Originally Posted by
Miele Man
This is the final build of a MIELE Columbus SL frameset that was literally on its way to the dump when it was given to me.
The bike came with tubular wheels with cyclo-cross tires on it. The frame has aero brake cable routing in the top tube and the top tube was cracked at the hole where the canle housing entered the front of the top tube. I had that tube replaced and then later when i acquired a Shimano Dura Ace AX groupset i had the frame modified to use it.
The modifications included the removal of the downtube shifter bosses and the removal of the chainstay cable housing stop. The frame builder then made a front shifter boss and brazed it to the top of the downtube. He also brazed the cable stop to the top of the chainstay. The biggest thing was the front derailler. Cable guides were brazed to the top of the bottom bracket shell and behind the seat tube. neither the front or rear deraillers use any external cable housing. Shifting is very precise even though it's friction only. I absolutely adore the Dura Ace AX brake calipers. Braking is very positive and it's quite easy to lock up the wheels on dry pavement. I'm very lucky because I found a shop out in the country and they had NOS brake shoes and NOS Uniglide cassettes. At least they did have them. Now they live in my bicycle parts closet. I don't have the Dura Ace AX front hub and I hate mis-matched wheel sets so right now I'm running wheels with vintage Shimano 105 hubs. The rear is a freewheel hub.
I fear that the Wright's saddle is on its last legs and I will be replacing it with a French made leather saddle next week.
Images of this build.
IMG_3769 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
IMG_3772 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
IMG_3776 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
IMG_3773 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
IMG_3779 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
IMG_3778 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
IMG_3780 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
The Dura Ace AX stem has internal hex socket bolts to tight the handlebar and the stem in the fork. There's a 6mm hex socket cap that goes on the stem to hide the bolts. This makes fpr a very clean appearance.
IMG_3781 by
Miele Man, on Flickr
Cheers
Nice find and a nice bike, congrats.
Don't think bad stuff about friction shifting, I have several friction shifting bikes, howbeit their all Suntour which made the best friction systems in the world, and they shift as fast as my STI does! Of course you have a greater chance of miss shifts but once you get the hang of it they can shift very fast. What's weird about this shifting stuff, I have a couple of bikes with index shifting and they're actually faster than STI! Most people don't realize this stuff because they didn't start riding till after STI came out, and since it's modern all the old stuff must be crap which isn't true by a long shot. And the friction shifting stuff is much more reliable, it never goes out adjustment between cable changes, and cables last longer.