Well my excuse is that I'm a bit too busy to manage all my projects. I have a lot of fun conceptualizing my different (mostly road) bike builds.





In the past I based my season's riding on a 3 road bike rotation meaning, that at any given time I could reach of one of 3 different steeds and be out on the road with minimal intervention beyond lubing a chain, and pumping up tires and making sure my blinky battery was fully charged.





Life moves on and a few of my brighter concepts have floundered. I can even provide pictorial evidence, but not right now.





Having stuck with classic Shimano Ultegra and Dura Ace 3x9, 3x10, 2x10, 3x7 builds for practicality's sake, I'm still busting at the seams.





There is the rescued Masi Gran Criterium with the Dura Ace 6600/6603 triple group that is just sitting there waiting for completion, there is the Klein Stage Ultegra 6703 triple waiting for completion, the Trek Multitrack drop bar gravel bike build awaiting proper SunTour XC cantilever mounting, the Klein Performance with the Phil Wood conversion 24mm external bottom bracket conversion, the Klein Quantum awaiting the same install of the Phil external bottom bracket, there this the Cannondale CAAD 9 in both a 56 and a 58 and the Cannondale Six13 needing a water bottle riv-nut. There is the unloved Cannondale Silk Tour in a size Large needing updated, and a second Cannondale T800 in a size small also needing some love.





Then there are the 2 titanium Wittson disc frames that are fully modern with 12x142 through axle rear and 12x100 through axle front that have stockpiled parts and one of which is now going on 2 years mothballed.





This has been a productive and creative process. I am actually very meticulous about all of this. Being divorced and living alone has certain been a factor in my megalomania of these past few years. I sense that this episode is time limited and I will need to reign in all of this to some sort of more organized (pre-retirement) down-sized collection. You might say that instead of going through an "N+1" stage I actually exploded and went through an "N+2" stage. Very educational and my LBS wheelbuilder has built me multiple sets of very sweet custom wheels to go along with all these projects.





Big developments in techniques the past 2 years have included chain waxing and using a 2 or 3 chain system with each bike. Also while I do run clincher tires, I have switched over to latex tubes and tubeless rim tape for increased tire volume and easier tire mounting of open tubular type tires.





Interesting times, just thought I would share.

Sounds like you are keeping busy.
That’s usually best.

I stay busy with vintage bikes. Most have come to me as frame and fork and I try to get them back together and on the road again.
Only 2 active (major) projects. An AD Vent Noir and an AD Michelle (mixte) for the wife.

i ride vintage as vintage - meaning friction shifters, but did do a Campy 9 triple on the Batavus.
Including the project bikes = 14 vintage, 4 ‘modern’ bikes with Campy 10. Those are the roadies. About 6 others cover tandem, city, beach cruiser, mountain - these see very little mileage.



80’s bikes above. The Vent Noir below, but it is now wearing a Stronglight crankset and will be finished out with Zeus and Campy parts (going to build with what I have for this one).

Oh, I prefer tubulars - but have clinchers on 3 of the roadies and on all the lesser used bikes.

Glad to know I’m not the only one with unfinished projects! I have trouble deciding how to build them.

I think it is great that some people are thinking outside the "all campagnolo" box.

good for you for mixin it up a bit

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

I did some major downsizing about a year ago, going from 9 bikes to 3 within 2 months. It felt great and let me focus on changes and upgrades for the 3 I had. I would totally recommend this.

Fast forward a year and I have 4 built bikes and 3 frames in reserve:

-1973 Schwinn Sports Tourer (soon to be converted to flat bar)
-1986 Schwinn High Sierra (period-correct ATB)
-1999 Schwinn Homegrown (superlight drop bar MTB with XTR 11 speed)
-1970s Cherubim 650b Super Tourer that I am finishing building

The frames in reserve are:
-1980s Alps 650b randonneur (made by Toei)
-1980s Toei 650b randonneur
-1970s B. Carre 700C sportif

This gives me a nice spread of functions and represent my interests well. I don't see myself getting another bike for a while.

Thanks! I will take that as a complement. My original nice road bike a Masi Gran Criterium had some Campy on it but mostly Record steel headset, Nuovo Record rear derailleur, and Campy seat collar bolt.

And therein lies the rub.

Campy is, well Campy, simply no way around it, you always hear " it should be all Campy or it came with X but most people replaced that with Campy".

Don't get me wrong, I love it as much as the next, but It is crazy how many other components look and work as good as or better than it, never mind the cost.

Prime example for me is the "Mighty Sugino Mighty Super/Competition" crank, every bit as beautiful, tough and strong if not more so IMO.

Many iconic marques simply are not complete without Campy to justify their status, so be it and I don't disagree, but ya gotta look for or decide to find opportunities to think outside the "all Campy" box, again IMO.

I perceive an opportunity here. Wheelbuilding can be exasperating at times, but doing it yourself provides great satisfaction at the end. On the other side, it can slow your build progress even more.

Hmmmmm = downsized a year ago to 3, now has 7 (admittedly 3 projects). Sounds like N+4 for 12 months.


I have downsized twice in the last 12 years to only one vintage bike (I've always kept my custom newer bikes).
It brought me NO JOY on either occasion, and, after much consideration, I restocked with nicer ones.

Yep, N+4. I barely even have the right to claim I downsized

Similar process for me this Summer, but thought of it as N+1+1, but N+2 says it better. Need to do a "new to me this Summer" post to show them, but they were a: 71 PX10, 90 Trek 520, 87? Ironman Expert, 72 Motobecane Grand Record, plus a Superbly Pristine, Lugged! Bridgestone XO-2 gift for my grand daughter. Don

Some nice hardware on view there !

my comment about "all campagnolo" should not taken as criticism of the brand - but only to say that if you have a collection of "N" bikes, all identically equipped with "full campagnolo" then the collection is not very diverse - the only thing that's different is the paint.

now I know I'm overstating the case ! A Masi is a completely different bike than, say, a Cinelli. But I'm not against mixing and matching. I for one can't push 42/52 rings up and down the hills of Bainbridge Island. It's no fun.

On bikes that I ride - I routinely replace the lower headset cup (which is a wear part) with a Stronglight A-9 roller bearing unit, I run a Phil bottom bracket, and a few other choice bits that make a vintage bike more durable and fun to ride.

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

Yikes. Those are expensive toys to just be lying around unused. My Ti Victoire is my fair weather beauty and my other bikes get ridden harder and commuted on more often. To just have a modern Ti frame lying around unused is not really in my frame of reference. My Ti is my most expensive bike and I get a little antsy if I don't ride it semi-regularly despite not being part of the every day rotation. It's too nice not to ride.


...Do they need to be re-homed?

HaHa - no, they (Wittson Illuminati m/l titanium disc road frames)are home here. I was delayed on the build(s). The internal mechanical cable routing and the internal brake hose routing, along with the pressfit bottom bracket have caused me to pause since this is new mechanic territory for me.

You are not alone. I have five dusty frames hanging up that are just stuck. My only carbon I don't know what to do with, two with unresolved paint issues, one with two dings in a chrome seat tube that just bugs me and one waiting for a rare matching rim.