Out with the old!
 

And in with the... well, older.

Sold the carbon bike. I honestly didn't plan to buy another bike, but this one caught my attention on CL and turned out to be too tempting to resist.

Here is the very much before picture, straight out of the car and onto the wall:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...bianchinew.jpg

It's a circa ~1990 frameset which, I guess was an SLX/SPX frameset. Anyhow, they guy originally built it up when he worked in a bike shop. It was originally built with the Campy friction stuff, but at some point, he stared updating for whatever reason. But that works out for me because I wanted a nice steel frame to build up with modern brifters.

The only real setup issue (aside from the ridiculous stem adapter) is that it currently has a 7 speed freewheel on a 9-speed Ultegra brifter. It actually works pretty decent and after a quick tune-up, I found it to be pretty liveable. But the wheels are built on Phil Wood hubs, so I plan on getting the necessary end cap or whatever I need to extend the drive side 4mm and source an 8-speed freewheel, because as I understand it, the 8 speed spacing was identical to the 9 speed. The frame is already 130mm spacing, but the hub is actually 126.

Other than that, I just gave it a good cleaning and flipped the stem, and adjusted the bars. I'll order a new cable set (in celeste green, of course) and rewrap the bars, but for now, I think I'm toast. I'll probably reposition the brifters (they stick up too much after repositioning the bars) and give it a quick rewrap with the newish tape that was on it and give it a spin tomorrow.

Welcome back to STEEL.

nice score! but that bike is just begging for a cinelli 101 stem.

I'm confused as to how the 7-sp freewheel works with 9-sp shifters, or how an 8-sp would work, either.

That is one nice bike, nonetheless.

The 7 speed basically works well enough to shift up and down without skipping or making noise, except I have to shift twice to get from the second to smallest to the smallest ring. I know 8 speed freewheels are supposed to have the same spacing as 9 speed, so you just set your derailleur limit screws and effectively lock out one shift position (basically how the 7 speed is operating). However, given the "availability" of 8 speed freewheels, I'm thinking I might need to sell/trade this wheelset for a wheelset that has an 8/9/10 speed cassette hub, and then just go straight to the 9 speed. The only 8speed freewheels I see are usually 13-30-something. I'd prefer something like an 11 or 12-24 max.

The early first gen Campy 9 sp RD's are indexed the same as 8 sp RD's. That's why first gen 9sp RD's are the way to go when the 8 sp RD's can't be found for less than an arm or a leg.

My Record/Chorus 8 sp group has a Chorus 9 sp RD.

EDIT: Campy 8 sp Ergo's work well with some 7 sp freewheels as well. You just have a dead click.

Actually, it's Shimano stuff, but I was reading the Shimano info when it said the 8 speed and 9 speed spacing were the same.

Heh, now I remember reading "Ultegra shifters". My Campy brain defaulted to avoiding the asplosion from putting Shimano on an Italian frame, lol.

You are correct. Shimano spacing is the same for 8, 9, or 10. The chain width will differ, but any 8 sp or 9 sp RD will work on an 8 sp cassette. You might have some trouble getting an 8sp RD to give enough throw for 10 sp, depending on cage length.

If you change rear wheels, might as well go 9 sp and get all your group has to offer.

So I'm finding myself having to make all sorts of compromises to keep this in budget. The included Dura Ace seat post was hacked to save a few grams, so it's useless for the height I require. I had to buy a pretty basic one for 30 bucks at performance bike. I also went ahead and got a cable kit there just to save time and get it on the road, so no celeste for the time being. I slaved over it half the day, being meticulous about everything, and just when it's about to be complete, the included shifter cable for the front derailleur is about 2 freakin' feet short. So I'll have to hit up the shop at school and snag one tomorrow.

The best news, though, is that when I first picked up the bike, I saw little nicks here and there where I thought some surface rust had started, but as I've cleaned it, every little reddish brown mark has come right off. Just some sort of caked on specks of dirt. The chips I have found are not to the metal, and there's only one big scar that's been touched up on one of the chainstays. All in all, this frame is really, really clean. I'll be excited a couple of years down the road when I really have time and money to invest into making this something really special. But as it stands, it's a great alternative to the commuter and will be a fun bike for fast rides with friends.

All in all, it's looking really great and I'll be excited to finally ride the thing this weekend.

I don't recommend an 8 speed drive with a 9 speed shifter. I couldn't get mine to shift efficiently or quietly even with the Jtek shiftmate. Some people have had luck but i personally found it to be unbearable. I was using an Ultegra brifter and shimano 600 8 speed RD.

I even took it to a competent LBS and they couldn't improve the shifting at all. If it was merely a dead click i could have lived with it but we were never able to get it to that point.

My guess is that the seller had it set-up as a 9 spd with nice wheelset he couldn't part with and replaced it with the original wheelset to sell it. I'd replace the fugly stem and adapter with a quill, unless the bars are 31.8 for some reason, keep it 9 spd and buy a decent 130mm wheelset for it. Nice bike BTW. Not sure why you can determine the frame tubing. What does the Columbus decal say? If it doesn't say, it is probably SP I believe.

Nice bike.

I've set up seven speed with an 8 speed STI. I limited out the highest gear (smallest cog). Limiting out the lowest gear (Largest cog), and the shifter tended to jam.

I'm pretty sure the wheelset has been a mainstay on the bike since it was first built up. He even has a Phil Wood sticker on the bike that's been there for some time. Like I said, he originally had friction shifters on it, so I imagine he decided to go with brifters and then just didn't think it through thoroughly. Honestly, though, it really works quite well to my surprise. I even threw on the new shifter cable last night and it worked great on the stand. It shifted well with the old cable under load when I test rode it as well, even uphill. The wheelset is actually pretty nice for what it is, it's just a little mismatched. The front wheel weighs right about the same as my year old Ultegra/Open Pro wheel (with an actual scale, not just holding one and then picking up the other). Due to budget reasons, I'll have to live with them as is, unless I could sell them and have about enough to get another wheelset, or unless someone might consider a trade.

The sticker actually says SLX, but I threw in the SLX/SPX comment because I was under the impression that they made only the main triangle with SLX on larger frame sizes. I could be way off.

EDIT: Forgot to mention: Yeah, those bars are 31.8, so I'll have to live with the clamp for the time being. I'll slowly start finding little deals here and there, but it will probably be a year before I can revisit the bike with any serious part changes. I originally sold my other bike to make money, and for now I'm ahead and would like to keep it that way.