Diamant road bike. Old bike meets new groupset

This is my first build that I will cover on this forum. I have done some other builds before (I have an Concorde Aquile SLX with a Sram Force group done before [https://lfgss.microcosm.app/api/v1/files/efd7bb26374862069f0b76749fdc8c8458c06292.jpg]), so I gained some experience. But this one I wanted to do really nice and completely documented. The backstory is that my girlfriend needed a new road bike. Her old Giacomelli was too big and had the classic problems such as the seized seatpost, stem and other parts breaking down or stuck. She is rather small, so the aim was to find a 48cc steel frame that is not too old to fit more modern parts on it. The goal was to create a steel road bike with a modern groups that is reliable, affordable and easy to maintain/replace. After a long and frustrating search I finally found a perfect frame.

The bike is a 49cc Diamant road bike, with Columbus Thron oversized tubing. I bought it from a forum member (who even brought it by train. Thanks Maryann) and it came with a complete Campagnolo Veloce 9 speed group. The flamboyant paint job and chrome is still in mint condition, such as the groupset and some nice Ambrosio rims. The dropouts have the Columbus dove stamped. The bike could be left like this, but I am not the biggest fan of Campagnolo and I want the parts to be more modern, and give me the biggest amount of replacement options when needed.

So, I sold the Campa parts to my LBS (who is using them on a very nice carbon Vitus frame) and started looking for a new groupset. A Sram Rival groupset would have been nice, but eventually the Shimano 8500 105 groupset was the winner (reliable, performance, biggest bang for the buck and a lot of options regarding maintenance and replacement). So I ordered the groupset, together with some other parts needed for this build. Tomorrow the most parts will arrive and the will begin. For now the frame is in the stand, ready for some cleaning and preparation.

Tomorrow I wil post some more photo's online, and I am planning to make a timelapse of the whole proces.

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Awesome paint job!

Seconded Russ. A very handsome frame indeed.
I like the idea of a classic steel frame combined with a modern gruppo.
Good luck with the build.

Today most of the parts arrived! Hooray. (the photo's are a bit crappy)
A complete Shimano 5800 105 groupset, plus a Italian threaded BB.

First of all. Why so much plastic? Every part was unboxed, wrapped in plastic, wrapped again in some more plastic. Then put in a box (already oversized), then again in a much bigger box with again, some more plastic. Some little parts as end caps were loosely wrapped and could easily get lost. Luckely, every part was accounted for.

I cleand the chrome with some alu foil and some metal polish. Super shiny at the moment. Too bad there is no sunlight in my bike cave. I already installed the seatpost (a simple Deda seatpost) and the stem (3T Evol 2002 stem, came originally on the bike), with the handlebars (Soma Highway One) and new shimano downtube cable stops.

Time to build.

https://youtu.be/UCna8hZNbVg

I noticed the BB already had some kind of hard lubricant or anti seize on the threads, so it went in a little bit difficult. But this one is not going to unwind itself. The cranks and derailleurs and shifters went on smoothly. The cables and routing on the handlebars were a bit more difficult. The Shimano cables felt quite stiff and I could not use the end caps with nose and shield, because they do not fit (they have a little spline on the side). When comparing with the Sram shifter on my other bike, I find that they provide more options for the cable routing on the handlebar.

So what is next:
Wheels: new 105 hubs laced onto mavic cxp22 rims (from the old bike). Hopefully done this week. When ready I can finish the cables and start finetuning the gears and brakes. For handlebar tape I bought Cinelli Caleido Ribbon tape. It has colours underneath the holes in the tape. I think this will be a nice detail that matches all the colours of the frame. Not sure what kind of saddle. My girlfriend (also on the timelapse) is not fond of her old saddle, so it will be some trial and error.

I really like how the modern parts will contrast with the frame.

Same here. That's a nice neo-retro

Will be one good looking bike ,that paint job.

Nice build. Nice cats. No beverage though? All my bike building is accompanied by either coffee or beer depending on AM/PM. I recommend it.

The shimano cables go a certain way- struggling to recall now but I was recently reading through the tech docs for the 105 shifters and the nose-and-shield bits are keyed for a reason, have a scan through the manual.

Indeed! I had all the beer in the world standing just behind the camera, but I was too focused on the build. This week a retry when the wheels are done.

I looked up some more information about it, and found out that the noses and shields are used for bike where the cables run under- or over the toptube, and keep the dirt out. I have been able to fit those without the splines.

Update:
actually not much. The wheels are taking longer than expected. So the only progress will be for next week. Bummer

It's alive

Beautiful!

I just loved the cats in the video! Nice bike too!