What I have been wrenching on lately? This. Another old (1965ish) large (64cm x 61.5cm, both ctc) Cinelli Speciale Corsa. I had a too-small 1972ish SC, F/F/HS and bumped into a guy who had this one that was too big for him, so we traded. (His was built up, so he stripped it down to F/F/HS so we could trade straight across.) I was not looking for this or anything else. The other guy and I were both stopped at the same place and he commented on the Ron Cooper I was riding. As C&V folks will do, we got to talking about the bikes we have. It turned out we live about three blocks away from each other, so one thing led another and . . . .
I already have another one of these big old Cinelli unicorns. I had that one repainted (silver) and it runs Campy 10sp triple w/brifters, dual pivot brakes, etc. I built this one up with a motley assortment of components to be Eroica-compliant and Cino-friendly (when I swap out the pedals, that is) but not necessarily period-correct.. Drivetrain is 5sp with no consistency at all (Shimano old Deore RD; Suntour FD of some sort, Suntour ratchet barcons, Campy Nuovo Record-era crank with a Red Clover triplizer, new cheapo SunRace freewheel). The brakes are Universal 51s -
- even with KoolStop pads, modern cables and aero levers (Campy Records that look and feel like their 10sp brifters with the shifting guts removed), they are no better than meh-adequate on any kind of descent. The wheels are mismatched: Campy NR hub w/a Mavic MA-2 rim up front, Campy Tipo (low flange) hub w/a "Gentleman" rim on the back. Nitto "Noodle' bar and Tallux stem. Velo Orange seat post. San Marco Rolls saddle. Continental 5000 tires, 700x32. Columbus SP tubing (they didn't differentiate between SL and SP back then, but I figured from some source or other that this tube set is what would soon be called SP).
Paint is rough. The decals are rough (worse on the non-drive side). The chrome cleaned up better than expected (Quick-Glo is great stuff) and is more than serviceable. The headbadge also cleaned up better than expected with judicious application of Quick-Glo to the unpainted brass parts with Q-tips. I cleaned up the frame and fork, polished them and waxed them. This bike won't win any beauty prizes, but I have no plans for a repaint.
Howzit ride? As wonderfully as the silver one does, and that one was/is the best riding bike I have been on. So now the silver one is tied with the blue on for the best I have ever been on. So one for when I want to be lazy and do click-shiftingand have good brakes, and the other one is for kickin' it friction-shiftin' old skool and don';t mind living a little dangerously brake-wise.
