Soooo....I'm going to be thinning the herd, but I decided on the spur of the moment to build up an existing frame into a bike purely designed for climbing - fast.
Going on 3 months smoke-free and my lungs are coming back fast. Although I just missed making the top of Hurricane Ridge with a 42/24, I've been running around here with a 42/17 and not getting stuck. I think I'll be able to handle the knee-busters again just like the old days really soon.
So, I pulled out the Somec frameset I've had for, what? 8 or 10 years I think. And just a few days before I'd traded Alex my Colnago wheelset (FIR rims on OMAS Colnago-panto hubs) for a lovely, blue-anodized pair of Arc en Ciels on Campy Record high-flange hubs. Tubulars. For lightness, you understand.
Then a Super Record headset. And then I smoked a bowl
The epiphany came: put the wheels on the Somec and pull out all the lightest stuff I had. Of course, I had to use a couple Somec-panto'd parts I'd been putting together for a full-panto build someday, but mostly I went through my stuff with the intention of going light as I could, but just tossing stuff onto it. No real big thought to it, and no attention to detail - there was no infill-painting or attempts to do any of the normal tricks this time around. Grab the part and bolt it on. The Clarks cables (blue housings) had been bought long ago for this build, so they of course finally came out of the package, but most everything else was a slap-together job.
Well, the only thing it needs is a tweak to the rear triangle. Will and I discovered between the two of us that the dropouts aren't currently 100% aligned, so the rear wheel doesn't line up perfectly. We can fudge it, but who wants a fudged alignment when coming back down the mountain? I'm looking to get this into a shop to get it tweaked and then it will be ready to go.
The bare frame:
Bob Freeman at Elliot Bay Bicycles made up a set of decals for me years ago and I added them to the frame prior to hanging parts. Since they'd been stored over the years I guess they went through some temperature shifts that goofed them up a little; some of the blue didn't transfer from the backing no matter how many times I burnished the carrier film. No matter. The frame has some paint loss and while once I was planning on touching them all up with as close a match to the light blue as I could, I decided to hell with it. Leave 'em. Light, PC and purposeful is what I was going for and I think that was the right approach for this one.
This is the original price tag (bought at Recycled Cycles back in the Campy NR/SR heyday):
I'll be adding some pics of the completed (less dropout alignment) bike in a couple days. Although I slapped her together, I'm conscientious enough to present her in a dignified matter (labels up and from the driveside, don't you know) as befits a BF C&V build
DD