I’m now the proud owner of a 1986 De Rosa Professional frame. There have been a couple of full bikes I’ve looked at in the past but there has always been something which has put me off – usually the high asking price! By getting the frame it lets me build up the group I want slowly but surely over time.

I’ve already made a good start and deals with [MENTION=365306]nesteel[/MENTION] and [MENTION=96605]smontanaro[/MENTION] who have sorted me out with Record brakes and a Record wheelset respectively. I also have a mini pat.72 Nuovo group – but it isn’t braze on so it has me thinking I might do something else there. I also worry it’s too old for the frame, and have seen a similar bike with and a patent 84 super record group which looked great – so I would be interested in what people thought here?

The bike originally had a full 50th anniversary set-up on it, but that was sold off by the previous owner. So, while I won’t be able to match up to that for a while, this bike is obviously used to the finer things in life!

I'll try and keep this updated with more pictures as i progress, but any advice along the way is very much appreciated.