A couple of years ago I purchased my second Gazelle Champion Mondial from s70rguy here on the forum, a beautiful dark blue and silver 78 A-Frame.
And for a very short time I had it built with SunTour Cyclone / Superbe parts:
I think I caught a BB out of the up when putting the bottom bracket together, or something, because the bottom bracket developed a lot of play on the shake-down ride. Also the SunTour Power Shifters were refusing to hold the gear at all - likely to another poor assembly by yours truly. In frustration I promptly took all the SunTour parts off and put on a Campagnolo Nuovo Record set:
Which was very pretty to look at, and rather enjoyable to ride, but it just did not get ridden much. And I rode it even less after finishing the Nuovo Record group with a set of brakes and levers (which I never did tighten down all the way after the shake down ride to tell you just how little I rode it this past 6mo).
So obviously I need to recreate it into something slightly different. Something different enough from my other rides that I will actually choose to ride it on more than a rare occasion. Because honestly it's an enjoyable frame to ride, but too often not the right bike for the ride I am going on. I want to do some metric and full century charity rides this spring and I want to do them at a fun pace on a fun bike - the A-Frame.
So here's the plan:
1) The Campagnolo Nuovo Record gear is getting put on display next to the Super Record parts in the Bike Cave. One day I'll have more space for more bikes and more time to ride and I can enjoy the vintage Campagnolo groups then.
2) The Cyclone GT rear derailleur and Cyclone FD is going to be handling gear changing again. Still working on finalizing a purchase or trade for a set of bar-cons.
3) Going to give the Superbe crankset & bottom bracket another go. Hopefully get it put together correctly this time. I am still on the look out for a 110BCD double that I can set up with a 50/38 or so that will look at home on the frame. I'm hoping for something fluted and proper for the late 70's frame.
4) New wheelset & tire combination. The Campagnolo Omega 19 rims I have on the bike now need some minor truing, but more than that they're just the wrong rims for a 25mm or 28mm or so tire. They work great with a 23mm though.
5) Stopping: this is one of the major issues with my current build. I removed the Tektro Aero levers and dual pivots above in favor of period correct Campy bits. Looks fantastic, but as we all know campy parts are more speed modulators than actual brakes. If I plan to be riding around other people (both on bikes and cars) I need to be able to stop when needs be. I have some Cyclone and Superbe brakes I'm going to try, or if I can find some recessed mount center pulls that may be attempted as well so I can put some V-O fenders on as a finishing touch.
6) Ride into the sunrise, or the sunset, but not likely both on the same day.
