Alright, After building road bikes for both my brother in law and father in law (as chronicled here: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/117615-intro-2-completed-bike-projects.html ), I decided that I wanted a road bike for myself. I fell in love with the smooth road riding very fast (I previously only had mountain bikes).

Anyway, I have read with amusement the “OCP” threads and the “PCO” threads, and have realized that I am a bit of both. On one hand I love the search for bargains and really dig on getting the most performance for my money with nearly anything I do. On the other, I am also a sucker for the bling to make my stuff look impressive. My problem was that I was on a pretty tight budget. My wife didn’t appreciate the idea of another bike when “The one you have is good.”

After lots of looking, watching craigslist and ebay, I found my frame. It is a Davidson Signature custom steel frame that was built in ’95 for a local guy who happens to have nearly the exact dimensions as me. It has a 57cm top tube and a 53cm seat tube in a conventional style frame. It was perfect for my short legs and long torso. It was a little beat up, with scratched paint and stuff, but had no metal damage at all. It just needed a new paint job. The best part? I got the frame for $180, but don’t tell my wife that. She thinks I got it for less. A steal for what is essentially a custom frame for me. Check out the picture. Beautiful fillet brazing on the chainstays and seatstays. I love the pseudo lug at the seat clamp and TIG welding on the main triangle. I’ve actually had the frame for a couple of months now, but am now just starting to work on it. I'll update as it goes.

-Jeff

Nice! I have a davidson tandem...what are you going to build it with...campy or shimano?

I rode a '92 Davidson Impulse for many years. Comfortable and beautiful. Adjustable dropouts and beautiful lugged steel frame. I loved that bike

Nice Find dude, Campy or Shimano that bike will be a true beauty and she looks like all she needs is a lil TLC, give it to her and give her the best grupo you can buy. She will fly and good steele roadies are becoming a rare sight these days. Keep it nice and it will be more than worth your $180.

RacingPain

Wow, nice steal, I mean steel!

Enjoy

Thanks! Funny you should ask what I'm going to put on it. The goal of my build was to get the most performance for my money. I've ridden on mostly shimano stuff my whole life, but after seeing and feeling campy shifters at my local performance, I wanted to incorporate them into my build. The problem was that the campy stuff was expensive and there really was no way I could put together a full campy bike for my budget. My solution was to outfit a mostly ultegra drivetrain and use JTek's shiftmate with campy shifters. I totally scored by getting '03 record 10sp shifters for $100 on ebay. I still can't believe I got them for that. I pretty much had to buy everything piece by piece due to mandates from SWMBO, but that gave me time to shop ebay hard and wait for sales at the local shops.

Anyway, my total build list goes as such:

1" Aprebic Carbon/AL from Nashbar
FSA Orbit X 1" Headset
Profile Design 90mm Stem
ITM millenium 44cm Handlebar
Supergo Gel Bar tape
Oval concepts 27.2 Seatpost
Supergo S1 Race Saddle
Shimano PD-1056 look compat. pedals
Campy Record carbon 10sp shifters
Jtek Shiftmate model #3
Shimano 105 dual pivot brakes
Truvativ Giga Pipe SLLT Bottom Bracket
Truvativ Elita Triple - 52-42-30 172.5 Crankset
Ultegra 10sp 12-25 Cassette
Ultegra 10sp chain
Ultegra 9sp triple R. Derailleur
Ultegra 9sp triple F. Derailleur
Performance Titan wheels
Weyless skewers
Supergo tubes
Kenda Koncept Lite tires
YPK Teflon cables/housing

My total price for everything including the frame stands at $900 including shipping and taxes. Most of the parts are new or nearly new. I'm sure I'm breaking some unwritten law somewhere by bastardizing the two companies together, but I don't care. I wanted shimano's cheapness, and campy's shifters.

I actually spent time arranging everything for a nice photo op, so you can check all the parts out. Post pictures of your Davidson if you have any

-Jeff

Raced a Stiletto for years. I was always impressed with the combination of both straight line stability and pure cornering power this bike had. Quality and durability were right up there as well. Think I'll take a picture tonight.

That is a beutiful frame, good luck with the build.

That is a beautiful bike. I like the lugs. I'm glad to see other Davidson owners showing off their stuff. Any others?

-Jeff

Well, I finished the bike yesterday. The paint job took quite a while, but it was worth it. I took it for just a short little 4 mi test run to evaluate the adjustments, and it was awesome. Smooth, quiet, and it fit me like a glove. Absolutely awesome. I'm going to enjoy it. Anyway, here are some pics.

-Jeff

Nice. Now that I've totaled my carbon fiber Kuota, I'm back to my '82 Davidson as my main ride.

nice rigs, love those davidsons

Nice looking bike. I've had some of the same thoughts about Campagnolo and Shimano. I like the way the Campagnolo brifters fit my hand, but there are so many more options (and better prices) for Shimano.

When you've logged some miles and everything is stretched and adjusted, I'd like to hear your impressions on the combination. How is the shifting with your setup?

That's a real beauty! I'm glad the fit is so perfect and the end result of all the waiting, bargaining, planning, and waiting has paid off. I hope you have a crazy lot of fun with it.

I like what you've done re: campy/shimano. As Dr. Pangloss says, "the best of all possible worlds."

And look how it all turned out for Pangloss and Cunegonde.

Beautiful bike. Congratulations!

Sweet looking ride. Can you tell us where you had the frame painted? Approximate cost and turnaround time? (please don't ask me why I'm interested)

Thanks.

55/Rad

we all know that 55/rad has had a bike in the paint shop for...what is it...months or years?

anyways it a great looking ride! I must say it all looks like it should ride pretty well, and I know the brakes are as good as anything, but come on 105 mated to record carbon lever?!? save you money and find something on ebay. look someone has to talk about the 400 pound elephant in the room! don't get me wrong, I understand budget as much as the next guy...and I'll be the first to mix and match campy and shimano! I think you're spot on go with the campy shifters...maybe you can find some some black calipers.

Just passed the one year mark. Ugh.

55/Rad

Thanks for the comments guys. As for the paint job, cost was about $65 for paint and decals, turn around was 2 1/2 weeks from beginning of frame prep, all done in my garage. Glad you like it.

And as for the brakes, yeah, I know they don't quite match the record shifters, but they were spares, and in really good condition, and I didn't feel like paying for new ones. I do plan on getting some kool stop salmon pads. Maybe down the road I can find something better, but right now I'm pleased with the way it is.

-Jeff

Man, wouldn't you know this would happen. Two weeks of perfect days in Seattle, and today, when I plan to ride in to work, it rains! I haven't even bought fenders for it yet. Oh well, the ride was good, just got a little wet.
And so far the Campy/Shimano mix is working out great (granted I've only got about 20 miles on it so far, so we'll see).

-Jeff

Beautiful bike, nice restoration and modernization of a classic design!

I have been wanting to build a new tech sloping tubed bike, however seeing projects like yours makes me think I should jump on that band wagon instead before it gets too late an "Private Idaho discovered" drives prices up. That classic geometery looks so nice that way you have painted and spec'ed the components. Stunning.


55/Rad, how can a bicycle frame paint job take more than 1 year? Are you in some waiting que of something? That or he's painting it with a single bristle Sorry, hope you get it back someday.

I can comment on the Campy shifter/Shimano drivetrain mixture using a JTEK Shiftmate, as my setup is quite well broken in now. I'm using Campy 10s brifters and a DA cassette, front and rear derrailleur and an FSA crankset. Everything is working EXACTLY as it should--no problems with shifting at all. I rode about 100 miles or so and then needed to do some routine maintenance in terms of cable adjustments, but after that its worked like a charm. Like another poster mentioned, I feel the Campy shifters just fit my hands better than the Shimano ones do. If it wasn't for the Shiftmate, I think I would have spent quite a bit more money than I did to be able to run the Campy shifters. The mixture of Campy and Shimano has worked very well for me though....