Here's mine. Its a Coppi Fiorelli. The chainrings are Sugino and the shifters are Campy. Out of curiosity I took down to the LBS and hung it from the scale. 20.5 pounds on the dot. Not bad for a parts box wannabe nice Italian bike.

Wow. Very cool. Thanks for posting that!

I recall that Miyata. Worst, drilling job I've ever seen. The components looked like they were ready to snap at the touch. And what were they thinking when they drilled the headtube?

Everest made a chain that was slotted, and thus substantially more relieved than the Regina Record and Record S chains with the holes in the side plates. See eBay item 7156541563

SRAM sells a "drilled" chain.

[QUOTE=caterham;5806083]actually it's not that uncommon.in addition to SRAM and others already mentioned, regina's CX SL & America SL series were hollow pin designs. campagnolo's current record 10spd ultra chains have hollow pins & drilled sideplates



I recently sold a used one of those on ebay for $75.

I've seen slots machined into the calipers, curved to match the contour of the arms and nicely done, too.

I also own an Italvega Superlight just like the one whose picture is posted . It is drilled out to the max. I used to have a Regina Oro chain on it which had the side pins drilled out. Just for fun, I replaced the Campy NR down-tube shifters with Huret Jubilee drilled out ones and put a black plastic rear derailleur on it. The bike is superlight and it is amazing that the manufacturer went to such lenghts to produce this bike. I have seen my share of the Japanese drilled out copies, but very rarely something like my Italvega.

I wonder if the added teensy bit of wind resistance didn't completely offset all the weight savings?

Yes, it was all the rage for racers (after my day) but, I wouldn't do it because it looked pretty hideous. Today it is just a vintage novelty...something to ask and/or answer questions about while on a ride. I even saw a bike once with handle bars and rear dropouts with the holes...very strange.

With what we know today...Probably!

Not to mention that annoying whistling noise on long descents, lol.,,,,BD

I've seen both front and rear dropouts done and think it looks kinda cool.

Drilled handlebars, however, are a disaster just waiting to happen!

I really wished I had pictures of my '73 Falcon San Remo - that winter, the game amongst those of us in the PIBC doing the annual new spring bike competition was to build the lightest bike possible. We were at an immediate disadvantage when the richest guy in the club (doctor's son) showed up with a Teledyne frameset, so I decided to start lightening the Nuevo Record. Collapsed two rear dérailleurs before I figured out just how much I could take out. By the time I was done, I had drilled everything except the front dérailleur cage and parallelogram (got the mounting strap, though), seatpost, and the crank arms. Yes, the caliper arms and brake levers were drilled. Dumped the hubs for High-e, radial spoked the front wheel, two-crossed the rear. Cut back my Brooks Swallow. Shaved down the pedals.

Ended up losing to the Teledyne by less than two ounces. Chuckled that following June when it cracked. Sold the Falcon in '76, it was still running fine.

By the way, if you're going to do drillium, you always countersink the holes. It prevents cracking - or at least limits the chances. Titanium parts came along, and it was easier to gut the wallet than spend an entire weekend (or multiple weekends) in the shop with a drill press.

Holy crap, I actually remember reading that article something like 20 years ago! I had piles of Winning magazine (which I think that article came from). I really wish I had kept them! And yeah, I drilled loads of aluminum back in the day.

Kia ora,
OK, so this post doesn't really add to the body of knowledge, but...
couldn't resist this pickie of my (home?) drilled Zeus criterium RD.
Sorry, but once you own one of these it's hard to get excited about NR anymore.

Actually the rear dropouts are drilled out, the seat post is slotted, and the bottom bracket shell is also massively slotted. No, I don't hear the wind whistling through the components as I ride. The overall effect is a real gas though, and I realize that other brands also did this too. I think that the Japanese were poor copies of the Italian handiwork , though.

I think drillium looks cool, if I had a drill press I would give it a go.

Ok, so someone did chains (I meant the middle of each side plate like merckx record bike btw).. but I havent seen anyone drill holes in the bottle cages! I guess it woulda been near impossible in the old days cause they were so thin.. but now with the oversized aluminum ones..!

The old joke when confronted with a weight weenie was "Don't forget to drill out your water bottle".