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@MichaelG
So, an update:
I've been changing my mind about the build every half hour this week. It's made more complicated by the fact I'm going to L'eroica Brittania in a few weeks and presently have no 'regulation' bike.
I don't want to sacrafice the year-round function of this bike just for the novelty of a one-off ride, though.
My Athena 11 never ran perfectly on this, the FD seemed to constantly rub. Obviously the blame for this lies with me and not Tulio, but i think this bike should be more robust and dosen't honestly need 11. I also manged to break the RH shifter and spending £ on a replacement isn't appealing.
I have the shifters and FD of an old Daytona 9 group of mine, which would be nice to use but C9 and the S11 freehub of the wheels built for this bike don't go.
The secret, old man in a shed, underworld of shimergo has always had an appeal for me and It think this might be an optune situation to utilise it:
The excellent CTC article indicates my old style (I think?) Daytona 9 shifters coupled with an Athena 11 RD, coupled with a S8 casette on my S11 freehub with 1.8mm spacer will work... near enough.
This also brings the possibility of having a low cost temporary Eroica setup- simply using 8 speed DT shifters and non-aero brake levers, to be swapped out for daytona brifters afterwards.
I also have a C8 52-42 square taper crankset and matching BB, which would be aesthetically nice, especially for Eroica. I ahve an inkling I had issues with the cranks coming lose on the BB when I tried to use this on a fixed bike before though (I do have the right taper on the BB - honest). The thouroughly more modern option is the Athena 11 alloy crankset with ultratorque and 50-34. In order to get resonable gearing for winter rides with my weak spinny legs, I'd like to get a fairly low geared (big cog) casette- willing to sacrafice top-end to get there.
The main question is what the lowest gear I can get on an 8speed casette for my 52-42 with short cage Athena 11 RD. 12-30? 13-32? any advice would be much appreciated. Thinking about this, has anyone made a nice spreadsheet to calulate this (or at least give a guide?) If not, I might give it a go.
It won't be a purists Eroica bike- the Athena 11 RD and brakes particularly. But hopefully it would be judged to not be too offensive for use on the ride. Anyone with experience of the event, I'd be grateful for your opinion?