Here's the Classic Rendezvous page about the Basso brothers and their frame building business.

And here's the link to the home page of Classic Redezvous. Tons and tons of info and bike porn here. You'll want to bookmark it. But be warned - you can waste a lot of time here.

Looking for advice on the Campy headset. Three of the races are smooth, but the top race that presses into the frame is pitted most, but not all, of the way around. I’ve seen these races on ebay for around $25. Anything I need to be aware of when buying one? I guess I could also try the iso/wtt page. Rotating it and reinstalling would probably still make for notchy steering, right?

Thanks!

That race is pitted pretty high on the track, there is a hack to use smaller loose bearings to move them down the race a bit, not sure of the size but would expect it to be the next size smaller, I use thicker auto wheel bearing grease when ever the bearings or races are compromised to help smooth things out a bit more and keep them alive longer.

I'd reassemble it with loose balls and see how it goes. I've seen worse than that remedied with loose balls.

Great idea! I’ll try that. Thank you!

Another great idea! Maybe both ideas used in conjunction would be the ticket? Smaller, loose balls. Thank you!

You're welcome,

proceed with caution, you might want to be prepared to try bigger also, I think thick grease is just as key, I really see no reason not to use it anyway.

Not like the drag really affects the efficiency of the forward movement and under load and weight, I don't think you could ever feel it.

Well, my wife found some bike parts at an estate sale today that might work on the Basso.



The crank is lightly used, and it looks like someone removed it to paint sparkly blue nail polish in the flutes, but it’s not cracked! It’s probably worth a good amount on ebay, but it’s used enough that I won’t feel bad riding it. Am I wrong.

The short Cinelli stem might work as well.

A brand new Campy cable guide!

The Benotto tape might look cool, but not for a rider.

The little case has what I think are headset bearings.

Thanks Honey!

It looks like a Gran Sport crank in a Super Record box so maybe someone bought a SR crank to replace a GS crank and put the GS crank in the box.

Aha! That makes sense. I’m still pretty slow with the Italian stuff, so I’m not surprised that I sat there thinking, “Hmm, maybe G.S. stands for Gruppo Super! I’m an idiot. Well, definitely a rideable crank, then.

^^^ The chainrings are GS as well and not cut out as much as the SR rings.

And they’re 52-42, which is just fine with me.

JacobLee ...I repeat

Still a heck of a bulk buy by ur wife. Super Record or not the GS crank looks near new.

Yeah, she felt like she overpaid for $45, but I told her not to worry about it.

Slightly off topic, but I had to go back to that estate sale and pick up a few more things!



Really excited about the Silca pump. My Serfas makes me angry every time I use it.

That was SOME estate sale!

Well, this one has been on the back burner for quite some time, but I finally finished my pvc dipping trough, and started rotating the Basso frame through Evapo-Rust. This is a perfect use of the funky basement shower.



I’ve also got to start tracking down some necessary bits. Anybody have advice on where to find the missing barrel adjusters for the Campy sidepulls? How about an obtainable Campy braze-on front derailleur?

Pretty sure the easiest route is new flat sided adjusters from eBay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/13374462530...YAAOSwXFxgibCv

Found these at the co-op and did a little file work. Perfecto!

Attempted to remedy the notchy headset by replacing the 20-bearing top race with 21 3/16” loose bearings. Seems fine in the stand. Not super-smooth, but much better. Could try smaller bearings, but probably fine for now.

Got this stubby Cinelli stem at the same estate sale that my wife found the G.S. crank. It looks pretty sound. I assume that’s a replacement bolt, but it seems to do the trick.

Starting to look like something!



Did some touch-up enamel over the bad rust spots and it looks terrible. It might have been cooler to just spray the spots with some rattle can primer. Never too late for spray paint! I thought I could use the clamp style NR downtube shifters from my International, but realized you have to destroy them to do that. I hate DT shifters anyway! I had some adapters and some power-ratchets, so that’s what it gets! The brakes had rock-hard Scott Mathauser pads and holders, but I had some Kool Stops, so those will do for now. Maybe I’ll bend the fourth tab off the aluminum holders and give it a go? I had some Pasella 28s and they fit with room to spare.

I saw that you have the original Campagnolo brake pad holders in a previous pic you posted. If you have the Kool-stop replacement pads, you shouldn’t have to bend anything to install the new pads. They just slide in, they’re a bit tight - but no bending required.

IIRC, The Portecatena dropouts were present on bikes till only around 1983ish......

These are the pads. Four-sided holders. Not Campy, I don’t think. I’ve read about breaking off one of the tabs and sliding replacements in. They also have a peculiar bend to them which looks like a PITA. I might monkey with them someday, but I’ll see if the brakes work for me first.