My new De Rosa!
 

1986 De Rosa Professional - Columbus SLX!

I've been getting this one up and running (with the help of a pro) for several weeks now. If you'll indulge me, I'll tell the whole story but if you prefer the money shot, final pics at the end.

I saw this bike listed on eBay in late May and noted that the seller lived in my neck of the woods. I contacted him and asked to take a look at the bike. We did the usual eBay dance of exchanging phone numbers/addresses and were able to meet up. He is a very nice guy, retired dentist. There is a fairly complex story around the whole eBay auction, which I ended up losing out, but the only other bidder didn't work out so we were able to set up a private deal. The picture is as delivered, Victory groupset. Price on the bike was probably fair, but the seller also threw in some extras, including a 1st gen C Record rear derailleur, unused Regal saddle, C Record brake levers and a few other Campy parts, so I feel like I got a pretty good deal!

The bike was generally in good shape except for corrosion on the top tube cable guides, a few paint scrapes and a small dent in the top tube.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/...e653c776_c.jpgDSC_0046 by H Colvin, on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...2d4fefa6_c.jpgfullsizeoutput_3442 by H Colvin, on Flickr

Background on the bike:

I bought it from original owner who bought it in New Orleans in the mid 80's. The bike spent most of it's riding life there, the owner evacuating himself and the bike after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I tried to pin him down on the date and he initially swore it was 1985 but he remembered seeing a bike magazine with a "buxom, attractive Italian lady"standing next to one and he bought it within a couple of weeks. I later sent him this and he confirmed that is indeed the lady and the magazine!

Well the next step, routine for me, even if I plan to keep the build the same is to strip the bike down and clean everything to make it look as much like a new bike as possible. My original plan was to tackle the paint dings and corroded cable guides on my own but that did not go well at all and decided to call in a pro. On the recommendation of a respected BF'er I sent the frame to Chester Cycles in Chicago, where Duane did an outstanding job of breathing new life into the frame. He did corrosions restoration and touch up paint, so the paint is still 98% original. Here it is upon it's return and installation of the fork, and application of a new Columbus sticker.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4376/...a6f2eae7_c.jpgIMG_0569 by H Colvin, on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4429/...3c2996ae_c.jpgIMG_0571 by H Colvin, on Flickr

Beautiful, nice job on a great bike.

This whole time, the C Record rear derailleur is just tantalizing me. Victory is a nice component set, but I really thought this bike deserved C Record. These are the "extras" that came with the bike. Turns out, on close inspection, the C Record FD and post were already on the bike. The shifters in the bag are Syncro 1. My master plan would be assemble the remainder of a C Record group, use the yellow insert out of the Syncro 1 with a set from my embarrassingly large collection of Syncro 2 parts. How hard could it be?

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...3aa319c8_c.jpgDSC_0052 by H Colvin, on Flickr

Well turns out pretty dang hard! Who knew C Record bits were so expensive? Well I guess most everyone but me. I had planned on Cobaltos but those cost more than Deltas these days. It took several weeks but finally got a set of later generation Deltas, a C record headset, and, from a BF'er, a nice 2nd gen crank and BB.

The only missing piece was an adjuster for the RD. The OEM adjuster for the 1st gen RD came with the Syncro 1 shifter set and turns out to be very expensive. I experimented with a few kludges and came up with this Ritchey model, ground down a little to fit. It works OK for now.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4366/...1a21b95b_c.jpgIMG_0590 by H Colvin, on Flickr

Hold the phone, still on the before pics!

Wow, that's an amazing "touch up" job. I'm dealing with badly rusted cable guides on myClunker Challenge Sirrius, and it's a huge PITA. I've decided to paint the whole thing matte black at this point! I love blue on De Rosas - sweet bike. Looking forward to the ride report.

OK, so without further ado, here's the final result. I took her on what is now the traditional shakedown cruise on the Blue Ridge Parkway up to highway 60. That's the "Easy" way but still about 2500 feet of climbing.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4426/...26b2d09a_c.jpgDSC_0047 by H Colvin, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...603618c1_c.jpgDSC_0052 by H Colvin, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4379/...69832ae9_c.jpgDSC_0059 by H Colvin, on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/...3096188c_c.jpgDSC_0061 by H Colvin, on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/...745a9701_c.jpgfullsizeoutput_35f5 by H Colvin, on Flickr

I knew it was going to be beautiful..

Nicely done. Plus I remember that Bicycling magazine cover, and probably will for life.

VERY impressed with the paint conservation. I have a bike that needs that… I will have to contact.

Me too! After seeing the paint damage on the top tube, I was expecting "...so I had the whole thing repainted by..." Just beautiful. :thumb:

Drool.... Very nice looking bike!


This is exactly why I bought brand new 11-speed Campy components for my Montello -- I couldn't afford C Record. :twitchy: (Or maybe I just didn't have the patience to look for a decent price.)

DeRosa running Veloflex = :thumb:
Life is too short for shabby riders!

That came out great. Beautiful build.

Well done, much envy here.

Drool! Congrats on finding, getting and "restoring" a beautiful De Rosa!

Nothing to say but WOW, this turned out very good, nice job on the paint, as the others offered up. How are the brakes working? I realize its just a short shakeout ride, but after all I have read about the Delta's, its something I want to hear about first hand.

Bill

[MENTION=57478]repechage[/MENTION] - Duane did nice work. Turns out people that do touch up like this are few and far between. I'm pleased with the work and happy I spent the money on it. He doesn't do dent repair and the little one is still there but after paint it is hardly noticeable and I didn't even think about it on the maiden voyage.
[MENTION=22396]Wildwood[/MENTION] - These are Corsa 25's. I'm a big fan of the Veloflex Corsa and Master. Ribble had them on sale a while back and this is the third bike I've put them on. A high end bike deserves a tire like this.
[MENTION=110545]qcpmsame[/MENTION] - The Deltas seem to work fine, so far about on par with the Monoplaners. They didn't get much of a test yesterday though as the descents on the Parkway aren't technical and even at 35-36 mph the bike would have swatted my hand away from the brake levers - "faster Spaghetti Legs faster!"

Lesson learned from the set up -
I don't have the elusive 3.5 mm hex wrench, but a 9/64 works fine on the cable fixing nut. Use a 9 mm wrench to hold the base in place when tightening.

25c tire is probably the biggest you can use on these brakes and on some bikes maybe even 23.

If you're using Campy early aero levers with the little plate inside, keep steady tension on the cable when setting up to keep the cable end seated.

Hi Hugh,

The bike looks great and I like your approach to the build. Duane knows how to preserve the authenticity of the existing paint while repairing the chips and other paint related issues that are inevitable on a 30 year old bike. A De Rosa is worth the investment, without a doubt.

How do you like the ride? I'm so impressed with my De Rosa that I've concluded that searching for a better performing C&V steel bike is probably just a waste of time. It's got that X factor that very few bikes can equal.

Congratulations. Great bike, great build. It's always great to see a DeRosa getting a new lease on life and with an owner who will RIDE it. DeRosas are works of art, but over half of the art is performance art....

Love that yellow regal on it...that's a LOOKER!

Beeyoooteefull. Great call on those bottle cages.

Ditto

Very, very cool bike.

I'm certain you'll love the ride qualities of that beauty.

FWIW I had to do a do a double take. I just sold a blue De Rosa frameset that looked just like yours, but with the SL tubeset.

@ KonAaron Snake - He original Regal is a little long in the tooth and doesn't stand up well to close inspection but I'll ride it until it gives up the ghost. I put some of that Obermqns leather protectant on it .
[MENTION=403744]plonz[/MENTION] - the cages were $.99 shipped from China and advertised as yellow but turned out to be metallic gold. Not quite what I was going for but I think works OK.
[MENTION=47570]Barrettscv[/MENTION] - Thank you for the referral Michael, I'm happy with Duane's work and cost is worth it as I think keeping the original paint preserves the value, monetarilly as well as, down the road, sentimentally.

As far as ride quality, very early impressions are very good and what I would want from a high end long distance racer. Quick acceleration, stable handling, decent climber. I was hoping for something comparable to the ride of my Colnago C40 (closest I have to a Master) and my EM Century and it's at least as good as these. I didn't feel quite as comfy in the drops yesterday as I do on some of my bikes but I think that's a matter of a few tweaks in the set up.

Thank you all for the kind comments!