OK -I've started the build for the Battaglin Blankcrows found for me a few weeks ago. So far, All I've done is receive it, order parts, and strip it down. The last few bits are "in the mail", and the build should be complete in a couple of weeks.

A few pics:

As Received:




Some Detail:











Stripped:

Nice piece. What bits are you changing?

A 10 speed Veloce group will be on it. That Italian frame will be pleased with the switch from the Shimano stuff.

Aren't those dropouts cool? The Battaglin name is on all four of them.

Like Blankcrows said, everything but what's in the "stripped" picture. The 6 speed Shimano 600 indexed group, wheels, bars, stem, saddle, and brakes - all out. I was going to build it with a Shimano 8 speed Sora group I have on hand, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I happened to be browsing probikekit.com, and they had the silver 2007 Campy Veloce 10 speed shifters (with cable kit) on sale for $100 delivered. One thing led to another, and now it's gonna be all 10 speed Campy Veloce - with exception of the crank and RD, which will be Centaur. I will retain the Shimano BB and the Shimano 600 headset - they are both smooth.

As this is for my daughter, the saddle, bar tape, and bottle cages will be in pink. I think it's gonna look pretty sharp.

Brakes, cable stops, and pink stuff:

Starting to come together there...the pink bits are nice! I know alicestrong would agree with me about the pink stuff . What saddle is that?

East Hill

The saddle is THIS ONE, from Nashbar. It was on sale last week for $22, but I'm disappointed in its' "pinkness". The bottle cages and the tape match very well, though.

Yes, it does look considerably pinker on the website, doesn't it? Still...when I'm down there for the Cinderella ride, I will have to examine it more closely. The bottle cages look good, though.

East Hill

Just a quick update - I took it into a trusted LBS to have the rear triangle spread from 126 to 130. They've got the jigs, and will do a complete alignment check. $35...... cheap enough. I'll have it back in a day or two, and hopefully will be building it by Saturday.

It drew a small crowd when I layed it on the counter - mechanics, service manager, owner, and customers all came over to give it the fish-eye. Everyone loved it.

Thanks again, BlankCrows, for spotting this one. If the kid doesn't like it I'm selling her to Gypsies.

Keep the kid, sell the bike to me

I didn't know you liked pink. Learn something new every day.......

Sell the Complete 600 group on EBAY!

Ok - moving right along, I've made a bit more progress on this. Alas, it won't be finished by Christmas, but I should have it done by New Year's Day.

The RD is a Centaur long cage, the FD is a Veloce triple, the wheels are Veloce/Athena hubs laced to Mavic CXP21 rims, the cassette is a Chorus 13-29, and the crankset is Centaur. The RD came from Nashbar, the wheels from CL ($80), the FD and crank from eBay, and the cassette from a fellow BF member.

So far, so good. I have a brand new set of Veloce QS brifters with cable kit that came from PBK for $100 delivered, and am awaiting the delivery of a KMC 10sp chain and Terry-T handlebars before I can finish. The Terry-T bars are pretty cool - silver dual-grooved bars that are made specifically for women and juniors, they are smaller in width and have big dimples behind the bend where the brake levers are. That feature is supposed to facilitate the ease of use for smaller hands/shorter fingers.

Have you got a photo of the Terry T-bars?

The water bottle cages look great, by the way (along with everything else)!

East Hill

From the web page:

Another update.

The Terry T bars showed up yesterday, and are kind of a disappointment. They were listed as double groove, but the one's I received were only single groove. Also, they were VERY hard to mount into a standard quill stem. I got them in, but they are TIGHT - so tight, it's hard to rotate them even when the binder bolt is loosened all the way.

I mounted the Veloce shifters and ran though the adjustments. They are very smooth and precise, and a joy to install and adjust. Can't go wrong for the $100 they cost me. Installing the in-line brake levers was a snap, and they work well.

The bike is pretty much all done, and the little one took it for a quick spin. She came back all smiles - said it handled really well and was a really snappy ride. Down-side? she's just about outgrown it already - damn!! I need to start keeping my eyes open for a good 50cm frame now.........

Things to do:

1) Tape the bars
2) Shorten the RD cable housing loop - it's a bit on the long side.
2) Lengthen the front brake cable housing - it's a bit on the short side.

Some pics:

She's outgrown it already ! How tall is she now?

She'll be after your bikes pretty soon .

East Hill

Not yet - but she's on the edge. Take a look at where that seat is - she's all legs.

She must be dying to move up from the Dolce then, as it must be too small for her by now. Yup, she'll be after that beautiful Palo Alto before you know it .

East Hill

That single chrome chainstay is so awesome.

In all honesty - if she grows big enough to ride that 57cm frame and still likes to ride when she gets there, she's welcome to it.

It'll just give me an excuse to buy a Tommasini.

The silver lining, always !

East Hill

All done.

Before:


After:

nice job, bigbossman!
happy new year to your daughter for such a cool gift!

Thank god she looks like her mother ;-)