jyl

It is SB2901 [edit: 2091]. I think that might be 1978? I will ask at the Yahoo Group for RTP.

miamijim

I've had my share of fly weight bikes and it'll be very easy or very difficult depending on what your willing to give up.

Record Titanium seat post: $200
Record alloy skewers $50
$5 no name Flite knock off saddle: $5
Lightweight tubulars: $150

In the 17's: $405

If your willing to go non-Campy you can get it in the high 17's/low 18's for about $200

KonAaron Snake 

Good to see you back Jim...was worried after that silliness.

RobbieTunes

A very nice example of what I consider the "grail bike" to be; not perfect, but lovely.

EddyR

Mine looks pretty close

Kimmo

Sweet machine.

Back in the day, you sure had to look a lot closer to identify the best kit... a quick glance at these old beasts leaves you none the wiser.

jyl

Just a bit of weirdness - the pedal threads in the crank were very tight. The existing pedals felt tight coming out - required wrench force all the way - and my preferred clipless pedals felt so tight going in that I stopped and brought the bike to my LBS to tap the threads. The tap removed more metal than I'd have expected. I hunted around here and found this old thread, which suggests that the Italian interpretation of 9/16 x 20 is slightly tighter than the English standard. I learn something new every day.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...atability.html

Ciufalon

Now I've learned something new. Thanks for sharing this interesting bit of bike weirdness. And congratulations on scoring that ride! It's a beauty!

753proguy

That's an early 1979 SN, according to the supreme expert (Mike Mullett).

753proguy

Agree strongly about the BB -I wouldn't ride one of those, period. They are coffee-table parts, or maybe paperweight material.
Look for a later, nutted-solid-spindle one, or go with an OMAS unit if you want even lighter-weight than your current BB.

David325

Bike looks great! A grail indeed- I'm the one you outbid on eBay, if this is the same bike (sure looks like it). Glad it went to a forum member. Very jealous!

crank_addict

I have no clue what the reliability was with the Sampson Stratics Ti bb, but back when used one in my Colnago. Kind of had scary thoughts about it but never the less, abused it. The bonus was showing it off thru the clover cutout. Could be something the OP might consider.

jyl

Ride report, 100 miles in. Konaaron asked for this.

The bike rides very nicely. It is not particularly flexy, accelerates quickly, turns in quickly, ride is lively not harsh, bike is comfortable for 45 miles (longest ride so far) with some reservations about bars and saddle. I can ride it pretty fast without undue effort. I chased down a tri-bike guy who was hauling, GPS says the bike got up to 31 mph, and I was only dying a little. As for hills, I've only had it on short and/or moderate climbs (due to gearing) but it seems to climb those easily. I don't know how it descends yet.

The reservations so far:
- This Benotto bar tape has got to go. No doubt back in the day, bike racers were hard men, hands tough from farm and factory, so gripping thin plastic over hard metal was fine, but my hands are soft, febrile office worker hands, and after 30-35 miles, the bars are uncomfortable. I'm thinking silver Fizik, or Benotto over cork.
- The Brooks Swift needs a bit more nose-up.
- Stem is too short at 110 mm; looking for a 130 mm, also a slightly wider bar.
- Rims are frustratingly hard to tension and true. I've tried over and over and can't get it "just right". The rims seem soft and intolerant of what I consider high enough tension. I'm going to rebuild it with thinner double butted spokes. I'll replace the tubulars then as well.
- Gearing 53/42 x 14-17 is fine for flats, 5% grades, and shorter grades up to 10% but not for real hills. Will swap FW soon.

Chombi

Congratulations on a great first ride on you SBDU! 100 miles!, 31mph! Must be longest distance and the fastest the bike went in a long time!
In terms of the slight flexiness of the 753 frame, I'm wondering how this bike compares ride-wise to your Peugeot PSV. I've heard some compare Reynolds 753 to Supervitus 980 tubesets as very similar, weight-wise, but I'm curious if they are similar in other ways.
Curious too, what are you planning for replacement tubular tires?
I feel you pain about Fiamme Ergal rims.....
Actually, you just reminded me that I have to re-true the Ergals on my Line Seeker soon, lest it goes pretzel on me on my next ride. Definitely the noodliest rims I ever owned, ...but still uber classic cool for 70's era race bikes!
BTW,..... Why not try cloth tape on that handlebar...... Not as cushy as cork or Fizik tape but much better than cello and more period correct for your bike.

jimmuller 

Very cool. Just a few quick thoughts. Maybe the reason the drive side DO wasn't drilled as much is because it is under more stress. You're not going to keep those black pedals on that bike???

jyl

Not sure which tubulars I'll get. I could go the weight weenie 23 mm route, or the 25 mm all-rounder route. Tubulars give me sticker shock, to be honest. What do you suggest?

(Currently thinking about Veloflex Record or Paris-Roubaix. $100-110/each. Bike Tires Direct has them at their store here in Portland, and for $5/tire they have a road hazard plan that will replace the tire once for half price.)

I actually blew out one of the original tubs today. We were on a gravel loop and I wasn't happy - 23 mm tires at 120 psi are no fun on loose cambered gravel. I hit a pothole and didn't unweight in time. There was a sound like a gunshot, and my rear tub was blown almost in half at one spot. Casing and tube were shredded. Uh that can of Vittoria Pit Stop wasn't going to do much good, and we were out on Sauvie Island, a fair distance from home. The ride leader was aghast. Well, I was carrying an old Vittoria Rally tub for a spare. I put that on and caught up with the group at the end of the loop. No fuss.

I could do cloth but it would have to be white, and that gets dirty so quickly.

As for comparing the Team Pro to the PSV, I really can't. The PSV is loaded with 15 lb of commuter stuff so it rides totally differently than the unladen Team Pro.

I am a little confused about the drilling. Other Team Pros with drilled dropouts, that I've seen, seem to have similar drilling on both right and left. But I've only really seen a few. Who knows how they changed things over the years.

The Super Record pedals are in the parts bin. Swapped for clipless. I'm trying to keep the bike "period", but the first priority is to make it a rider.

Chombi

I run Schwalbe Milanos on two of my bikes and I love them!. Much lighter than the Vittoria Rallies I run on my PSV, made with nice, straight base tapes and treads and no lumpiness at the tire valves! they don't feel quite as good riding as the Veloflex Criteriums I ride on one of my bikes, but definitely, much better than the Rallies, plus they are well priced at around 50 bucks a tire from my LBS's (when they have them. They seem to be quite popular, so they are usually out of stock). They are very light for a 50 buck tire, but they do feel a bit thin in construction at the sidewall and tread, so there might be a bit of puncture resistance traded off for the light weight, although for some reason, I have not had a puncture yet with the Milanos but had with the Rallies, since I started riding tubs two years ago. Must be because I don't really put too many miles on them and usually use my beefier GL330 wheelset with the Rallies for longer rides....

Italuminium

Very nice score. How about a unica nitor saddle?

oh, and @gaucho777, I might have to rescue that poor Ti-Raleigh when I'm in London again next week...

jyl

I pulled apart the rear wheel, which has been the troublesome one. That Fiamme Ergal rim has lived a harder life than the front Ergal. It has a dent with associated bulge and low spot. I am not sure how well I can tap that out. It also has a weirdly shiny and slightly crinkly finish. The front Ergal has the normal smooth aluminum look.

Long story short, I am going to try to find another Ergal to rebuild the rear wheel. Or I suppose if a pair of nice and very light vintage 70s tubular rims of another type showed up, I could switch. If nothing shows up, I will rebuild the wheel with but it may bug me.

What 70s vintage tubular rim is as light as the Fiamme Ergal?

Edit: Current weight per wheel for Gommitalia Servizio Corse tire (weighed 260g), Fiamme Ergal 36 hole rim (weighed 280g), straight gauge spokes (est 250g), brass nipples (est 36g) is 826g. Potential with Veloflex Record tire (spec 203g), same rim (280g), DT Revolution spokes (est 160g), alloy nipples (est 11g) is 655g. For both wheels that would save 342g or 12 oz. That is more than i would have expected. Bike is 19.5 lb now w/ the hollow-pin chain, so that would get me comfortably below 19.0 lb. Still have the options of an alloy freewheel and lighter saddle. My goal is to reach 18.0 lb before my wife divorces me.

Ed.

I originally had Martanos for mine. I never got the front wheel built before I flatted the rear. Used the second rim to rebuild the rear wheel... Flatted that one, too. Have a Fiamme Yellow on the front, and I forget what's on the back.

Ed.

The rear dropouts on mine are equally drilled. Looking at a catalog of the era (1975?) I can't see any drilling on the drive side dropout.

jyl

My understanding was always that the 753 frames had drilled dropouts and the 531 frames did not. I'm not sure what the 531SL/Competition frames had. But I asked on the Team Pro Yahoo Group and didn't get confirmation of that.

I've been confused by the situation with my frame, which has the NDS dropout (and the fork drops) drilled with several holes, and the DS dropout with only two holes drilled. It doesn't match any other SB frame I've seen.

I think what may be going on is that this DS dropout was drilled for a Campagnolo Portacatena (see link below) so maybe that is why it doesn't have the normal many-holes drilling for a 753 frame.

https://campagnolo.wikispaces.com/Portacatena

noglider 

I can't say for sure, but I think I remember seeing dropouts drilled that way. And I can't remember what the rationale was.

Do not get an aluminum freewheel. It wear out right away. It's useful only when you are building a wall hanger or, more accurately, a scale hanger.

The Fiamme rims just suck. Sorry. You'll need a new rim.

I have Continental Sprinter tires on my track bike. They get good reviews, and they are 290g. Or see if you can find some Panaracers. They are light and very durable. My track bike rides hard, and I don't know if it's the bike or the tires, as they are the only tubulars I have.

Chombi

It's too bad about the hard to manage Fiamme Ergals, Like I noted earlier, I had similar problems with mine....
Could a pro wheel builder come up with better results that we can?....Or do Fiamme Ergals really just suck??
My similarly light Mavic GEL 280's were a bit difficult to build too, but nowhere near as bad as my Ergals......
Maybe it's time to consider trying out Super Champion Arc-en-ciels (which would be my next choice for a 70's race bike build) instead.... are they better rims??

noglider 

Fiamme Ergals really do just suck. They don't withstand much tension, and they're malleable.