frameset was a highly likely starting point for me as I already had a Colnago C50 which I custom built to my own spec. and had been super impressed by it's comfortable ride and steady/predictable handling. As a self confessed comfort seeker I was keen to see if I could build a steel framed bike to both look special and also to be a genuine smooth ride.
I found a 2nd hand frame for sale on eBay that I liked the paint scheme on and found the condition to be acceptable and watched it for 9 days as the bids mounted and the price slowly climbed, however, I failed to stay up to 2:30am in the morning (UK auction) ........ the frame sold to someone else for well under my budget....... I had my Aesops Fox and Sour Grapes moment, thought better of the entire retro caper only to turn around and purchase another carbon frameset and build up yet another carbon bike instead.
I still ride this newer carbon bike and adore it for what it is, but the retro/steel frame bike notion had not entirely left me behind when my aforementioned online acquaintance began to preach to me about the technical merrits and self explanitory beauty of silver alloy Campagnolo Record 10speed hubs...... I was curious and found myself bidding on a 2nd hand Record rear hub which appeared to be in very good order. I won the auction and 8 days later I had this wonderful piece of bike equipment in my hands. After a light polishing the beautiful silver alloy finish came up a treat and I was hooked on shiny - I began to feel carbon lust quietly ebbing away from me as my penchant for all things metal and shiny has taken a hold of me........ In a matter of weeks I had a matching NOS front hub arrive along with a pair of alloy Campagnolo Lambda rims and a box of DT Swiss Champion steel spokes in silver.......of course.......
Mmmmmm shiny bits......
Being all new or excellent condition 2nd hand parts these have come up a treat with some simple polishing my online acquaintance encouragaed me to open the hubs up for a look inside and a little servicing if necessary. On a rainy Saturday afternoon I cleared myself some desk space, gathered some simple tools and began to dismantle the hubs to see what condition they were inside. A simple yawn perhaps for those used to doing this, however, I found it fascinating and very rewarding being able to strip out older grease, perform a light surface clean then re-pack the bearings (all in fine condition) with some grease and re-assemble the hub without issue - great fun for a first time hub servicer such as myself!
Pack that grease.....!
The rims yielded instant shine with the first coat of polish.....
Could not help myself and polished the spokes too before they are laced up.
So now with the ingredients for a nice pair of retro wheels all in place there was nothing for it....... once again, I was on the hunt for a retro steel frameset! So to cut a long story short, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this NOS Colnago Master X-Light frame with NOS Colango Precisa chromed fork for sale at Brick Lane Bikes (UK). The frame is a size 54cm seat tube with 55cm top tube and came with a rarer Colnago 'Soft Paint' finish which is a very low sheen paint finish which I felt was too tactile, quite a sticky/tacky feel to the paint despite it being 14 years sitting in a box and thus was too easily able to pick up dust, grease, road etc and gave me the distinct impression of being easily chipped or scratched.
I have immediately decided the soft paint needs to be clear coated so a couple of hours well spent with masking tape to mask off all the chrome plated sections including the intricate head tube lugs and the next day had my local automotive spray painter give the frame 3 coats of clear high gloss 2 pack and a bake in the oven. The result is an improved appearance and definately a frame I could handle, build up and most importantly ride without excessive worry about paint damage. A philistine act perhaps to gloss over a rare Colnago paint finish, but I am building this bike to ride, not as a period perfect mint investment to hang on the wall or live in a glass case.
My aim is to build up a beautiful looking bike but also to balance form and function together - weight is not of interest, comfort is a high priority. I also don't want to overspend obtaining fabulous looking, well matched componantry whilst also not wanting to be scrimping on cheap parts which I may ultimately regret purchasing and replace at more cost. This road bike for me will be N+2 and will be the limit of my bicycle fleet so I intend upon living/riding this bike for a long time. The frame is a 2001 model from what I gather, however, I want to keep the bike's appearance as retro as possible so there will be no carbon bits, as much polished metal as I can manage and my first fashion call is that I will opt for a traditional 1" threaded headset (Campagnolo Record) and fit a quill stem.
I found this lovely shaped but inexpensive 2nd hand 110mm aluminum Kalloy quill stem for sale from a fellow BNA member (Cheers Lloyd) and proceeded to remove the aged laquer finish and rub out the deeper scuff marks around the headset collar area using first 200 grit wet and dry paper cut into small stamp sized pieces. Then using 400 grit wet and dry paper over the entire stem surface, again utilising only small pieces at a time to get a rough finish over the whole surface and then using 600 grit wet and dry paper to smooth over the stem, eliminating harsh directional score marks. Then a good 30 minutes of polishing with 'Mothers' brand alloy polish and a rag and finishing with 75mm cloth buffing wheels in the end of my power drill yielded the following results. This stem is perfect for the job, stylish and inexpensive which means I have a little more to spend on other components......
Before
and after
It's bucketing rain here in SW Victoria and the wind has not fallen below 39km/hr for 5 consecutive days now with wind averaging above 50km/hr in daylight hours and windchill below zero in daylight hours too so I've given any hope of riding N or N+1 - time to assign one 'build up' chore per day as I have to wait for my trusted bike mechanic to lace up the wheels for me so I may have as long as 3 weeks to wait so why not savour this with one non rushed addition per day?
I have opted for Nitto S65 single bolt clamp seat post . They have a good reputation, I can afford it and it has the style and appearance I want for this build. Polished alloy and a simple design. Cut off a little of the bottom of the post to allow it to sit in the frame at my desired height (Gilco ribs impede the post shaft after the top 110mm of tube) grease applied to both seat post and seat tube and in it goes. Clamped by a ridiculously expensive (but very shiny) Campagnolo seat post binder bolt.
My cat approves!
Next day came the fitment of the quill stem, as described above, a 110mm 2nd hand Kalloy stem, sanded and polished to suit my desired level of shine....... Tensioning bolt was cleaned off and re-lubed with grease as was the handlebar clamping bolt
Handlebar fitment Saturday - again another affordable, brand new Nitto branded component - Mod 55 Limited handlebars in 42cm width. I had to lever the quill stem clamp open just a bit to get these bars to slot in - tensioned down nicely.
Sunday's task is simply to add the saddle. I ride on Selle SMP saddles - the Dynamic model thus far has been the best fit for me. This is the first white saddle I have used on a bike build though the other two are both black..........
Blowing a gale outside - gusts of 90km/hr so def. an inside photo session today.......
Today I fitted up the shifters to the handlebars. I am fitting all alloy Campagnolo Athena 11 speed to my X-Light. Another non period correct potential philistine move. I have worked out that the cost of NOS or best condition 2nd hand alloy 10 speed Record or even alloy Chorus parts was still considerably more expensive than purchasing a new 11speed Athena gruppo. I also was put off Record/Chorus/Athena 10 speed components because I cannot have compact cranks in alloy - decision made just like that......... I have Campagnolo Ultra Torque hand tools and my N and N+1 bicycles both run Camapgnolo Ultra Torque cranks so I scoured the internet and purchased a set of compact Athena 11speed cranks with the UT coupling system. So on go the alloy levered Athena shifters......
