Those with OCD and those who are "period-correct" enthusiasts can probably find 20 or more things that are "wrong" with this picture, but there's one thing in particular that I'm curious as to whether or not it screams at you. I think when you see it you'll know you've seen it. Let me know how hard it was to spot.



If anyone wants to play full-on "What's wrong with this picture?" and list all the anachronisms, hacks, and mistakes you can spot that could be fun too.

I see a lot of things unusual, aside from the thick powdercoat.

Like, the clamp adapter for a braze-on, width of fenders with the calipers, brifters and Tektro levers (anachronistic) or ?

Carbon blade and alloy blade. It would make me crazy.

Yep. The picture is chock full o' things like that. None of those are the primary thing I had in mind.

Also, don't be dissing my powdercoat. That came out great.

Saddle, stem, brifters (does that count as two?), shifter cable stops,fenders, brakes, wheels, pedals, cranks, bar tape, bars, seat post, freewheel/freehub, derailleurs (does that count as two?), skewers. I think that the tires and cables are consumables and not be counted.

Bingo! That's the one. Did it scream at you on first glance or just really bug you after you saw it?

Water bottle bosses, water bottle bosses everywhere but not a cage to hold one

But, yeah, the mis-match of alloy/carbon shift paddles would bug the heck out of Dena and me.

Pretty bike, tho. And the powdercoat looks fantastic, especially the two-tone. How'd they do that?

DD

I'll give you 15 points for that list. But why don't I get a pass on the bar tape? That's consumable too, right?

After just one ride I think I'm willing to live with it in exchange for the functionality. The right shifter had a worn out indexing gear. I found I could get a used replacement on eBay for $60 or a new Ultrashift 10-speed Record complete shift assembly at an LBS for $90. That seemed like a no-brainer apart from the carbon flipper. I'll keep the alloy flipper from the Centaur shifter and swap it in the first time I need to do a rebuild. Or maybe I'll replace the shift assembly on the left lever too.

BTW, nice Fast Times at Ridgemont High reference.

I also forgot to mention that the powdercoat is a functional upgrade. It lets me use a standard size derailleur clamp with the French tubing.

What he asked ^^

Also curious. It's clearly thick, lustrous. I didn't expect such a clean line at the seam of ornate lugs.

Saw it immediately.

Its the FRAME!

Everything else is roughly period correct, but the frame (& fork) is like really old.

Honestly, I don't know. I had it done at Forever Powder Coating in Olympia. There was something about masking on the itemized receipt, but I suspect there are some trade-secret level details in how they got that to work. The red panels on the seat tube are also a nice trick. They got a clean line without any kind of ledge that I can feel.

That's not even quite true. The derailleurs are a different generation Campy design than the shifters. The mismatch is letting me use them with a Shimano freehub and cassette.

The shadow in the first picture made me wonder if you had a disc-only rim in front. Glad to know that isn't the case.

Plus, banding slightly off on the seat tube with decal too high...Grand Record centered on the top tube.
Seat, as mentioned is off to my eyes but everything else I could live with..maybe deacals and banding on seat tube.
Ben

Well, hell, he mentioned everything

Forever Powder Coating in Olympia

Heh, I sed them to repaint my heavily abused world travelling bike.

OK, you got me there.

He missed a few things (the dented garage door, for instance). There are also some things you can't get from the picture, like the fact that the top and bottom cups are from different headsets. I took the Frankenbike thing to a new level with this one.

There's actually something almost as bad as the mismatched flippers (but less permanent) that no one has mentioned yet. The lighting/contrast in the picture makes it hard to see, but if you look close enough it's there.

Also, for full points, I'd want details. Things like "Nitto never made a stem with the 22.0 diameter necessary for this frame." (I don't actually know if that's true or not.)

I like it...

Thanks. This is one of two "dream bikes" I started on last fall. I built the other one, a chrome 1987 Pinarello Montello, with all brand new parts (11-speed Athena) that were properly matched, so it came together without a hitch and was exactly what I hoped it would be. For this one I bought used components and was attempting this nightmarish Island of Dr. Moreau mix and match thing. I had some initial problems getting the shifting sorted out, so until today riding this bike was an exercise in frustration. I installed the new (mismatched) shifter last night and rode it this morning. It was like a whole new bike! I think it has finally achieved the "dream bike" status I envisioned when I saw it as a crappy old frame on Craigslist last year.

I like it, too. And I'll probably go to Forever PC when it's time to finally finish my gugified Bianchi.

I spotted the mis-matched brifters almost immediately, but I'm not really sure how much that would bother me, were it my bike. I'd probably end up painting the alloy flipper black. Or just convert the shifters to indexed barcons, the most perfect shifting system in existence.

For curiosity, what seatpost do you have?

And how did you route your rear brake cable?