Glad to hear it went well. She really is a beauty. Did you look int the iris king cage yet?

Love the bike.

I really thought you should have gone with STIs, but seeing the bike all together, I realize the DT shifters are a necessity. That group really is the zenith of Shimano design, at least aesthetically. Seems like functionally, too. DT shifters will last much longer anyway. This is a bike to grow old with.

Thanks, and I agree aesthetically about DA7700 and the downtubes. However, were a pair of 7700 STIs to come my way I don't think I'd turn them down. Those would be some nice parts to have "in stock" "just in case" :)

Functionally it's pretty much flawless. After the RD hangar alignment...man...click-shift. It's about that quick. The RX100 on the Tiara was the same way as well. I think once you get to 7-speed Hyperglide and above it's so good....as long as it's properly adjusted, RD is aligned, etc. It really is a joy to use. I wonder how many C&V people who have tried Hyperglide indexing and didn't like it might have been thwarted by something like a misaligned hangar :(

This episode has convinced me to get the Park DAG-2 alignment tool and learn how to use it. I think this should be checked on every C&V bike...even friction shifting benefits greatly from a perfectly aligned hangar.

I don't know (nor will pretend to know) exactly why, but the difference you experienced is one that I've come to appreciate, as having a big effect on feel. The best way I could describe it, is that with a high high BB, it feels like you are astride the bike. With a low bb, it feels more like you are in the bike. I will say that lowering your stem 2cm and possibly using a longer stem are good ideas if you liked the way the Tiara fit.

I'm inclined to agree with you. At least in the length department. I've wanted a DA stem for the bike but their vertical extension is fairly short. I'll play around with the height of what I have and if it turns out that a little lower works out I may revisit the DA stems.

looks great! Nice job. How the heck did you find bar tape tape that matched the paint?

That's all electrical tape. The first wrap to hold the bar tape was full width in red, then I wrapped with a section of blue, then a thinner strip of yellow between and bridging the two.

Like that huh? :) We'll see how it lasts though.

When I first started really getting into the mechanics of rebuilding bikes, the most intimidating part was always setting the RD. I was fortunate enough to have befriended a young, conscientious bike mechanic who would preach about hanger alignment. I think your right, and there is no way of telling by mere eyeballing. I'm such a convert that if I'm having trouble adjusting the shifting on a bike that I just bought, if everything else looks like it should be in order, I will perform the old school hand-adjustment of grabbing the RD firmly and pulling it so that the cage springs away slightly. Then I start over with the adjustment. Of course, the Park tool is the way to go.

Oh BTW, your work is totally tubular Dude!. One of the stars on C&V as far as I'm concerned.:thumb:

Your final product was very much worth the wait. Great job!!

The electrical tape does look snazzy, of course the whole bike does too. Are you talking about the Tiara in past tense? Did you sell it!?!

Sorry, I meant 1cm. How's the weather up there?

Thanks, I hated having to wait so long but that's how these things go. On to the tubular wheels!

Yes, past tense. Sold her last weekend. With limited stable space the Opus IV makes the Tiara totally redundant functionally. So a hard choice had to be made :(

NP, I knew what you were getting at. It was nearly 80 yesterday, snow's gone, life is good again.

Augh. I meant to comment on this yesterday but my internet cut out! This looks BEAUTIFUL. Really so stunning. The internal cable routing really lets it show off. I'm not normally a fan of the decals on 80's bikes but these look really good. I think Fuji just has excellent taste, as do you clearly!
You're making me want to get a handle of them drop bars more and more ;)

Just ordered two dude...found a great price at Aspire Velotech, two for $28.95 + $5.95 shipping. Not too bad at all. I think they'll go great, thanks!

Thanks man!

I have had a couple out so far you could tell by looking from the rear and seeing the RD cage tilted in towards the wheel. But I agree, less obvious misalignments only show up when you're trying to trim 9 speed indexing :)

Wow, thanks! Although most would argue about my having taste, especially those closest to me :)

no, thank you! now i can say i played a small part in that beauty ;)

sometimes i regret only buying one for my cross bike.

A slight update...
 

Stem: Well, as much as I tried to talk myself out of a Dura-Ace stem simply because of the cost and difficulty in finding one...I found one...in Sweden. At about the same time I found a LOOK Ergostem at a local place and sold it for enough profit to pay for half the DA stem. So from Sweden it came. It's installed with the same 25.4 bar and a Nitto stainless shim for the 26.0mm stem. If I come across the same bar in 26.0mm I'd probably swap it out.

Wheels: I had built the tubular wheels (Saavedra rims, Ultegra hubs) and tensioned the front when I found a set of Dura-Ace 7700 hubs on Sacramento CL for a REALLY good price. Joe Englert facilitated so while the hubs were in transit I broke down the wheels (complete with Sapim nipple washers in every &*$$%&^ spoke hole!). Fortunately flange diameter and spacing are so close spocalc calulated the change in spoke length at .2mm or less for all three lengths! The wheels were relaced and got their final tension and true in a couple evenings.

Tires: The tires you see below are Continental Competitons (stretching, not yet glued). I was just about to order Challenge Criteriums when this brand new pair showed up on local CL along with a 250g can of Vittoria mastik, a tube of mastik, a Vittoria spare tire, and two Mavic GP4 36H rims as stretcher rims! All for a price not much above the price of a single tire. I jumped on it.

Cages: I took thirdgenbird's advice and got the King Iris cages, you see them below and I think they look very nice. One of these days (now that I've picked up a used bench grinder that, oddly, will get a couple cloth wheels) I'd like to try to polish them a little more highly.

So there you have it, this is the bike as my mind has seen it for some time. As always, comments welcome!

The pic:

http://home.comcast.net/~khatfull/im.../opusfinal.jpg

Meh, bring back the Tiara





KIDDING - that bike is a stunner! Might have missed it earlier in the thread, but what's it way as it sits (if you have a scale and don't mind sharing that is)?

Looks great Keith...but...what are those bars???

Hah, funny guy, don't rub it in...

When I last weighed it at the LBS it was 20 lbs. 15 oz. That was before the cages and the new wheelset and tires, which are nearly a pound lighter. That was also with pedals at about 3/4 lb. So conservatively I'm going to say 20.5 lbs with pedals, might break 20 if I weigh without pedals as current convention dictates.

I likey. :)

Sakae Modolo Anatomic bend. Yeah, I know they're not sexy but the shape just works for me.

Well...whatever works best for riding should always be the key, of course...

BTW...We're supposed to weigh our bikes without pedals? I normally weigh then as ridden, minus waterbottle and saddle bag...FWIW.

Looks fast! Is it?

If it were a wall hangar I'd put the Nitto crit bars on it. :)

That's not how they weigh the newfangled ones. And they always like to compare to steel so... :)

As fast as I can make it go. But yes, with the clinchers it's nimble, can't wait to get these glued up and ridden.

Oh, and just for a side by side (or, above and below) comparison:

http://home.comcast.net/~khatfull/im...pusfinalsm.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~khatfull/im...pusivdone1.jpg

Changes again, wheels, tires, cages, stem.