I had a 25 mile day yesterday on mine, including a 11.5 trip with four non-trivial climbs. I think I would have loved 100 miles of chipseal as Seattle roads, especially at speed, can be jarring. Didn't help that I was huffing the campfire-y air here, either. Or that I didn't fuel myself well before the ride...or even earlier.

Glad the Impulse continues to be better and better. It's worth the investment, IMO.

Well, made a compromise since I could decide between white or the vivid pink. I found and used a much more subtle pink that I think matches pretty good to the pink fade on the frame. I also have put on more subtle pink bottle cages that I'm not sure of. Maybe they should be white.....

Anyway, here's the latest change. Next up will be the modern wheels just as soon as they show up.




Turns out that pink splash tape was originally red, it just faded over the years. LOL!

I would suggest stainless steel King cages - they might match the spokes, seat post and stem, and would be less prominent and not detract from the frame. The frame looks great on its own with out any colour matching components. I'm still working on updates to the white Impulse I bought a few weeks ago - I have the same Thompson set back seat post, and new light weight tires and tubes sitting on the shelf. I've been rebuilding the deck on my house for the last 5 days, so all bike activities are on hold.

Well, I installed the new wheels today. I think that's it for now. I'll get a few hundred miles on this bike and then decide if I want to upgrade the drivetrain or not. Right now I've put 180 miles on it as I sorted it out.

She's a respectable 20 lbs, 13 ozs as in this picture.






I wound up using stainless bottle cages for now. Just wasn't feeling the various pinks.

I wasn't feeling the pink bottle cages, or, more specifically, that hue of pink. The Impulse is looking very nice. Reminds me that I haven't ridden my Impulse in over a week! Been tending to and riding other bikes (Paramounts, primarily, oh woe is me!).

Well, the Davidson proved itself today. Got home from work today and didn't feel like going out but I went anyway. Thought I was taking it easy but saw that I had a good pace going at around the 10 mile point. So I went after it a bit more. Was still holding better than a 20 mph avg when I started the 25th mile. Had been fighting a strong headwind that last couple of miles before that. Finally started struggling a bit. Finished the 27 mile route with a 19.7 mph avg which was a PR for this route and the best overall pace of any ride this year. I think today's ride shows this bike is as good as any of them as long as I give it a chance.

There is nothing better than spending quality time with a frame and some polish and seeing the paint come back to life. You got the added bonus of having the mechanicals come back to life as well. The tri-color band is even still intact. No fibbing - you had to have had an inkling she had a chance to come back clean !

Reading your Davidson build posts is making me excited about finishing my own Davidson Signature build!
Just have to find Super Record Super Leggeri pedals for it, and I will have everything to complete! Can't wait to take it out for my first ride on it!

That's looking good! Of course, I'm biased

Nice-looking seatpost score. Those are hard to find in really nice condition for less than an arm and a leg. Is that an NR or SR headset? What did you come up with for bars/stem?

DD

Yup, SR headset and seatpost..... also found a very good set of SR brake calipers, now on the frame too, I already have a couple of Cinelli bars I could use, but most likely will pick the Giro d' Italia. I will need to transfer over a Cinelli 1R stem from my Montello to this bike, as I already found a Pinarello pantoed 1R to put in its place. Just waiting for an SR lever set that I just bought to come in and I would have everything to complete the build, except for period SR quill pedals straps and clips. This bike will share the wheelset on my recently completed Bottecchia Chorus Pro, as those wheels have the appropriate Campy Record hubs and Regina alloy FW to match the Regina America Superleggera chain I will install on this bike, plus the Vittoria Corsa G tubs that should be the topping to getting the best ride out of the Davidson.

That's a beauty. You'll have to let us know how that first ride feels....and soon!

You have an awesome collection of bikes, people like you inspire me to build up my own collection.


You have obviously also done an outstanding job in restoring that Davidson Impulse.


Now if I could be so indulgent, there are a few questions I would like to ask you.


1. How old are you? (I'm 51 and want to see either how far behind you I am, or how much time I have still to catch up on building my collection)


2. What do you consider to be the fastest bike in your fleet?


3. Do you have any of these fancy pants carbon framed thingees, and if so, how does that compare for speed.


Cheers.

1- Well you're just 2 years behind me so get crackin'!

2 - Hmm fastest is relative but... My PR on my 25 mile route is held by the Lemond Maillot Jaune. The Schwinn Circuit has my strava KOMs though for short sprints. That said, I think the actual fastest is the Serotta CSI or the GP&GS Lemond. They just haven't had their chance on the right day yet.

3 - Good question. I used to have both a Scott CR1 Pro and a Trek Madone 5.9. A couple of years ago I looked at my logs for he past 7 years and saw were the C.F. bikes we not any faster than the steel ones and for the most part slower. I put that down to how stiff they were and how they would beat me up (thus slow me down) on the rough chipseal I ride daily. The only advantage was on one long Cat 1 climb of 20+ miles where the CR1 Pro had the best time. Not by much though. I also took several weeks to do back to back centuries comparision rides with 4 steel bikes and the two C.F. bikes. I finished the rides faster and fresher feeeling on the steel rides. So after all this I sold the C.F. bikes and haven't looked back.

They get pinker in the sun. Mine was stored indoors out of direct sunlight when not in use. This is the effect of the sun on that same paint after 80,000 miles. The red is gone.