Vintage wonderland on the budget - Ferdy Kübler Champion du Monde

Finally pulled the trigger fast enough to score something on the local listings in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. I'm currently here for an exchange semester and I've been looking for a nice vintage roadbike for a good price, but was willing to take anything that might have good resell value in order to generate a profit for getting a nicer bike. The search lasted for about a month in which I was too slow for couple of really juicy bikes including Bianchi Proto in MAX tubing with Athena groupo for 250 Euro, Gianni Motta with Shimano Sante groupo for 170 Euro, really nice early 80ties Simoncini Professionale with a mix of Campagnolo components for 100 Euro, 80ies Colnago fully Campagnolo equipped for 100 Euro and so on... Obviously I was not the only one in the game since the nicer bikes got picked up in matter of hours of being publicated in the listings. Shortly before Easter an ugly duckling appeared and I hoped it wouldn't attract to many attention. The fact that the owner could be contacted only through e-mail worked in my favor and I managed to pick up the bike after returning from Easter holidays and having an one hour train ride to Cesena, happy days! Since I broke the 4th nice smartphone in 2 years, no nice pictures untill I borrow the camera of my roomie. For now I will leave this two pics here, although my bike is featuring a different groupset.

And here are some of Ferdy in action. We are a blessed (and cursed) generation for having Google.

So, here are some pictures which are showing the bike how it is at the moment, definetly looking forward to strip the frame today and give it a good clean and polish. Since I have no tools here most of the work is gonna be done in the local bike kitchen.

Some detail shots, the drivetrain is quite worn down, I hope the new chain is going to sort it out for the moment, since I really have no money for the new DA chainrings. Thankfully the previous owner preserved the original stem. I already have first generation DA levers on the way (unfortunately not the black version).

I also placed an order in Wiggle and Rosebikes for new Rally tubs in 25c version (+ patching kit, glue and Tufo sealent), new cables (I am thinking yellow outer and yellow cotton tape, or silver outer and black cotton tape) and some other minor stuff like KMC Z7 chain (this should work right?), a mini pump and chain oil.
I would like to clearcoat over the bar tape but it seems hard to get hands on a product like this , does anybody know if I can use different lacquers and what kind?
What kind of pedals (Japanese) should go on this, considering the period of mid/late 70ties? Open to suggestions/ offers if somebody has something going spare. Help me get this reasonably fast on the road!

you should be able to get dried beetle poop/crushed beetle from a woodworking supply place or maybe even a pharmacy or a luthier
if you cant find a ready made lacquer there anyway, you can then dissolve it in alcohol..

i'm sure there is some other nice way to coat it then shellac too..

PS: italian for shellac appears to be gommalacca

Sure, shellac flakes are readily available in E-bay, but if I go for yellow I wouldn't like to taint the color - so I need a clear shellac or some different kind of lacquer that's gonna work the part.

What a find! Groupset looks awesome

Yes, the groupset is really nice, black finish on the components seems very durable, looks more like glossy powdercoat then anodizing. Unfortunately there is almost no info on these frames online, I suspect they were not produced for sale, since I found only two more googling - the one above in my first post with full Nuovo Record groupset, and another one on Australian gumtree with a mix of Nuovo Record and Dura Ace components. The previous owner told me the bike used to belong to Ferdy Küblers son - BB shell is stamped 7070 and the dropouts are Shimano.

Small update while the the nipples on the second wheel are soaking. I've gave the frame, whels, seatpost and saddle a small wash and polish, regreased the headset and installed tubulars for stretching. While taking off the old glue of the rear wheel I noticed the rear rim is cracked (I saw it has a small dent while buying it, so planned to change the rim anyway). A nice chap from the local bike kitchen provided me with a rear wheel to change the rims and a spoke key to do it - very kind of him (thanks Gaz, I'll make you read this :)).

FAG Nadax, claimed to be the first sealed bottom bracket ever by someone on Velobase - spins better then it was installed about 35-40 years ago if you ask me

Future bar plans

Brake levers arrived, no original hoods, heavily scraped, but costed just 10 Euro.

And 1 Euro shop FTW..

And the mess still to solve (bars, brakes, gear levers, derauillers)...

Not much happened since I was away from Italy for a month, yesterday and today I finally got to truing the rear (rebuilt) rim and first time in my life glued on the tubulars (a bit of cursing and panic while pulling it over the rim but went like butter, they were stretching for a month), got them nice and centered, a small set back is poor fit of the front tire on the part surrounding the valve (can't complain since I bought the cheapest stuff). A small drawback with an old spoke giving away but this was solved today afternoon. Looks like this now...

Coming together nicely!

Bars and seat installed, some spit and polish sessions between trying to study, hope to cable up it up after my exam on thursday and go for a ride :)
I gave my best with phone pics :)

And when in Rome...

looks delicious

Nice bike and a Shimano Black 7100 first generation Dura-Ace groupset too fantastic. !

It rides once again :) Detail pics once it is finished completly (bottle cage, bottle, saddle bag/spare tub, decent pedals, bar tape).

Got period Japanese pedals for a decent price in E-bay: SR SP-100 with cages and Hercules straps for 22 Euro :)
Also ordered some non aero brake hoods in natural (brown) to match the saddle and get rid of the cut aero hoods.

The open question is still the bar tape, would like to hear your opinion:

1. Silver brake cables + black tape
   
2. Silver brake cables + dark yellow (might be matchy with gumwalls when it gets dirty a bit) bar tape
   
3. Lemon yellow brake cables + lemon yellow bar tape
   
   
   

There is also a plan for a custom leather saddle roll that will take some basic tools and repair kit and have a strap for a spare tub.
What kind of bottle should I be looking for and where?

black cables + black tape?

Almost all my builds ended up with black tapes/grips and black cables since it was always the cheapest and most available option.
I was thinking of option 2 and clearcoat over tape when it gets a bit ratty. If I still don't like it by then, I will just go with the black tape.

Pedals on, rides much nicer now. Brake hoods arrived, saddle roll will be done untill the end (quite excited how it's going to turn out) of the week and I should be picking up some temporary bottles soon. Hope to do some nice pics of the finished product this weekend.

Really cool build and enjoy your time there.

My votes (in order) for cable / bar tape:

1. Silver cables + black tape
   
2. Black cables + yellow tape
   
3. Yellow cables + black tape
   
   

I don't think the yellow tape and yellow cables you have match with each other and they won't match with the gum walls (even less once riden). If you use yellow it should be once and as a contrast colour. The blue bike you posted exemplifies why yellow + yellow doesn't work. Even if you got tape and cables the same yellow I'm not sure. Plus with the groupset black accents I think you need either black cables or tape to tie in with them.

Or do what you want. As you say you can put black tape on top.

Thank you for the opinion, I think with the light brown (natural) hoods and a leather saddle roll there will be even more going on, so I think the black tape will be a safe bet. I will put the old cork tape for some cushioning under the cotton tape, whick will give me a good impression of how it looks with a black tape, so I might give the yellow tape a quick try, just for the sake of it. Adjusting levers and putting the new hoods is a bit of a PITA due to the non aero design and a 8mm nut instead of an allen key bolt (have to tighten/ untighten with pliers, since I have no appropriate tools here).
My stay here supposed to be a reward for the hard studying and working last 4 years, but a very close person passed away at home, so my stay here turned to be much shorter and a complety different experience. Hopefully I will be able of taking this to Toscana for couple of days of riding before heading home.

Still some technicalities (primary gear and brake lever cables, period bottle) to solve, but pretty much finished.

More pics!

Bella! Complimenti!

turned out quite nice, unfortunately you wrapped your bars starting at the top :(

I am also now wrapping starting at the top and love it.
Love the you don't need to put tape at the top anymore.