Drillium Dude

Glad this worked out this way - the best result given the circumstances. I like your plans for it, too. You'll have to follow up on this thread one day when it's all completed and on the road again, deal?

DD

BFisher 

Always good to hear when reason and respect rule the outcome. I hope the frame works out for you in the end.

jeirvine 

Great solution. And I'm jealous that Franklin Fame is local to you. Without having to pay shipping, I'd be tempted to take on more restoration projects.

qcpmsame 

Kudos to both of you @nomadmax, its nice to read of two men not going off on ballistic postings and name calling about something. That's keeping everything straight in your seabag Chesty!

Semper Fi,
Bill

nomadmax 

Absolutely, I have no other friends that can see the logic in what I'm doing I hope it won't take too long to get this accomplished, I'm hoping to be done and on the road before the end of season.

While the money of shipping these things is certainly a factor, it's the possible complete loss from damage that always has me worried. Yeah there's insurance, but you can't just go to the shop and buy another one of these bikes. Moreover, I want the bike, not the money. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do; thankfully, I'm retired so my wife understands if I tell her "I'm leaving tomorrow to drive a thousand miles and see a man about a bike".

djs42

I have a 64CM Guerciotti frame that I have been riding since 1984; I'm 6'4" and hover between 235 to 245 pounds. The Guerciotti frames between around 1982 and 1990 were imported bare and painted in the US. The frame workmanship is incredible but the paint quality brutal.
I've never had any issues with cracks but have been touching up paint issues from the first year I owned the bike. It looks to me like the previous owners attempted a quick fix by spraying the frame without properly sanding or cleaning the problem areas. If you enjoy the way the bike rides I'd recommend taking the paint down to the metal and doing a proper refinish. I can pretty much guarantee you there are no issues with the frame itself unless the bike was in a few real bad crashes. From your photos of the bb area note that all of the actual brazing / welding on these frames is internal. Also, the crack marks are in the middle areas of where the lugs are and not at the tube / lug interface where cracks are typically evidence of major problems.

nomadmax 

UPDATE

Seller's check arrived, the deal is forever done no matter how it turns out. I have an appointment with Jack Trumbull of Franklin Frame on Wednesday at 1100 hours. He will do what repairs are needed, move and change the rear brake cable guides to just two on the side and a run of bare cable, set the rear to 130mm, align it, chrome the dropouts & right chainstay (which will be replaced), paint and finally decal it. I'm committed to saving and riding this bike. A few pics of the tear down







Me on one of my old Guerciottis chasing down a Canadian here in the US during the 80s.




At least the jersey still fits but now there's more hair on my legs than there is on my head

merziac

@nomadmax, All great news, full speed ahead!

nomadmax 

UPDATE

I'm back from dropping off the Guerciotti with Jack of Franklin Frame, now I can relax. I'll know more when he digs into it but nothing is really going to change, this project is happening, high water or not. For now, I need some 84GLX Guerciotti photos, I know one person here has an 84 SLX bike in blue but for the life of me I can't think of his user name. I'd like to get some reference photos for the color match and decals.

Price? Don't ask; that way if you ever meet my wife you'll have plausible deniability

unworthy1

a totally worthwhile project and I am subscribing for the updates...BTW did you confirm if there actually WAS any crack-damage to the BB shell where suspected?

nomadmax 

Jack was in the middle of something at his shop so we spent all our time talking about what I wanted the bike to be when I got it back and of mutual friends from my racing days. He said he wouldn't know until he stripped it. He is going to replace the right chainstay that was dented among other "upgrades". If it needs a BB shell he'll do that too.

Here's the expensive part, when he's finished with this frame and fork, I'll probably have him build me another road bike

RobbieTunes 

Sounds good, but I would wait until after Coppi. You just never know what you may find.

nomadmax 

Of course you're right and I will. Speaking of which, it's coming up soon. Donna asked if I was only taking two bikes because I intended to try and come home with another You can't put nuthin' by that Cajun.

RobbieTunes 

Still waters run deep, and she's got you figgered.

Last ride 76 

+1 I probably wouldn't do more, but the new paint would stick to the frames, and THAT would be wicked cool! I might even get a few bits of chrome done. In most cases using paint is good enough, chrome being such nasty stuff, but I have a couple of bikes that deserve complete restoration. I have heard rumors that there is someone in Northern NJ, high quality, and inexpensive, but somehow, when I ask "who"... the thread dies or the question is ignored.

nomadmax 

Here's what's being chromed:

Both rear chainstays & dropouts
Fork crown & dropouts
Chrome ain't cheap

The color will be the Guerciotti GLX84 translucent blue (including the fork blades) and it will be decaled as it was from TSDI. I currently have request in at Velo Cals to reproduce the TSDI sticker on the bottom of the downtube. The neon paint added a lot to the restore as it has a white base coat, then orange, then green, then clear coat. As mentioned above, Jack said the paint is only available in larger than needed quantities and isn't on the cheap side. I opted to get as close as I could to one of my old bikes instead. The frame below is an SLX bike and this one is an SL. It will decaled correctly down the frame material so there will no mistake that it's masquerading as something that it's not.

I haven't decided on components yet, I have enough Campy 10 speed stuff to make it happen but who knows, I might go Campy 12 with a 32/48 crank. All I know is I'll be excited to see it come to fruition

Nessism

I think there will be quite a bit of corrosion under the paint, and likely a cracked BB shell. I recently stripped and repaired an older frame I had and once the paint came off there was corrosion is places not readily apparent from first review. In order to get nice chrome work you need smooth metal. You can't chrome over corrosion pitting. Just cautioning you in advance. It might be better to keep your hopes lower on this one.

cudak888 

He's having the drive side chainstay replaced, so if the NDS chainstay is fine, there really shouldn't be an issue.

Nor is there going to be an issue if there's a cracked BB...the thing is going to the framebuilder, after all.

-Kurt

scarlson 

I keep thinking that if the crack is actually through the BB shell, it would be such a good candidate for sesquilaminate repair!!

That bike is lucky it's not mine. I'm not to be trusted...

Nessism

Replacing a BB isn't trivial. Personally, if by chance the BB isn't cracked I'd leave the chain stay alone and go straight to a repaint. Builders dimple chain stays all the time and the indentations they leave are larger than that dent shown.

cudak888 

True, it isn't trivial - but if the framebuilder says he'll do it, it is the framebuilder's non-trivial issue to grind the thing off the tubes. For the OP, it's just a case of paying for the labor, however much it may be.

Those chainstay dents could be filled with silver, if the high points are not that obtrusive.

-Kurt

Nessism

You can't fill a dent like that with silver. Lead type filler maybe, but bondo would be better.

nomadmax 

Here's the link to my frame builder, Jack Trumbull, owner of Franklin Framesets. He's been building since 1976 and according to him replacing the BB shell (if need be, isn't a big deal). He's also removing the top tube rear brake cable guides and adding two brake cable stops on the left side of top tube, one in front, one in the rear.

https://www.franklinframe.com/

The chainstay won't be filled under any circumstance, it will be replaced with a Columbus SL stay. Here's a link to some of Jack's work with chrome, he seems to be knowledgeable about that as well.

https://16incheswestofpeoria.wordpre...jack-turnbull/

I am fortunate to live not too far from him and we know some people in common. You know what they say, you can accomplish just about anything with enough money

cudak888 

Explain, please.

-Kurt

Nessism

Silver isn't the type of material you lay on thick, like a fillet. Even with a lower silver content braze material you don't just pile that stuff on.