With apologies to the late, great Tom Petty...

I bought a Litespeed Ultimate from 1995 on Ebay last week. The price seemed pretty good, but the bike itself will need a lot of work. But the thing that's killing me is WAITING FOR IT. Oh, my god! I'm checking the tracking multiple times a day, even though the seller messaged me to let me know UPS wouldn't be picking it up till TOMORROW. What am I thinking? That UPS, out of the goodness of its corporate heart, decided to take a flier and show up a day or so early, JUST so I could get the bike in my grubby little mitts that much sooner?

And then there's studying the pictures, looking at the components, thinking what will need to be replaced, what parts I already have, what parts I'll need. And then trying not to buy MORE stuff on Ebay, thinking I MIGHT need this or that for the resto.

Then there's daydreaming about doing a total rebuild. Maybe the whole thing with Dura Ace 7410 kit? But do I want to limit it to 53/39 and 12-25? Maybe I want to go a couple generations of Dura Ace newer, and get 10 speeds and a wider cassette? But the 7800 crankset is SO UGLY!!! Or maybe I should do a modern build, but who can afford current Dura Ace, or even Ultegra? If I built it up with current 105 (the People's Groupset), wouldn't that clash with the whole "Ultimate" idea?

Can I safely assume that I am not alone in this kind of obsessed musing? Kindred spirits and all that?

Be happy that you have paid for it and it is a done deal. I made an agreement to purchase a bike recently on facebook marketplace but I was not going to be able to pick it up for 5 days. Like you I was obsessed with looking at it frequently wanting to get my hands on it. After a couple of days the seller marked it sold sending me into a mini panic. I had made a more than fair offer to him so he had marked the listing sold to curtail the inquiries from people wanting to know if it was still available.

Try waiting 2 weeks for paint to dry so you can put on decals .

You are among friends, here.

I have been waiting for my Rodriguez frame for almost 16 weeks...Tuesday is the big day! Hooray! 🥳

I have a bunch of stuff I think will work, but the hubs for the sub-1000 gram wheel build still won't become available for sale until February. The crankset I bought isn't expected until around April or so.

I feel your pain.

I bought myself a nice Ironman for Christmas but I have to wait til the morning of to work on it. It is sitting hidden in the crawl space. I ordered hoods brake pads and touch up paint but I really want to wrench on it. The seatpost is pretty seized and I have taken liberty to occasionally visit it with a squirt of this or that😁

I've been there. I'm always really impatient when it comes to ordering stuff. The worst was in the 80's when I'd order something out of an ad in BMX Action or Thrasher. You'd send some company a cashiers check, and just hope it showed up someday.

Well, I can help a *little* bit. Can confirm that 52/42, 11-28 works just fine for 7410. And I think replacing the 42 with a 39 would work too. Shimano was conservative with RD’s numbers, as per usual.

And, yes, you’re in good company

Remember that waiting includes a powerful emotion = hope. It is part of the fun, in my opinion.

Most the crap I buy is coming over seas. 2 weeks is fast, 4 weeks is average 6 weeks is not uncommon. Maybe I'm used to it?

Oh yeah, "fun" as a barrel of monkeys.

I figured we'd all been there. Like when we were kids - "Collect 6 box tops, and mail then with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Please wait 6-8 weeks for delivery!"

In this case, I remember lusting after a Litespeed Ultimate, perhaps all the way back to when this 1995 model was new. Ultimately (haha), I think I'll rebuild it with some generation of Dura Ace. I have 7400/7410 STIs, RD, and brakes, as well as a wheelset that currently needs new rims. FDs are cheap. And the 7410 crankset is, IMO, the prettiest crank ever made.

It's OK... It's OK... It will get here... In one piece... It was not a rip off... I am going to love it... I have been a good boy Santa...

Right now I am waiting for space to work on and store the number of N+1s I have amassed.

The great thing about ordering from Europe is obviously paying the shipping first, then the unique choices you get and the fact you forget what you ordered and all of a sudden it is there!!

I would recommend finding a silver modern Campy Veloce 10 speed groupset, looks great on a Litespeed, works really well too. You can run a 13-29t, and go compact 50-34t in the front.

I enjoy the planning, waiting, and thinking phase.

I was planning a traditional drivetrain on my current lugged frame build. Then I biked some steep last week and the happy dreams of the Shimano tricolor 6401 derailleur got a rude wakeup. I need silly low gears or I'll be walking a good looking bike up those hills.

I'm heading towards an ugly longer cage RD and more black components than ever. Oh well.

Time to re-engage the paint scheme planning. 😉

Waiting through the long dark midwestern winters.is rough. In late fall, when the sun starts going down early and the weather gets bad, you have all these memories from summer about changing this or that to get better gearing or different bars or whatever ideas popped into your head during your rides. Then you start putting things together and have everything assembled just the way you imagined to have the most comfortable, perfect shifting ride, only to realize there are still three more months before the weather is decent enough for a proper test ride. Sure, you could get bundled up and venture out in the cold, but it's hard to get a proper evaluation when you are encumbered by three extra layers, dodging potholes and ice patches. It is especially tough when you bought a new-to-you bike in the fall and it needed work to make it ridable, so you never got a chance to see if it was going to be worth the effort. There have been winters where I have built up a bike, then took it back apart and changed it without ever riding the first configuration. All due to an over active mind and not enough riding time. Hopefully, there are a few nice days to squeeze a ride in before March.

My latest project, purchased in September. It needed some work before I could ride it, so I only got a 10 mile shake down before the crappy weather set in. I'm already contemplating changes for next year. I have all the racks for loaded touring, but I'll never use it for that. Cannondale frames used to be the same across the line, so maybe I'll remove the racks and go with a sport-touring setup with a tri-color group. But I could change my mind a couple more times before spring.

1990? Cannondale ST400

I have two bikes with Campy 10 sp, and I like it, but I tend to be a Shimano fanboi. The other 7 bikes are all Shimano, from current 105 all the way back to 600 Arabesque and Dura Ace EX. The thing about a Ti frame is it's kinda timeless, so I could kit it out with period, or current, or anything in between and it will all go with it.

It's currently built with mid-90s Campy, including a Racing T crank and FD. My plan is to strip it down, clean everything, and rebuild it with the kit it comes with, and ride it that way for a while while I decide the eventual build and accumulate the bits.

For me, bikes or even just bike frames in transit is always agonizing. The planning in my head conflicts with the worry about what the package smashers are doing to it enroute.

I hope yours arrives safely, and is better than what you've hoped for.

UPS is supposed to pick up the Litespeed from the seller today, so guess who's obsessively checking UPS tracking?

(raises hand)

Me. I've had my Hard Rock Ultra in the living room since November, but I have to wait until January to take the wheels in to be rebuilt with ss spokes; the current ones are very rusted. It's fully outfitted with crusty Shimano 200GS, but barely used, so I might ride it as is for a while, given the scarcity of parts these days.



Picked up from the seller


The Araya is currently in Portland, safe in merziac's garage; I hear it's conspiring with his Strawberry. Anyway, it's also waiting for January, after the stoopid holidays, for shipment to my greedy hands.

Holey carp!!!!! Right after I posted, we had a big-ass 6.2 earthquake. Fortunately the epicenter was 50 miles south in Petrolia, so I just got a good shaking around. Still a bit freaked.

Gene,
We've all been there. Try hitting F5 repeatedly as you stare at the seemingly dormant tracking update on your screen. Hitting F5 insures that the second the status changes, such as "Arrived at Blooperville mini-hub redirecton center", you will be instantly notified. Good luck. Try getting some sleep in the meantime.

Yikes, glad you're ok for the most part, if/when that happens here there will be a lot of teetering things, stacks and piles that will have to be dealt with.

So many piles here. Luckily it was a horizontal shaker, so no bouncing fridges this time.

I ordered a Ciocc San Cristobol frame from an Italian seller in Bergamo. He shipped very quickly, but it took 28 days for it to arrive. LOTS of planning and thinking about parts! You are nbot alone at all.