robbyville

consider them ditched, and yes White Lizard Skins tape so.... hot-ish?

dtrain

Yeah, I'd say looking very nice!

thirdgenbird

Without caps and with white tape? I believe so.

off the bike I find those cranks ugly. On the bike they are not so bad (and way better than 7900)

bianchi10

Might be the angle of the picture here, but if it was MY bike, I would rotate bars down a smidge. White bar tape should look good. Cant wait to see it completed!

seymour1910

when you take the final shot after the bar tape and steer tube cut, be sure to line the valve stems straight up, and then align the crank arms and I think you're in there.

Andy_K 

Definitely hot, though I'm biased.

My LBS had a white Toupe+ in the bargain bin. I tried to talk myself into it, but I'm not sure I have enough personal style to pull off white bar tape and saddle.

thirdgenbird

I would too. Not much, but just a touch.

Nagrom_

He's taking it to a fitter tomorrow, so I assume bar angle will be dealt with.

WHOOOSSHHH...

HOT...well done!

Sidney Porter

Ribble - Not - over done lose some of the color transitions.
BH - Hot - but cut the steerer, desticker the wheels personally I don't like the frame/seat post. But still potentially hot.
Raleigh - Not but could be hot - It looks like it is trying too hard. Lose some of the yellow
Eddy Merckx - Hot? It is a bad picture with the background. I don't know if I like the pink but I think you went the right direction but not accenting the pink.

Sidney Porter

Ridley - Hot

Sidney Porter

My observation on the Red, Black, White and Silver bikes
In general For the most part with the red, white, black, silver combination the owner needs to decide what is the color of the bike and the others should be used as accent colors. Too many of these bikes turn into an attempt to create a bike that is 4 colors. Which is different than a black bike with red and white accents. I also think that in general if you are going for the red, white, black combination you need black components silver components become distracting. And you reads needs to match.

sced

It's up there for yet another all black bike, because it isn't over-logo'd nor doing the opposite black-black-black thing. What color tape are you planning?

robbyville

Thanks to all, much better and more rewarding than I had anticipated, I can't believe nobody nailed me on my slightly off center front tire between the Bontrager name and the November logo on the rim!

Sced, the tape will be white. I actually feel that the frame is over logo'd, but it met my geometry and pricing needs for the build and I do like the colors. I was looking at ways to remove some of the decals but don't think I can.

Bianchi when you say rotate bars down a little do you mean the bottom of the drops down more toward the rear axle raising the hoods or rotate the whole bar down so that the drops are pointing more towards the top of the rear caliper vs. the shoes of the caliper?

Hopefully after this afternoon's fitting the bike will be repostable. I am after all a slightly older recreational rider who likes to spend long days in the saddle. If I did the measuring right during my research I may be able to lose a spacer, I'd really like to keep the stem this way vs. flipping though.

I've had a ton of fun with this build and learned a bunch. Definitely far more rewarding building and selecting every piece on my own vs. buying a complete. In my case it worked out financially as well. Cannot wait to ride it hopefully this weekend. Thanks for playing along with me and will try to post the finished product sometime soon.

robbyville

Andy, not sure that I do either (or have the patience for constant cleaning), but I will say the Toupe has to be one of the most comfortable saddles I've been on.

primov8

Great looking build. HOT.

bianchi10

Robbyville, I was meaning rotate the bars down just a touch so that the bar end is pointed more towards the top of the rear brake caliper instead of at the bottom or just below it. The way it sits now, it appears as if your forearms would hit the top bar if you were riding in the drops and out of the saddle.

robbyville

Got it thanks!

Northernmike

The isolated-ground receptacle (orange) in that shot of the Ridley is ruining it for me.

Kimmo

Okay, how about this baby. 20yo machine sporting 6400, pimped up with some 7700 and Campy, plus modern wheels.

Yeah, the wheels don't match, but they look similar enough for me, and each one has some pretty cool gearhead features (love the Shimano design, and I dig the super-close hub flanges and milled rim on the A-Class). Plus, as you can tell from the brakes, I also dig front/rear specific spec. And the bike's a bitsa anyway.

bianchi10

Not. Dont like that saddle angle.

Kimmo

Well, stiff - it's determined by the seat, and it's sorted. Check out this previous incarnation, and note the same angle on the rear of the seat.



(Slightly more aggressive position now, since the new wheels make me wanna TT everywhere )

I'm not a fan of the angle myself, but I prefer what works to what looks right. Although after using this seat, I'm thinking the acceptable range is level to pointing at the hoods...

It doesn't look anywhere near as wrong as angled backwards.

Question for folks running as much drop to the bars as me - don't you feel the need for something to push back against?

And another Q for anyone not totally thrown by the seat angle: should I lose the stickers on the wheels? I'm leaning towards yes...

Andy_K 

No, on this thread the acceptable range is level to level.

Kimmo

Okay, maybe I should adjust my seat to take a pic, and then put it back... would that make any sense, you think?

...

There; looks better, feels like crap - this seat's too flat for me, it canes my taint like this.



So, any comments on the actual bike itself?

knowledgdropper

Perhaps if your seat was closer to level, you wouldn't feel that need...