Thank you for the explanation. That would explain the minor difference in finish also. The BB I started with was said to be a Nuovo Record, but perhaps it wasn't. No matter for now. What I have fits okay though I can always keep looking. A few mm isn't much as far as chainline is concerned. The crank, which is what came in the box of parts, is 144BCD which I would have assumed was NR also. I don't recall seeing date codes on the arms, but then, I wasn't really looking. Life was so much simpler when I was rebuilding only French bikes.

OMG, what a gorgeous bike!

Why? Are you planning on using 18mm tires?

Toby does good work. Did it take long?

Frame looks great Jim. Love the red

I should look in my box of spindles to see if I have a spindle for thin campy hubs.

Such a nice looking paint job.

A fair question. Not 18s but maybe 23s. In any case, oh, a bunch of reasons. I like the look of narrow rims, and this bike would have had narrow-appearing sew-ups originally.

The RAID is 80g heavier than the PBP and should be heavier than most other 19mm rims. If I'm building a speed-bike I might as well go all-in. The recent Bianchi build has taught me that I can feel a big enough weight difference, but the way to save big chunks is to save many small ones. (I used not be able to spel wayt weenie, now I are one!)

VO lists the RAID as "perfect for 28mm-38mm tires", though one can of course stretch the limits. Yeah, I know, Sheldon Brown has a chart somewhere but I haven't looked in a long time. My other bikes all have rims in this range and in general I've been happy with them.

Not really. He said it might be a couple of weeks and it ended up taking about a month. Nothing ever works out the way you first think anyway

Thanks and thanks! I dropped you some email.

A month is very fast in the respray world.

I ask, Jim, because the current trend is to use a wider rim with a narrow tire. A 23mm tire on a 23mm wide rim creates a riding experience closer to that of a tubular. This is what is referred to as "open tubulars" these days.

The H Plus Son TB14 (490g) is another to consider. It is available in a polished finish to look appropriate on the Masi.

That is going to be one freaky fine looking ride! Couldn't they find any REDpaint?

You mean RED paint? Nahhh.

No that pales by comparison.

Marc

Hmmph. I was not aware of this trend. But then until recently I've been stuck in the 70's. You learn something new every day. Thank you.

Speaking of learning something new, I spent the better part of an hour reading over Suthernland's pages on Campy spindles and now I are one. Or at least I think I are one. BF member bikemore has a spindle I can use (thanks, bm!).

Other than that I made no real progress today, alas. Work and commute time (which includes 25mi round trip by bike) took up most of the evening.

No new pics, but some progress. Cranks are installed and the spindle from bikemore gave plenty of clearance.

Got the wheels strung up yesterday but as I was working I kept thinking the spokes were too short. I'm actually concerned about not having enough thread purchase, the nipples being brass, not steel. So I went to several spoke calculators and concluded that the guy at the shop had computed lengths for 36-spoke wheels, not 32. Fortunately I have spokes of suitable length so I can do them again (as soon as I find the time).

In the meantime I have given in to the pressure to use Campy derailleurs. (St. Tullio should be happy now.) I got a pair of aluminum long cages from Henry III. Very nice work! They're going on the Campy NR RD which came with the random parts. Also found a good NR FD, seein' as how Rich wants to keep the 4-hole FD in the parts box.

Jim, I'm glad to hear you're making some progress on the Masi. With that said, what happened to your plans with using the SunTour derailleurs on the Masi? This is the bike that was discussed a couple months back, yes?

Yes, that's the bike and the derailleurs. I did get a replacement spring for that derailleur, a lovely 1st gen Cyclone. Found a broken one on ebay real cheap. Swapping the spring was easy.

But I have received some, shall we say, encouragement to use Campy derailleurs. Of course I can use whatever I like (as the guy at the bike shop said), but aesthetics are worth something too. Even the guy who gave me the frame has been pressuring me to use Campy levers just for their looks. In any case (and as I'm sure you know already), BF member HenryIII has produced a batch of beautiful, machined long cage plates to fit a Campy NR. That will let me run the larger freewheel, so the Cyclones are no longer necessary.

They arrived today and really do look great!

Jim, for some reason I got distracted over the weekend and forgot to look through my spare Campy downtube shifters for a banded model. I'll get on that later today. Mia cuppa St. Tulio!

As I recall, you have commitments on the weekend.

I can't wait to see this finally finished as the frame looks amazing so far. How much longer till it's on the road? Also let me know how the cages work out for you.

Henry

Well, it's been a long time but I am making progress. Spent most of yesterday evening installing components, then took it for a short test ride this morning (before our tandem ride). It was awesome!

First, the nearly complete bike. The water bottle was borrowed from the black Bianchi. I have spiffy 23mm tires but threw on these 25mm Paselas just to get it finished. The bar will be wrapped with black cloth and will probably have yellow anodized end plugs. The saddle is the Unicanitor and will probably stay. It needs a frame pump and will probably carry a Jandd seat post bag.



Here's the drivetrain.



Finally, a tilted view of some bling, thanks to Henry III.

That bike makes my mouth water. Were it not so late, this would have me pulling out the Fiorelli and taking it for a ride. That thing is looking really good!

Jim, what is the biggest sprocket on the freewheel? How did the Henry III Nuovo Rally RD perform?

Looks great! Hope to see it in person real soon.

You should know the answer to that, you sent it to me! At least, I think you did. I believe it is a 32T.

Very well! I didn't ride far but I did run up and down some of the gears. It always takes me a few minutes to learn the shifting positions of a new lever/derailleur/cog combination. Once I got used to it it shifted very quickly and precisely. It had no trouble when I bench tested it through the full range last night. As I was assembling it I realized that derailleur's cage pivot is quite sloppy. It's the one that come in the box of Parts Rich got with the frame. I may look around for one in better shape, but this one seemed to function just fine.

The biggest thing I'll have to get used to is having chainrings so close together. These are 48/42T, I believe.

BTW, as shown it weighs about 22.6lbs. That's more than a pound lighter than my Bianchi. It is also slightly smaller but with that stem and saddle height it doesn't feel smaller. What it does feel is quicker, quicker to accelerate and much quicker to turn. Also very precise turning, which is kinda' hard to describe.

Speechless Jim. Beautiful and totally functional if you don't have legs the sizes of tree trunks.