I have a Steelman road bike that I bought in 2001 as a frameset from Brent Steelman, after many years of reliable use, the original powdercoating began to fail in several small places, plus I wanted something a bit different from school bus yellow for the color. So, I took this apart and shipped off the bare frame to Jim Allen at The Cyclesmiths out in California (he was a referral from Joe Bell when I approached Joe with this project and found out he is not accepting new work right now):

Got a message from Jim last night indicating the job was done, quite a difference I would say. Got a few new parts to put on this when I get it back, but for the most part the parts don't change much. Once I get it back and have time to reassemble, I will post a finished bike photo...

Most excellent color choice. I did a WTF? when you mentioned shipping it over here to Cali, but it was clearly worth it. Post it up when you get it back together.

Very glad to see you got the decals to put back on it. Though they might be considered too much expense by some, they really make the old frame the beautiful thing it is.

Love that shade of red. Looking forward to seeing the complete bike.

that is really nice. Love that color!

The color is Medium Garnet Metallic, I believe it is N4397 from the DuPont fleet book. All decals are buried under clearcoat, unlike the powder coated frame where all of the decals were clearly deteriorating after 21 years. The decals seem to be available from a few sources, the only one he didn't get is Brent's signature on the top tube back towards the seat tube (which he told me about in advance and I am OK with it), but everything else is there as it would have been back in 2001. Can't wait to see it in person and build it back up, should be good for at least another 20 years.

For the most part, it will be the same as before when I build it back up. I bought new silver Deda bars, a new saddle (Brooks C15) along with new cables and bar tape (both black). Going for a bit of an understated look for the rebuild. I have the original DA7700 hubs laced to silver Open Pro's, I'm still not sold on the H Plus Son rims shown on the old build, their width is a challenge with my 6500-series Ultegra brakeset (I probably need to sand the pads down a bit). Those are laced to Bitex hubs - nice wheelset, not 100% sure what the go-forward wheels will be on this bike. I got the Archetypes to try them out, so far they are a solution in search of a problem in my opinion...

A follow up of sorts (sorry no pics yet) - Cyclesmiths shipped via Bikeflights and UPS delivered to NC Friday. I was away for the weekend so I unpacked it this morning and got it 95% built up - just need the bars taped and the saddle height set. It looks even better in person than in pictures 😁

Had a slight issue with the stem, as I unintentionally shipped it with the bolts installed and it came back empty. Quick trip to Lowe's this morning for 2 M6 bolts and I'm back in business.

Had to abort the build as I had to get to the airport, but will finish when I get back home Friday (will post a pic or 2 then).

All put back together, picture doesn't meet the BF standard, sorry (not)

So, with this re-build I made three changes that seem to be impactful:

1. Brooks C15 - not 100% sure if I got the correct width (vs. C17), but this has been a very comfy saddle. Have done (2) 2-1/2 hour rides and a bunch of 1 hour rides and it is great. Way more comfortable than the Turbomatic 4 I've had on the bike for many years.
2. Vittoria Corsa clinchers - been on Continental S4000's for the past few years, picked these up over the winter. In my opinion, these are keepers. Very smooth ride.
3. Silca Nastro Cuscina bar tape - tried this on a whim (and I had SILCA points that took money off) and happy with it so far. Good cushioning and road buzz reduction, and great grip as I prefer riding without gloves.

Plus, the bike is now naturally faster with fresh red paint...😂

Really nice well done...enjoy.

You can’t go wrong with red. Love the matching red stem!